DAP's Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo said the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 clearly stipulates that it applies to all states in peninsular Malaysia.

As such, he said federal minister Nazri Abdul Aziz's claim that PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's planned amendments to the Act would only affect Kelantan, was wrong.

"Section 1(2) of the principal Act says it shall apply to all the states of peninsular Malaysia.

"So amendments to the Act would likewise apply," he said in a statement today.

Gobind, who is also DAP legal bureau chief, stressed that the government's legal adviser should come clean on the matter.

"As this is a matter of public interest, attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali, as chief legal adviser to the cabinet, should break his silence over this.

"More so, as it now appears, going by what Nazri has said, that BN ministers seem somewhat clueless about the real extent and impact of the bill," he said.

Last month, Hadi had requested to table a Private Member's Bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 which will pave the way for the partial implementation of hudud in Kelantan.

In a surprise move, the Umno-dominated government unilaterally fast-tracked Hadi's bill without consulting its BN partners.

However, the tabling was later postponed to the next sitting on Hadi's request, to give other MPs time to study the bill.

Since then Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak agreed that progress on the bill would require consensus within BN, following strong objections to it from component parties.

Disquiet in BN

It is unclear whether Hadi will be able to push the bill at the next sitting in light of disquiet within BN.

The Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 or Act 355 limits the Syariah Courts' punishment to a maximum fine of RM5,000, three years' jail or six strokes of the rotan.

Hadi's amendments seek to remove these limits which will allow the Syariah Criminal Code II Enactment, the law which provides for hudud punishment, to be enforced in Kelantan.

At present, the enactment cannot be enforced as it contradicts Act 355, such as providing punishments of between 40 and 100 strokes of the rotan.

PAS insisted that the amendments to Act 355 will only affect Kelantan, but the move will also pave the way for other states to introduce similar enactments.

'No need to teach me'

In response, Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said there was no need for anyone to teach him about the law because he was a former de facto law minister for nine years.

"Of course the Act is a federal Act. But for it to be implemented in the states, the state assembly must first amend its enactment.

"So don't need to teach me. I was the law minister for nine years, so I know," he said at a press conference during a function in Sungai Besar.

Nazri said this when asked for comment on Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah's remark that PAS intends to strengthen syariah courts all over Malaysia and not just Kelantan.

"Since when can the Kelantan state enactment be used in other states?

"You cannot use the Act in other states. Kelantan is not Malaysia..Kelantan Is Kelantan and any other states must first amend its own enactment," he said.

On claims that Malaysia will be less of an Islamic state without a strengthened syariah court, Nazri retorted, there was no one standard template for a Muslim country anywhere in the world.