The default stance of the ruling BN coalition is that there shall be no hudud, declared Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

"When people ask me the stance of the government, I say the default position of the government is no hudud," he told a conference for students at Wisma MCA in Kuala Lumpur today.

However, he added the government is still waiting for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to make a final decision on whether to back hudud, the controversial Islamic penal code.

"Until such time the prime minister makes a decision on hudud, we will wait. Knowing Najib ( right ), he will think about the entire nation," he said.

Abdul Rahman, who is also Umno supreme council member, was bombarded by students about the government's position on hudud at a conference entitled ‘Moderation: Youth Empowerment and Education Towards Vision 2020'.

He added that the country also practices syariah laws in certain areas and there is no need to introduce new contentious items that would create confusion.

"As far as I am concerned, the default position is no hudud until such time the country and people are ready for it," he said.

PAS on March 18 submitted a request to table a private member’s bill in Parliament to pave way for the implementation of hudud.

However, a private member’s bill is normally queued behind government bills and do not see the light of day unless it is back by the government, thus making Najib's decision crucial.

‘Unwise to scrap vernacular schools’

Abdul Rahman was also asked about his views on vernacular schools in which he said it would be politically unwise to abolish them.

He related that in his own constituency, SJK(C) Chung Hwa, even though a Chinese vernacular school, has 70 percent bumiputera students.

"If we want unity, we need to close down Chinese schools - I do not believe in that notion," he said.

He also related his meeting with the late Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew, stating that the former prime minister managed to do away with Chinese schools because he succeeded in creating a national system accepted by all.