Hudud For All: Star Exclusive

by Rahmah Ghazali

KAJANG: After taking over PAS supporter’s club from Hu Pang Chow last April, the new chairman of the non-Muslim wing has reversed his predecessor’s position on the shariah laws.

Unlike Hu, N. Balasubramaniam (pic) believes that the Islamic penal code could serve as a preventive law in reducing the crime rate in the country.

“I believe that the hudud law is effective for the people. It is already enshrined in the holy book, there must be a reason why it is there,” he told The Star Online at a recent interview.

Hailing from Kuala Lipis, Pahang, 56-year-old Balasubramaniam said a similar criminal law was the practice of an ancient kingdom in India and asked why there is now objection to it.

“The (criminal) law was called manu neethi sastram. It was a similar law to hudud that required offenders to have their hand chopped for stealing, or stoned to death for some other offences,” he said.

Balasubramaniam, who joined PAS in 2008, felt that non-Muslims can accept hudud if the right explanation is given.

“I have organised a number of forums with various NGOs on hudud law and they seem to be receptive to it.

“They also agreed that the Islamic penal code could bring down the crime rate significantly,” he said.

Hu’s outspokenness on the matter had seen him removed from helming the non-Muslim wing, but Balasubramaniam said this was just a part of forming a new committee.

“Hu was not sacked, but PAS merely wanted a new committee as he had held the position for four years.

“Besides, what he said about hudud was his personal views and the party could not take any action based on that,” he said.

Notably PAS has also been at loggerheads with its Pakatan Rakyat partners over its persistence on the implementation of the hudud law.

Now that he is given the responsibility of spearheading the PAS’ supporter’s club, Balasubramaniam said they will carry on with activities in the field and try to garner more members.

He said he would give himself a period of three years to prove to the party that the wing is capable of attracting new followers.

"In return, PAS should reward us with more seats in the next general elections with one non-Muslim candidate fielded in each state,” he said.

During GE13, three non-Muslim PAS candidates were fielded at two state seats and one parliamentary seat, but all were defeated. To date, the wing has 40,000 members  registered nationwide.

- source Star online