The mastermind of UMNO’s “UG” (Unity Government between UMNO and PAS) conspiracy achieved an unexpected coup within a year when the Kelantan hudud enactment question completely drowned out all the issues currently haunting UMNO and the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak – the 1MDB scandal; Anwar Ibrahim’s five-year jailing; Mongolian Altantunya Shaariibuu’s 2006 murder and conviction of two former police commandos Azila Hadri and Sirul Azhar with motives neither established nor pursued; the new jet for PM; the lavish spending on wedding of Najib’s daughter and above all, Najib’s survival as Prime Minister and UMNO President.
The latest bait in the UMNO UG conspiracy was unveiled only on March 27 last year when the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Islamic affairs, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom, surprised even PAS leaders with his completely unanticipated overture in Parliament that the UMNO/Barisan Nasional federal government was ready to work with the PAS Kelantan state government to implement the hudud law in Kelantan.
The first fruit of the latest gambit in the UMNO UG conspiracy was the re-enactment of the 1993 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code as the 2015 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code with slight amendments on 19th March 2015 and the second fruit, the notification by the PAS President, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang to Parliament on March 18 to move a private member’s bill to implement hudud law in Kelantan.
As orchestrated by the deep plot of the UMNO UG conspirators, these two fruits were achieved in furtherance of their real objective to destabilise, divide and destroy Pakatan Rakyat because PAS had to break ranks not only with Pakatan Rakyat parties but also betrayed its commitments to Pakatan Rakyat, viz:
*Firstly, violation of the Pakatan Rakyat Common Policy Framework 2010, which sets out the core principles and objectives of Pakatan Rakyat coalition, which does not include hudud law and implementation.
*Secondly, violation of the Joint Statement of the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council on 28th September 2011 on hudud.
*Thirdly, violation of the report made by the PAS Deputy Mentri Besar, Dato Mohd Amar Abdullah to the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council of 8th February 2015 on four amendments to the PAS Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code 1993, as what was presented to the Kelantan State Assembly and passed was an entirely new 71-clause Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code 2015.
*Fourthly, violation of the decision of the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council of March 12, 2015 that there should not be a new 2015 re-enactment of the 1993 Syariah Criminal Code but only the proposed amendments to the 1993 Enactment by PAS Kelantan State Government.
*Fifthly, violation of the unanimous decisions of the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council of Feb.8, 2015 that the proposed amendments to the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code and proposed Private Member’s Bill on hudud implemantion should first be presented to PR Majlis Pimpinan for discussion. Neither undertaking was met.
Hadi’s submission of a Private Member’s Bill on hudud implementation had come as a total surprise not only to DAP and PKR leaders and MPs, but to the majority of PAS leaders and MPs as well.
PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali told The Malaysian Insider yesterday (20th March) that he had no knowledge of Hadi’s letter to Parliament when in yesterday’s New Straits Times PAS Assistant Secretary-General Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan was quoted as saying that Hadi would likely table the bill, although PAS headquarters had yet to decide which of its MPs would be asked to do it.
In actual fact, Hadi had on 18th March given notice to Parliament in his name to move a Private Member’s Bill on hudud implementation in the current meeting of Parliament which ends on April 9, 2015.
It would appear that despite the unanimous decision of Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council on Feb. 8, 2015 that any Private Member’s Bill on hudud implementation should be presented first to the Council, not only were DAP and PKR leaders and MPs kept in the dark, even PAS leaders and MPs knew nothing about Hadi’s Private Member’s Bill beforehand until it was reported by the media.
It is for PAS leadership to decide on how it runs its own party matters and arrive at its party decisions, but this is clearly an open defiance and violation of PR leadership decisions and operational principles.
The PAS leadership under Hadi had in fact chalked up a longer list of violations of the two basic principles on which Pakatan Rakyat had operated for the past seven years since the formation of PR in April 2008 – the PR Common Policy Framework and the operational principle of consensus whereby every decision of PR must be by way of consensus of the three component parties of DAP, PKR and PAS.
The best example of PAS under Hadi violating these principles was the Pakatan Rakyat Selangor crisis over a new Selangor Mentri Besar, where Hadi overruled a decision made by the PR Leadership Council which was fully attended PAS representatives – and after that, Hadi boycotted the PR Leadership Council meeting except for the Feb. 8, 2015 meeting held at PAS headquarters.
Hadi also did not attend the March 12, 2015 PR Leadership Council meeting, although it was scheduled specially so that he could be able to attend – but he subsequently claimed that he had not been informed that there was such a meeting.
The Common Policy Framework appears to be an election-time arrangement to defeat Barisan Nasional. It had some success! Did PAS undertake never to press for Islamic Law implementation? NO! Each party would follow its own principles. Therefore we should stop attacking PAS on the grounds of their alleged treachery. Let us not pretend we did not know of each other’s stand. In the next elections, DAP, PKR, and PAS, and others, can still co-operate for election purposes – to deny Barisan “carte-blanche” in Malaysian politics. That is the way to defeat UMNO.
As for the Malaysian Carefree Association, they cannot hope to gain by DAP’s co-operation with PAS for election purposes provided the reason is properly explained to the people.