By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysia’s de facto law minister has dismissed the possibility of the federal government approving a bill recently passed by a state legislature that would impose strict punishments on Muslims under Sharia law.
Nancy Shukri told reporters Tuesday that it would not be possible to implement the "hudud" Islamic penal code as Malaysia already has legal provisions for criminal offenses.
"We have the federal constitution. We have to look at the offenses under hudud. There might be double jeopardy," she said.
Last Thursday, amendments to Kelantan state’s penal code were approved by all 44 attending members of its legislature -- 32 of whom hail from the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) that has been pushing for the bill.
Under the hudud proposals, punishments such as caning and amputations could be implemented for crimes such as apostasy, consuming alcohol and illegal sexual practices.
The move has caused division within the national opposition coalition of which PAS is a member, with the proposal condemned by the Democratic Action Party and People's Justice Party (PKR), who form the Pakatan Rakyat opposition with PAS.
Immediately after the bill’s passage, the PKR released a statement condemning the PAS for not consulting with its partners, and saying the move was contrary to the spirit of the commitments made by other parties in Pakatan Rakyat.
Shukri, who hails from the Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Party that is a constituent of the governing Barisan Nasional coalition, said Tuesday: "A lot of provisions are already under the federal constitution, there needs to be another study if we were to allow hudud to pass through."
She added that parliaments from Malaysia's largest state Sarawak such as herself would not support the private member's bill as they believed such laws had no place in Malaysia.
Shukri was the second minister from the ruling coalition to openly dismiss the law in Kelantan after Tourism Minister Nazri Aziz, who said hudud was unsuitable for the country. He said it could only be implemented by amending the Federal Constitution -- which would require support from two-thirds of the parliament.
