PAS and DAP will never work with Umno, says PR

PAS and DAP will never work with Umno, but will work closely to the implementation of Islam’s hudud laws in the country?

Federal opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) today said its component parties will never work with Umno, the main party in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

DAPSY chief Anthony Loke said that both the DAP and PAS will never co-operate with Umno.

“But MCA president (Datuk Seri Dr) Chua Soi Lek said DAP will work together with Umno to replace MCA in BN,” Loke told reporters after a PR secretariat meeting.

“DAP will also not work with Umno,” he said.

He said the actual co-operation was between the DAP, PAS and PKR in the opposition pact, saying that none of them wants anything to do with Umno.

He said Umno “thinks it is irreplaceable and everyone wants to work together with it.”

PAS Treasurer Dr Hatta Ramli had earlier in the press conference said, “We (PAS) don’t see how we can cooperate with Umno”, adding that Umno plays with “racial and anti-religious issues.”

Kedah MCA backs hudud, if PAS work with Umno

Kedah MCA has pledged its support for the enforcement of hudud law for Muslims, Malay daily Sinar Harian reported today.

                                                          Datuk Chong Itt Chew

The Malay paper published the report titled “MCA Kedah sokong hudud” (Kedah MCA supports hudud) on the front page today.

The sudden turn of events appears to suggest Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Chinese party is strategized in competing with DAP for getting the crucial Malay-Muslim vote.

MCA at the federal level, however, has persistently maintained opposed to hudud law. The support of Kedah MCA contradicts itself on hudud law implementation thus remains questionable.

Kedah MCA chairman Datuk Chong Itt Chew was reported as saying that the reason for its reversal was simply because hudud law would not affect non-Muslims.

“If the implementation of the law brings benefits to the people and the country, it will not be a problem including to non-Muslims.

“DAP should also not object,” he was quoted as saying by the paper, referring to the MCA’s long-time political foe that has repeatedly made clear it is opposed to hudud law being enforced as Malaysia is not an Islamic theocracy.

Chong was reported telling the DAP’s ally PAS to reconsider its role in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition pact.

“PAS must make the decision to leave PR. As long as it is with PR, PAS will never succeed in implementing hudud law,” the MCA man was quoted as saying.

He was reported saying that Kedah MCA would support the Islamist party if it wished to work together with Umno, the ruling federal coalition’s Malay party and the BN’s mainstay.

Nash to Karpal: I’ll see you in court over anti-hudud remark

Senior PAS lawmaker Nasharudin Mat Isa defended calling Karpal Singh “anti-Islam”, saying he is ready to meet the DAP chairman in court to resolve their dispute in a case that is seen to test the ties between the two Pakatan Rakyat (PR) allies ahead of crucial elections due soon.

Karpal, a veteran lawyer, had said that he will sue the former PAS deputy president for defamation over the latter’s “highly irresponsible and mischievous” remarks, stressing that he has “never spoken against Islam” and respects Islam “as the official religion of the country”.

“I maintain my stand that Karpal Singh is anti-Islam and am ready to meet him in court,” Nasharudin today told The Malaysian Insider in a text message today.

“I was taught in PAS that Islamic teachings cover every aspects of life. In it is faith, laws and morals. 

“Rejecting part of Islam means rejecting Islam,” the Bachok MP said, referring to Karpal’s opposition to the implementation of hudud, the Islamic penal code.

Karpal has repeatedly said that the Islamic penal law cannot be enforced in the country as “hudud can only be applied in an Islamic state” while Malaysia remained a secular country.

The DAP veteran said he hoped Nasharudin would “understand the difference between Islam (as a religion) and Islamic state”.

“Our constitution provides for a secular state, and in Malaysia it is secular law which applies. You must have an Islamic state before we can have hudud law,” Karpal had said.

“I’m not saying PAS is wrong, but we cannot apply hudud because ours is a secular state. Our law doesn’t allow it,” he added.

Umno and its Utusan Malaysia newspaper have in the past week accused the DAP of being “kafir harbi”, or belligerent infidels, declaring it “haram” or forbidden for Muslims to support the secular PR party.

