KUALA LUMPUR: PAS lawmakers rallied around their president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, who has come under fresh criticism after his private member’s bill on the criminal jurisdiction of the Syariah Court appeared in yesterday’s Parliament order paper.

Claiming it had nothing to do with the implementation of hudud in Kelantan, they said Abdul Hadi’s bill was to seek extra power for the Syariah Court, which currently could mete out up to a maximum of three years’ jail.

Shah Alam Member of Parliament (MP) Khalid Samad said the bill had been confused with the Syariah Enactment and the implementation of hudud in Kelantan as both were being debated at the same time.

“The fact that this (Hadi’s private member’s bill) is being brought up at the same time when the Syariah Enactment in Kelantan is being debated has created a lot of confusion,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby.

“It is also partly the reason PAS and DAP are arguing as they think that the private member’s bill is related to the implementation of the Islamic law in Kelantan.”

Khalid, who is seen as one of the more progressive lawmakers in the Islamist party, said Abdul Hadi’s bill was merely to extend the limit of the punishments the Syariah Court could hand out, from the current three-year jail term, RM5,000 fine and six strokes of the rotan.

“So it is a normal administrative matter. It is not a controversial subject. It is only about adding on punishment to the offences already under the Syariah law,” he added.

The party’s information chief Datuk Mahfuz Omar said he believed that all Barisan Nasional parliamentarians would back the private member’s bill, although several of the coalition’s component parties had voiced out against it.

“I think something is wrong if they can support a law that allows detention without trial yesterday (Monday) but are opposed to a law that gives power to the courts,” he said.

He was referring to the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) Bill, which was passed after nearly 15 hours of debate with 79 votes for and 60 votes against in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

PAS central committee member Nasrudin Hassan expressed similar sentiments, adding that tabling the private member’s bill reflected the democratic process, and it was the right of any parliamentarian to either support or oppose the bill.

On criticism by the DAP over the bill, the Temerloh MP said all allegations by their Pakatan Rakyat (Pakatan) ally had been answered.

The bill seeks to amend Section 2 of Act 355 to replace the existing provision on the subject of the Syariah Court’s criminal jurisdiction over those professing the religion of Islam.

There is also a clause that seeks to introduce the new Section 2A into Act 355 with the objective of increasing the Syariah Court’s power to pass sentences.

Abdul Hadi sent a notice to Parliament on March 18 on the bill after the Kelantan state assembly unanimously approved the Syariah Criminal Code 11 1993 (Amendment 2015).

PAS’ allies in the Pakatan opposition pact — DAP and PKR — said they would not support the bill in Parliament. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 8, 2015.