I refer to the police directive not to help in the implementation of the state's hudud (Islamic penal code) enactment in Terengganu and the reactions to that in the report Mixed Reactions to police's vow not to help enforce hudud (July 11).

I wonder then how the police will deal with this crime scenario of a Muslim man being accused of raping a non-Muslim women? If the police arrest the man, will they be accused of helping to enforce hudud law?

As for the rapist (he is that under the secular Penal Code), can he insists that he be charged under hudud as he knows he can get away with it since the victim cannot produce four witnesses? What can the police do?

If there were four witnesses to the crime, how will the law view these men? In hudud law, they are witnesses, under secular law, they would be viewed suspiciously as possible abettors since they did not stop the crime? What is the police's stand in this case?

Isn't the whole situation silly and confusing?

Another perplexing situation is Terengganu Menteri Besar Abdul Hadi Awang's retort that the state does not need the federal police's help because the perpetrators of crime would surrender themselves to be punished by hudud in order to "cleanse" themselves.

This is a joke. If they have the conscience to surrender as they know that the act is wrong, would they be committing the crime in the first instance?

Even if Hadi were right, would not this logic be some kind of a carte blanche to tell criminals they can commit crime with impunity as they can always "cleanse" themselves afterwards?

I am afraid that with the hudud enactment, many otherwise lawful citizens would flee the state, leaving behind the criminal types as well as attracting criminals from other states to Terengganu.

Hudud will make the state a safe haven against prosecution because of the ridiculously difficult procedures of proof of guilt and also because the police have their hands tied by the directive.

This will be the inevitable result when a state has a different legal system from the other states.