PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim today came to the DAP's defence by asking why the party is being singled out, when even the prime minister has said hudud will never be implemented in Malaysia.
"This campaign by religious extremists, specifically Utusan ( Malaysia ) says it's haram and sinful to support DAP as they don't support hudud.
"But MCA, and Umno itself, do not support hudud. (Former premier) Dr Mahathir Mohamad had written a letter to the Kelantan MB to reject the implementation of hudud in Malaysia and Najib reiterated this..." he said.
Najib was reported by The Star on Sept 25, 2011, as saying that the government will not implement hudud as it had to take current realities into consideration.
He was also reported as saying that there already were elements of hudud implemented in Malaysia, but "minus the extreme part".
Speaking after a Pakatan Rakyat council meeting, Anwar said that instead of harping on the hudud issue, it would be better for both sides of the political divide to “focus on national development and to explain their respective agenda”.
“For us, we maintain that Islam is the religion of the federation, and we advocate better understanding of Islam in society and in the country, and not making pronouncements (of what is halal and haram) off-hand,” he said.
He added that Najib had only recently urged that religion not be abused for political purposes, but the Umno-owned daily was doing just that.
DAP’s stand: M’sia secular state, Islam official religion
DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, who was also at the press conference at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya, said Utusan Malaysia had acted in an “incendiary and irresponsible” manner.
Lim said DAP has always affirmed that it respects Islam as the official religion of the state, but reiterated that Malaysia remained a secular state.
This, he said, matched the positions of the nation’s first three prime ministers, including Najib’s father Abdul Razak Hussain.
“Is Utusan saying that these three people are also enemies of Islam, so as to even call them kafir harbi (non-believers hostile to Islam)?” Lim asked, calling for action against Utusan .
The broadsheet has for two days running front-paged religious scholars saying that it is haram to support the DAP as the party is anti-Islam.