Kelantan PAS’ pursuit of a revised hudud enactment this week has not endeared it to 81 percent of Malay-Muslim respondents.

 

Pollster Merdeka Centre said its latest survey revealed that respondents want the PAS-run Kelantan government to prioritise reconstruction work following the state's severe flood problem, following the worse flooding to strike the late last year which displaced hundreds of thousands.

 

"In our opinion, the Kelantan state government’s proposal to revisit its hudud enactment will not improve the state ruling party’s (PAS) standing among the Kelantanese and national Muslim electorate.

 

"This move recalls the party’s disastrous 2004 general election outing under the 'Islamic State' manifesto which led to the fall of the PAS Terengganu state government and near loss in Kelantan," said Merdeka Centre.

Despite objections from Pakatan Rakyat, PAS Kelantan is pushing to introduce a revised Islamic enactment this Wednesday to pave the way for the implementation of Islamic penal code hudud.

'Only 11pct aye hudud'

A total of 1,008 voters from Peninsula Malaysia were involved in the survey conducted in late January. Of this amount, 60 percent of the respondents were Malay.

Among Malay respondents, only 11 percent were in favour of implementing hudud immediately.

Overall, 84 percent of respondents were in favour of flood recovery work over hudud.

The question asked for the survey was: "In your opinion, what should be given priority by the Kelantan government? Pay more attention towards the repair or reconstruction of flood victims' homes or approve the hudud law enactment?"