Politicians and interest groups continue to question PAS' move in tabling the Syariah Criminal (hudud and qisas) Bill for debate at the Terengganu state assembly despite recent amendments to the Bill.

Criticisms were raised on whether PAS was sincere in galvanising public opinion on the Bill, and whether PAS gave consideration to implementation issues and other technical problems when drafting it.

Latheefah Koya, deputy Youth chief of PRM, questioned the sincerity of PAS in conducting real dialogues on the hudud and qisas proposals.

"Whatever dialogues they have held cannot be considered successful, as they were more one-sided ceramah (public talks) to the people, rather than actual dialogue between participants," she said.

Latheefah claimed that these dialogues were conducted on unfair grounds, leaving the public with little chance to address the Bill, or question the Terengganu government.

No infrastructure

Also posed was the argument that there is no infrastructure to support such a law if it gets passed.

Nora Murat, legal adviser of the Muslim women's advocacy group Sisters In Islam, said PAS had rushed into things.

"They should not implement a legal instrument if the infrastructure is not ready."

"Even with existing syariah legal systems, cases are already back-logged. These laws only cover divorce procedures and family law. Can you imagine the bigger problem in implementing the hudud Bill?" asked Nora.

According to national news agency Bernama , Terengganu only has five syariah court judges at last count.

Moreover, said Nora, "Constitutionally, Terengganu would not be able to implement the Syariah Criminal Bill even if passed."

Under the present Federal Constitution, Malaysia is considered a secular state. It has been argued that an Islamic state criminal code would be in contravention of this constitutional label.

Technical aspects

Similar objections were raised by Keadilan Wanita chief Fuziah Salleh for two reasons: She is unconvinced that there was adequate dialogue issue, and sceptical on whether there were adequate resources for the implementation of the Bill.

"In terms of the implementation of the hudud, Wanita Keadilan has always questioned if the people were prepared enough to assess whether they want a hudud Bill."

"Given this, I don't think that Terengganu is ready for it (the proposed hudud and qisas Bill)."

However, Fuziah commended PAS for its willingness to be open about the technical aspects of the hudud proposal.

According to her, there is no dispute that the hudud is a divine law, but the technical aspects of the proposed law should be open to comments and review. With regard to this, "PAS has always shown a willingness to be open and a willingness to amend the Bill," she said.

Still, Fuziah said, "there are clearly technical weaknesses to the [proposed Bill], in terms of the lack of resources for its implementation, and the whole timing of the proposal."

The Terengganu Syariah Criminal Bill is currently under debate at the state assembly. The Bill is expected to be passed given that 28 out of 32 state seats belong to PAS.