Muslims to draft policies, non-Muslims to implement them, under PAS rule

Chan Kok Leong Chan Kok Leong Updated 6 years ago · Published on 4 Feb 2018 2:44PM · 11 Comments

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang says there will two separate cabinets for Muslims and non-Muslims if the people vote his party into power, at the party’s dialogue session with Indian NGOs at Hotel Seri Melaysia, Kepala Batas, Penang, today. – The Malaysian Insight pic by David ST Loh, February 4, 2018.

DIFFERENT races would play different roles in a federal government led by PAS, said Abdul Hadi Awang today.

Departing from his earlier stance last month where he called for the government to be led by Malay-Muslims only, the PAS president today said there would be two cabinets should the Islamist party come into power.

“If PAS rules, it (the administration) will be divided into two. One (is) a cabinet that decides on national policies. This must consist of people who adopt the national ideology and faith.

“This cabinet will appoint an executive cabinet to carry out the policies and the members can be non-Muslims, appointed based on their expertise,” said the Marang MP during a speech at the opening of PAS’ dialogue with Indian NGOs in Kepala Batas, Penang, today.

The second group would be the technocrats who carry out government policies, he said.

“The technocrats can be from Parliament or the private sector”

Hadi said although Malaysia was a Muslim-majority country, Islam allowed for non-Muslims to be in the cabinet.

“This is different from western democracy where if the Democrats win the elections, the cabinet and government officers are only  Democrats; the same with Conservative, Republican or Labour party governments.”

During the question-and-answer segment, Hadi said Indians would not be excluded from a PAS cabinet.

“Indians are the next biggest ethnic group after the Chinese. If we governed the country, we must include other races. The government cannot consist of PAS only.

“This is very important in the executive (cabinet). We must respect the expertise of the different races,”

He was responding to a question from Mohan Apparoo of the Malaysian Indian Global Economics Development on whether there was a place for Indians in a PAS federal cabinet.

What about hudud? 

Hadi was also asked whether a PAS-Umno government would implement hudud and turn Malaysia into an Islamic state.

Hadi did not supply a direct answer, however. Instead, he listed the benefits of hudud.

“If there is hudud, it will follow what is already provided in the federal constitution or state enactments. But non-Muslims will be given a choice of whether to (be governed by) hudud or civil law.”

But if people understood hudud better, he said, they would choose it over civil law because it was a fair system.

“Hudud does not seek to punish. It seeks to educate by way of instilling fear in people before they commit a crime.”

On whether PAS would implement an Islamic state, Hadi said it depended on the provisions of the federal constitution.

“(The constitution states that) Islam is the religion of the federation while other religions have freedom. As such, we have to interpret Islam from the constitutional standpoint.

“We will look at this later. What is important is not whether we announce it or not, but the fair policies that will be put into place,” said the 70-year-old leader. 

Hindu Sangam Penang deputy chairman G Munisaran asked Hadi what he thought of the expansion of religious classes for non-Muslims, the elevation of Tamil language schools from primary to secondary, and the recent landmark M. Indira Gandhi case in which the Federal Court quashed the unilateral conversion of children to Islam.

Hadi said PAS had no issues with mother-tongue education and it would be allowed. He, however, stopped short of saying that it would continued in secondary school education.

On the issue of unilateral conversion of minors, Hadi said there were two schools of thought – Maliki and Hanafi.

“A Muslim child can be given to the non-Muslim mother so long as there is sufficient supervision by the government to ensure the child is brought up as a Muslim. The child has to be taught what is halal and haram according to Islam.

“So in the context of this case, the constitution and state laws have to be harmonised and the Muslim and non-Muslim parents must be brought to a dialogue to see what is best.”

Hindu Sangam’s Munisaran said he wasn’t convinced by Hadi’s answers.

“I didn’t get exact answers to my questions on hudud and the Indira Gandhi issue. After such a lengthy court battle of nine years, she is still facing pressure and threats that the case will be reviewed again,” said Munisaran, at the end of the event.

“As for the hudud issue, we just have to accept his promise that it will not be forced on the non-Muslims. But it is difficult.”

The dialogue session was attended by a dozen Indian NGOs and aired live on the PAS Penang Facebook page.

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Comments

  • Muslim.non Muslim secondary issue. Ulama led govt CANNOT succeed. Failure is already evident in Iran

    Posted 6 years ago by Bigjoe Lam · Reply

  • Talk can...very good suggestions .........implement can in your own thoughts.......after world

    Posted 6 years ago by Mohanarajan murugeson · Reply

  • Saudi gov label this fella as terrorist

    Posted 6 years ago by Leslie Chan · Reply

  • Stop playing God.

    Posted 6 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

  • With the Muslims already infringing into the rights and religious practices of non Muslims against the provision and spirit of the constitution, and even their religious scholars threatening violence even without sensible discussions, can these people be really trusted to form a government where they can do even more damage by changing the constitution to be even more their version of their religion.

    Posted 6 years ago by Xuz ZG · Reply

  • Is PAS govt carrying out divide and rule?

    Posted 6 years ago by Ss Lee · Reply

    • No-lah..... they are copying what the UMNO leaders (past and present) did .... "I play dirty, you take the fall" ..... eg scandals like ..... 1MDB. Scopene, C4, Project IC (Sabah), BN FX losses ('90s), BBF (Hong Kong), Maminco (tin) ...... the proxies and lieutenants were the fall guys ... while the real culprits (leaders) escaped scot-free ....

      Posted 6 years ago by Malaysian First · Reply

  • Completely CLUELESS what he is suggesting is SHOCKING..If it was a white guy or a Singapore Minister suggesting this for their race or religion, someone would burn or bomb something...

    Posted 6 years ago by Bigjoe Lam · Reply

  • What ever said and gone to get the facts right Hadi must know what is haram and what not. Govt collects..taxes money from gambling N ALCOHOL ....and this is spent to all Malaysian. HOW THIS IS HARAM MONEY? NON muslim can enjoy this money. Even your salary at Parliament comes from here. WHY NOT SEPARATE THIS MONEY OR DON'T COLLECT PAY. ?

    Posted 6 years ago by Mohanarajan murugeson · Reply

  • Money received from the govt comes from all sources and according to Islam haram and non haram. Haram comes from gambling and alcohol . BUT NO SEPARATE SYSTEM AS SUCH ALL PAY RECEIVED IS HARAM .

    Posted 6 years ago by Mohanarajan murugeson · Reply

  • What a stupid idiotic,uncivilized answer !!! What kind of brains if any does this guy have? Who ever said that the religion that these guys profess was fair!! So how can a government be run on unfair,cruel,tilted rules? This has never worked and never will work in a normal human environment. Lets get rid of these snakes.

    Posted 6 years ago by Alphonz Jayaraman · Reply