'PAS won't pressure Muslim MPs on Act 355'

PAS has denied pressuring Muslim lawmakers to support proposed amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355) which will debated in Parliament in March.

At a dialogue in Penang last night, PAS central working committee member and Kelantan executive councillor Fadzli Hassan said Muslims must support hudud as it is God's law.

"If they do not, there is nothing we can do," said Fadzli.

He said PAS was unable to control its "thousand of followers" and there were bound to those among them who will criticise those who do not accept hudud.

However, he believed that lawmakers who do not support the bill should not be penalised or ridiculed.

"We have delayed twice in tabling the bill in Parliament because we were unsure of getting the numbers.

"This is why we are going around explaining the bill to everyone so people can understand and support it," said Fadzli.

The bill to amend the law to increase the penalty cap that can be mete by the Syariah courts were tabled by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

No parallel legal system

Thus far, the bill appear to have the support of Umno while parties with mostly non-Muslim support base are against it.

Fadzli said that if the bill is not passed, PAS will table a similar bill in the future, although whether it would be debated would depend on the Dewan Rakyat speaker.

Accompanying Fadzli at the two-hour dialogue were Kelantan-Federal Hudud Technical Committee member Ahmad Jailani Abdul Ghani and retired medical doctor Dr Ronnie Ooi, who moderated the event.

Both PAS figures said that regardless of whether the bill was passed, crimes involving theft, robbery and rape will be dealt by the present criminal justice system and not under Shariah, so there will be no parallel legal system.

The only hudud offences outlined in Abdul Hadi's bill involved adultery (100 lashes), qazaf (80 lashes) and consumption of alcohol (40-80 lashes).

The dialogue at the Penang YMCA was attended by about 30 people and conducted in English.  -Mkini