Chief Minister: PBB will not support Hudud Bill

KUCHING: Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu ( PBB) will not support PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s quest to seek amendment of the Syariah Courts ( Criminal Jurisdiction) Act.

Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem, who is PBB president, said this was because Sarawak was a multiracial state, with Muslims only constituting about 25 per cent of the population.

“On Hudud, we will not support the so called Hudud Bill. We are a multi-racial country. Muslims only constitute 25 per cent or something in the state. We are not Kelantan. But anyway, in principle, we are against the Hudud Bill,” he said after chairing the party’ s supreme council meeting, here yesterday.

PBB, which is the backbone party in the state BN, is the second-largest Barisan Nasional ( BN) party in Parliament, with 14 seats after Umno with 86 seats.

The Private Member’s Bi l l tabled by Hadi in Parliament, sought to amend the Syariah Courts ( Criminal Jurisdiction) Act to increase certain penalties under the Syariah law.

State Legislative Assembly speaker Datuk Amar Mohd As f ia Awang Nas sar said the Bill tabled by Hadi was a private member’s bill introduced by way of a mot ion where Clause Two of the Bill sought to amend section two of the principal Act.

“In that amendment, you have the expansion of the criminal jurisdiction of Syariah at state level only on Muslims. What this amendment means is this, in a joint robbery by six persons; three are Muslims and three non-Muslims.

“Upon conviction, the three Muslims will lose their limbs and the non- Muslims will just go to prison. That means, there is a discrimination against the Muslims because for the same Act, the three Muslims have their limb amputated and the non-Muslims just go to jail.”

Besides that, he said there is also unequal treatment before the law because of religion.

“This amendment flagrantly violates Article 8 of the Federal Constitution because there is no equal treatment . The Muslims are being singled out and there is a discrimination against them for the same act - a severe punishment is exerted on them.”

While there was no problem for Had ito table the Bill in Parliament, Asfia opined that the Bill need not be debated and should be thrown out because it was unconstitutional.

Asked whether he would dismiss the Bill without any debate if he was the Dewan Rakyat speaker, he said: “There is no second thought about it, if you know the constitution. If you don’t know, then you will go around the bush.”

Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri in commenting on the same issue, believed that the Sarawak had sufficient laws and should carry on with the existing legislation.

“Whether they call it Hudud or not, we are not concerned about that. We already have sufficient Syariah law so there is no need to have new one or increase whatever that we have which we don’t even implement it.

“We have to look back into the Federal Constitution as well. If we study the Constitution, there is a likelihood of inconsistency later. At the moment, it is not being implemented but if it is really passed and implemented later, there is going to be a breach on constitution especially on human rights.”