Ramkarpal, MP for Bukit Gelugor, pointed out that his late father, DAP chairman Karpal Singh, had frequently opposed the implementation of hudud Islamic penalties as a violation of the secular constitution.
He dismissed as laughable Liow’s remarks on Friday that the DAP should “stop playing games” on the hudud and syariah court issue.
He said it was the DAP’s steadfast opposition that led to the breakup of the Pakatan Rakyat alliance with PAS and PKR, after PAS moved ahead with amendments to the Kelantan state law allowing Islamic criminal penalties for offences against Islamic law.
“Liow’s call to the DAP to ‘actually take a stand and stop playing games’ is clearly political rhetoric utterly devoid of logic and substance,” Ramkarpal said in a statement.
“On the contrary, the MCA and other Barisan Nasional component parties ought to strongly register their protest against Hadi’s Bill and show up in full force this week in Parliament to join the DAP in a vote against Hadi’s Bill.”
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang is seeking approval of the Dewan Rakyat to table a private member’s bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act, which would pave the way for Kelantan to implement Islamic criminal penalties.
The bill has been described by critics as the “Hudud Bill” and has met with opposition from various parties. On Friday, an MCA official described the bill as a back-door to the implementation of hudud.
Ramkarpal said: “I have not seen any attempt by Liow or other BN component parties to publicly convince Umno and its MPs to vote against Hadi’s bill if it comes up for debate.”
He said he had doubts that Liow and the other BN leaders would do so, pointing out that they “sheepishly remained silent” in the past when Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister had declared Malaysia an Islamic country “when it clearly is not”.
He said Hadi’s Bill clearly amounted to an introduction of hudud in Malaysia.
A proposed new Section 2 and 2A allowing the Syariah Court “to pass any sentence allowed by Islamic law in respect of certain offences”, other than the sentence of death, “would include Hudud’, said Ramkarpal.