The government is mulling its own amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, revealed Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Jamil Khir Baharom.

The Act – also known as Act 355 – is the same one that PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang wants to amend through his Private Member's Bill, which has raised concerns that this could pave way for the implementation of hudud law.

"The government is actually reviewing proposed amendments to Act 355 with the aim of widening the criminal jurisdiction of syariah courts, as the Act has not been amended for a long time.

"If the amendments are approved by Parliament, the government wishes to propose that syariah offenders are given sentences that include community service," Jamil Khir said in a written reply today.

Act 355, introduced in 1965, was previously amended in 1984 and 1989.

He was responding to a question by Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh) who asked Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak whether the cabinet had thoroughly discussed Hadi's Private Member's Bill to amend Act 355 before it was tabled in Parliament in the last session.

This question went unanswered.

Hadi's motion to discuss his Private Member's Bill was suddenly brought to the House floor in the last session, after it was bumped up by the government.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Azalina Othman Said revealed that this was at the behest of Najib and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The move earned the ire of BN component parties such as MCA, MIC and Gerakan, which said they were not consulted on this move.

Hadi, however, decided to postpone the debate to the current parliament session.

The motion is number five on the Order Paper today, but is unlikely to be heard.

Starting next week, parliament debates will be focused entirely on Budget 2017 which Najib will table tomorrow.

The debates will only progress to other matters on the last two days of this parliament session, which ends on Nov 24.