The Kelantan government has finally announced it is postponing the special state assembly sitting on the hudud bill due to the worsening flood situation.

Berita Harian reported Kelantan MB Ahmad Yakob making the announcement in Kota Bharu today.

The sitting was supposed to take place on Monday where the PAS-led state government will introduce amendments to update the Syariah Criminal Code (II) Enactment 1993.

The move is a precursor to PAS' plan to table a private member's bill in Parliament to pave way for the implementation of hudud - the Islamic penal code that metes out punishments including amputation - in Kelantan.

However, the sitting was scuttled when the annual monsoon floods worsened this week, putting the state administrative building out of commission.

"The state government's intention to hold a special state assembly sitting to table the Syariah Criminal Code (II) Bill (1993) 2014 which have been fixed for Dec 29 has been deferred to a date to be determined later.

 

"This is to prioritise the needs of the Kelantanese people, particularly in terms of safety, at a time of serious flooding," Ahmad said in a statement today.

Late decision to postpone sitting

Up until yesterday, the Kelantan government was still contemplating on whether to press on with the sitting, even though the state assembly building is also affected by the flood.

 

On Thursday, the building was in at least 30cm of water and the state government operations have been relocated to the Telipot mosque some 3km away.

 

Since then, the flood has worsened significantly with the number of flood victims in the state having almost doubled to 81,925 people, according to Bernama .

 

At the press conference today, Ahmad ( left ) also announced that Sunday will be a public holiday for Kelantan, in light of the current situation.

 

The weekend for Kelantan is on Friday and Saturday while Sunday is considered a working day.

This morning, the MB's house was also swamped in the rising waters, immobilising him from getting out to aid flood victims.