PARLIAMENT The government had prioritised the Private Member's Bill to amend Act 355 brought by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang in the Dewan Rakyat.

The bill to amend the syariah court's jurisdiction was slated to be debated in the House after Strata Titles (Amendment) Bill 2016 later this afternoon.

However, Hadi requested that it be postponed to the next session and Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia agreed.

"I applied to postpone the motion to the next sitting under Section 15(5) of the Standing Order," he told the House.

This was after a 40-minute standoff following objections from DAP and Amanah lawmakers.

This proposal to bring forward Hadi's motion was brought by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Azalina Othman Said and seconded by Deputy Work Minister Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin.

Pandikar had earlier allowed the proposal to lift the motion, listed as '15' or the last item in the Parliament's Order Paper despite objection from DAP lawmakers.

Today is the last day of this session of the Dewan Rakyat proceedings. The next session would commence in October.

The bill is dubbed the Hudud Bill because Act 355 needs to be amended to allow syariah courts to mete out hudud sentences.

If the Hudud Bill is passed, it can pave the way for its implementation in Kelantan.

The Kelantan state assembly had passed the bill to implement hudud last year with all 44 representatives voting in favour.

Opposition MPs caught by surprise

Earlier, opposition lawmakers were caught by surprise when the government prioritised the bill on the last day of the sitting without any warning.

Anthony Loke (DAP-Seremban) said there has been no such precedent.

"Is this the government's political agenda?" he asked.

"This private member bill may have impact on the laws in the country."

However, Pandikar said he was acting according to the parliamentary Standing Order, not politics.

"My job is to ensure the Standing Order is observed. No more than that, no less than that," he replied.

Pandikar also turned down the request for bloc voting by Loke.  

Other lawmakers who objected to the hasty debate of the bill included Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh), Lim Lip Eng (DAP-Segambut), Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Bandar Kuching) and Khalid Samad (Amanah-Shah Alam).

"We want to know what is the consideration of the government to put up this bill in a haste, was it because of Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar (by-elections)?" asked Khalid.

Meanwhile, Takiyuddin Hassan (PAS-Kota Bharu) said the private member bill was the third attempt by Hadi since April 2015.

"This is not a new matter to be discussed," he added.

The next sitting will be held from Oct 17 to Nov 24.