Kelantan not ready to implement hudud - Mukhriz

The Kedah government strongly feels that that the PAS-led Kelantan government is still not ready to enforce and implement hudud law.

As such, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir said Kedah government would take the wait-and-see approach and analyse in advance the development in the east coast state.

"Kelantan seems not ready to implement hudud law, and that is why we (Kedah) will just wait and see. We will monitor what Kelantan is going through," he told a press conference after the weekly Kedah state executive council meeting here.

Mukhriz said the approval process for the implementation of the law would take quite some time because even after being passed by the State Legislative Assembly, it had to go through several processes in Parliament.

Last Thursday, the Kelantan Legislative Assembly passed the Syariah Criminal Code II 1993 (Amendment 2015) or hudud law after 44 members of the Assembly unanimously approved the bill.

Asked whether the Kedah government supported the action taken by Kelantan to implement hudud law, Mukhriz said: "We accept the fact that they have the right to choose on their own. If this is the will and the wishes of the people of Kelantan, who are we to deny them their right."

He said, the Kedah government, however, would act in the best interest of the people and would neither be influenced by events taking place in Kelantan nor meddle with its affairs.

"It is for Kedah to decide, we will not be influenced by anyone else," he said.

In another development, he said the 155 families affected by the Flood Mitigation Project (RTB) in Bandar Baharu had agreed to move into the new settlement areas provided by the state government.

With the residents' agreement, the RM80 million RTB project could proceed, Mukhriz said, adding that there were three RTB in Kedah, each located at Bandar Baharu, Alor Setar and Pendang.