'Time not right for hudud, says Khalid Ibrahim'

SHAH ALAM, April 24 ― Hudud law cannot be implemented in multi-racial Malaysia currently because the Federal Constitution bars it, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said today.

The caretaker Selangor mentri besar said that although the controversial Islamic penal code was accepted as a principle of Islamic administration, its execution was precluded by the constitutional safeguards afforded to Malaysia’s various ethnic groups.

“We must accept the fact that in Islam, hudud is accepted as part of Islamic administration,” Khalid (picture) told reporters at the Selangor exco housing here today.

“But I feel that it cannot be implemented in the current circumstances,” he added.

Khalid stressed that the consensus of the people must be obtained before hudud could be implemented, saying: “The implementation of hudud, which goes beyond what is determined in the constitution, needs to get the approval of all Malaysians.”

PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said last November at the party’s 58th annual conference that it may never entirely abandon its plans to impose hudud for Muslims, but had only softened its approach as the Islamist party knew it could not rule without its non-Muslim allies in Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

MCA-owned English daily The Star ran full-page advertisements recently ahead of Election 2013, warning Malaysians that a vote for the DAP was a vote for PAS.

Malay daily Utusan Malaysia reported PAS deputy spiritual leader Datuk Dr Haron Din today as saying that the Islamist party was confident that the DAP would accept hudud law because it was willing to contest in the May 5 polls using the PAS logo.

DAP national chairman Karpal Singh, however, said today that the party's earlier choice to use the PAS logo did not mean that it now agreed to hudud laws being imposed in Malaysia.

Karpal stressed that Malaysia is not an Islamic state but secular, pointing to a landmark decision on the issue by the Federal Court in 1988.

The lawyer also said that the DAP and PKR would not allow PAS to amend the federal constitution.

"I don’t think PAS would insist on amending the Federal Constitution," said Karpal.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/litee/malaysia/article/time-not-right-for-hudud-says-khalid-ibrahim