PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has lived up to his word on tabling the hudud bill in the current Parliament sitting.

 

The Private Member's Bill on the amendments to the Syariah Law appeared in the Dewan Rakyat order paper today.

 

The bill amendment states "the Syariah Court has the right to mete any punishment that is allowed under the syariah law in relation to any offences listed under the mention section according to the Islamic syariah."

 

It is unclear whether the House speaker will allow Hadi to table the bill as normally such private member’s bills do not see the light of day.

The bill however is not likely to be debated as it is item number 24 on the order paper. 

Previously, de facto law minister Nancy Shukri was reported saying that it was difficult even for the private member’s bill to be read as the government has several other bills waiting to be tabled.

 

If the bill does not get tabled in this parliamentary session, it will be expected to be brought up at the next sitting which starts on May 16.

 

The bill seeks to amend Section 2 of the Syariah Court (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 [Act 355] to replace the existing provision on the subject of the Syariah Court's criminal jurisdiction over a person professing the religion of Islam.

 

It also states the objective of the amendment is to "clarify that the Syariah Court’s jurisdiction over a person professing to the faith is not limited to the violation of the teachings of the religion only but also includes any violations connected to all matters mention in item 1 of the State's List as contained in the Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution."

Full support from Umno MPs needed

 

At present, the syariah courts can only sentence someone to up to three years in prison, a fine of up to RM5,000 or a maximum of six lashes.

 

If PAS is to succeed, it must not only rely on all 88 votes from Umno MPs and 21 more from its own party, but also bank on the possibility of Muslim MPs from other parties who are against the bill to abstain or be absent to secure a simple majority.

 

Meanwhile, PAS information chief Mahfuz Omar said the Private Member’s Bill might be read out today, if the speaker gets the approval from the cabinet ministers to allow the bill to be read earlier.

“The condition is that the speaker has to get the agreement from the ministers to make way for Number 24 (Hadi’s bill) to be read earlier,” Mahfuz told reporters.

He also said he had confidence that the BN MPs would support the hudud bill, despite the objections from the MCA.

“I believe that BN will support the bill. If it can agree to a detention  without trial law (the Prevention of Terrorism Act), why not agree to a law that goes through a proper court processes?” Mahfuz ( left ) queried.

Earlier today, MCA president Liow Tiong Lai said this party was adamant on its stand that it would not agree to hudud and had raised this at the BN leadership meeting.