BN PLAYS ‘NOW YOU SEE, NOW YOU DON’T’ WITH HADI’S BILL: INSTEAD OF BEING DEBATED, PAS CHIEF’S MOTION NOW IN LIMBO AFTER SPEAKER REFUSES TO CONFIRM IF IT WILL BE CARRIED FORWARD TO NEXT SITTING

Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia today refused to confirm what will happen to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s motion after Parliament is dissolved.

On the last day of the 13th Parliament session today, Takiyuddin Hassan (PAS – Kota Bharu) had sought for clarification if Hadi’s motion will be carried forward to the 14th session after the general election.

The carry forward is important for PAS as the motion had already been tabled last year and only requires debate. This gives it priority other non-government business.

However, Pandikar refused to give a straight answer.

“In the new Parliament, I don’t know who will sit on the right side (government) or who will sit on the left side (opposition).

“Even if I make a ruling now, my ruling will not be relevant,” he said.

Hadi’s motion seeks to introduce a private member’s bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, or Act 355.

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The private member’s bill seeks to increase the syariah punishment under Act 355 from three years imprisonment, RM5,000 fine and six strokes to the rotan to 10 years imprisonment, RM100,000 fine and 100 strokes of the rotan.

This would allow states to impose punishments for certain offences that are consistent with hudud requirements.

Not giving up

However, the Islamist party has not given up hope that the bill will see the light of day in the next session.

“We will write to the speaker, and we will put forward the bill again.

“If it is not taken up (now), we will have it listed (on the order paper) in the 14^th session,” he told reporter today outside Parliament.

MEANWHILE, according to The Star:

RUU355 will not be debated today (April 5)

KUALA LUMPUR: The Private Member’s Bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, also known as RUU355, will not be debated Thursday (April 5) as expected.

This is because the Government, through a motion tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azlina Othman Said, said the august House will be adjourned after a Finance Ministry motion has been debated and passed.

Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan (PAS-Kota Baru) then stood up to ask for a clarification.

“I would like to raise a point of order – about one year ago, on April 6 last year, YB Marang (Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang) was allowed to table his motion.

 “Today, the motion is slotted as No 2 in the Order Paper, so I would like to know if there is discretion from your side to allow the debate to go on,” said Takiyuddin.

To this, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia said he was bound by the Standing Order.

“So, when the Government under Standing Order 12(1) has tabled a motion that says that the House will be adjourned once all Government business is done, then I am bound by that,” he said.

Last April, the unprecedented move to allow Abdul Hadi, the PAS president, to table his controversial Private Member’s Bill sparked an uproar on the last day of the Dewan Rakyat meeting.

The Marang lawmaker gave a 20-minute explanation on the reasons he wanted to propose amendments to allow Syariah courts to impose stiffer penalties.

Only Takiyuddin was given a chance to debate in support of Abdul Hadi’s motion, which he did for almost two hours.

However, RUU355 was left in limbo when it was deferred by Pandikar Amin to the next Parliamentary meeting, but it did not reach its turn to be debated.

Abdul Hadi’s motion remained in the Order Paper.

This is because there was a slew of Bills from the Government, and Standing Order 15 states that government business shall have precedence over private member’s business.

In May 2016, a Government minister fast-tracked Abdul Hadi’s Bill on the last day of the sitting. However, the lawmaker deferred his Bill to the next Parliamentary meeting.

In November 2016, Abdul Hadi presented a “tweaked version” of his Bill to empower Syariah courts to impose stiffer penalties, to a maximum 30 years’ imprisonment, a maximum RM100,000 fine, and a maximum of 100 lashes of the whip.

– M’kini / ANN