Likelihood of Hadi’s bill being debated at this sitting in question

The private member’s motion filed by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang to amend the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 has been moved from number 7 to 12 on the Dewan Rakyat order list.

KUALA LUMPUR: The private member’s motion filed by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang to amend the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 has been moved further from number 7 to number 12 in the Dewan Rakyat order paper today.

This has raised the possibility that Hadi’s bill will not be debated in the current sitting of Parliament which ends on April 6.

The motion, better known as RUU355, seeks to increase the Shariah Court’s maximum sentencing limits to 30 years’ jail, RM100,000 fine and 100 strokes of the cane.

RUU 355 currently limits the Shariah Court’s sentencing powers to a maximum of three years’ jail, RM5,000 fine and six lashes.

Hadi had tabled a motion on the last day of Parliament’s sitting last May after the government allowed it to take precedence over government bills.

However, the PAS president deferred debating the bill and retabled a revised version in November last year after it was moved up again on the Dewan Rakyat order paper list.

Later, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced that the federal government would take over and table the bill.

Yesterday, however, Prime Minister Najib Razak said the government had called off the plan after taking into account the consensus of the Barisan Nasional coalition parties.

“Therefore, it will remain a private member’s bill and if it is presented, it will depend on the speaker’s instructions,” The Star had quoted Najib as saying. -FMT