Sacking leaders not Islamic, says PAS president

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang today said that the culture of sacking a leader was not encouraged in Islam, in a veiled attack at the movement which wanted to remove Datuk Seri Najib Razak as prime minister. What was allowed is to correct the leader within the country's system, he said. "It is not encouraged in Islam. Even I do not agree with the government but we are patient," said Hadi, who is also the Marang MP, when debating the Royal Address today. Earlier in the morning, Hadi dismissed the Citizens' Declaration signed by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad with other opposition leaders as pointless as it would never bring about any change without the support of Barisan Nasional leaders. "I have made it clear earlier that there are things that we (PAS and other opposition parties) agree on and there are things that we do not agree on. "We agree on changes but to us, that has to be done in a democratic manner. The thing that we don't agree on is that this is being done in haste," he said. Hadi said there were two ways to make changes in the country, one of them was through the election and through a vote of no-confidence. "If we want to get the vote of no confidence, it has through the majority in Parliament and that has to come from Umno but if the leaders refused and only us, it is a pointless effort," he said. Despite PAS's refusal to support the declaration, its election strategy director Mustafa Ali and Kuala Nerus MP Khairuddin Aman Razali attended the event. Hadi also touched on empowering the Shariah Court and said offenders who had violated Islamic laws should receive heavier penalties. "Right now, the compound or punishment was even lower from those who were charged for throwing rubbish on the street. The punishment for shariah should be heavier," he said. He added that under the Islamic penal code punishment was not intended to hurt but to shame. "It is to educate not punish," he said. Citing judicial caning, Hadi said whipping in Islam was not meant to injure but to shame the offender. "We do not whip the person till the skin comes off. We do not execute it to inflict pain or injure the person. It was done to embarrass the person," Hadi said. – March 9, 2016.]]>