KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 ― Most members of the federal Cabinet find the hudud law that the PAS-ruled Kelantan government wants to enforce unconstitutional, MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said.

According to Sin Chew Daily, Liow claimed that most ministers declared at yesterday’s weekly meeting that they are against the Islamic penal code, and believe that PAS’s bid to push hudud is a purported attempt to change Malaysia into a theocratic state.

Liow also reportedly said that Malaysians were well aware of PAS’s intentions, adding that the Islamist party’s actions are clearly in violation of the Federal Constitution.

“The Cabinet stresses that the Kelantan government’s hudud law is not in line with the spirit of the country’s Constitution, and goes against the country’s Constitution,” he was quoted saying in the Chinese daily after yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.

According to the paper, Liow said he reiterated MCA’s opposition to hudud during the meeting and urged the Cabinet to protect the Federal Constitution.

He also claimed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak responded positively to the rejection of hudud by 12 of Barisan Nasional’s (BN) member parties, and that the latter would soon issue a statement on the matter.

In a front-page report today, Sin Chew also reported that all 13 BN component parties are drafting a joint statement to state their objection to the enforcement of hudud in Malaysia.

Without quoting a source, the paper reported that the BN’s highest leadership had in a meeting yesterday came to a consensus that hudud is unconstitutional, with its component parties saying that it will not back the hudud bills that PAS plans to table in Parliament.

The news, however, appears to contradict the stand taken by Umno’s Kelantan chapter on the controversial Islamic law.

When amendments to the Kelantan’s Shariah Criminal Code II 1993 were tabled in the state legislative assembly earlier this week, all 12 Umno assemblymen voted in support of the tweaks.

After the vote, Kelantan BN chief Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the pact’s state chapter will continue to be consistent with its decision to support PAS’ bid to introduce the law.

He was quoted in Bernama as saying that Kelantan Umno’s federal lawmakers will similarly support the bid in Parliament, when PAS moves to table two private members’ bills that will pave the way for the implementation of the law in the east coast state.

“We (Kelantan BN Members of Parliament) are consistent with our stand all these while. (However), this is our stand at (Kelantan) state level only, we do not know how it is in the other states (under BN),” he was quoted saying after the Kelantan sitting.

PAS is expected to table private members’ bills in Parliament to remove legal roadblocks in the implementation of the Islamic penal code that punishes apostasy with the death penalty and theft with amputation of limbs.