MCA has invited the Bar Council to conduct a thorough study of hudud law implementation and its implications, including how the law will affect non-Muslims.

The party’s legal bureau chief Tay Puay Chuan said his bureau has sent an invitation letter to the Bar Council president “to study the impact of hudud should it be implemented and the circumstances which would make it possible for its implementation”.

Tay said a “ fair and mca protest pas hq on hudud 241208 01 impartial research paper is greatly needed to help policy makers and Malaysians understand the complexity” of the issue.

He said MCA was “concerned” of the existence of two separate criminal codes - one for Muslims and another for non-Muslims - that “run against the grain of national unity” and “cause injustice”.

“MCA hopes that the Bar Council would also study PAS’s Enekmen Undang-undang Syariah Islamiah Kerajaan Negeri Kelantan passed by the Kelantan government in 1993, and how the provisions in the enactment and the hukuman hudud dan qisos, if implemented in Kelantan or at the federal level, would be interpreted in criminal cases involving both Muslims and non-Muslim individuals,” he said in a statement today.

“The MCA believes that it is of public interest for legal experts to look into the means by which the rights of non-Muslims would be protected if they are implicated in a criminal charge involving Muslims,” he added.

'In interest of democracy'

Tan outlined some issues that the suggested study should address:

  • The possibility and circumstances enabling the amendment to the federal constitution to include hudud laws in Malaysia;
  • The religious duty of Muslim legislators to support the bill to amend the federal constitution to include Islamic laws;
  • The protection of rights of non-Muslims and the freedom to choose to be tried under the Penal Code/conventional courts for crimes allegedly committed involving a Muslim and non-Muslim;
  • The admissibility of the accounts of non-Muslim witnesses in criminal cases involving Muslims under hudud;
  • The analysis of the clauses in PAS’s hudud enactment (for Kelantan and Terengganu) and its implication on criminal trials in Malaysia.

Criticising Pakatan Rakyat for allegedly not clearly stating their position on hudud and calling it a “non-agenda”, Tan said, “In the name of democratic principles, MCA feels that it is imperative for political parties and its leaders to make their stand clear on issues such as hudud if they are seeking public office.”

NONE As the 13th general election draws near, BN parties and the mainstream media it controls has been playing up the issue of the implementation of hudud to pitch its key proponent PAS with Pakatan partner DAP.

While MCA flays DAP for allowing PAS to pursue the latter’s hudud agenda, Umno instead has been telling PAS to leave Pakatan as DAP is hindering the Islamic party’s aspirations for hudud to be implemented.

Despite MCA's aversion to hudud, it was ironically a Johor Umno rep had suggested enforcing hudud on non-Muslims as well.