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.