PAS and Umno are the two biggest Muslim-Malay parties in the country and, together, they have the numbers needed for PAS to realise its dream of hudud law in Kelantan.
TAN Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had arrived at Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat’s house with little fanfare. It was a social visit and he had brought along his wife Puan Sri Noorainee Abdul Rahman. The VIP couple were inside for about an hour with the men – Muhyiddin, Nik Aziz and his politician son Nik Abduh – chatting in the main living room and the women in another room. By the time the host and his visitors emerged, a curious crowd had gathered outside the modest kampung house, many of them holding up their cellphones to record the occasion.
It is not every day that the Deputy Prime Minister and his wife come to visit and Nik Aziz was wearing the broadest smile that anyone has seen in months.
Muhyiddin had been wanting to visit Nik Aziz after hearing that the elderly former Mentri Besar was in poor health and the opportunity came when he had some free time between functions in Kota Baru.
Muhyiddin was dressed just right for visiting a Tok Guru – long-sleeved shirt, no tie, not too formal and with just the right touch of respect. Moreover, he was wearing a kopiah. Everyone knows Muhyiddin is more of a songkok man and he usually dons a kopiah when he is headed for the mosque or a religious event.
But there is very little in Kelantan that does not have a tinge of politics about it, and the social visit was quickly read as yet another sign of the warming ties between the country’s two biggest Muslim-Malay political parties.
The Muslim brethren thing is a very potent force and should not be underestimated. It is no secret that some in Umno feel they have much more in common with PAS especially after the way the Chinese rejected Barisan Nasional and their continuing attacks on anything to do with Umno.
Besides, Muhyiddin’s visit had come after Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak popped by IJN to visit Datuk Dr Haron Din, the leading theologian in PAS, who was recovering from chest pains.
Dr Haron sat cross-legged on the bed and chatted away with the Prime Minister like they were old friends. When it was time to go, Najib held the older man’s hands with both of his, gripping firmly to wish him speedy recovery.
Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob, on his part, was at the Ipoh hospital recently to visit an Umno assemblyman from Kelantan who was injured in an accident near Tapah that killed his wife.
Umno and PAS are still on opposite sides of the fence, make no mistake about that. There is still a great deal of rivalry and distrust between the two sides but the sharp edge has been replaced by a friendlier and more cooperative spirit.
For instance, Kok Lanas assemblyman Datuk Alwi Che Ahmad said federal leaders feel welcome in Kelantan nowadays. The softer tone in their relationship has enabled a number of public projects to take off and this will ultimately benefit the people of Kelantan.
Physical development is one thing. What PAS wants most now is for Umno to help them achieve their quest to implement hudud in Kelantan.
Ahmad and his deputy Datuk Nik Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah are about to pull off what Nik Aziz lacked the political will to do. It looks like the low-profile and soft-spoken Ahmad has been seriously underestimated by all.
If Ahmad gets his way, the PAS claim of Kelantan as the “serambi Mecca” or the verandah of Islam’s holiest city will take on a whole new meaning. It will be second only to the kingdom of Brunei which, on Friday, officially became an Islamic State.
The two Private Members’ Bills that PAS is planning to table in Parliament need only a simple majority to go through.
But PAS is caught in a weird situation – it is unable to rely on its partners DAP and PKR for support. Instead, the party is reaching out to Umno for help to push through the Bills.
And that is why some are wondering whether all that “hello, how are you?” pleasantries going on between their respective leaders may be more than social niceties.
The political storm surrounding the PAS push for hudud law is growing bigger and more thunderous. There has been a tense exchange of words over it among the Pakatan partners.
The most stunning thing about the hudud move is that PAS had happily gone about their plans without consulting or alerting its partners.
It was only after the media started reporting on it that PKR and DAP leaders started taking notice.
Self-denial
But as PAS deputy ulama chief Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamed put it: “They (DAP and PKR) implemented policies that PAS did not agree to. If they can do that, we can do the same in Kelantan.”
He was referring to the Penang government passing two enactments – one was an anti-hopping law and the other to facilitate local government elections. PAS was also deeply unhappy about the unilateral move to make Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim Mentri Besar of Selangor via the Kajang Move.
Many Pakatan leaders were in self-denial about the hudud move until recently. For instance, some of them had initially claimed that PAS was not serious and that it was just posturing. They even claimed the Bills would fail because they needed a two-thirds majority to be passed whereas only a simple majority was required.
Several Pakatan politicians even accused the hudud plan of being a game played by Umno.
“Your own partner is the one pushing and you say it is because of Umno. Come on, don’t say stupid things,” said Kapar Umno chief Datuk Faizal Abdullah.
But the one that took the cake was a DAP leader blaming Umno for not stopping PAS. It was like your wife has misbehaved and instead of reprimanding her, you blame your neighbour from across the street for not controlling her.
The Pakatan marriage is still quite intact but it is quite a topsy-turvy scene inside the household.
Nik Aziz has given his blessings for what he called “the beauty of Allah’s law” and told a party leader he is longing to see it happen in his lifetime.
“We won’t do anything to jeopardise the cooperation in Pakatan but we cannot ignore the wishes of the people of Kelantan who voted for PAS,” said PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali.
Party president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang is so keen about it that he wants to be the one to table it in Parliament.
“All our leaders have been waiting a long time for Kelantan to show the goodness and justice of Islamic criminal law. There is no plan to pull the hand brake, we are going ahead. If people are happy and accept it, we can promote hudud all over the country,” said Nik Mohd Amar.
The opinion in PAS is that succeed or fail, their effort will bring them pahala or blessings from the Almighty.
Mustafa said that DAP and PKR have every right to oppose and PAS has every right to implement. And that is the way the cookie crumbles.
It is evident by now that PKR and DAP are quite powerless to stop this grand plan of PAS.
As Karpal Singh said a day before his death: “We cannot stop them from tabling the Bill but we can vote against it.”
But non-Muslim MPs are outnumbered by Muslim MPs and that is why the Muslim MPs in Barisan are now holding the cards.
Najib has put it well in saying that Umno has never rejected hudud and that it wants to study the implementation in greater detail before taking the next step. Hudud is obligatory in Islam but the religion also states that society must be ready and the socio-economic conditions must be there before the beauty of hudud can unfold.
But the reality is that many in Umno are still distrustful of PAS. They think the hudud move is more about politics than faith.
For instance, Pahang state exco member Datuk Sharkar Shamsuddin thinks that PAS wants to change the game because it has been pushed to the side of the football field by its partners.
“PAS is asking us to support a Bill that we have only read about in the newspapers. We want to embrace hudud but we don’t want to be dragged into an issue created by PAS,” said Sharkar who is also an Umno supreme council member.
Selangor’s Faizal put it best: “We are not saying no, but we want to know more before we say yes. This is not a simple yes or no issue because it involves our faith. If it is not done properly, the bad name will not only be on the Kelantan government but also on Muslims and Islam.”
The Star
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