Kelantan hudud bill on Wednesday

State will press on with amendments, amidst uncertainty about changes to federal law.

KOTA BARU: The state government will table amendments to hudud laws approved 10 years ago, amidst uncertainty if there will be action in the federal Parliament.

A key feature of the amendments is that these hudud laws will apply only to Muslims, removing the existing provision that offers non-Muslims the option of being tried under the hudud laws or civil law, said PAS assistant secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan.

The amendments are to be tabled on Wednesday. The Kelantan assembly is scheduled to sit for four days from Monday.

“With these amendments, the hudud penal code shall be applicable to every normal (mukalaf) Muslim for any offence under the code,” said Takiyuddin, who heads the permanent secretariat on the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code.

Takiyuddin, who is MP for Kota Baru and a legal practitioner, said the amendments would also streamline the penalty for offences pertaining to sodomy and adultery as well as cover technical matters.

However hudud laws cannot be implemented until the federal Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act and Article 76A(1) of the Federal Constitution is amended.

He said PAS had not decided when to table a Private Member’s Bill in the Dewan Rakyat to amend the Federal Constitution and empower the state government to implement the Syariah penal code.

He also did not know if the federal government would amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act pertaining to the jurisdiction of the Syariah courts.

However, he hoped all 132 Muslim MPs would give their support.

He said Kelantan PAS recognised the support Umno had provided for the implementation of the Syariah penal code in the state, especially when the hudud bill was passed by the state assembly on Nov 25, 1993.

He also said that the establishment of a joint technical committee by the state and federal governments to review the implementation of hudud in Kelantan was seen as a positive development towards implementing the Islamic penal code.

PAS faces objection even from the DAP, its ally in the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition. Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo of the DAP had recently warned PAS that the party would not be seen as part of the opposition coalition if it persisted in tabling the amendments to the hudud laws in the Kelantan assembly.

PAS brought up the issue of hudud laws at a Pakatan Rakyat meeting last week but Gobind Singh was quoted as saying afterwards that “it is a bill that pretty much reintroduces the whole of the 1993 enactment”.

Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah had warned DAP to cease making further statements against PAS’ efforts to implement hudud laws.

He said the state government would not bow to pressure from DAP, and was more eager than ever to go ahead with its plan.

– BERNAMA