PAS is confident that its Private Member’s Bill on hudud will be passed since the party has obtained the “green light” with regard to the implementation of hudud in Kelantan.

Party secretary-general Mustafa Ali said the private member’s bill, involving amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355), will be passed with support from Muslim MPs from various parties including Umno.

If passed, the Private Member’s Bill will pave the way for hudud to be implemented in Kelantan.

“We are confident that this bill will be passed. Muslims cannot reject hudud in terms of principles. It is a matter of responsibility and is not a new issue,” Mustafa is reported as saying by Utusan Online .

“This (implementation of hudud) had been delayed because of objections from former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, but now, we have obtained the ‘green light’, which means we are given the support.

“We will just see whether they are truly sincere in implementing hudud,” he said after officially opening the Kuala Kangsar PAS division’s 49th general meeting yesterday.

Mustafa ( right ), meanwhile, also stressed that the implementation of hudud should not be confused with the principle of tahaluf siyasi (political cooperation) involving the opposition coalition.

“We will be facing the Sarawak state elections soon. Maybe DAP thinks that if the issue prolongs, they will not be able to win many seats. So it is better that it seems there is mufaraqah (split) with PAS, but it is not a break-up,” he said.

Mahfods: Butt out, Kit Siang

Meanwhile, Utusan Online also reported that acting dewan ulama chief Mahfods Mohamed had told DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang that he did not have the right to “teach” PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang to follow the whims of DAP.

Mahfodz said Lim must cease his criticisms and “baseless accusations” against Hadi and also stressed that there were no talks between PAS and Umno regarding the implementation of hudud.

“It’s only that a joint hudud technical committee was set up between the Kelantan government and federal government,” Mahfodz told Utusan .

Lim in a blog post yesterday had questioned Hadi's statement that whether Umno is sincere or not, PAS had to accept talks with Umno on hudud.

The Gelang Patah MP also said that Hadi was propounding a political creed where the end justifies the means, and that this seemed to be at odds with the essence of Islam on the universal values of justice and trust.