Umno leader says all Kelantan reps will back hudud absolutely
(Malay Mail Online) – An Umno supreme council member today asserted that all Kelantan assemblymen will vote to amend the state’s controversial hudud law irrespective of political affiliation.
Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki (pic) added the absolute support for the Islamic penal code is because hudud is the “the law of God,” and as such all Muslims must support it in accordance to their faith.
“I believe that the Shariah Criminal Code Enactment II (1993) in relation to hudud will definitely be fully supported by all state assemblymen, whether or not they are from PAS or Umno,” he was quoted as saying in a column published by Malay daily Sinar Harian.
“This is because as a Muslim, it is compulsory for us to believe in terms of faith that the hudud law is the law that Allah has commanded,” he added.
Asyraf also conceded that, although the Islamic penal code was riddled with flaws since its enactment in 1993, it did not mean that those critical of it were against its implementation.
“In fact, since the first time it was presented and approved in 1993, there were so many weaknesses to the Shariah Criminal Code Enactment II (1993) that was criticised by academicians and theologians, as well as former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“However, the criticisms expressed don’t mean they were rejecting hudud law as Allah’s law. It was because there were too many weaknesses in the Shariah Criminal Code II (1993) which, if implemented, would definitely shine a light on the weaknesses and injustices of Islam,” he said.
PAS’ amendments to the law tabled today will help, however, improve the Islamic criminal justice system, he said.
“Fortunately, the PAS government finally recognises these weaknesses and has made many amendments and improvements to the Shariah Criminal Code II (1993) that are being tabled today,” he said.
Asyraf also suggested that if PAS wanted to effectively implement hudud in Kelantan, they should have brought the Bill to Parliament to widen the reach of the Islamic penal code.
“The legislative power of the state, specifically the power of the each state’s Shahriah court, at this time is only limited to Shahriah criminal punishments like adultery, accusing someone of adultery (qazaf), the consumption of alcohol and apostasy with a fine of RM5,000 or imprisonment of three years, or six strokes of the rotan.
“As such, if hudud were to be perfectly implemented, an amendment most definitely needs to be done to widen the reach of the Shahriah court with sentencing carried out at a level that is determined by Islamic law like 80 or 100 strokes,” he said.
At 11am today, the Kelantan government tabled its amendments to the Shariah Criminal Code II (Enactment 1993), its first step towards pushing for the eventual implementation of the Islamic criminal justice system in the state.
The state PAS chapter also hopes to table two private members’ Bills on the matter sometime this month in Parliament, which, if passed, would enable Kelantan to implement hudud.
The move to proceed with this morning’s amendments took place despite the Pakatan Rakyat presidential council’s request on March 12 that the PAS-led state government revise the Bill, which one DAP lawmaker said appeared to be an entirely new law.
