SHAH ALAM, March 28 — Rather than the full enforcement of hudud as many believe, PAS is seeking to put a cap on punishments under Shariah law in Kelantan with its parliamentary proposal on the controversial Islamic penal code, party vice-president Datuk Husam Musa said last night.

The Kelantan leader sought to allay public concern over his party president’s private member’s bill in the face of displeasure from Pakatan Rakyat (PR) partner DAP, saying he is confident that those opposed to the recently passed amendments to enforce strict Shariah criminal laws in Kelantan “will no longer be concerned” even as he admitted that not all PAS leaders had been fully briefed on the change.

“I met Tok Guru Haji Hadi this afternoon after Friday prayers,” Husam told reporters here after a public talk on the future of Malaysia’s economy, referring to PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

“He convinced us that his motion was to limit certain offences in the Kelantan Enactment,” he added, referring to the state’s Shariah laws.

Last week, Hadi served notice to Parliament on the proposed Bill to amend Act 355, which deals with powers of the Shariah court to mete punishments for criminal offences.

De facto law minister Datuk Nancy Shukri however said the PAS lawmaker’s Bill may not make it into the order paper for the current session as there are many other motions scheduled for debate in the Dewan Rakyat.

With DAP and PKR’s rejection, PAS and its 21 MPs in the lower lawmaking house must rely on all of Umno’s MPs plus more from other non-Muslim parties in order to get a simple majority of 112 votes to get the Bill passed.

Husam said only adultery, false accusations of adultery and consuming alcohol will be considered as offences with the punishment of caning, which already exist in the current system.

“Actually the proposal by the PAS president is simple and at the same time, it will limit the punishments under the Kelantan Criminal Enactment, not all enactment can be implemented when Act 355 is passed.

“Only three or four crimes will be implemented at the beginning and the three or four crimes are purely religious offence, like adultery for Muslims, drinking alcohol for Muslims, and the punishment is just caning and no amputation or other type of punishments,” he said.

When asked to comment on Sarawak DAP quitting the opposition pact at state level, Husam said he is convinced that they will “no longer be concerned” as the Islamist party will now communicate the new information to political parties as well as to the public.

On Tuesday, DAP moved to cut ties with Hadi for his party’s hudud push, saying it will no longer work with the OPAS president even though it said it will remain in the PR pact.

The DAP’s central executive committee that met on Monday night accused Hadi of cooperating with Umno on hudud, in violation of the pact’s common consensus and Common Policy Framework.

The decision will prevent the PR presidential council from carrying out any policy decisions as a consensus agreement is required, but will leave the state administrations of Selangor and Penang undisturbed.

On March 19, PAS-ruled Kelantan passed key amendments to its Shariah Criminal Code II 1993 in a move to enable the eventual implementation of hudud in the Malay-majority east coast state.