KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 ― The two private members’ bills needed to enforce hudud in Kelantan will be tabled during the next Parliament sitting in May, PAS’ Khalid Samad said today.
The Shah Alam MP said the party is not looking to amend the Federal Constitution but to seek Parliament’s permission to carry out the Islamic laws in Kelantan.
“If everything goes according to plan, [the two bills] will be brought in May,” he told reporters in Parliament.
However, he said he does not know which PAS MP will be tabling the two bills.
PAS will need a simple majority to pass the bills, which is 112 seats.
Although Umno leaders have said they support the implementation of hudud in Kelantan, they remain non-committal when asked if they would vote for the bills if they are tabled in Parliament.
PAS holds 21 seats in Parliament while Umno has 88 MPs all of which, with the exception of deputy speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee, are Muslims.
Even if both parties throw their support behind the two Bills, they are still four seats short.
PKR has 15 Muslim MPs and DAP has two.
“It is a request for a special permission from the federal government to allow the state government in Kelantan to implement laws that are other than that that is being implemented elsewhere in Malaysia,” Khalid said.
DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke insisted that any implementation of hudud would need a more complicated amendment to the Federal Constitution.
“Definitely they will not get the support of the DAP and I am sure they can’t get the two third majority,” he told reporters when approached separately here.
Khalid said it is DAP’s right to oppose the Bills as hudud is not part of the Pakatan Rakyat common policy framework, but hoped that the disagreement will not lead to the break-up of the pact.
DAP previously accused PAS of “backstabbing” PR with forging ahead with hudud despite the decision of the pact’s presidential council and said it will now review its position in the alliance.
