Hudud issue: Karpal puts his foot down
(Malaysiakini) Despite calls for a truce on the hudud issue, DAP has put its foot down again, reaffirming that Islamic laws, as well as the setting up of an Islamic state, are not on its cards.
National chairperson Karpal Singh has insisted that the two issues are not within the policy of Pakatan Rakyat as agreed upon by the DAP, PAS and PKR.
"What has been agreed upon should not be diverted from. Therefore, the question of reference of implementation of hudud and Islamic state to the people cannot arise," said the fiery veteran lawyer in a statement issued this afternoon.
"It is important for all parties in Pakatan to honour what has been agreed upon in the best interests of the coalition, and in the public interest," he added.
Karpal (left) was referring to statements made by PAS' Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad reported in an English daily yesterday, that he was confident that the other Pakatan parties would not stand in the way of hudud if this was the will of the people.
"We hold on to democratic principles and in the end, the implementation will be referred to the people. The rakyat will decide," Khalid was reported to have said in the New Straits Times.
To that, Karpal had his own thoughts on what 'democratic principles' are.
'Constitution guarantees secular state'
"Democratic principles require adherence to the federal constitution, which alludes to the social contract between the various races in the country, apart from being the supreme law of the land.
"This sacred document adverts to Malaysia being a secular state, and this in turn makes the constitutional guarantee a basic structure of the constitution.
"This basic structure, in my view, cannot be amended even by a two-thirds majority in Parliament," said Karpal.
While PAS has long pushed for hudud laws as "the best solution" to tackle crime, according to the party's spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat, DAP has been the traditional polar opposite, calling for secularism.
PAS committee member Dzulkefly Ahmad had called on the bickering Pakatan leaders to put a lid on the issue, but the PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has been non-committal where the PAS assertion is concerned.
Hudud, one of the strictest set of punishments accorded for under the Islamic Syariah law, is meant only for Muslims.
Examples of these laws are chopping off thieves' hands and stoning adulterers to death.
"What has been agreed upon should not be diverted from. Therefore, the question of reference of implementation of hudud and Islamic state to the people cannot arise," said the fiery veteran lawyer in a statement issued this afternoon.
"It is important for all parties in Pakatan to honour what has been agreed upon in the best interests of the coalition, and in the public interest," he added.
Karpal (left) was referring to statements made by PAS' Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad reported in an English daily yesterday, that he was confident that the other Pakatan parties would not stand in the way of hudud if this was the will of the people."We hold on to democratic principles and in the end, the implementation will be referred to the people. The rakyat will decide," Khalid was reported to have said in the New Straits Times.
To that, Karpal had his own thoughts on what 'democratic principles' are.
'Constitution guarantees secular state'
"Democratic principles require adherence to the federal constitution, which alludes to the social contract between the various races in the country, apart from being the supreme law of the land.
"This sacred document adverts to Malaysia being a secular state, and this in turn makes the constitutional guarantee a basic structure of the constitution.
"This basic structure, in my view, cannot be amended even by a two-thirds majority in Parliament," said Karpal.
While PAS has long pushed for hudud laws as "the best solution" to tackle crime, according to the party's spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat, DAP has been the traditional polar opposite, calling for secularism.
PAS committee member Dzulkefly Ahmad had called on the bickering Pakatan leaders to put a lid on the issue, but the PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has been non-committal where the PAS assertion is concerned.
Hudud, one of the strictest set of punishments accorded for under the Islamic Syariah law, is meant only for Muslims.
Examples of these laws are chopping off thieves' hands and stoning adulterers to death.
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