Kelantan wants to implement harsher syariah laws because the Muslims there are not afraid of existing punishments, quipped an Umno minister.

Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz said this when asked if he was against the implementation of hudud, the Islamic penal code.

He said Muslims in other states such as Selangor are more devout, making amendments to syariah laws in the state unnecessary.

"Kelantan, the veranda of Makkah, has a lot of (syariah crimes), that's why they want (harsher) syariah punishments.

"They are not afraid of being fined RM5,000, being jailed for five years or whipped six times.

"So if they want to (implement stricter syariah laws) in their state, let them do it," Nazri said at a press conference in Sungai Besar today.

The long-running hudud issue returned to the spotlight after a motion by PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang to table a Private Member's Bill to increase the punishment syariah courts can mete out was fast tracked in Parliament last Thursday.

The bill makes the necessary amendments to federal law to allow for the implementation of hudud in Kelantan.

Several BN ministers including MCA president Liow Tiong Lai and MIC president S Subramaniam have threatened to quit the cabinet if hudud is implemented.

Nazri, however, declined to comment on this, emphasising that this would only be restricted to Kelantan, and would not affect non-Muslims.

“And they won't be allowed to chop off hands and stone people.”