PKR says won’t support Hadi’s hudud bill in Parliament

(Malay Mail Online) – PKR formally declared today that its lawmakers will not back the private members’ Bill that PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang is expected to table at the current Parliament sitting.

In a statement signed by its political bureau members, PKR said the party made the decision last night after agreeing on two points: that Hadi had moved unilaterally without Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) nod to notify Parliament of the Bill; and that should the Bill be related to PAS’s hudud bid in Kelantan, PKR would stand by its previous opposition to the law.

“We were not informed of the contents of this private members’ Bill,” the leaders said in the statement.

“It was proposed in unilateral fashion without informing our component partners in PR, and it violates the decision made by the PR presidential council on February 8,” they added.

During PR’s February 8 meeting, PAS was ordered by the council to provide full details of its proposed private members’ Bills to Parliament regarding hudud, as well as its amendments to Kelantan’s Shariah Criminal Code II 1993.

The Islamist party was also told not to proceed with plans to table the Bills or the amendments, pending the go-ahead from the council.

But on Wednesday, Kelantan’s PAS-led government ignored the instruction and tabled the amendments to the state’s Islamic enactment, which is meant to pave the way for the implementation of hudud in the state.

The same day, Hadi served notice to Parliament seeking amendments to Act 355 or the Shariah Courts (Criminal) Jurisdiction Act 1965, which is reportedly to enable Islamic courts to mete out hudud punishments like the death penalty for apostasy and amputation of limbs for theft.

According to PKR’s political bureau today, Parliament’s Standing Orders stipulate that a Bill would only be tabled and debated in the House if it receives the blessings of the government of the day.

But, the party pointed out, the Barisan Nasional-led (BN) government has yet to formally declare its position on Hadi’s proposed private member’s Bill or PAS’s hudud bid in general.

“Therefore, PKR would like the urge the Umno-BN government to state if it has given its blessings to the Bill to be debated and voted on in Parliament,” the leaders said.