Kelantan doesn’t need DAP’s nod to roll out hudud, says state exco

(Malay Mail Online) – PAS-led Kelantan is adamant on introducing the controversial Islamic penal code statewide next year, Utusan Malaysia reported today, despite hudud being at odds with federal law.

The Islamist state government saying it does not need permission from non-Muslims to carry out hudud law, including Pakatan Rakyat (PR) ally, DAP.

“We don’t need DAP’s agreement. Insya-Allah, next year we can implement hudud,” state Islamic Development, Propagation, Information and Regional Relations committee chairman Datuk Mohd Nassuruddin Daud was quoted telling the Kelantan State Assembly yesterday.

According to Mohd Nassuruddin, non-Muslims have no say in a law that is applicable only on Muslims.

“Non-Muslims can’t disagree because they are not involved with this Islamic law. For example, Muslims are obliged to be circumcised by law, but surely we would not ask permission from non-Muslims to be circumcised” he said.

“So the question of non-Muslims disagreeing does not arise, because we do not need their support,” he was quoted saying.

Mohd Nassuruddin also voiced confidence that the roadblocks to hudud’s roll-out in Kelantan would soon be removed.

He said that a special technical committee between the state and the federal governments, set up to review the implementation of hudud, had met twice and teh meetings had gone without a hitch.

In Islamic law, ‘hudud’ covers crimes such as robbery, adultery, rape and sodomy where punishments are severe, including amputation, flogging and death by stoning.

The long-simmering debate over hudud reared its head again in April this year when PAS made known its plans to enforce the Islamic criminal law it had passed over a decade ago.