



KOTA BARU: The Kelantan government supports a suggestion by a PAS assemblyman that adulterers be whipped in public after Friday prayers.Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah said the suggestion "is good as a way to gradually introduce Hudud laws in the state.""However, the government will take into consideration the many issues and aspects before making the decision."The suggestion is a good one but needs a lot of study and I believe it is possible because Acheh (in Indonesia) has implemented such punishment."We will also look into the mechanics of implementing it in Kelantan," Mohd Amar, who is PAS vice-president, told reporters.Tawang assemblyman Datuk Hassan Mohamood told the ongoing Kelantan state assembly sitting that the state government should gradually implement the law since the party’s Private Member’s Bill on hudud failed to be tabled in Parliament.Hassan suggested that those who commit zina (adultery) and consume liquor be flogged in public after Friday prayers.He said such punishments were not aimed at bringing shame to the offender, but as a way to educate people, including witnesses.He said there had been a precedent where two men were found guilty of adultery in Tawau by the Syariah High Court and were caned 40 times in front of witnesses.Hassan said if Sabah could implement the caning, why not in Kelantan, the state which has been at the forefront of the hudud agenda.Mohd Amar, as Kelantan's Hudud Technical Committee chairman, had been pressing for the implementation of hudud.