Hudud no longer option for non-Muslims in Kelantan under amendment, Pakatan says

(Malay Mail Online) – Non-Muslims will only be tried under civil law, and not hudud, in PAS’ proposed amendments to its Kelantan Shariah bill, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders confirmed today after a closed-door briefing in Parliament.

In the original Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment II 1993, non-Muslims were to be given a choice as to whether they wanted to be tried under hudud law or civil law.

“So under the proposed amendment, this will no longer be the case. Non-Muslims will not be given the option of hudud. They will only be subject to civil law,” PAS MP Dr Mohd Hatta Ramli told Malay Mail Online when contacted.

PKR chief whip Datuk Johari Abdul concurred, saying hudud law in Kelantan would only be applicable for Muslims if it were passed.

“That has been taken out, from what we were briefed. Non-Muslims are not affected at all,” he told reporters when met at the Parliament lobby.

Two other PR leaders, who spoke on the condition of anonymity also confirmed the matter.

But PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang caused some confusion in Parliament earlier when he told reporters the hudud option for non-Muslims in Kelantan would still be applicable under the proposed amendments.

“In the study of Islam, non-Muslims can be given a choice whether or not they want to be subject to Islamic laws or their own laws.

“It is already there (in the old enactment) but will be amended further. In it, it will say that it is the right of non-Muslims to choose what they want,” Hadi said.

However, the PAS chief was absent from the PR presidential meeting at Parliament earlier today in which PKR and DAP leaders were briefed on Kelantan’s revised hudud plan.

“I think what Hadi meant is the old enactment. The amendment cancels out the option for non-Muslims to choose hudud,” Hatta told Malay Mail Online when asked to clarify.

PR today told coalition member PAS to “reconsider” changing the proposed amendments to its Kelantan hudud bill, after the Islamist party shared the planned legislative changes with the opposition pact for the first time today.

DAP’s Gobind Singh Deo, who was present at the PR presidential council meeting today, said the planned amendments were essentially a whole new bill altogether, and not just minor changes to the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment II 1993.

“PAS has produced a copy of what they claim to be a bill they want to table in the Kelantan state assembly on March 18,” he told journalists after the meeting.

“But what they presented today was not just amendments, it is in substance a whole new bill.

“We have asked them to reconsider, and return with a (new) proposed amendment and we will take it from there.

“But for DAP, we are still against these amendments, and our stand remains that the implementation of hudud is impractical and against Pakatan’s common policy framework,” Gobind added.

The Kelantan state government reportedly plans to table amendments to the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment II 1993 at the state legislative assembly on March 18.

Details of the proposed amendments, however, have not been made public nor have the PAS-led state administration shared copies of the bill with their PR partners to date.