By Baru Bian
PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang's criticism of non-Muslim
MPs who oppose his Hudud Bill is completely out of place and unacceptable to all
right-minded Malaysians.
In April this
year, a Christian woman was caned under Syariah law for selling alcohol in Aceh. Is
this how Syariah law is not affecting non-Muslims?- Baru Bian
Our oath of office as assemblymen and parliamentarians is
to defend the Federal Constitution and the rights of all Malaysians
irrespective of religious beliefs.
This is what we are elected by our constituents to do and
if we keep silent on issues which are of such grave importance, we would be
failing in our duty to our people.
The Hudud bill, in our opinion, is against the Federal
Constitution and will affect all Malaysians in its application.
Those people who keep saying it has nothing to do with
hudud and that it will not affect non-Muslims are just playing a political
game.
In answer to Hadi Awang’s ‘reminder’ to non-Muslims ‘not
to behave like Ahok’, I wish to remind him and all MPs of what is happening in
Aceh.
In April this
year, a Christian woman was caned under Syariah law for selling alcohol. Is
this how Syariah law is not affecting non-Muslims?
If anyone needs more convincing, please read the writings
of Zaid Ibrahim and Mujahidin Zulkiffli, two Muslim leaders who are against the
implementation of Hudud in Malaysia.
Mujahiddin lays out on frightening detail how non-Muslims
are treated in Islamic countries and says that in history, hudud applies to
all.
Zaid Ibrahim describes the great impact on the lives of
the people, including how they dressed and what they could and could not do if
hudud were introduced.
In fact, even without hudud, the authorities are already
trying to impose Islamic standards on all Malaysians, eg with dress codes and
telling non-Muslims not to eat in public during the fasting month.
Anyone who believes that Hadi Awang’s Hudud bill will not
affect non-Muslims must be extremely naïve.
We cannot accept two criminal systems in a
multi-religious country like Malaysia. Our constitution guarantees equality for
all, and having two systems of punishment would be a violation of that
constitutional guarantee.
Moreover, Malaysia is meant to be a secular democratic
State and therefore the religious beliefs of its citizens cannot and should not
be legislated. A person’s religious belief is personal between that person and
his/her God.
This is especially crucial for Sabah and Sarawak. Hadi’s
idea of Malaysia was never envisaged to be the Malaysia we intended to form, as
evidenced in the MA63 and all the pre-formation documents.
I urge Chief
Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem to have this foremost in his mind at all times.
He must stick to his stand even if there will be an amendment to the present
bill.
The wisdom of our forefathers and wishes of the people
must be paramount, and not political allegiance to BN/UMNO. On principle, based
on the above points Sarawak MP should oppose this bill.
From the media reports, it appears that threats have now
been issued to all Muslim YBs to support the bill at next sitting, failing
which an all-out campaign will be started against them.
Malaysians should know and understand the main motives
behind this bill and how it suspiciously unites PAS and UMNO, who are
politically sworn enemies. This is clearly a political bill and UMNO’s actions
show it is fearful of losing its grip.
We must also not allow ourselves to be distracted from
other major issues that are crippling this country such as the massive 1MDB
corruption scandal that implicates the PM and the criminal treatment of Maria
Chin Abdullah by the increasingly despotic government. - Nov 25, 2016
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