There are two possible reasons why the government is taking over the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355), which was first submitted as a Private Member's Bill by Marang MP Abdul Hadi Awang, PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli said today.

Before this, Rafizi said, the government had a trump card to further split the opposition, that is the power to decide whether or not to allow Hadi, who is also PAS president, to put forth and debate the Act 355 amendments in Parliament.

"So when Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the government will table the amendments, to me it can only mean one of two things.

"Number one, it means that BN is confident that the split in the opposition is irreversible, that PAS will not consider joining Pakatan Harapan and therefore, the weapon as to whether to allow or not the Marang MP to present the motion is irrelevant.

"It can mean that or it can also mean that BN now has to navigate between whatever it has committed to PAS and also the brewing anger of its non-Muslim parties, because the effect is also different," he explained at a press conference in Sungai Besi.

Rafizi said the non-Muslim BN parties would be under pressure from their voters if the amendments were tabled by PAS, as the voters would perceive this as a first step towards hudud.

"(But) this is what is weird. If the BN government were to table it, the non-Muslim BN parties would feel that this is not (leading towards) hudud because BN is the one presenting it.

"That is why we did the survey, to show that we are getting irrational about this," he said.

Rafizi said that as long as it is an opposition MP who tables this amendment, there is a risk that it will be used as a political weapon by BN to further split the opposition.

"Because the decision to allow something to be read, debated and voted is Umno-BN's decision," he reiterated.

Zahid said last Friday that the government would be the one tabling the Act 355 amendments in Parliament.