Malaysian Bar: Hadi’s Bill contains hudud elements

PETALING JAYA: PAS’ proposed amendments to the Syariah law would confer Syariah courts in Kelantan with the power to implement hudud.

And those claiming that the move has nothing to do with hudud are merely trying to hide the real truth, said the Malaysian Bar.

Its president Steven Thiru said the proposed amendments to the Syariah Court (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act would confer Syariah courts in PAS-led Kelantan with “unlimited power to impose all other hudud punishments” except death.

“It is therefore rather disingenuous for some quarters to suggest that the Bill does not touch upon hudud offences in any manner,” he said.

He was commenting on PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s tabling of the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) (Amendment) Bill on May 26. The Bill has been postponed till the next Parliament meeting in October.

He added that the amendment to Section 2 and creation of a new Section 2A were ambiguous and ran counter to the Federal Constitution’s principle of the proportionality test.

“No sentence of death can be imposed under the new Section 2A, but the amendment would appear to confer Syariah courts with unlimited power to impose all other hudud punishments,” he said.

He said the amendments would also lift the current “3-6-5 provision” restricting the Syariah court’s power to impose a jail term not exceeding three years, whipping not exceeding six strokes and a fine not exceeding RM5,000, or any combination on Muslim offenders.

Thiru said the new law would seem to allow the Syariah courts to impose a punishment of between 40 and 100 lashes for offences such as zina (adultery), qazaf (false accusation of committing zina), syrub (alcohol consumption) and irtidad or riddah (apostasy) as defined as hudud offences under Section 5 of the Syariah Criminal Code (II) (1993) 2015 Enactment (Kelantan).

He said this ran counter to Article 8 of the Federal Constitution that requires all legislative action to satisfy the test of proportionality.

PAS’ move has since drawn vocal protests from MCA, MIC, Gerakan, Parti Bersatu Sabah and several Sarawakian parties.