MCA and Gerakan today reiterated its anti-hudud stand to the extent of parting ways with longtime ally Umno, if the Malay party were to implement Islamic jurisprudence.

“If Umno were ever to implement hudud, MCA will not be a part of it,” party president Dr Chua Soi Lek said in Subang Jaya today.

NONEHe said this at a press conference after accompanying Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to the opening of a national conference on ‘Making High Income Nation a Reality’.

In a statement today, Gerakan deputy president Chang Ko Youn said that Malaysia’s punitive laws are secular according to the Federal Constitution.

“We cannot have different sets of laws for each section of society,” said Chang, stressed that Gerakan cannot support any attempts to contradict the basic tenets of the Federation of Malaysia.

He said that Gerakan’s political cooperation with Umno will be “untenable and likely to end” if the latter wishes to implement hudud laws.

This rare threats by BN component parties against Umno is likely to put pressure on rival DAP to provide the same pressure on Pakatan Rakyat coalition member PAS.

Chua: Pakatan has no consensus

However, Chua (right) said, he understood that as Muslims, the Malays in Umno must accept hudud but appreciated the fact that no Umno leaders were pushing for its implementation.

NONE"No Umno leader is pushing for it. Unlike PAS who insisted on it.

"Which is why I thank Kelantan MB Nik Aziz Nik Mat for his statement that he wants to implement hudud in Kelantan."

Chua claimed that with PAS and later opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim openly supporting hudud, while DAP is less than enthusiastic abpout it, this exposes one of Pakatan's biggest flaws.

Anwar had said yesterday that he supports in principle the implementation of hudud law by PAS in Kelantan when asked to respond to the Nik Aziz statement.

"They cannot even reach a consensus on such a monumental issue," Chua hit out.

He added that if Pakatan cannot agree on the matter, then it only goes to show that they may fall in conflict with each other if they ever make it to Putrajaya.

A situation which he claimed can only bode ill for the rakyat that have voted for Pakatan.

Chua added that he believe that hudud if implemented may spell the economic doom of Malaysia.

'Wrong message to investors'

"I may not know much about hudud, but I can say this. If you implement hudud, then a high income nation will go flying out the window. If you implement it, you can forget about working towards a high income nation as this will send the wrong message (to investors).

Chua was responding to a statement by Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday that while Umno members as Muslims must accept hudud law in principle, it is not yet time for it to be implemented in multi-religious Malaysia.

Muhyiddin however added that it is Umno's job to engage the other races in Malaysia so that they understand and know about hudud to one point in time when they may accept it.

Asked about this, Chua said that while Umno may do so, it still up to the rakyat whether or not they will accept hudud.

“What is clear is that MCA is against hudud,” he stressed adamantly.

The thorny issue of hudud and its implementation has become regular brickbats for BN in its attacks against Pakatan. The opposition's inability or unwillingness to come out with an official policy on this only worsens matters.

PAS has long since been proponents of an Islamic state and for hudud implementation, recently gaining the cautious support of Anwar on a personal level. While PKR dominated by mainly Muslims, have expressed no overt objections.

The DAP however are mixed if less than enthusiastic on the matter.

Some leaders like Bukit Gelogor MP Karpal Singh have openly spoken against hudud, while others have remained cautiously silent.


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