Karpal slams Umno for hudud support

The DAP leader accuses Kelantan Umno of trying to gain political mileage by supporting the implementation of hudud in PAS-led Kelantan

(FMT) – DAP’s Karpal Singh today slammed Kelantan Umno for attempting to jump on the hudud bandwagon for political mileage.

“It is obvious both PAS and Umno are seeking to derive political mileage from the implementation of hudud in Kelantan, despite knowing full well that under the law, the legislation of the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment II is unconstitutional.

“The Kelantan State Assembly does not have the power to pass the enactment,” he said, in a statement.

Yesterday, Kelantan Menteri Besar Ahmad Yakob insisted that he would direct a PAS MP to move private member’s bill at the Parliament to implement hudud law in the state.

In response, Kelantan Umno liaison committee chairman Mustapa Mohamad announced that Umno MPs would support the bill if was brought to the August house.

Karpal, who is also Bukit Gelugor MP, said that the parliament could not approve the implementation by way of a private member’s bill of a state law, which is unconstitutional.

“It would be incongruous to accept hudud, which is Islamic law, in a secular country such as Malaysia,” he said.

“Even if parliament passes hudud as criminal law applicable to the whole country or to a specified stated like Kelantan, it would mean the House has acted unconstitutionally.”