Dewan Rakyat: Hadi’s bill moves up after 2 others withdrawn

KUALA LUMPUR: The Dewan Rakyat today withdrew two bills from the order paper, moving PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s private member’s bill to enhance the powers of the shariah courts up to third on the agenda.

Hadi’s bill was originally listed as fifth on the order paper. It proposes to increase the sentencing limits of the shariah courts to 30 years’ jail, RM100,000 fine and 100 lashes.

The current maximum penalties under the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 are three years’ jail, RM5,000 fine and six lashes.

The two bills which were withdrawn are the Employment Insurance System (EIS) Bill 2017 and the Stamp (Amendment) Bill 2017.

This is the second time the EIS Bill has been withdrawn from the order paper. It was previously withdrawn to allow for more engagement with stakeholders.

The EIS Bill, which was tabled for its first reading in Parliament on Aug 1, will see the creation of an insurance scheme for laid-off workers while increasing their re-employability.

Earlier this year, Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani was reported as saying that the scheme was “much needed” as it benefited the workers.

With the scheme, he said, workers would be able to get a portion of their insured salary to tide them over while looking for another job if their company were to go bust without being able to pay compensation.

However, he also cautioned that the government did not want to create another Socso or Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF). -FMT