Perlis mufti will debate Act 355 amendments only with Hadi

Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin will only debate the bill to amend the Syariah Court (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act (Act 355) with if the debate is to be with PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

Asri said this after Universiti Utara Malaysia's Insitut Kajian Politik Malaysia (Mapan) director Kamarul Zaman Yusoff said the debate should take place between Asri and PAS ulama wing information chief Khairuddin Aman Razali.

"I did not challenge Khairuddin. If PAS wants to have a dialogue on this, then I suggest having a dialogue with the PAS president," Asri told Malaysiakini today.

Kamarul Zaman said yesterday that there have been differing views in the academia on the proposed amendments to Act 355, so a debate is needed between Khairuddin (photo) and Asri.

Kamarul Zaman was responding to UIA lecturer on Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), Maszlee Malik, who urged Khairuddin to accept a debate challenge from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris fiqh lecturer Rozaimi Ramle.

"What I know is that (Khairuddin) challenged anyone who is willing to debate the matter and this was accepted by Rozaimi… so he should not find excuses to escape," Asri said.

"We have to understand that someone who does not support raising the maximum penalty to 30 years' jail and RM100,000 fine is not someone who opposes syariah. There are deeper issues underlying the 30 years' jail and RM100,000 fine," the mufti said.

Khairuddin, the MP for Kuala Nerus, was recorded as saying in a ceramah that he is ready to face anyone who says it is not compulsory for Muslims to support the amendments to Act 355.

In the video, now circulating on the Internet, he also said that any mufti who says it is not compulsory should be "sekeh".

Sekeh is a Bahasa Malaysia word that roughly translates to hitting a person's head with one's knuckles.

It is often used in the context of disciplining recalcitrant children.

"Is it wajib (compulsory) or sunat (not compulsory but will gain rewards if done)? It is compulsory. If any mufti says it is sunat, I would like to sekeh his head," Khairuddin is recorded as saying. -Mkini