PAS has not submitted a fresh private member’s bill to enhance the Shariah courts’ powers and pave the way for the enforcement of hudud in Malaysia, a leader from the Islamist party said today.
PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan confirmed that it was unlikely that the party will table a private member’s Bill to be included in next week’s Parliament sitting.
“That one we haven’t decided. Most probably not,” he told reporters here.
When asked whether PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had filed a fresh private member’s Bill for the upcoming Parliament sitting, Takiyuddin reiterated that he did not know.
A fresh private member’s Bill must be resubmitted if it is not debated by the end of a sitting.
Hadi previously submitted his private member’s Bill earlier this year, but was unable to have it debated in Parliament during the last two sittings ostensibly due to a lack of time.
To implement hudud in Kelantan, PAS is seeking to amend the Shariah Court Act (Criminal Jurisdiction) 1965 or Act 355, which currently only allows the Shariah courts to mete out punishments limited to RM3,000 fine, five years’ jail and six strokes of caning.
Takiyuddin said today that a lawmaker merely has to give a 14-day notice when tabling a private member’s Bill, noting that this can be done anytime during a Parliament session and not just before the sitting starts.
Takiyuddin is also one of the lawyers representing Hadi in the latter’s bid to strike out a lawsuit seeking to block him from tabling a private member’s Bill for hudud.
He said that PAS does not have to refrain from tabling the private member’s Bill until the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s November 9 decision on Hadi’s application to dismiss the case, also noting that there is no injunction against such a Parliamentary bid.
“If we want to put in, we don’t have to wait for this decision, even now we can, but we have no intention to put in a fresh motion to Parliament at the moment,” he said.
For now, Takiyuddin said that PAS wants to educate and engage with the public to explain the party’s intentions on its bid to amend the 1965 law, before finding the “right time” to do so.
“So let the people understand, let the people know what is the proposal all about, so maybe that time we will put in,” he said.
In explaining PAS’s intentions, Takiyuddin insisted that the proposed 1965 amendment is only applicable to Muslims who commit offences.
“This is nothing to do with non-Muslims, this is purely Islamic law, this is just to enhance the jurisdiction of Shariah law, that’s all,” he said.
He also said it was not aimed at merely allowing hudud to be implemented in Kelantan, but would have effect on the Shariah courts’ powers throughout the country.
Hudud carries punishments that are far more severe than what the Shariah courts are currently allowed to impose under the 1965 law, which meant that the two states of Kelantan and Terengganu have been so far unable to enforce their state enactments on the strict Islamic penal code.-themalaymailonline
