MCA forms 100-lawyer team to stop hudud
Kow Gah ChiePublished: May 8, 2014 6:28 AM | Updated: May 8, 2014 9:56 AM
MCA has formed a legal task force comprising 100 members who are lawyers in a bid to to use legal channels to stop the Kelantan hudud enactment from being implemented.
MCA has formed a legal task force comprising 100 members who are lawyers in a bid to to use legal channels to stop the Kelantan hudud enactment from being implemented.
Announcing the formation of the task force, the party's legal bureau chief Tay Puay Chuan said its first meeting will be held by May 17.
The meeting will see the lawyers brainstorming ideas on how to stop the implementation of hudud.
At the moment, Tay said, MCA may consider two options - the first of which is to stop the passing of the Private Member's Bill.
"For this (stopping the parliamentary process), the chances are quite slim," Tay (left) admitted at a press conference today.
The second option, which he feels has a bigger chance of succeeding, is to file a lawsuit to stop Kelantan from implementing a state enactment that the party believes is unconstitutional.
"The Federal Constitution is the supreme law of the nation. Any new law that is deemed unconstitutional shall be null and void," he said.
Stand firm
Islamic scholars, academicians, NGOs and Umno lawmakers should stand firm to reject hudud, as there was enough to prove it’s not suitable for implementation, argued Gan Peng Sieu, the chief of MCA Syariah Law and policy implementation taskforce.
He said countries which implement hudud suffer from corruption, disparity of wealth and often were ruled by monarchs. Indeed many countries had suspended hudud as it is no longer suitable now, as compared to 1,400 years back.
He warned of the danger that Malaysia could be split by religion, resulting in “one country, two groups of citizens and two legal systems".
Gan (left) said the MCA leadership is confident BN will arrive at a consensus on the hudud issue, and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak would be convinced to stand by his statements which rejected hudud in 2011 and 2012.
Although Najib had made a recent comment of not objecting to hudud, Gan, said that was just being consistent as a Muslim who needed to accept God's law.
To a question if Umno should be blamed for encouraging PAS to table the private Bill, he said, Umno lawmakers were pressured by PAS.
Gan opined that instead of DAP urging PAS to quit Pakatan if it was adamant to push hudud, it was better for DAP to quit Pakatan, as the parties shared no common agenda.
"If DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang says Pakatan will collapse should PAS insist on pushing hudud through, then the first thing Lim and his son Guan Eng should do is to have DAP quit Pakatan," he said.
"It's (best) if DAP can pull out with PKR. If Pakatan has no common agenda, their collaboration is meaningless," he added.
When further asked if MCA would quit BN if Umno supports hudud in Parliament, Gan replied that BN and Umno have still yet to decide on supporting hudud.
“This is a hypothetical question - there's no need to exaggerate the issue," he said.
Announcing the formation of the task force, the party's legal bureau chief Tay Puay Chuan said its first meeting will be held by May 17.
The meeting will see the lawyers brainstorming ideas on how to stop the implementation of hudud.At the moment, Tay said, MCA may consider two options - the first of which is to stop the passing of the Private Member's Bill.
"For this (stopping the parliamentary process), the chances are quite slim," Tay (left) admitted at a press conference today.
The second option, which he feels has a bigger chance of succeeding, is to file a lawsuit to stop Kelantan from implementing a state enactment that the party believes is unconstitutional.
"The Federal Constitution is the supreme law of the nation. Any new law that is deemed unconstitutional shall be null and void," he said.
Stand firm
Islamic scholars, academicians, NGOs and Umno lawmakers should stand firm to reject hudud, as there was enough to prove it’s not suitable for implementation, argued Gan Peng Sieu, the chief of MCA Syariah Law and policy implementation taskforce.
He said countries which implement hudud suffer from corruption, disparity of wealth and often were ruled by monarchs. Indeed many countries had suspended hudud as it is no longer suitable now, as compared to 1,400 years back.
He warned of the danger that Malaysia could be split by religion, resulting in “one country, two groups of citizens and two legal systems".
Gan (left) said the MCA leadership is confident BN will arrive at a consensus on the hudud issue, and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak would be convinced to stand by his statements which rejected hudud in 2011 and 2012.Although Najib had made a recent comment of not objecting to hudud, Gan, said that was just being consistent as a Muslim who needed to accept God's law.
To a question if Umno should be blamed for encouraging PAS to table the private Bill, he said, Umno lawmakers were pressured by PAS.
Gan opined that instead of DAP urging PAS to quit Pakatan if it was adamant to push hudud, it was better for DAP to quit Pakatan, as the parties shared no common agenda.
"If DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang says Pakatan will collapse should PAS insist on pushing hudud through, then the first thing Lim and his son Guan Eng should do is to have DAP quit Pakatan," he said.
"It's (best) if DAP can pull out with PKR. If Pakatan has no common agenda, their collaboration is meaningless," he added.
When further asked if MCA would quit BN if Umno supports hudud in Parliament, Gan replied that BN and Umno have still yet to decide on supporting hudud.
“This is a hypothetical question - there's no need to exaggerate the issue," he said.
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