KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 ― Gerakan's team of lawyers moved today to seek the judiciary's assistance in stopping Kelantan's plan to introduce hudud, even as the state tabled legislative amendments this morning to enable the implementation of the Islamic law.

In a statement here, Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang said the party's legal team filed an originating summons at the Kota Baru High Court in hopes of challenging the constitutionality of the Kelantan Shariah Criminal Code II (Enactment 1993).

“We believe there are no provisions in our Federal Constitution for the implementation of hudud laws in Malaysia. It was also never agreed when Malaysia was formed,” he said.

The leader said in April last year, Gerakan's youth wing sent a notice to PAS to say that it would not hesitate to take legal action to challenge its attempt to implement hudud in Kelantan or any other state in Malaysia.

But despite the warning, Kelantan's PAS-led government moved ahead today to table amendments to the state's Islamic enactment, which is to pave the way for the eventual implementation of hudud, a law that prescribes amputation as punishment for crimes like stealing.

Tan also accused the DAP today of merely engaging in “political drama” when its leaders repeatedly threatened to sever ties with PAS over hudud.

“Malaysians have seen in the past that DAP would continue to partner PAS even after severing ties with them,” he said, referring to the two parties' partnership in the now-disbanded Barisan Alternatif.

Tan said DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and party adviser Lim Kit Siang should both apologise to Malaysians for their party's failure to stop its Pakatan Rakyat (PR) partner PAS from tabling this morning's hudud amendments.

Despite objections from its PR partners PKR and DAP, the PAS Kelantan government pressed ahead today with plans to table amendments to the state's Islamic enactment.

The party also reportedly plans to table two private members' bills on the same matter in Parliament sometime later this month which, if passed, will enable Kelantan to implement the criminal justice system.

Details of today's proposed amendments were only shared with DAP and PKR last week during a PR presidential council meeting.

At the meeting, the council told PAS to “reconsider” its amendments, with one DAP man telling the Islamist party that the proposed changes were entirely a new piece of legislation instead of minor updates to the Kelantan Shariah Criminal Code II (Enactment 1993) as previously claimed.