Objecting to the private member’s bill, also known as the Hudud Bill, which was tabled by PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang, MCA Secretary-General Ong Ka Chuan said that it contravenes the Federal Constitution’s intent to separate Shariah and civil law, and will “open a Pandora’s box” if allowed.
“It will result in the creation of precedents that will lead to the encroachment on the realms of the current legal system, of which the Federal Constitution is paramount,” Ong said in a statement today.
“Our forefathers had great wisdom by enshrining such a rule with the intent and purpose that the Muslim and non-Muslim communities can live in peace in this country.”
Ong said that such a “disruption” to the core principles of the Federal Constitution should not be allowed as these principles maintained the peace and stability in the nation.
MIC Youth leader Sivarraajh Chandran agreed with Ong and urged politicians from both sides of the political divide to put a halt to PAS’ agenda to push for hudud in Parliament.
“I feel the same way. This is against the Constitution and does not represent the general spirit of all Malaysians,” said Sivarraajh when contacted by FMT.
“They should stop bringing the matter to Parliament.”
Sivarraajh also questioned why Opposition leaders like PKR’s Azmin Ali, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Nurul Izzah Anwar were keeping quiet over the matter.
“Are they okay with hudud? It has been a trend for them to blame BN for all the failures that they failed to manage during their time. (Whereas) PAS was with them since Reformasi.
“Are they saying they can’t manage to convince them to drop hudud?”
Unlike DAP and Amanah, PKR is still maintaining a political relationship with the Islamist party.
Gerakan President Mah Siew Keong said that the amendments seeks to give the Shariah Criminal Court absolute power to sentence any Muslim guilty of crimes, both against Muslim precepts and laws passed and enacted by state legislature that impose punitive measures in line with Islamic doctrine.
“Such unfettered sentencing powers bestowed on the Shariah Criminal Court are against the laws of natural justice as all laws must have limits.”
He added that Gerakan viewed the bill as a political ploy to circumvent settled constitutional and legal principles to facilitate the introduction of Islamic criminal law.
This, Mah explained, will lead to the duplicity of laws as there will be two sets of laws for the same offences in the country in contravention of Article 8 of the Federal Constitution.
The country’s laws, he stressed, must be in line with the Federal Constitution and its basic structure.
“The Constitution must be accepted and appreciated in its totality. We cannot choose to follow the parts we like and ignore the parts we do not like, as doing so is against the spirit and letter of the law and the founding principles of this nation.”