The bill is not hudud, exclaimed Najib
Barisan Nasional will reach a consensus on the need to
strengthen the existing jurisdictions of the Syariah courts before making a
decision on the matter, said its chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak today.
He was responding to Kedah state executive councillor Datuk
Dr Leong Yong Kong’s decision to resign from MCA, as a mark of protest against
Pas’ Private Member’s Bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction)
Act 1965.
Najib said there was a “big misunderstanding" among BN
component parties regarding the Private Member’s Bill, which was submitted by
Pas president and Marang Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.
“We have informed our partners in BN that there has been a
big misunderstanding… they feel that the bill submitted by him (Hadi) is the
hudud law itself.
“I want to explain that the bill is not hudud; it is merely
about introducing enhanced punishments,” Najib told reporters after chairing
the Umno Supreme Council meeting here today.
The bill, said Najib, sought to replace existing provisions
in the Syariah court's criminal jurisdiction and to allow several categories of
punishments to be meted out.
Najib referred to the proposed strengthening of Section 2 of
the law, which currently allows Syariah courts at all levels to mete out maximum
punishments of three years' jail, RM5,000 fine or six strokes of the rotan.
“These punishments
will only involve Muslims and they have nothing to do with non-Muslims,” he
stressed.
Source -NST Online
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