Tuan Ibrahim: U-turn on Act 355 shows Umno can’t be trusted

MUKTAMAR | The government's contradictory stand on whether it would table amendments to syariah penal laws showed that Umno can't be relied on to uphold Islam, said PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.

"(Concerning amendments to) Act 355, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the government would table it, but Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said no.

"How can you rely on them? You can't," Tuan Ibrahim said at a ceramah in Alor Setar, Kedah last night.

Last month, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang was allowed to read his private member’s bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act in Parliament.

Zahid in March confirmed the government would be taking over the tabling of the amendments as its own.

However, following a BN supreme council meeting later that month, Najib announced a U-turn on the decision.

The push for Act355 to be amended had seen PAS and Umno grow closer together.

Najib even made a show of it during last year's Umno general assembly, when he announced the government would adopt Hadi’s bill.

However despite the two parties warming up to each other, PAS has always maintained it is still a political foe to Umno.

The party is now posturing itself as an Islamic third force opposed to both the Umno-led BN and Pakatan Harapan.

Hadi's proposed amendments seek to raise the punishment cap for syariah offences to 30 years jail, RM100,000 fine and 100 strokes of the cane.

The current syariah punishment cap is three years’ imprisonment, RM5,000 fine and six strokes of the cane. -Mkini