The hudud issue has been haunting Malaysia since more than two decades ago.

While some may see Mahathir Mohamad as a defender of the country’s secular constitution when he refused to entertain PAS’s attempt at turning Kelantan into an Islamic state, let’s not forget the autocrat himself had prior to that permitted the Umno-led Selangor government to table and eventually pass the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment in 1988, effectively giving excessive powers to the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) over other faiths in the state.

It was also Mahathir who arbitrarily declared Malaysia an ‘Islamic country’ on Sept 29, 2001, ironically at Gerakan’s annual party conference. The Gerakan leadership did not even lift a finger to protest, and Mahathir went on to state “loud and proud” that Malaysia was not only an Islamic country, but also a ‘fundamentalist’ one at that.

Which is why many now regard the BN parties, MCA in particular, as nothing more than lackeys to Umno. Ng Yen Yen, the head of the MCA Women’s wing at the time, even busied herself with roadshows around the country to explain to Chinese Malaysians the “dangers of PAS fanaticism” while conveniently overlooking the monster that Mahathir had created.

Should one be surprised that Liow Tiong Lai, the MCA president, has maintained his ‘elegant silence’ after Kamarol Zaki Abdul Malik (right) of Umno proposed to table a motion on Hudud at the Selangor state assembly?

A firm adherent to democratic process, I always believe the best way to deal with the hudud issue is to allow all stakeholders - from lawmakers, experts, jurists, journalists to ordinary folks – to discuss and debate freely, openly and rationally about it. I therefore welcome Hannah Yeoh’s discretion to have the hudud motion tabled in the Selangor assembly. If MCA or Gerakan has a problem with it, go bark at its Umno masters or quit the coalition. Simple.

In the eyes of some, Yeoh may be a newbie and a rookie who is not well-versed in political complexities or strategic maneuvering, but her relatively innocent Weltanschauung, untainted by worldliness, has caught Umno by surprise, prompting Mohd Shamsudin Lias to withdraw the controversial motion on the pretext of, again, ‘misunderstanding’.

(Honestly, I had forgotten completely that there was a Selangor state opposition leader until Mohd Shamsudin (left) shot his way to ‘national stardom’ with his clumsy move.)

Indeed, Umno has been foolish in seeking to drive a wedge between PAS and DAP on the hudud issue in Selangor. Should Yeoh have chosen to dismiss the motion, Umno would certainly lose no time in portraying PAS as a ‘poodle’ to DAP.

Putting Umno in a dilemma

To its credit, the Islamic party refused to fall into the trap by not issuing any public statement thereon, but opted to wait for the due process to take its course. Yeoh’s boldness in allowing the motion to take place therefore put Umno in a dilemma and made the party look more extreme than PAS, much to the delight of DAP, I am sure.

But hudud has long been a game that Umno relishes in. What the BN lynchpin did not expect was that this time Yeoh as the speaker would choose to tackle it head-on, something that was truly unprecedented. Umno’s volte-face therefore speaks volume of its failure in reviving its political fortunes.

As expected, certain ‘senior journalists’ in the Chinese press have been quick to cash in on the controversy by painting Pakatan Rakyat in a negative light, Tay Tian Yan of Sin Chew Daily being at the forefront of the anti-DAP bandwagon. In his column today, Tay reprimanded Yeoh for her decision, accusing her of “playing with fire”; and arguing that the “greenhorn” speaker should have dismissed the motion from the very beginning.

But Tay is also the one who had urged the public not to go against the government just days before the Bersih rally back in 2011. A typical product of the conservative Chinese press, Tay feared that any drastic action as such would only bring about political disasters for the country.

Thankfully, tens of thousands of Malaysians turned up for the protest and the show of force is now a symbol of Malaysian defiance vis-a-vis an authoritarian state. It was not only a setback for Najib Abdul Razak, but for those like Tay who had sung praises of him. Don’t expect Tay to speak up now that Najib is bent on judicial persecution against Malaysiakini.com.

Very much like Gerakan and MCA, Tay would prefer the traditional way of ‘negotiating and reforming within the establishment’, and his grave concern that the Chinese have no representation in government would affect the future of the Chinese Malaysian community only proves that he has long passed his sell-by date as a ‘seasoned journalist’.

What, really, would be the benefits of having just a token representation in the cabinet for the sake of window-dressing, other than that it may help some business tycoons to smooth deals?

After all, Tay owes his position today to the political establishment with his boss Ting Hiew King being a BN crony. He also constantly dodges public debate on critical issues and prefers to sweep them under the carpet, just like all the Gerakan and MCA leaders, knowing full well that his views are mostly indefensible.

In facing down the Umno challenge, Yeoh has set a new paradigm in Malaysian politics while exposing the sheer hypocrisy of the BN parties and opportunistic press like Sin Chew, something that perhaps she did not intend to. Now many would be curious to know how Tay is able to face up to his own flimsiness.


JOSH HONG studied politics at London Metropolitan University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. A keen watcher of domestic and international politics, he longs for a day when Malaysians will learn and master the art of self-mockery, and enjoy life to the full in spite of politicians.