Pakatan Rakyat and the hudud dispute
This page covers what happened to the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat in 2015, after a Kelantan state law on hudud penalties and PAS's annual congress vote to sever ties with DAP, and what followed. The three member parties did not agree at the time on whether the coalition had ended, or on why the break happened; both disagreements are set out below.
what happened
Pakatan Rakyat was an opposition coalition of PKR, DAP and PAS. DAP's secretary-general described it as having been "formed by the three parties based on consensus and bound by the Common Policy Framework." The dispute that ended it centred on a state law. On 19 March 2015 the Kelantan State Legislative Assembly passed the Syariah Criminal Code (II) 1993 (Amendment 2015), gazetted as Kelantan Enactment No. 13 of 2015, which sets out punishments including amputation for theft, stoning for unlawful sexual intercourse, and 40 to 80 lashes for drinking alcohol, and which by its terms applies only to Muslims.
It is worth separating three things that are often run together. Passing the enactment and publishing it in the gazette did not make its penalties enforceable: the Code says it comes into operation only on a date the Sultan appoints by notification in the gazette, and no such date has been identified. Separately, it could not operate at those penalty levels while the federal Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 capped Syariah court sentences at three years' jail, a RM5,000 fine and six strokes. A private member's bill in Abdul Hadi Awang's name sought to amend that federal Act.
Five days after the Kelantan vote, on 24 March 2015, DAP's central executive committee resolved to stay inside Pakatan Rakyat but to sever relations with Hadi Awang personally, saying it rejected the implementation of hudud law because it conflicts with the Constitution. On 6 June 2015 PAS's 61st Muktamar adopted, without debate, a motion from its ulama wing to sever ties with DAP. DAP's central executive committee met on 15 June and resolved unanimously that Pakatan Rakyat had ceased to exist, which Lim Guan Eng announced the next day, saying the leadership council's decisions had been violated by the PAS president and that a coalition built on consensus could not survive the motion. On 17 June PKR's Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the coalition no longer functioned formally, while recording PKR's regret at both PAS's motion and DAP's announcement, which she described as hasty.
PAS gave its own account of why. The mover of the ulama wing's motion, Mokhtar Senik, said on 3 June that DAP had consistently opposed Kelantan PAS's attempt to implement Islamic law and had continued to criticise Hadi Awang; Mahfodz Mohamed, then acting chief of the wing, accused DAP of interfering in PAS's internal party elections, which he called provocative. On 11 July the PAS Syura Council formally endorsed the severance, its secretary Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh citing what the council called DAP's continued provocation and decisions it said broke the spirit of cooperation inside Pakatan Rakyat, while confirming PAS would keep working with PKR. On the federal bill in his name, Hadi had written in an open letter on 26 March 2015 that it was not about hudud but about amending the Syariah Court Act, and asked critics to listen first.
The three parties did not describe the same event in the same terms. DAP said the coalition was over. Mahfodz Mohamed said there was no U-turn, that the party had thought the decision through and knew its consequences, and that the years of tahaluf siyasi had benefited PAS. Hadi Awang said Pakatan Rakyat was not dead. Wan Azizah's words for PKR were that the coalition "no longer functions formally," which is neither DAP's position that it had ceased to exist nor Hadi's that it had not. There is also a continuing disagreement about cause. PAS's contemporaneous reasons were DAP's opposition to the Kelantan enactment, its criticism of the PAS president, and what PAS called DAP's provocation and interference in its internal elections; Mohamad Sabu said in 2023 that hudud had been settled between the parties in 2011 and that the PAS leadership instead wanted to work with UMNO. Mahfuz Omar said he had been instructed to put the motion through without debate.
New parties and a new coalition followed in the same year. PAS had also held its leadership elections at the June muktamar, and the candidates backed by the ulama wing took the senior posts; figures from the defeated faction launched Parti Amanah Negara on 16 September 2015, taking legal form by renaming the dormant Parti Pekerja-Pekerja Malaysia, a change the Registrar of Societies approved on 2 October 2015. On 22 September 2015 PKR, DAP and Amanah announced Pakatan Harapan, without PAS; a DAP statement says PAS was invited into the discussions and declined.
