Why the noise over Hadi’s Bill? Perlis mufti asks

(MMO) – Perlis mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin today questioned public furore over Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s proposed amendments on the Shariah courts after the Bill was fast-tracked in Parliament by Putrajaya on Thursday.

Mohd Asri suggested that the uproar was unwarranted, claiming the amendments to the Shariah Court (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act would not lead to violent punishments under the controversial Islamic law of hudud such as stoning and amputation of limbs.

“Many are confused until they started fighting with each other, many excessively interpret it thinking that these amendments will allow the implementation of stoning and amputations,” Asri said in a post on his Facebook page yesterday.

“In fact, these amendments only allows for current maximum punishment to be increased for the Shariah Court,” he added, saying that minister in charge of religious affairs Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom had explained to him about the private member’s Bill.

The Bill seeks to amend the Act in order to widen the maximum punishment scope for the Shariah Court.

Currently, the court can only hand out sentences to a maximum of three years jail, six strokes of rotan, and a RM 5,000 fine.

On Thursday, the government put in a motion to bring the reading of the private member’s Bill forward and allowed Hadi to read the amendments.

However, the Marang MP asked for a deferment of the debate on the Bill until the next Parliament session.

Readers’ reaction to the recent developments also seem mixed, with some praising PAS while some expressing their misgivings about the political timing of Umno helping the Islamist party with this bill.

“If Umno is honest why did they not table it themselves? We afraid this is a political game,” wrote Tengku Nur Nikman.

“There is nothing unconstitutional about this. What we are trying to do is to make these amendments legitimate and constitutional. Be open minded and support the betterment of Islam in the country,” wrote Fais Al Hajari.

“Why did Barisan Nasional support this motion when by-elections are coming up? Answer is they have issues to be brought up and PAS had taken their bait,” said Faidzal Ibrahim.