PAS will remain undeterred in their move to enforce hudud in Kelantan, despite the latest survey by an independent pollster showing Malaysians were not in favour of it, the party’s vice-president said today.
“No matter how many surveys are conducted, hudud is still compulsory for Muslims.
“PAS wants to implement hudud not because of any surveys or research but because it is God’s orders,” Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man told The Malaysian Insider.
He was responding to Merdeka Center’s survey results yesterday that showed 59% of Malaysians, and 58% of Malays, felt Malaysia was not ready to implement hudud. The PAS leader said that the party may consider postponing hudud to educate the people first, but the survey would not derail their ultimate plan to enforce the law in Kelantan.
“However, the survey was carried out in all of Malaysia. That is not fair. It should have been done in Kelantan only because that is where we want to implement it.
“We have been trying to enforce hudud in Kelantan because that is where we received out mandate, and the Kelantanese understand that our objective is to carry out Allah’s orders.” He added that there were problems in carrying out surveys on issues compulsory to Muslims.
“When it comes to Muslims’ obligations, we can’t just carry out surveys asking them whether they agree with it or not. Something that is compulsory remains compulsory.
“I think if you want to conduct a survey, perhaps it should be on the public’s depth of understanding.” Tuan Ibrahim also said the validity of the results were questionable as the respondents did not understand how hudud would be enforced.
“The problem is, we have never implemented hudud, so the people do not know really whether it will be good or not.”
Merdeka Center also revealed that about half of its respondents believed that hudud would be unfairly implemented. But, Tuan Ibrahim said that hudud was a just system with stringent requirements. Cases that had even a tinge of doubt would be moved to the civil courts instead.
“If there is any injustice, it will not be in the laws itself, but its implementation. That is why Kelantan wants to set up a special court with special judges to oversee hudud cases.
“There will be a panel of judges for every case to avoid any bias, and there will be multiple courts to ensure fairness.” He assured that the judges would be appointed independently, and that there were many requirements to be fulfilled before appointing one.
The hudud debate came about after Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob revealed that the state intended to table a private member's bill in Parliament so that it could implement it. The bill would enable the Kelantan Shariah Penal Code II, which was passed in 1993 by the state assembly, to be enforced.
Ahmad's announcement came following a statement by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom that Putrajaya would back the state's move to implement hudud. That created a rift between PAS and its Pakatan Rakyat allies, particularly the DAP. DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke even suggested that PAS leave the Pakatan coalition if it intends to implement hudud in Kelantan.
Deputy Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Mohamad Amar Nik Abdullah added fuel to the fire by saying that the state government did not need the blessings of PKR and DAP to implement it. But following protests and criticism in May, PAS decided it would postpone the tabling of the bill to allow sufficient time for a joint Putrajaya and Kelantan government technical committee to study the implementation of the Kelantan Shariah Penal Code II.