Sabah PKR agrees with DAP to boot out PAS
Published on: Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah and DAP Sabah in a show of its autonomy power booted out PAS Sabah from the state Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition for supporting the proposed implementation of hudud (Islamic law) in Malaysia.PKR Sabah chief Datuk Lajim Ukin in making the announcement with DAP Sabah chief Jimmy Wong and other senior party leaders on Monday, however, was adamant that they did not actually kick out PAS from the opposition alliance at national level."We only sever all political ties and cooperation with PAS in Sabah because we do not agree with the implementation of hudud in Malaysia. There is no necessity for it," he said, in a press conference at PKR Sabah headquarters in Lintas-Kepayan, Monday.
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Lajim said the two parties had been in discussion for the past week and on Monday a special meeting was held by the Pakatan Sabah political bureau, before the three Pakatan component parties met in the afternoon.According to him, PAS Sabah, which was represented by its Deputy Commissioners I, Dr Ali Hassan, Deputy Commissioner III, Hamid Ismail and secretary Awang Laiman Ikin during the meeting conveyed their support to the implementation of hudud.But at the same time, PAS Sabah also refused to leave Pakatan Rakyat Sabah."Therefore based on consensus that is two against one, we decided that PAS Sabah should leave Pakatan," said Lajim.
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However, in return, PAS Sabah did not want them to continue using the name Pakatan Rakyat."So for the time being when we do our activities it will be just between DAP Sabah and PKR Sabah," he said while not rejecting suggestions that there could be a new opposition alliance in Sabah.
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Both PKR and DAP Sabah also did not seek permission from its respective party leaders because Lajim said "we have our autonomy and we are not tied up with Semenanjung.""I have WhatsApp-ed my president who replied that she was leaving it all up to us," said Lajim.For DAP Sabah, Wong said the situation in Sabah is different from Semenanjung."We are upholding our 20 Points and Batu Sumpah," he said.In a prepared statement signed by Lajim and PKR Sabah secretary Datuk Maijol Mahap as well as Wong and DAP Sabah secretary Dr Edwin Bosi, they said that despite cutting all ties with PAS in Sabah they remained committed to the struggle of Pakatan Rakyat."We also want to make it clear that we, Muslim leaders in PKR are not rejecting hudud law because it is from the Al-Quran but we disagree that it is implemented in Malaysia."We have hope that PAS will not proceed with its plan to implement hudud law but it is very clear now that they are serious in this. This will make it too complicated for us to continue with our political cooperation.""Therefore, with a heavy heart we have decided to sever all political ties with PAS in Sabah."On how long will PAS Sabah be left out of the opposition pact in the State, Lajim said there was no time frame."We will consider it later," he said when asked what if PAS decided to back out from its decision in implementing the hudud law.Asked the reason for them to reject the implementation, Lajim said there were many other pressing issues in the country that needed to be focused first such as the MH370 tragedy, country's debts and imbalance judiciary. Lajim said they had also referred the matter to prominent Muslim scholars and found there was no necessity for hudud to be implemented in the country at the moment.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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