Speech (Part 2) by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Siang, at the opening of the Negri Sembilan DAP State Convention in Seremban on Sunday, October2, 1994 at 10am.
The Bar Council must declare its stand whether it supports the hudud law of the PAS Kelantan State Government and the establishment of an Islamic State in Malaysia.
It is surprising to read in the press today that the Bar Council’s Syariah and Hudud laws Committee has endorsed the hudud laws passed by the PAS Kelantan State Government last November.
The Chairman of the Bar Council’s Syariah and Hudud Laws Committee, Sulaiman Abdullah, has said that his committee studied the Syariah Criminal Code (II) Enactment 1993 and concluded that it was consistent with Islamic laws.
The committee said there were however inconsistency in certain provisions between hudud laws and the Fedaral Constitution which can be overcome by amending the Constitution.
The Bar Council must declare its stand whether it support the hudud law of the PAS Kelantan State Government, the amendment of the Federal Constitution to legalise the Kelantan hudud laws and the establishment of an Islamic State in Malaysia.
The Bar Council had always given the public the impression that it had always supported the secular basis of the Fedaral Constitution and nation-building process in Malaysia but the Stand of its Syariah and Hudud laws Committee has now given a totally opposite impression.
DAP’s Stand on a secular state for Malaysia had always been consistent and the DAP will oppose any proposal to amend the Fedaral Constitution to introduce hudud laws in multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural Malaysia and the establishment of an Islamic State.
Why is Liong Sik and Keng Yaik so quiet about the ban on the sale of beer, stout and shandy at coffee shops and sundry shops in Langkawi when they had been so ‘articulate’ about Kelantan?
I must ask the MCA President, Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik and the Gerakan President, Datuk Lim Keng Yaik why they are so quiet about the ban on the sale of beer, stout and shandy at coffee shops and sundry shops in Langkawi when they had been so ‘articulate’ about Kelantan?
This shows that the MCA and Gerakan are not concerned about political principles, but only about ‘playing politics’ – where they no objection if the Barisan Nasional imposes ban on the sale of beer, stout and shandy at coffee shops and sundry shops as in Langkawi, but if there are restrictions on the sale of beer, stout and shandy in certain coffee shops in Kalantan, MCA and Gerakan will yell that there has been violation of the rights of the non-Muslims.
DAP will not follow the unprincipled example of the MCA and Gerakan. Whether it is PAS or UMNO, the DAP will oppose and criticize measures which disregard the rights and sensitivities of non-Muslims, and whether it is PAS or UMNO which imposes the ban on the sale of beer, stout and shandy at coffee shops and sundry shops, whether in Langkawi, Kelantan or any other states under the control of Barisan Nasional, they are all wrong and should be withdrawn unconditionally.