For readers, the concrete change is that the three parties that had contested the 2013 election as one coalition no longer did so: PKR, DAP and Amanah went forward together as Pakatan Harapan, and PAS went forward separately. Mustafa Izzuddin of ISEAS wrote in August 2015 that the split would consolidate ulama control within PAS, produce a breakaway party, and open the possibility of a renewed UMNO-PAS alignment. Two threads remained open afterwards. The Kelantan enactment has never been brought into force, and the LoyarBurok analysis argued that some of its offences duplicate federal criminal law and may be unconstitutional. The Act 355 amendment has still not been enacted: as of reporting in October 2024 the minister for religious affairs said it was in consultation and would be tabled at a later sitting, and the three-year, RM5,000 and six-stroke limits remain in force. A separate Kelantan law, the Syariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019, did come into operation on 1 November 2021, and it was that 2019 enactment, not the hudud code, whose 16 provisions the Federal Court struck down on 9 February 2024.
the working
What the sources say
established
On 19 March 2015 the Kelantan State Legislative Assembly passed the Syariah Criminal Code (II) 1993 (Amendment 2015), a state enactment amending Kelantan's 1993 code.
established
The enactment is published as Kelantan Enactment No. 13 of 2015, Syariah Criminal Code (II) (1993) 2015.
established
The enactment provides for punishments including amputation of the hand for theft, stoning for unlawful sexual intercourse, and 40 to 80 lashes for consumption of alcohol, and by its terms applies only to Muslims.
established
Passing and gazetting the enactment did not by itself bring its penalties into operation. Section 1(1) of the gazetted text provides that the Code "shall come into operation on a date to be appointed by His Royal Highness the Sultan by notification in the Gazette," and section 1(2) allows different dates to be appointed for different provisions.
established
The Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355) caps the sentences a Syariah court may impose. The proviso to section 2 states that a Syariah court's jurisdiction "shall not be exercised in respect of any offence punishable with imprisonment for a term exceeding three years or with any fine exceeding five thousand ringgit or with whipping exceeding six strokes or with any combination thereof," so the Kelantan enactment cannot take effect at those higher penalties unless federal law is changed.
Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355) · LoyarBurok
established
The 1993 Code as amended in 2015 has not been brought into force. A 2022 study of the enactment in the Journal of Fatwa Management and Research records that it could not be implemented because of legal constraints, and no notification appointing a commencement date has been identified.
Nur Al-Farhain Kamaruzaman and Nu Aina Abdulah · Gazetted enactment text
established
A private member's bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, standing in the name of PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, appeared on the Dewan Rakyat order paper on 17 June 2015; on 18 June 2015, the last day of that sitting, Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia said it would not be debated as long as government business was unfinished.
established
On 24 March 2015 the DAP central executive committee resolved to remain in Pakatan Rakyat but to sever relations with PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang personally.
established
On 6 June 2015, at PAS's 61st Muktamar (annual general assembly), delegates adopted a motion to sever ties with DAP, and the motion was passed without debate.
established
The motion was brought by PAS's ulama wing (Dewan Ulama). At the wing's own muktamar on 3 June 2015 the motion was proposed by former wing committee member Mokhtar Senik and seconded by Norazli Musa, and passed by the wing's delegates; as worded there, it asked that "the relationship with DAP must be cancelled and PAS stays in PR."
established
On 11 July 2015 the PAS Syura Council, the party's highest religious authority, formally endorsed the severance. Council secretary Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh announced in a statement carried by the party organ Harakah: "Therefore, the Syura Council has decided to end its relationship with the DAP. At the same time, PAS will continue to work with PKR."
established
On 15 June 2015 the DAP central executive committee resolved unanimously that "Pakatan Rakyat ceases to exist," a decision announced by secretary-general Lim Guan Eng on 16 June 2015.
established
On 17 June 2015, after a political bureau meeting the previous night, PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said "the political coalition that is Pakatan Rakyat no longer functions formally."
established
The PAS muktamar motion reported on 6 June 2015 called on PAS’s central leadership and Syura Council to sever ties and political cooperation with DAP while remaining with PKR in Pakatan Rakyat; it also urged strengthening Pakatan Rakyat and respect for each party’s positions and policies.
