Pakatan and hudud: A consensus that wasn’t

PAS insists on the “right to have an intention”, but DAP says it’s a futile agenda.

(Free Malaysia Today) -- Pakatan Rakyat may have formally reached a consensus on the hudud issue, but the dust is far from settling, with PAS and DAP adamantly sticking to their opposite views.

After a lengthy meeting on Wednesday, Pakatan leaders decided that further discussions on hudud would have to be in line with the opposition bloc’s common ideology and policies. It was really a stalemate decision.

The matter has been put on hold because PAS remained insistent on eventually imposing hudud in Kelantan and DAP remained opposed to the idea.

PAS representatives from Kelantan, including Menteri Besar Nik Aziz Nik Mat, have since said that they would continue to harbour the intention of instituting the hudud provisions of Islamic law in the state.

“No one can be denied the right to have an intention,” Kelantan executive councillor and PAS vice president Husam Musa said when FMT asked him to comment.

Does he agree that Kelantan PAS is now like a thorn in Pakatan’s side? “No,” he said.

“Of course there will be difficulties. And we have to accept the current situation. But if you have intentions of buying gold and have no money now, you wait till you have money.”

Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah, one of the deputy PAS commissioners for Kelantan, said he did not think that his party’s position as adversely affected Pakatan’s image. “Technically,” he claimed, “Pakatan’s stand allows the state government to pursue its hudud agenda.

“When you speak of its implementation, there are many aspects to it—how and when, for instance. There are steps to follow that will take time. When Pakatan talks about discussing the matter further, I believe this is what it means.

“We never said that we will implement it today or tomorrow. People cannot make their own assumptions.”