KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 ― PAS must not use Islam as an excuse to prevent public discourse of its plan to introduce hudud in Kelantan, political rival MCA said today.

Speaking in a press conference today, Religious Harmony Bureau chairman Datuk Ti Lian Ker accused the party of “hijacking” the faith in its bid to bar both Muslims and non-Muslims from debating the Islamic penal code.

“Muslims who differ with them, they say these are deviant Muslims. If it is non-Muslims, they said you are insulting Muslims,” Ti said.

“They make it into a taboo topic.”

Ti stressed that hudud is a legal issue, so any discussion about it should include legal experts and people who were knowledgeable in Islamic laws, not just politicians.

“The more academicians, the more jurists are involved, people who actually know about law, the whole legal procedure, these are the people we should consult,” he said.

As Malaysia is not made entirely of Muslims, the technical committee should also look into how cases with non-Muslim witnesses will be handled, he said.

The debate over hudud — which has long been a key goal of Islamist party PAS — resurfaced in recent weeks after the party announced plans to table two private member's bills in Parliament to empower the Kelantan government to implement hudud.

In 1993, the PAS state government passed the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment II, allowing it to impose the strict Islamic penal code in the state, but the laws were not implemented.

 PAS, which partners DAP and PKR in the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition has since decided to delay tabling the two bills to allow a proposed bi-partisan committee to study the implementation of the Islamic penal code.