Despite Nazri’s ‘stupid’ jibe, PAS insists hudud still on the cards

KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — Despite claims by two federal ministers that hudud would never receive Parliament’s nod, Kelantan PAS said today it still intends to try and seek approval from the Dewan Rakyat for its private members’ Bills.

Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdul said what matters most is that PAS “tried”.

“We will proceed as planned. The question of whether or not it would be approved is a different matter,” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted.

Yesterday, former de facto law minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz called those who discussed the implementation of hudud in Malaysia “stupid”.

He said trying to implement the law is an “exercise in futility” as the controversial Islamic penal code contravenes the Federal Constitution.

The outspoken senior Umno lawmaker added that it would not receive support from Parliament.

Asked to comment if he believed that Umno’s earlier professed support for hudud could just be a ploy by the party to trap PAS into leaving Pakatan Rakyat (PR), Nik Amar refused to reply.

Instead, he reiterated that the only important thing for PAS is to “try”.

“The only thing that matters is we try. That (if Umno’s support is political) you have to ask Nazri,” he said.

Nazri had also said yesterday that his party was very aware that PAS’s hudud plans would fail since it was almost impossible for Parliament to debate the two Private Member’s Bills requesting amendments to the Shariah Criminal Courts (Jurisdiction) 1965.

Today, de facto law Minister Datuk Nancy Shukri agreed with Nazri, saying it would be “impossible” to have hudud in Malaysia or Kelantan due to constitutional issues, and that her home state of Sarawak would also reject it.

On March 19, PAS-ruled Kelantan passed key amendments to its Shariah Criminal Code II 1993 in a move to enable the eventual implementation of hudud in the Malay-majority east coast state.

PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang last week served notice to Parliament on the proposed private member’s bills, but Nancy said they may not make it into the order paper for the current session as there are many others on the schedule.

With DAP and PKR’s rejection, PAS and its 21 MPs in the lower House must rely on all of Umno’s MPs plus more from other non-Muslim parties in order to get a simple majority of 112 votes to get the bills passed.