KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 ― Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) said today that it accepts hudud, but there needs to be more discussion on whether and how the Islamic criminal law can be implemented.

Amanah communications director Khalid Samad also said his party, which is part of Pakatan Harapan with PKR and the DAP, could not make a stand on PAS' proposed legal amendments to enhance the Shariah courts' powers as they were too vague.

“As Muslims, we accept what is part and parcel of Islamic teachings, but the question whether it can be implemented, how it's going to be implemented, it's a long discussion,” the Shah Alam MP told reporters here.

Khalid noted that the enforcement of hudud “does not seem to be a possibility at the immediate future yet”.

Yesterday, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang tabled a private member’s Bill in Parliament to amend the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, seeking to empower Shariah courts to enforce punishments ― except for the death penalty ― provided in Shariah laws for Islamic offences listed under state jurisdiction in the Federal Constitution. The Bill did not elaborate on the nature of the punishments.

Non-Muslim Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders have said the Bill effectively seeks to remove safeguards that at present limit shariah court punishments to jail terms not exceeding three years, or whipping of not more than six strokes, or fines of not more than RM5,000.

PAS had previously sought to enhance the shariah courts' powers to pave the way for the enforcement of hudud laws in Kelantan. The Islamic penal code includes harsh punishments like stoning and amputation.

Today, Khalid said Hadi's Bill was not a “hudud bill”, further indicating that it was still too early for Amanah to give its views on the contents of the Bill as they have yet to be revealed.

“We want to hear the content of the Bill. Because as what is contained here is still very general, very skimpy, so we don't want to comment here. Let it be presented for debate,” he said, noting that there were still many questions, including whether constitutional changes, were required.

He said Amanah agrees with the intention of the Bill to give Islam its proper role in society as they believe it will ensure justice, but stressed that the implementation requires further discussion.

“Although generally, Parti Amanah Negara agrees with its spirit to correct and bring the shariah courts to another level, but we have to see not just the spirit, but the way how it is implemented,” he later added.

Khalid also said his lawyers will issue a letter of demand next Monday to seek an apology from local daily Berita Harian over an allegedly misleading news report today.

“I will ask them to put it [on] front page as what they have done here in the same exact position, almost a third of the page, seeking apology from me and from Parti Amanah Negara, because [of] a gross misrepresentation,” he said, clarifying that he did not oppose the tabling of Hadi's Bill but had questioned the considerations taken to give a private member’s Bill priority over government business.