KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang is to blame for Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) widening rift as the PAS president neglected to consult PKR and DAP on Kelantan’s hudud plans before submitting his parliamentary Bill on the matter, Ahmad Awang has said.

Ahmad, who is a nominee for the PAS presidency, believes that if Hadi had been transparent on his party’s plans and openly explained his private member’s Bill to PR, the coalition would not have been engulfed in a “crisis.”

“Hadi did not bring the matter to Pakatan’s presidential council. It should have been discussed and deliberated there before tabling anything in Parliament,” the 79-year old ulama told Malay Mail Online in a recent phone interview.

“If Hadi had informed Pakatan leaders about the contents of the private members’ Bill and that it is just about amending Act 355 to strengthen the Shariah Courts, I do not think we would be in this crisis,” Ahmad claimed.

“In 2008, after Pakatan was formed PAS had no problems, after Tok Guru resigned as Kelantan mentri besar we see the hudud issue crop up again,” he added, referring to the late Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

The Kelantan government’s move to table amendments to Act 355 through a private member’s Bill is aimed at expanding the jurisdiction of Shariah courts to pass sentences.

PAS’s opaque plans over hudud prompted hostile responses from allies PKR and DAP, with the open discord sending the pact into a crisis that has senior leaders already bracing for its disintegration.

Hadi has accused PR politicians who disagreed with the implementation of the Islamic criminal law of prioritising success in elections over public safety.

The Kelantan state assembly approved the Shariah Criminal Code (II) (1993) 2015 Enactment on March 19 with 31 votes from PAS lawmakers supported by 12 from Umno.

PAS also submitted a private member’s Bill to Parliament to remove the legal obstacles that prevent the enforcement of hudud in Kelantan, which requires bipartisan support from Umno and others to pass.

The Bill did not make it into the April sitting’s agenda, however, and PAS has since confirmed that the party will again seek to table it in May.