established
DAP's stated position, in Lim Guan Eng's 16 June 2015 statement: decisions agreed at the Pakatan Rakyat leadership council were "violated by PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang"; because Pakatan Rakyat "was formed by the three parties based on consensus and bound by the Common Policy Framework, the PAS Muktamar's motion effectively killed off Pakatan Rakyat." In its March 2015 statement DAP said it rejected the implementation of hudud law on the ground that it conflicts with the Constitution.
established
PAS's stated position, in the words of its own office-holders and organs: at the Dewan Ulama muktamar on 3 June 2015 the mover, Mokhtar Senik, gave as his grounds that DAP had consistently opposed Kelantan PAS's attempt to implement Islamic law in the state and had continued to criticise PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang; acting Dewan Ulama chief Mahfodz Mohamed at the same assembly accused DAP of interfering in PAS's internal party elections, which he called a "provocative" move. The Syura Council's 11 July 2015 statement, announced by council secretary Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh, gave as its reasons what it described as DAP's continued provocation of PAS and decisions by DAP that the council said violated the spirit of cooperation within Pakatan Rakyat, while confirming PAS would continue working with PKR. On the federal bill, Hadi Awang had written in an open letter dated 26 March 2015 that "PAS' attempt to get support for the Private Members' Bills in Parliament is not about hudud but to suggest amendments to the Syariah Court Act," to accommodate aspects of the law applicable to Muslims only, and asked critics to listen before criticising.
established
PAS's stated position after the break: Dewan Ulama chief Mahfodz Mohamed said on 19 June 2015, "To me, there is no turning back, there is no U-turn, because all this while we had been patient in the face of everything PKR and DAP did to PAS," adding "we had thought it through, and we knew the consequences of our actions," and that of the coalition years, "We lost nothing from the tahaluf siyasi (political cooperation), it benefited us." PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said publicly in June 2015 that "Pakatan Rakyat is not dead."
established
PKR's stated position: Wan Azizah's 17 June 2015 statement recorded PKR's regret at both PAS's motion to sever ties with DAP and DAP's announcement ending the coalition, describing the moves as hasty, while accepting that "the political coalition that is Pakatan Rakyat no longer functions formally."
established
PAS held its party leadership elections at the same 61st Muktamar, on 4 to 6 June 2015. Abdul Hadi Awang was returned as president; the candidates backed by the ulama wing took the other senior posts, and the faction described in reporting as the party's "professionals" lost. Outgoing deputy president Mohamad Sabu took 279 votes, Salahuddin Ayub 320, Mahfuz Omar 285 and Husam Musa 267 in the vice-presidential contest.
established
Parti Amanah Negara, formed by PAS figures whose faction was defeated in those June 2015 party elections, held its national launch on 16 September 2015.
established
The party took its legal form by renaming the existing, dormant Parti Pekerja-Pekerja Malaysia; the Registrar of Societies approved the name change on 2 October 2015, which president Mohamad Sabu announced in Penang.
established
Pakatan Harapan was formed on 22 September 2015 by PKR, DAP and Parti Amanah Negara, announced by Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Lim Kit Siang and Mohamad Sabu; PAS was not a member.
established
The DAP statement records that some leaders of the new coalition invited PAS to join the discussions and that this was declined by the PAS leadership.
established
On 6 September 2015, PKR said PAS could join a new opposition alignment if it remained committed to a common agenda for change; PKR, DAP and Amanah announced Pakatan Harapan as a three-party coalition on 22 September.
established
A separate Kelantan instrument, the Syariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019, is not the same law as the Syariah Criminal Code (II) 1993 amended in 2015. The 2019 enactment received royal assent on 14 July 2020, was gazetted on 31 December 2020 and came into force on 1 November 2021, adding 24 new offences within the Act 355 sentencing limits.
adjudicated
On 9 February 2024 the Federal Court held that 16 of the 18 challenged provisions of the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019 were beyond the state legislature's power and void, on the ground that the offences were already covered by federal law. That judgment concerned the 2019 enactment, not the 1993/2015 hudud code, which was not before the court.
established
The federal Act 355 amendment has not been enacted. Reporting in October 2024 recorded the minister in charge of religious affairs, Mohd Na'im Mokhtar, saying the amendment bill and a separate new Syariah courts bill were still in consultation and would be presented to Parliament at a later sitting; the three-year, RM5,000 and six-stroke limits in section 2 remain the law.
