The DAP special committee will also study the constitutionality of each proposed new enactment with regard to the constitutionally-entrenched rights of the different races and religions in the country, informing the PAS State government concerned as well as the Barisan Alternative if there is any infringement of these constitutional rights - together with the power to initiate legal actions to uphold these constitutional rights.
This DAP special committee will be in addition to a special council which the DAP will propose at the first meeting of the leaders of the Barisan Alternative (BA) after the general election on Wednesday that the BA set up to study all proposed new enactments by the Terengganu and Kelantan PAS state governments, including the proposed kharaj and zakat taxes on non-Muslims in Trengganu to ensure that they fully respect the rights and sensitivities of the different races and religions in Malaysia.
PAS President Datuk Fadzil Noor has said that the imposition of kharaj would "correct the imbalances in taxes paid by the Muslims and non-Muslims". However, the question is why the new PAS Terengganu state government should introduce kharaj when the PAS Kelantan State government had never imposed it since coming to power in 1990 and whether this would mean that the PAS Kelantan state government would also be following suit.
Apart from the constitutionality of the proposed kharaj, PAS should seriously weigh the political costs of imposing kharaj at the expense of alienating the sensitivities of non-Muslim Malaysians all over Malaysia.
(6/12/99)