Sabah and Sarawak lawmakers weighing in to opposed Hudud Bill

The attempt to introduce hudud "bit by bit" into Malaysian society, will create precedents and encroachments into the legal system says James Masing.

Five political parties across the political divide in Sabah and Sarawak have stated their opposition to the Hudud Bill introduced in Parliament last Thursday by PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang.

Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister James Masing spoke up for many when he told local media that the Hadi Bill appears to be an attempt to introduce hudud “bit by bit” into Malaysian society. “PRS does not agree,” added Masing in a Borneo Post report. “The Bill will lead to the creation of precedents and encroachments into the legal system.”

He argued that the Hudud Bill, if allowed, will one day affect non-Muslims as well.

Masing had previously said that PRS, which has six MPs, would vote against the Hudud Bill if introduced in Parliament.

SUPP President Sim Kui Hian, who echoed Masing’s remarks, said the Federal Constitution is secular while the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) stated that there would be no religion in Sabah and Sarawak. Sim pledged that Sarawak would not accept hudud laws.

“Chief Minister Adenan Satem has also stated the government’s position many times,” reminded Sim. “SUPP is very clear on this. We oppose hudud laws.”

“We have opposed hudud ever since it was first raised in Kelantan.”

DAP Sarawak lawmakers, Violet Yong (Pending) and Wong King Wei (Padungan), do not expect the “political drama” on hudud to end anytime soon. “Umno and PAS are collaborating on the Hudud Bill,” alleged Wong. “PBB and SUPP have to abide by what Umno decides on hudud.”

He urged PBB and SUPP to sever ties with Umno since it was collaborating with PAS on the Hudud Bill.

Yong does not rule out the possibility that the spectre of the Hudud Bill was raised to divert public attention from the money laundering allegations relating to the 1MDB mega global scandal being investigated in six countries.

The Federal Constitution was intended to be the supreme law of the land, reminded Sarawak PKR Chief Baru Bian in a statement. “MPs must ensure that it remains so.”

If the effect of a Bill in Parliament was to enable the implementation of hudud, he warned, then all MPs must rise up to their sworn duty to protect the Federal Constitution by voting against the Bill.

In Kota Kinabalu, LDP President Teo Chee Kang reminded that Sabah and Sarawak entered into Federation with Malaya based on the secular Federal Constitution and MA63. “Departing from that is tantamount to defying the wisdom of our Founding Fathers,” he said in a statement.

“Had our Founding Fathers known that hudud would be pushed as an agenda 50 years later, they would not have agreed to Federation with Malaya.”

He stressed that a country cannot have different punishments on the same crime for a people. He doesn’t buy the argument that hudud would be for Muslims only and that non-Muslims would not be affected. “All are equal before the law.”

Source -FMT