‘Hudud will help boost country’s economy’
With Umno working together with PAS, Malays will become united, creating political stability and boosting our credit rating, says political economist Prof Hoo Kee Ping.
PETALING JAYA: A political economist says the Kelantan hudud bill tabled in the Dewan Rakyat last Thursday will actually serve to boost Malaysia’s economy, credit rating and bring in more foreign direct investments into the country.
Prof Hoo Kee Ping said this was because there will finally be unity and political stability.
“We are an emerging market. Most emerging markets face uncertain political stability.
“Look at Brazil and other emerging countries.
“Emerging markets are meant to do well. But some countries do not do well because of political uncertainties,” he told FMT.
He said if both the Malay-majority parties — Umno and PAS — merged, it would help to strengthen the current government which now only has a simple majority.
“There will be popular votes and a stronger Barisan Nasional. There will not be a negative political factor.
“This will create stability,” he said.
Hoo was asked to comment on the impact of the recent proposed amendment to the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act tabled by Marang MP Abdul Hadi Awang in the Dewan Rakyat last Thursday. Debate on Hadi’s private member’s bill to enhance the powers of shariah courts was put off until the next Parliament sitting in October.
Hoo said Malaysia faced a lot of uncertainties after the May 2013 General Election due to frequent protests and unrest.
“Moody’s credit rating agency wanted to downgrade our ringgit because of the shortfalls in the government.
“But after explaining to them the measures taken to strengthen the government, they did not downgrade our ringgit.”
One of the measures was Umno-PAS cooperation.
He said the talks on greater cooperation had been taking place even before the 2008 General Election, but previous PAS leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat was not interested in working with Umno.
However, he said after Nik Aziz died in February last year, it was easier for the present leader, Hadi, to work closely with Umno.
“He has been keen to work with Umno for a long time. He would not even mind merging PAS with Umno.”
One of the conditions for the cooperation is for Umno to support Kelantan’s version of hudud, or the Islamic penal code.
He claimed that there was a closed-door meeting between Umno and PAS in December 2013, with regards to hudud in Kelantan.
Hoo said due to the understanding, the recent amendment will likely be passed in Parliament during the next sitting in October.
“Muslim MPs from BN and PAS will support the bill. It only needs 112 ayes to get it passed in the lower house.”
Once the hudud amendment is approved, the government will then move to its second phase of strengthening its position by redelineation of parliament seats.
He said BN will have 30 new seats from PAS and a further redelineation will see BN strengthening its position.
He predicts the redrawing of Parliament seats will take place in semi-urban areas.
For instance, in the Kajang-Serdang border, they might redraw the border to ensure Serdang has 100% Chinese voters while Kajang will have more Malay voters.
“A new seat might also be created, which might have 60 per cent Malay voters.”
Hoo said it was possible for new seats to be created with a higher Malay population to get a higher mandate during the next general election.
“The Chinese voters will possibly be grouped together because the Chinese are against the Barisan National.”
He said these actions will see Barisan Nasional securing a higher mandate in the coming general election.
During the 2013 General Election, Barisan Nasional won 133 of the 222 parliamentary seats – its worst-ever election performance.
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The Opposition won 89 seats, up from the 82 seats it won in the 2008 election.