Karpal is seen as a lightning rod for Umno attacks because of his strong opposition to hudud.

Last Thursday, Nasharudin said that “Karpal Singh is not only against hudud but also against Islam”, adding that as a lawyer, Karpal should know that the implementation of the Islamic penal code required high standards of proof.

“For some offences, proof beyond any shadow of doubt is required. But he (Karpal) rejects all this just because it is an Islamic law,” Nasharudin said.

Karpal to sue PAS’s Nash accusing DAP against Islam

The political relationship between DAP and PAS seems became very tense after the DAP national chairman Karpal Singh issued the statement that he will sue Nasharudin Mat Isa for defamation.

Ironically, the opposition wants to create a feel-good factor among their coalition and hope that it will translate into votes in coming general election. The latest political development, however, appears to be otherwise and it will certainly make the road to Putrajaya more difficult.  

Karpal Singh said today he will sue Nasharudin Mat Isa for defamation after the renegade former PAS No. 2 appeared this week to side with Umno by pressing his party to leave Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and accusing the DAP leader of being against Islam.

It was reported that the DAP national chairman said  the former PAS deputy president’s remarks about him yesterday “are highly irresponsible and mischievous”, and that “I have never spoken against Islam”.

However, he stressed that hudud law cannot be implemented in the country as “hudud can only be applied in an Islamic state” while Malaysia remained a secular country.

“Time and time again I have said I respect Islam as the official religion of the country,” Karpal said.

“What DAP have been saying is we are not for an Islamic state. That is just a political concept,” he added.

Nasha says no wish to join Umno

Nasharudin Mat Isa said today he would not resign from PAS despite mounting pressure from within the party over his criticisms of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) ally DAP and for continuing to rub shoulders with Umno leaders.

The former PAS deputy president said his recent meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in Mecca recently was "non-partisan."

"I was invited by Saudi clerics. The clerics are my friends and they requested if I could arrange a meeting with the prime minister. After the prime minister agreed, I was invited on a special visa to attend the meeting," he said.

"We discussed the crisis in Syria and Rohingya," he said.

"After the meeting, people are suddenly saying I will join Umno. I have never had any intention to join Umno. I just consider them my Muslim brothers."

Quit Bachok if not with PAS, party’s Kelantan Youth tells Nash

Former deputy president PAS Nasharudin Mat Isa should quit his Bachok seat if he wishes to oppose PAS over its Pakatan Rakyat (PR) partnership, the party’s Kelantan Youth wing has said ― signalling brewing discontent within the ranks over the senior politician’s close ties with the Umno leadership.

The Youth wing was responding to Nasharudin’s remarks calling for PAS to leave the PR opposition pact if its ally, DAP, continues to oppose hudud. The news was broadcast on TV3’s prime time news slot Buletin Utama yesterday.

“If he is no longer interested to be with PAS, it is only right for him to resign as Bachok member of parliament than to continue betraying the trust given by the people of Bachok in the GE12,”  Mohd Nuri Mat Yaacob, told the party paper, Harakah Daily.

“DPPNK sees his suggestion as merely a repetition of the arguments endorsed by Umno leaders all this time,” Mohd Nuri was quoted as saying, referring to his youth wing by its initials in Malay.

Nasharudin, is also seen as having close ties with political arch-rival Umno’s top ranks, and has been spotted rubbing shoulders with its president Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition’s functions.

His comment is seen to run counter to the party’s official stand, made by PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang and carried by Harakah this week.

Hadi had written an article to explain how the Islamist party could co-operate with the secular DAP despite their different political ideologies as they shared a common aim.

The DAP may be opposed to hudud but Umno has rejected the Islamic penal code, Hadi said, as he defended his PR ally that had come under relentless attacks from rival leaders and religious hawks the run-up to crucial national polls.

Pointing out the position of PR parties, he said that “just as DAP cannot force PAS members to consume alcohol or pork, PAS too cannot prevent DAP members from consuming alcohol or pork”.

“The PAS constitution compels us to sack any member who consumes alcohol or pork. The Umno constitution does not compel the sacking of its members for drinking with the MCA, MIC and Gerakan,” Hadi said.

