By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysia’s Kelantan state legislature has tabled amendments to its penal code that could see Muslims flogged or executed under sharia law, local media reported on Wednesday.
Under the ‘hudud’ proposals, punishments such as caning and amputations could be implemented for crimes such as apostasy, consuming alcohol and illegal sexual practices.
The motion is likely to be passed as the Malaysian Islamic Party, known by the Malay acronym PAS, holds 32 of the assembly’s 45 seats. However, the federal government could block the amendments.
The move has caused division within the national opposition coalition of which PAS is a member, with the proposal condemned by the Democratic Action Party and People's Justice Party, who form the Pakatan Rakyat opposition with PAS.
In a statement cited by the Malay Mail, Democratic Action Party National Organizing Secretary Anthony Loke described the proposal as a “provocative move meant to split the pact” and said his party had been “backstabbed” by PAS.
The Malaysian opposition was rocked last month by the imprisonment of leading figure Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy.
Kelantan is a 95 percent Muslim state in the northeast of the Malay peninsula. The proportion of Muslims across the wider Malaysian population stands at around 60 percent.
The tabling of the hudud amendments, which will not be applicable to non-Muslims, had been postponed from December, when the state was hit by massive floods.
Andrew Khoo, chairman of the Malaysian Bar Council's Human Rights Committee, said the proposal undermined national unity.
"It would not be helpful to national unity to create marked distinctions between Muslims and non-Muslims," he told the Star Online. "A Muslim who has committed a crime would face a different set of punishments from a non-Muslim.”
Under sharia law, hudud offenses can incur punishments including whipping, stoning, amputation or execution. Few Muslim states, bar Saudi Arabia and Iran, impose such sentences.
In Malaysia, caning is imposed by both sharia and secular courts, usually alongside imprisonment for serious offenses by the latter.
