Hudud: Why would PAS do this to DAP and PKR? - Ambiga

The Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code II 2015 (1993) Amendment Bill presented at the Kelantan Legislative Assembly Wednesday is viewed as the biggest betrayal of PAS' loyalty towards DAP and PKR in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

Former Bar Council president, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said, PAS is seen as breaking the spirit of consensus formed by the coalition for many years.

“I have many friends in Pas but after what happened today (Wednesday), I have lost faith in them.They shouldn’t have tabled the bill at the State Legislative Assembly before doing thorough discussions,” said Ambiga, when contacted by Astro AWANI here on Wednesday.

Ambiga was commenting on the tabling of amendments of Syariah Criminal Code (1993) 2015 presented at the Kelantan Assembly by Menteri Besar, Datuk Ahmad Yakob on Wednesday.

Ahmad tabled the 47-page bill at approximately 11am Wednesday and received unanimous support from Barisan Nasional (BN) assemblymen.

Debate on the amendments had been adjourned to Thursday.

Ambiga added that hudud has no place in the Federal Constitution -- which clearly states Malaysia was a secular state and Islamic criminal law by any means, cannot co-exist with other federal penal ruling.

Citing a JAKIM report of a 2014 paper work that stated the non-Muslims are governed under Syariah law and that all laws are designed to co-exist with the principles of Islam, Ambiga said there is no guarantee that non-Muslims would be let go scot-free under the hudud law.

“They said hudud doesn’t apply on non-Muslims but what guarantees are there to ensure that won’t happen?” said Ambiga.