In his article titled “Hudud: DAP Menentang, Umno Menolaknya (Hudud: DAP Opposes, Umno Rejects)”, Hadi said that there were no issues with PAS working with the secular party even though the DAP has repeatedly stated that it will not brook the creation of an Islamic state or support the enforcement of the religious criminal code that prescribes, among others, the amputation of hands for theft.

Pointless, Dr M says of Sabah RCI

The unchecked influx of illegal immigrants in Sabah has been a longstanding problem in the BN-ruled state, and frequently blamed for the rise in social, economic and security problems suffered by the locals.

Yesterday a Sabah-based Barisan Nasional (BN) party condemned Dr Mahathir for his “insensitive” defense of Sabah’s increasing migrant population, an emotive issue that will likely be central to the pact’s campaign for the state in the coming polls.

According to replies provided in Parliament last year, Sabah’s populace numbered 651,304 in 1970 and grew to 929,299 a decade later. But in the two decades following 1980, the state’s population rose significantly by a staggering 1.5 million people, reaching 2,468,246 by 2000.

Media reports said that as of 2010, this number has grown further to 3.12 million, with foreigners making up a sizeable 27 per cent or 889,799 of the population.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, however, said today that he disagreed with Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s decision to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Sabah’s illegal immigrant problem, pointing out that such a panel would bring no solutions and instead complicate matters.

“The RCI will not deliver any result that will solve the problems. When there is an RCI it will bring about other matters,” the former prime minister told reporters today.

“I have been accused of apparently bringing them (illegal immigrants) in ... We don’t have to do that because they came on their own.

“Previously they have been coming and going. They are not alien to Sabah; they have been going back and forth between Sabah and the Philippines. Maybe they feel Sabah is safer and that is why they stay there,” said Dr Mahathir today.

He highlighted that, while he was PM, he had directed the authorities to repatriate the foreigners but it was a pointless exercise because they kept returning.

Dr M says his ‘Islamic country’ declaration means he is not like DAP

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad reminded the public that he had declared Malaysia an Islamic country in 2001 when he was still the prime minister, amid an uproar from Pakatan Rakyat (PR) over the declaration by Umno-aligned religious scholars that it was haram, or forbidden, for Muslims to support the secular DAP because it opposed Islamic rule.

Dr Mahathir also told reporters today that his opposition to hudud, which provides for harsh penalties for crimes such as the amputation of hands for theft, should also not be equated to that of the DAP.

“It is a question of hudud as interpreted by PAS ... that we cannot support.

“But I have declared Malaysia an Islamic country ... foreign countries also recognize us as an Islamic country,” he said in response to questions about DAP being declared haram.

What say you DAP?

Utusan Malaysia Front Page story: “Haram” to support DAP

Islamic religious scholar in Tumpat Abdullah Sa'amah declared it’s “haram (forbidden)” for Muslims to support DAP, according to a front page story by Umno’s Utusan Malaysia, but added that MCA and MIC were acceptable because the two Barisan Nasional (BN) parties recognised Islam’s pre-eminence.

Abdullah Sa'amah, the founder of the Pondok Geting religious school in Tumpat told the newspaper that the two main component parties of MCA and MIC in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition are prepared to accept Islamic rule, and contrasted it with DAP’s stand.

“Instead, DAP doesn’t want, they want equal rights...don’t want Islam to be (in a) high (position), their stand of non-cooperation with Muslims (sifat harbi) is clear when they oppose hudud laws and the creation of an Islamic country.”

Abdullah Sa’amah, said that Muslims must not vote for DAP and its two allies PAS and PKR in the federal opposition pact of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in the 13th general election.

“DAP’s fight does not accept the country’s (Federal) Constitution, they want equality (for) Islam and non-Islam, temples and mosques (they) also want equality,” Abdullah was quoted as saying by Utusan.

“(It is) compulsory for the Muslims in PAS, Umno, and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) to reject DAP that is looking for ways to take power by voting in elections.”

