Did BN component parties agree to Umno's backing of the Kelantan government's attempts to amend laws prescribing hudud punishment?

This question was posed to Kelantan Umno head Mustapa Mohamed today, but he deftly steered around the issue.

"There has been a meeting of the BN supreme council. There were discussions and I understand there were important (issues) being communicated.

"So there has been a lot of communication, a lot of meetings that has been done over a few days ago.

"We leave it to our BN chairperson (Najib Abdul Razak) to deal with it," said Mustapa ( right ).

On March 19, an amendment bill to the Syariah Criminal Code II Enactment 1993 was passed unanimously by the Kelantan legislative assembly.

Mustapa was present during the sitting.

A political decision?

On the same day, BN component party heads held an emergency meeting with Najib to state their opposition to hudud law on grounds that it was against the federal constitution.

Thus far, BN component parties have mostly been quiet on Kelantan Umno's position and top leaders in Umno have been ambiguous on the party's position on the matter.

On whether Kelantan Umno's move to back the state government's bill was a political decision, Mustapa again drifted around the issue.

"No. This has been discussed at the BN council (meeting). The matter will be handled by the BN chairperson," he said.

On MCA's allegation that Kelantan Umno had breached BN's consensus on nation-building, Mustapa responded by urging reporters to limit questions to the entrepreneurship forum that he was officiating today.