New Straits Times · Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355)
uncertain
No accessible original full text of the PAS Syura Council’s 11 July 2015 statement has been located; the reasons reported in contemporary coverage should be attributed to that coverage rather than presented as a reconstructed statement.
uncertain
Section 1 of the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code (II) Enactment 1993, as amended in 2015, requires a Gazette notification by the Sultan before any provision commences; no such notification was located in the Kelantan records searched, which is not proof that none exists.
No responsive Kelantan Gazette notification located
uncertain
Reporting records claims attributed to Abdul Hadi Awang about DAP, hudud and the Amanah founders, but no contemporaneous speech recording, transcript or statement in which he made both claims has been located; they should remain attributed characterisations rather than direct quotations.
where accounts differ
The parts nobody agrees on
contested
Why PAS cut ties with DAP. The strongest first-hand record on the PAS side is contemporaneous and is set out under "The three parties' stated positions" above: the mover of the ulama wing's motion gave DAP's opposition to the Kelantan enactment and its continued criticism of the PAS president; the wing's acting chief added DAP's alleged interference in PAS's internal elections; the Syura Council's 11 July 2015 statement gave what it called DAP's continued provocation and breaches of the spirit of cooperation; and Hadi Awang's own open letter of 26 March 2015 said the federal bill in his name was "not about hudud" but about amending the Syariah Court Act. Against that, Mohamad Sabu, later Amanah president, said in a speech at Taman Sri Kaseh in Muar on 28 August 2023 that hudud had already been settled between the parties in talks at the PAS office in Kuala Lumpur on 29 September 2011, so there was "no issue of agreeing or disagreeing with hudud laws," and that PAS's leadership instead wanted to ally with UMNO to form the ruling coalition, a course he said was decided at PAS's 2013 muktamar.
uncertain
Mat Sabu's 2023 remarks were reported as a reply to two claims attributed to Abdul Hadi Awang: that PAS severed ties with DAP because DAP rejected the hudud laws, and that the PAS leaders who left to form Amanah did so because they feared losing in party elections. Both the Malay Mail and Sinar Daily reports describe those claims rather than quote Hadi, and give no date or venue for them. No first-hand statement by Hadi making either claim has been located, so this page records them only as reported characterisations and not as Hadi's own words.
alleged
Whether the muktamar motion reflected the delegates' deliberation. Mahfuz Omar, who chaired the motions committee, said he was instructed at a meeting with Hadi Awang and other leaders to have the motion approved without debate; he also said Syura Council members were among those present at the assembly and could have called for a debate had they wanted one.
contested
Whether the coalition had actually ended in June 2015. DAP said Pakatan Rakyat had ceased to exist; PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said "Pakatan Rakyat is not dead"; PKR said it no longer functioned formally.
alleged
The reappearance of the Act 355 amendment bill on the June 2015 order paper. Lim Kit Siang said Hadi was "being rewarded for his change of political posture, where Umno was referred to in very respectful terms while DAP is demonised with rough language at the PAS Muktamar." This is Lim's characterisation.
uncertain
Whether the Kelantan enactment is constitutionally valid. The LoyarBurok analysis argues states may create offences against the precepts of Islam but may not duplicate offences already in federal criminal law, so provisions covering theft and robbery "may be unconstitutional," while offences such as adultery, false accusation, alcohol consumption and apostasy may stand.
contested
What the split meant for the party system. Mustafa Izzuddin, then a fellow at ISEAS, wrote on 10 August 2015 that "the intensification of tensions between the Islamist Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS)... and the staunchly secularist Democratic Action Party (DAP)... led to PR's collapse," and that consequences included the consolidation of ulama control within PAS, the emergence of a breakaway party, and the possibility of a renewed UMNO-PAS alignment.
contested
Professor Mohammad Hashim Kamali is cited as arguing that the laws "fail to acknowledge the present realities of the Malaysian society" and that strict adherence to literal rules misses Islam's broader objectives. This is his stated view, reported second-hand.
still being researched
- Whether PAS publicly accepted, rejected or set out terms for PKR’s September 2015 invitation to join a new opposition alignment.