PAS' announcement that it would not implement hudud law, for now, in Kedah is "insincere", only meant to regain non-Muslim support, said the state's MCA.

"Such an announcement is targeted at shoring up voter support from non-Muslim Kedahans which has taken a dive," said Kedah MCA chief Chong Itt Chew in a statement yesterday.

He said that the move was necessary after several measures with "semblance of PAS' hudud have crept into the state" but turned out to be " repellent for non-Muslims".

chua soi lek dinner at penang 260310 alor setar division chief chong itt chew Chong ( right ) cited several examples, including gender segregation at a New Year countdown, the demolition of Kedah's sole pig abattoir without proper relocation, and threats to cancell business licences if they did not shut down for 15 minutes during Muslim prayer times.

He was referring to a Malaysikini report yesterday, where Kelantan PAS deputy information chief Ahmad Baihaki Atiqullah was quoted saying that it would not implement hudud in Kedah because of its larger non-Muslim population, unlike Kelantan and Terengganu where the law had already been adopted but not enforced.

Demographics, a no for decision making

The announcement is "impossible to believe", added Chong, especially in the light of an article in theSun last week where Kelantan state exco Mohd Amar Abdullah reportedly said hudud would be enforced in the state "when the time is right".

He also said that Ahmad's logic of using demographics to decide whether to implement hudud was impractical due to difficulties in tracking the number of non-Muslims in the state.

This is because PAS would need to set a threshold percentage of Muslims in the state where it would implement hudud, Chong explained, but the figure is difficult to track because Malaysians often move interstate and work.

"Also, employees and investors who feel jittery over PAS hudud's implementation may also have to move again, thereby accentuating Ahmad's illogical reasoning of using population to compel PAS hudud law because the percentage would change each time for such a situation." he said.