But, Tay Tian Yan said in Sin Chew Daily, by doing this, Prime Minister Najib Razak and Umno “are engaged in a highly risky political adventure which unfortunately will have long term repercussions on this country”.
He said the BN would risk a further depletion of any residual non-Malay support as other BN component parties would invariably take the brunt, pushing the coalition closer to the edge of the cliff.
“Once a door is opened, the country might be headed towards a religionisation road of no return. There is a very heavy price to pay for a highly risky political bet,” said Tay.
He said PAS President Hadi Awang’s bill to expand the range of punishments the Shariah Court could impose was just the beginning of PAS’ plan to eventually turn Malaysia into an Islamic state.
He said despite BN component parties telling Umno not to open this window for PAS, as the consequences could be beyond anyone’s control, Umno had struck a deal with PAS to allow the bill on hudud to be tabled.
Tay suggested that this move by Umno was aimed at winning the by-elections in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar on June 18.
The two by-elections, he said, were “critically important” to Umno and Najib.
“A victory in the battles could have a powerful morale-boosting effect on the ruling coalition, and a defeat could as well spell a looming disaster.
“The question is, Najib’s personal image has plunged to the bottom of the valley thanks to 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion political donations, and that has sent a shockwave to his own party Umno.”
At the same time, he said, former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamd and the Opposition were gunning for Najib.
Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar, with 70 per cent and 80 per cent Malay voters respectively, had been retained by Umno in the last General Election with razor-thin minorities due to a lack of Chinese support.
“Umno’s strategists have done the calculation: Umno has irreversibly lost the support of non-Malays, especially the largely hostile Chinese Malaysians. Counting on a return of Chinese votes to BN is a wild, wild dream.
“They have to put all their stakes on Malay voters now to win these two seats.
“So they come up with a religious card, telling the voters Umno too can accept hudud, in a bid to win their favour while diverting the voters’ attention from 1MDB and RM 2.6 billion,” said Tay.
He said in a three-cornered fight, the Umno candidate was likely to win as Umno already had about 45 per cent fundamental Malay support in both constituencies while PAS only had about 25 per cent.
PAS, he thinks, would actually help Umno check Amanah or PKR in the by-elections.
“Umno wants to win the by-elections and PAS wants hudud and Islamic state. The duo couldn’t have made more compatible partners,” adds Tay.
“As for whether hudud would get debated and passed in the Parliament, that’s Najib’s concern several months down the road. And for the inevitably strained relationship with other BN components, Najib would only try to patch up after winning the by-elections.”