KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — Kelantan’s hudud will affect Malaysians of all faiths despite the “lie” that it will only concern Muslims, a coalition of 93 NGOs said today.

Saying this meant non-Muslims are also stakeholders in the debate, they added that it would be “tyranny” to limit discourse on the enforcement of hudud to within Islamic circles.

“Stop the lie that non-Muslims are not affected!” said Wong Chin Huat, a political analyst at the Penang Institute and consultant for the civil society group Engage.

“Non-Muslims are certainly affected, and claims that they are not are irresponsible.”

Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa of the Islamic Renaissance Front warned that the Kelantan’s hudud enactment risked a gridlock in Malaysia’s parallel legal systems.

“It will create two sets of laws — one for Muslims and one for non-Muslims. This will violate Article 8 of the Federal Constitution which says that everyone is equal under the law,” he said.

Farouk said that if Malaysia was to enact Islamic law throughout the whole country as Brunei did, this would require an alteration of the whole Constitution.

Also present at today’s press conference were Rama Ramanathan from PROHAM, Mohammad Afiq from Sisters in Islam, S. Barathidasan of Wargaaman, and Lee Hing Wai of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall.

The Sabah Council of Churches said last month that PAS’s plans to enforce hudud in Kelantan amounts to a “betrayal” of Sabah’s trust when the state agreed to form Malaysia with Malaya and Sarawak.

Other groups have expressed similar views this week, including a pastors’ network and 33 civil societies in Sarawak, pointing out that Kelantan’s determination to enforce the Islamic penal system violates the secular foundation upon which Malaysia was formed.

Kelantan’s state assembly approved the Shariah Criminal Code (II) (1993) 2015 Enactment last month with 31 votes from PAS lawmakers supported by 12 from Umno.

However, in order to enforce the amended state Shariah criminal laws, PAS-led Kelantan needs bipartisan support from Umno and other federal lawmakers to pass Hadi’s two bills in the Dewan Rakyat.

Hadi served notice to Parliament on the proposed Bill on March 18, but parliamentary affairs minister Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim confirmed yesterday that the hudud debate has been deferred to the next Dewan Rakyat session in May.