KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — The MCA must explain why it supports laws which legitimise detentions without trial instead of hudud, which allegedly guarantees a fair judicial process, PAS chief whip Datuk Mahfuz Omar said today.
Mahfuz was referring to the proposed Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) that was tabled in Parliament on Monday and passed unchanged by a slim vote majority of 79-60 just after 2am today.
“Why is it they can agree to detention-without-trial but not hudud, which are laws which will be used against individuals in a court of law?” the PAS information chief told reporters when met at the Parliament lobby here, referring to MCA.
Putrajaya’s proposed new law will allow authorities to detain suspected terrorists without bringing them to court for up to two years, with a Prevention of Terrorism Board (POTB) empowered to renew the detention order for an indeterminate amount of time.
Judicial reviews of such sentences are not permitted, according to the Bill, except for questions on its compliance with procedural matters.
“Something is wrong if these people do not support these (hudud) laws.
“If they support laws which allow for detention without trial but they don’t support laws that call for a trial, then something is wrong here,” the Pokok Sena MP added.
MCA has been a vocal critic of PAS’ push to enforce the Shariah criminal law in Kelantan, which was amended and passed by the the state legislative assembly with the support of several Umno representatives last month.
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s two private members’ bills to remove the legal blocks to the rollout of hudud in Kelantan have appeared in today’s order paper, on the last week of the current Parliament session.
However, it remains to be seen if the bills will actually be debated as there are currently 23 other motions and items in the queue.
Hadi’s bills will be to amend the Shariah Court (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355)
“Clause 2 seeks to amend section 2 of Act 355 to replace the existing provision on the subject of the Shariah Court’s jurisdiction over a person professing the religion of Islam,” said the explanatory document to Hadi’s bills made available to reporters.
The objective of the amendment is to empower the Shariah Court’s jurisdiction and powers to pass sentences to Muslims in the state.
Kelantan’s state assembly approved the Shariah Criminal Code (II) (1993) 2015 Enactment last month with 31 votes from PAS lawmakers supported by 12 from Umno.
However, in order to enforce the amended state Shariah criminal laws, PAS-led Kelantan needs bipartisan support from Umno and other federal lawmakers to pass Hadi’s two bills in the Dewan Rakyat.
Hadi served notice to Parliament on the proposed Bill on March 18, but de facto law minister Datuk Nancy Shukri said it may not make it into the order paper for the current session as there are many others on the schedule.
