Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Rakyat MPs, cautious over hudud issue

Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) members of Parliament were generally cautious and preferred not to comment on the Kelantan Menteri Besar who want to propose bill at the Parliament to allow hudud to be implemented in the state next year.

Most of the MPs approached by Astro AWANI at the Parliament on Thursday chose to distance themselves from the issue.

UMNO vice-president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal said he did not want to comment over the issue but instead leaves it to the grassroots to study the matter.

“I don’t want to comment. Let the grassroots study it,” said the Semporna MP.

Agriculture and Agro-based Industry deputy minister Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman when met said it was too soon to discuss the issue and wanted to wait until the bill is tabled at the Parliament.

“When the bill is tabled, we in BN will state our stand. Until the right time comes, we don’t want to speculate,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said hudud implementation is not a new development in Kelantan.

“To me, this is about the faith of priority. What is important and should be focused on now are things like good governance, eliminating graft and reducing poverty,” she said.

“That will be my focus before moving on to hudud implementation,” said the Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president.

Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun said she did not support the Kelantan state government’s proposal but declined to comment further.

Meanwhile, several PR MPs met said it was too early to discuss the issue and said that it has to be brought to the PR Leadership Council.

“I will wait for the discussion because this is not an issue that anyone can comment. Like all this while, controversial issues were discussed at the council,” said Rafizi Ramli, Pandan MP.

Teresa Kok who agreed with Rafizi said the PR will discuss the issue.

Meanwhile, PKR vice-president Tian Chua said the Kelantan state government’s proposal is an academic effort as private members bill has never been tabled at Parliament.

“I myself have many private members bill which has never been tabled so I don’t want to comment on a hypothetical issue like this,” he said.

On Wednesday, Kelantan MB Datuk Seri Ahmad Yakob announced the state government’s exco meeting wants to table two private members bill at the Parliament to allow hudud law to be implemented in the state.