26 March 2015

Has DAP abandoned its belief in federalism?

DAP is caught in a bind. It opposes hudud but it needs PAS and it cannot deny Kelantan's sovereign right to enact its own laws.

DAP has decided to ostracise Abdul Hadi Awang from Pakatan Rakyat but not PAS, the party he leads. This decision is not only presumptuous but also deceitful and prickly since it was not Hadi, but PAS, that joined this loose coalition of opposition parties before the 2008 general election. DAP cannot discharge Hadi alone. The party he leads must go together with him.
But DAP knows that its destiny is truly determined by PAS. It needs Malay support through PAS as it tries to obliterate its image as a Chinese chauvinist party.
DAP has been rattling wildly in recent months with calls for PAS to leave Pakatan Rakyat if it insists on enforcing hudud in Kelantan. Now that the PAS government in Kelantan has shown that it doesn’t give a hoot to what its Pakatan partners think, DAP is going on as if the world is going to end.
The decision to sever ties with Hadi implies that it wants PAS to oust him from his position as president of the party. The artifice employed is nothing short of crude and displays a complete absence of decorum.
Some people forget that Pakatan is a loose coalition with no binding agreement between the three coalition members. Any of the members can leave the coalition at any time. No party can sack another in an organisation that is not officially registered.
The decision to introduce hudud was decided unanimously in the Kelantan State Assembly. I am not for hudud, but I acknowledge the Kelantan Government’s right to legislate any law it wants to. One must remember that Malaysia, like the United States, is a federation and the Federal Government derives its sovereignty from the sovereignty of the member states.
Individual states in the US enact some laws that are different from laws used in other states. So if Kelantan decides to have hudud law, everyone, especially the Federal Government and political parties, should respect it. It was a decision made by a sovereign state exercising the sovereignty of its citizens.
The DAP and everyone else will have to resign themselves to the fact that we are not ruled by a unitary government.
DAP has all along been promoting the moral of federalism. There is therefore no reason for it to be rattled by the decision of the Kelantan State Assembly.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Saudara AA

For all that we know, DAP tried to show its mettle by being vociferous against hudud. It was extremely immature to decide to not deal with Hadi Awang but continues to accept PAS.

DAP needs to know that they can't have both the cake as well as the icing. They should have waited for BN and Najib's response before becoming loose cannons.

RD. said...

Thank You Mr. AA.

This must be the most enlightening article about PAS' Hudud debacle. This posting also bares the real truth about what DAP exactly stands for. The Chinese and nobody else.

DAP championed Democracy, amazingly naming their party with it too, yet they want to deny the sovereignty of a federal's member states of Kelantan, who had unanimous aye, to administer their own government, whichever way they choose.

I'm not for PAS' Hudud too, but I hate the way Democracy is being abused, just for the sake of one ethnic group.

eri said...

wait for najib's comment??? dream on la bro...

maae said...

He..he.. tunggu lah Guang Eng peluk Islam. Dulu ada meroyan melompat beruk, kata nya Guan Eng akan jadi muslim !

Federalism dalam Pas tak wujud. Assobiyah. Definisi Dap pula, its nothing but chinese only.... PKR ? Azmin Ali pun tidak kenal ketua-ketua cabang nya !

Jadi lah Orang Melayu Islam. Itu yang terbaik. Demi Bangsa, Agama dan Negara. Jika sekarang sedikit kalut, perbetulkan. Itu tugas utama Melayu.