by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, May 17, 1994:
DAP calls on PAS to respect the multi-racial and multi-religious character of Malaysia and to drop its proposal to introduce hukum hudud laws
DAP welcomes the decision by UMNO Supreme Council as announced the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Maahthir Mohamed, yesterday to reject the hukum hudud enactment passed by the PAS Kelantan State Government.
Although the DAP welcomes, the UMNO Supreme Council decision, we must register our great reservation about the reason given by UMNO Supreme Council – that the Kelantan hudud enactment is not Islamic enough – as this opens the door for UMNO in future to introduce its own hudud enactment which it reqards as Islamic enough, or at least more Islamic than the PAS enactment.
DAP must reiterate its position that hudud laws, whether PAS or UMNO, are completely inappropriate for a multi¬racial and multi-religious society like Malaysia, especially as this nation is founded on a secular basis as entrenched in the Malaysian Constitution.
DAP calls on PAS to respect the multi-racial and multi-religious character of Malaysia and to drop its proposal to introduce hukum hudud laws in the country.