Truce Likely On Hudud Laws Pakatan To Stick To Agreed Policies

Pakatan Rakyat component parties will likely reach a truce on the issues of hudud laws and an Islamic state during a leadership council meeting today.

PAS would likely agree not to push for the implementation of hudud laws for now, as it was not included in Pakatan’s common policy framework.

According to a PAS leader, they have collectively agreed to stick to policies agreed by the tripartite alliance.

“We must be practical. It is impossible to push for hudud laws without amending the Federal Constitution.

“And to amend the Federal Constitution, we need to be in power with a comfortable majority,” the leader said when commenting on a PAS-DAP impasse over the issue.

Among the leaders expected at the meeting are PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang.

PAS spiritual leader Datuk Seri Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat had said that the party would be able to implement hudud laws should Pakatan succeed in forming the federal government.

DAP leaders have fiercely rejected the idea, saying that it is not consistent with their party’s stand that Malaysia is a secular state.

PAS central committee member Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad had also warned that the coalition might “self-destruct” if public debate on the matter is allowed to continue.

Dr Dzulkefly said Pakatan should learn from past experience when the DAP pulled out of the Barisan Alternatif coalition in 2001.

DAP and PAS went their separate ways after the “marriage of convenience” that caused DAP to suffer a massive defeat in the 1999 general election.

In a related development, PAS Youth secretary Khairul Faizi Ahmad welcomed Kedah Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang’s call for a dialogue on hudud issues.

“We are responding to Tan’s statement in his Facebook posting that he is willing to hold discussions with us on the matter,” he said.

Khairul said PAS Youth respected Tan’s view that hudud should not be implemented in multiracial Malaysia.

“But we believe his view is based on limited knowledge and information on hudud laws,” he added.