Now that you’re in power, why hasn’t RUU 355 been tabled, PN asked

 

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail says nothing has happened on Abdul Hadi Awang’s bill although PN has been in power for a year.

PETALING JAYA: PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has asked the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government when it intends to allow the proposed amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (RUU 355) to be tabled, now that it has federal powers.

In a Facebook post, Saifuddin said the federal government is a Muslim-majority administration, except for a few non-Muslim members, while PAS president and Marang MP Abdul Hadi Awang has already prepared the bill.

He said de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan comes from a Muslim party, the attorney-general is a Muslim, and de facto religious affairs minister Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri had been present at PAS’ RUU 355 rally at Padang Merbok nearly four years ago.

“The question I want to raise is when will it (RUU 355) be done? And if it cannot be done, why?” he said, in a dig at PN.

In another post yesterday, Saifuddin pointed out that the Kelantan and Terengganu state governments had passed the bill in 1993 and 2000, respectively, but could not implement it as they did not have federal powers.

He said political power was now in the hands of a Malay-Muslim majority government, but nothing had materialised on the bill despite one year of PN being in Putrajaya.

“There haven’t even been any calls from any of the 18 MPs from the Islamist party (PAS), including Marang (Hadi),” he said.

RUU 355 was tabled by Hadi in 2016. It was listed for second reading in March 2018 but never saw the light of day. PAS had previously urged the former Pakatan Harapan government to debate and amend the act. - FMT