JOHOR BAHARU, April 29 – The Gelang Patah MCA division wants DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang to clearly state his stand on the hudud (Islamic law) advocted by PAS.
Its chief, said today this was to enable the voters in the Gelang Patah constituency to decide whether or not to vote for Lim in the May 5 polls.
“I think the people in Gelang Patah, especially the Chinese and Indian communities, want to know Lim Kit Siang’s stand before deciding whether or not to vote for him,” he told a news conference here.
Questioning Lim’s reluctance to state his stand on hudud after DAP national chairman Karpal Singh did so, Teoh said: “If only Karpal Singh can state his stand and that of the party, the DAP need not campaign in Gelang Patah. The party chairman’s ceramah should suffice.”
Karpal Singh said on Wednesday that the DAP’s earlier decision to use the PAS symbol in the 13th general election did not mean that the party agreed to accept the hudud laws that PAS wanted to implement in the country.
Lim was reported to have declined comment when asked by reporters on PAS deputy spiritual leader Datuk Harun Din’s statement that the DAP could leave the opposition pact if it did not agree on the implementation of hudud laws.
Teoh also urged the DAP to come out with a Gelang Patah declaration for the Chinese community like what it did for the Indian community which represented 12.5 per cent of the voters in the constituency.
The declaration entitled “A Vision & Strategy for Indian Empowerment” among others promised to resolve the citizenship woes of the Indian community without identity cards, build affordable homes, fund Tamil schools, and provide technical and vocational training for dropouts among children from the Indian community.
Teoh said that logically the Chinese community comprising 52.4 per cent of the voters in Gelang Patah should be given such a declatation because there were those among them who were low-income earners. Malays make up 34.2 per cent of the voters in the constituency while the rest constitute others.
Lim is facing Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, who is Johor Menteri Besar, in the contest for the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat.
BERNAMA
