Syariah Bill ‘acid test for state BN leaders’
KUCHING: The directive that all BN MPs must support the Bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355) is an ‘acid test’ for the sincerity and principle of state BN leaders.
State PKR chairman Baru Bian told The Borneo Post yesterday that no matter how the federal government intended to spin it, the outcome would still be hudud.
“Whatever it is, they ( BN MPs) will have no choice but to support it (Bill), being in the BN coalition,” he said.
“It appears that no option is given to them. That is why I said it will become an acid test for our BN MPs on the principle and concerns of the people of Sarawak. This is because to many of us, in whatever form it may come out after this, it is still hudud.”
During the Umno Overseas Club’s annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, Umno supreme council member and Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Ahmad Maslan, said all BN MPs have to support the Bill that was initiated by PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.
He said all BN component parties were expected to toe the line as the federal government had taken over the Bill.
Baru said it appeared Ahmad’s statement was a threat to pressure BN MPs in Sarawak to support the Bill, no matter what.
“I will be very surprised if Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem and BN leaders come out after this to say that it is not hudud,” said Baru.
Baru, who is a lawyer and Ba Kelalan assemblyman, said he did not expect any major amendments to the Bill as the federal government was just adopting the Bill from PAS.
Furthermore, there had been no news of more amendments to the Bill.
“So how can it become no more hudud when nothing has been done? They are just adopting PAS’s Bill,” he said.
“Does it magically cease to be hudud just because Umno or BN adopts it? That is ridiculous.”
Baru said from the start, the Bill was to implement hudud through the back door.
On Hadi’s statement that nonMuslim lawmakers should not interfere in Islamic matters, Baru said all elected representatives had taken the oath- of- office to defend the Federal Constitution and rights of all Malaysians.
“Secondly, if you want to have this kind of idea, then might as well have two different parliaments, one for Muslims and one for nonMuslims,” he said.
“But this is not the case in our country; Furthermore, we are not a theocratic government. We are a democratic government based on secular principle of governance.”
Baru said historical documents, the debates and speeches of former leaders—including that of first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, and several case laws affirmed that Malaysia is a secular state.
“It is totally a betrayal of our responsibilities as elected representatives to our people if we don’t speak up against something that will affect not only the Muslims but also non-Muslims.”
In the case of the Syariah Bill, for instance, he said it was unconstitutional.
“That Bill goes against the understanding reached by our forefathers when we agreed to form Malaysia that we would remain a nation governed by the rule of laws and not religious laws.”