Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail today clarified that the party respects the right of Terengganu and Kelantan to enact the controversial hudud law as the two governments were "democratically elected".

Wan Azizah also said that the party upholds Islam as the country's official religion as stated in the Federal Constitution, and respects the right of non-Muslims to practise their own faith.

Keadilan believes that no Muslim can reject syariah laws, of which hudud is a part, as it is in line with the religious obligations of Muslims, she added.

"You can't ask Muslims to reject praying five times a day or paying zakat (tithe). That's all part of the syariah," she told malaysiakini .

However, the party acknowledges that all laws in the country must be in line with the Federal Constitution and 1957 social contract, which assures all the major ethnic groups in this country are allowed freedom to profess their own faith, Wan Azizah stressed.

She was responding to a malaysiakini report yesterday that Keadilan, after much debate within the party, has taken a stand against hudud .

Waz Azizah said that the report had misrepresented the party's stand.

Original stand modified

Quoting sources, the report said that Keadilan has rejected the controversial Syariah Criminal Offences ( Hudud and Qisas ) Bill passed by the PAS-controlled state government of Terengganu recently.

The report added that the issue was discussed at length at the party's supreme council meeting last Thursday and several amendments were made to the original version proposed by deputy president Abdul Rahman Othman.

In a one-page document made available to malaysiakini , Wan Azizah said that Keadilan's main goal is to establish a good, open government by enacting laws that are just, equal, democratic and transparent.

She added that the party acknowledges that laws must be based on the Federal Constitution and the 1957 social contract.

PAS' insistence on setting up an Islamic state once it came to power forced former ally DAP to leave the Barisan Alternatif in September last year.

Hudud debate

Since its departure from the opposition front, the party has been aggressively campaigning against the set-up of a theocratic state, challenging non-Muslims in BA to declare their stand on the issue.

At its recent congress in Kuala Lumpur, PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali said that the party is against a theocratic state.

Chinese-based parties in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, MCA and Gerakan, have been capitalising on the issue, attacking Keadilan's association with PAS at every social function and by-election.

At the same time, they supported Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's declaration that Malaysia is an Islamic state.