“It is also sinful (berdosa) to support parties that co-operate with DAP because supporting them means we also support DAP because they are one pact (pakatan),” he said.

Hudud has recently been in the news again, with some members from both Umno and PAS expressing support for the controversial Islamic criminal punishment law.

DAP’s secretary general Lim Guan Eng last month said the party has never supported the implementation of an Islamic state in Malaysia or the imposition of hudud law by PAS.

“I call upon Malays and Muslims in the coming general elections not to support PAS, which still doesn’t want to come out of the opposition pact, vote for Umno and BN so Malays and Islam (syiar Islam) continue to be upheld,” Abdullah was further quoted in the report.

Rais says Pakatan plagiarised N-Day themes

Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said the move of opposition political parties to come up with their own themes for the celebration was a political game to humiliate BN in the eyes of the people, more so when predictions were that the next general election would be held this year, he said.

The information, communications and culture minister said, opposition political parties have run out of ideas and are pinching from the work of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government. Their own Merdeka Day themes had been used by the Information Department in its booklets on unity published in 2009.

 “They are desperate and bankrupt of ideas. They are also envious of the success and the fulfilled promises of the (federal) government all this while.

“As such, they just pinch whatever the Information Department has done and promote it as their own idea,” he Said.

Pakatan Rakyat announced that the states under its rule would use three different themes for this year’s Merdeka Day celebration because it did not agree with the federal government’s theme of “55 Years of Independence, Promises Fulfilled”.

The Kedah government is to use the theme “Terus Berbakti” (Continue to Serve); the Kelantan government, “Menerajui Perubahan” (Leading Change); and the Penang and Selangor governments, “Sebangsa, Senegara, Sejiwa” (One Nation, One Country, One Soul).

Rais said having three different themes simply went to show that the opposition political parties could not come to an agreement.

“This only proves that they cannot come to a consensus. I feel that the people can judge for themselves,” he said.

Rais ready to be sued if N-Day melody was copied

Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim is prepared to be sued if his critics can prove that the melody for this year’s National Day song ‘Janji Ditepati’ (Promises Fulfilled) has been copied from other song.

“I challenge them to prove it is other people’s song. If it is proven, I’m ready to be dragged to court,” Utusan Malaysia today quotes Rais as saying.

According to the report, Rais said the opposition has been cornered and was annoyed to the extent of claiming that the melody was copied from other song.

“They have no capital until even they want to criticize the song. Indeed, it was me who tried to link the lyric of Janji Ditepati with the melody. But the melody was composed by those who had won RTM’s best band award in 2010,” he said.

Last week, it was reported that the melody for Janji Ditepati was similar to an Indonesian gospel song titled “Serukan Namanya” (Call out His name).

After it became a hot topic in the cyberspace, the ministry announced the setting up of a panel to probe the allegations.

"Over my dead bodies before implementation of Hudud"

Statement by the Islamist party’s deputy president Mohamad Sabu on the issue that Chinese community has shown they are no longer frightened of the Hudud seem to be highly disrespect and insult DAP especially PKR.

Politically, it is implicated that there is a concerted effort to undermine support for DAP and doing a favor for MCA.

The Chinese’s stand on not support the implementation of Hudud Law still remains the same. They distant themselves away from those support PAS especially stunt PAS members, who are campaigning about the implementation of the Hudud law in this country.

The present scenario seems to suggest that politically PAS will suffer losses to UMNO and it needs to divert attention away. In term of non-Muslim votes DAP will be suffered and PAS will be gained.

It was reported that Mohamad had said the BN’s old playbook in wooing voters according to race will no longer succeed as the Chinese community has shown they are no longer frightened of the hudud, or the strict Islamic criminal code, that has often been used as a bogey by BN’s Chinese components, MCA and Gerakan.

“As long as PAS picks the democratic way as part of its struggle, the people especially the non-Muslims do not have to worry,” he said.

“If PAS implements hudud, PAS will have to carry out a public consultation to get the support of all Muslim and non-Muslim MPs to amend the Constitution to enforce hudud.

“Not just hudud, whatever that is desired that involves amending the Constitution requires the support of the majority of parliamentarians,” Mohamad said.