KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — A PAS lawmaker today urged his Pakatan Rakyat (PR) colleagues to accept that the planned amendments to Kelantan’s shariah enactment is a reflection of the state’s “unique” social and political makeup, amid intense disagreements that could potentially split the opposition coalition.

Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad claimed that the push to amend Kelantan’s Shariah Criminal Code Enactment II 1993 tomorrow is merely the state administration following through with the mandate given by the state’s voters to implement hudud.

“Kelantan is unique and the politics there is unique. We can give our opinions from outside (the state), but only the Kelantan people can judge whether this is a fair move,” he said at a brief news conference at the Parliament lobby.

“The situation in Kelantan is so unique that even Umno supports it,” he added, referring to hudud implementation.

A survey released yesterday by independent pollster Merdeka Center revealed that a majority of voters in the peninsula think the PAS-led Kelantan government should prioritise post-flood reconstruction instead of focusing on its hudud plans.

The survey that polled 1,008 registered voters in January found that 84 per cent of respondents across all races shared the sentiment, while only seven per cent disagreed.

The survey also found that 81 per cent of Malay-Muslims, who made up 60 per cent of the total respondents polled, said the same.

Khalid today acknowledged the findings of the survey, but stressed that the state’s push for hudud implementation does not have to be “mutually exclusive” from post-flood reconstruction in Kelantan.

He noted that the state government has no choice but to push ahead with the amendments since Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom had challenged PAS to table a private member’s bill in Parliament seeking to introduce hudud in the state.

Khalid also urged PR partners DAP and PKR not to succumb to pressure from Barisan Nasional components MCA and Gerakan over the Kelantan enactments, giving his assurance that the bill will not change the status quo.

“We urge Pakatan Rakyat to understand the uniqueness (of Kelantan). The amendments are just to establish a necessary point of reference for the future,” he said.

The Kelantan state government is expected to table the amendments to the shariah enactment at tomorrow’s State Assembly sitting, despite repeated objections from its PR partners DAP and PKR.

Details of the bill have not been made public, and copies were only shared with the PR presidential council during a meeting last week.

The council has since asked PAS to “reconsider” its amendments, but Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah insisted that they will proceed with the bill with no revisions.