Gag order on hudud issued

Sep 27: Pakatan Rakyat has ordered leaders across the three component parties to stop issuing any statement on the current hudud laws issue publicised by the mainstream media until its top leadership council meets tomorrow.

In a joint press conference at the PAS headquarters, PAS secretary general Mustafa Ali, his counterpart from PKR Saifuddin Nasution and DAP deputy secretary general Anthony Loke agreed for a gag order, saying that the issue had been blown out of proportion.

“We do not want to blame anyone for having issued statements about hudud but it has been blown out of proportion now.

“Hence we decided that until the 28th (Wednesday), there must be no longer any statements issued on this matter from all three parties, whether PAS, PKR or DAP,” said Mustafa on behalf of the trio.

He said UMNO attempted to exploit the issue to create a rift between the component parties.

"We can't follow their agenda. The issue of Pakatan collapsing does not arise. God willing, we will resolve this issue,” he added.

On the other hand, Loke, representing DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng who is currently abroad, said the hudud issue was UMNO’s ploy to split PR in time for the 13th general election.

“It (UMNO) has no interest in hudud law. But we will show to the people that Pakatan is here to stay, to challenge BN in the next election," said Loke.

Meanwhile, Saifuddin expressed confidence that such a ploy would not break PR as their cooperation has grown stronger and more mature.