Kelantan MCA today expressed its concern that the implementation of hudud in the state will lead to a situation similar to apartheid South Africa in the 1960s, except that the divide will be religious and not racial.

State liaison committee secretary Lua Choon Hann ( left ) said hudud will also create a "major headache" for the legal system in the country.

"The implementation of hudud law will only move to further segregate Muslims from non-Muslims with different laws for different people.

"In fact, this can be considered a form of apartheid similar to South Africa in the 1960s, except that this  concerns religion instead of race," he added in a statement.

Lua was responding to Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah who in an interview with Malaysiakini vowed that the state would not be "overzealous" on hudud

He said past history with regard to Kelantan PAS and Kedah PAS shows that the Islamic party "can be overzealous".

"Take for example their gender segregation policies for public places, cinemas, and the ban preventing hairstylists from attending to customers of the opposite gender," he said.

"Besides that, the fact that PAS is still adamant on implementing inhumane punishments such as stoning and amputation is also proof of their overzealousness in trying to become more religious than other Islamic state nations," he added.

He asked PAS to provide "proof" that the country will not end up like Nigeria or Pakistan due to the Islamic penal law despite their promises.

The Kelantan state assembly will have a special sitting on Dec 29 to table the hudud enactment for the state.

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