‘Plan to take over Hadi’s Bill yet to be discussed’

(The Star) – Umno has yet to brief other Barisan Nasional component parties on its proposal to take over PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s Private Member’s Bill.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri confirmed that the matter had yet to be discussed at Barisan meetings.

“Component parties need to understand the rationale behind it. (They) will have to be well informed,” she said after a dialogue on social innovation at Institut Sosial Malaysia here yesterday.

Nancy said this when asked if Barisan parties had reached a consensus on the matter following the Prime Minister’s recent announcement that the Government was taking over the Bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355).

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, said Nancy, had explained to Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem what the amendment was all about.

Adenan, she added, was given assurance that the Bill was not about hudud.

“What Hadi has tabled was only a motion. There is no need to support or reject it,” said the Batang Sadong MP from Sarawak.

She also noted that there were no specific explanation on the proposed amendments.

On another matter, Nancy said Barisan leaders fully supported the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) (Amendment) Bill 2016 to resolve the long-standing conversion issue.

“This is good for the non-Muslims. All (parties) in Barisan fully support this,” she said.

On the dialogue, Nancy said it was high time innovative strategies were undertaken to look into the prevention of long-standing social issues such as baby dumping, drug addiction and vagrancy.

These are among the 40 social issues identified for innovative public-private partnership intervention programmes.

She said Agensi Inovasi Malaysia was collaborating with Social Purpose Organisation and the private sector’s corporate social responsibility initiatives to implement high-impact social innovation projects.

“As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. As tackling social ills can be costly, it is better to find ways to prevent it,” she said.