The PAS-led Terengganu governments intention to implement hudud laws in the state later this year is an exercise in political rhetoric, said director-general of the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (Ikim) Dr Ismail Ibrahim today.

Ismail, who acknowledged that hudud was the prescribed system of laws in Islam, said the actual implementation of it was a different matter.

The director-general was speaking at a press conference after a function to commemorate Ikims 10th anniversary at its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

Ismail explained there is no comprehensive working study formulated to seriously consider all aspects, factors and consequences of the implementation of the laws.

In observing other Islamic states, it can be said the codification of hudud laws more often than not will involve too much political play.

This will genuinely hinder it from actually existing as a viable system of criminal laws, he said.

Evidential hurdles

Ismail also argued that the difficulty in proving a crime under hudud would render the system ineffective.

Realistically speaking, the evidential hurdles are generally insurmountable in a hudud system of criminal law, he said.

Concurring with Dr Ismail was Anuar Abdul Razak, a fellow at Ikims centre for training and consultation.

Take for example the Kelantan state government. Look at the inherent difficulties it faces in properly executing its hudud laws, said Anuar.

Meanwhile, an official from Sisters in Islam (SIS) told malaysiakini their stand against hudud laws would remain unchanged from their previously outspoken reasoning expounded in their memorandum to the prime minister in 1993.

In addressing the 1993 ratification of hudud laws by the Kelantan state assembly, SIS had said hudud provisions emerged as opinions of lawyers and the processes through which they were sanctioned resulted from human efforts, not divine injunctions.

SIS, which actively promotes the rights of Muslim women, had also posed the question of whether mere humans should insist upon the imposition of [such] laws when it should remain a matter solely between the believer and the Almighty.

On Monday, Terengganu state executive councillor Wan Abdul Muttalib Embong announced the tabling of two new enactments to its constitution, to pave the way towards an Islamic government in Terengganu.