KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 ― PAS’s renewed hudud bid is seen as the party’s departure from the middle ground, a move that observers believe could cause it to lose the non-Muslim support base it has grown steadily over the past two general elections.
The Islamist party has already lost the backing of its own Pakatan Rakyat (PR) allies DAP and PKR and now has to rely on support from arch rival Umno to push through two private members’ bills in Parliament to allow for the implementation of hudud in Kelantan.
Its own non-Muslim supporters’ wing has also outrightly objected to the hudud proposal, believing that not all within PAS are agreeable to it.
“I am worried about it. The non-Muslims, especially in Kelantan, even though only a minority, do not understand the principle of hudud in detail,” Hu Pang Chow, chairman of the PAS Supporters' Congress (DHPP) told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.
“Do the grassroots supporters really want hudud? Do they even understand the reasons behind it, besides that its a religious duty for PAS?” he asked.
The DHPP, formed back in 2010, was ostensibly created as PAS's response to its growing influence among the non-Malays.
The formation of the wing was also part of PAS’s bid to boost its moderate image after the 2008 general election, where the combined efforts of PAS, DAP and PKR saw Barisan Nasional (BN) denied its traditional parliamentary supermajority.
It was also after Election 2008 that PR was formed, forcing together the unlikeliest of political allies under one umbrella ― secularist DAP and Islamist PAS.
Despite its Islamic agenda, a more progressive PAS rose to the fore to champion ideals of democracy, freedom, transparency and good governance along with its pact partners.
The party even fielded candidates from the DHPP in recent by-elections, an indication many observers had remarked as an encouraging sign for a party branded as extremely conservative in the past. DHPP currently has 20,000 members.
Kelantanese-born Hu, who has been under fire by PAS leaders for questioning PAS' hudud initiative, said the DHPP wants the party to first explain to non-Muslims how implementing the law would improve existing economic and social conditions before pressing ahead with it.
The current reasons given were very “superficial” at the moment, he said.
“We are a political party. At the end of the day,we know what PAS is about, its struggle is based on Islam. But PAS leaders are only looking at matters from one angle, religion.
“There is also a political repercussion from this, all the party's good work with breaking barriers with the non-Malays, non-Muslims, they have to address this,” he added.
Hu reminded PAS that it would not have won its parliamentary and state seats in 2013's general election with just the support from the Malay community.
“We need support from all races to win, Umno realises this, so must PAS...please, get proper feedback before you rush through with this,” he said.
The PAS supporter's remarks are shared by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition partner DAP, who has told the Islamist party that the hudud agenda has never translated into votes or support among constituents.
DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang has reminded PAS that the hudud issue failed to help PAS retain Terengganu that it held only for a single term, asserting that it was voter discontent with Barisan Nasional that allowed the party to seize power in the state in 1999 before losing it back to BN in 2004.
According to Lim, PAS' push for hudud would also cause severe repercussions for DAP and PKR, especially among non-Malay voters.
PAS previously asserted that its continued hold on power in Kelantan was indicative of the public’s support for its plan to finally enforce the Syariah Criminal Code Enactment that is passed in 1993.
But political analyst Dr Faisal Hazis disagreed, saying it was PAS’s appeal to the middle ground that helped improve support for the federal opposition.
“What PAS and Pakatan Rakyat has to realise is that the increased popularity of the coalition in the last two general elections was due to its centrist messages ― its appeal to a middle Malaysia, with issues on good governance and democracy,” the analyst from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.
Hudud, said the academic, has never translated into additional votes for PAS, and would be a step back from the moderate and “centrist” image the Islamist party had managed to portray for the past several years.
“In 2004, when PAS was on the decline, it changed its strategy to a push for a 'welfare state'...a reversal back to hudud will most definitely cause it to lose non-Malay support, its a no-brainer,” Faizal added.
Monash University Malaysia’s political science Professor James Chin said although PAS would lose non-Malay support over its hudud plans, the bigger concern was the political danger PR would be in the near future.
“It will be much harder for Pakatan Rakyat to convince voters that they can work as an effective coalition,” he told The Malay Mail Online.
In Islamic jurisprudence, hudud covers crimes such as theft, robbery, adultery, rape, sodomy, making unproven accusations of adultery, causing physical hurt, drinking intoxicants, apostasy, and acts contrary to Islamic belief.
PAS announced plans this month to introduce two private members’ bills in Parliament to allow it to enforce hudud in Kelantan.
But in doing so, it again resurrected the on-and-off conflict between DAP and PAS that dates back to the 1990s and which had kept the two from co-operating for decades.
PAS’s attempt to push for hudud is not new. Previous attempts by PAS to table similar bills have been blocked by the BN-dominated Parliament and have never been voted on.
In all previous attempts, PAS had been frustrated by BN tactics to prevent any vote by employing a “talking out” tactic where BN MPs have been allowed to speak for an extended period of time to prevent such private members’ bills from even being debated. The filibuster-style tactic was frequently used when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was still prime minister.
But Umno in recent times has openly expressed support for PAS’s latest bid, even as the Islamist parties allies outwardly reject or remain non-committal to its professed goals.
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