KOTA BARU: Sultan Muhammad V has urged his subjects to support the amendments to the Kelantan Syariah Penal Code 1993 to be tabled on Wednesday “for the benefit of all”.

He also called for their support for the two Private Members’ Bills that the PAS leadership wants to table in Parliament to pave the way for the Syariah Penal Code to be implemented in the state.

The amendments – to be incorporated in the Bills – are for the sodomy laws to also cover husbands and wives, and for non-Muslims not to be subjected to them, and to increase rotan lashes for drinking intoxicating beverages and for illegal sex.

“I hope my subjects will go all the way to support both Bills to amend Act 355 of Section 76A1 of the Federal Constitution to enable Kelantan to practise, implement and enforce hudud statewide,” Sultan Muhammad V said in his Royal Address when opening the third term and 13th meeting of the State Assembly at Kota Darul Naim here yesterday.

The Sultan also asked the people to accept the devastating floods last December as a test from God while thanking the Federal and state governments and non-governmental organisations for their assistance in cash and kind to the victims.

He wants the Federal and state governments to strengthen their co-operation to build permanent homes for those who lost their houses in the floods.

In KUALA LUMPUR, a PAS lawmaker advised the Kelantan government to postpone the implementation of hudud in the state in view of the recent floods.

Sepang PAS MP Hanipa Maidin said the Kelantan government should focus on relief efforts and re-developing the state in the wake of the floods that had left thousands homeless.

“Putting the implementation on hold does not mean that we are abandoning hudud,” the PAS central committee member told reporters at the Parliament lobby.

He said the people of Kelantan were in dire need of basic infrastructure and implementing hudud now would “paint a negative image of the state government”.

DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke also urged the state government to focus on flood relief efforts.

He said a survey conducted by independent pollster Merdeka Centre showed that the majority of people in Kelantan wanted the state government to focus on flood relief rather than on hudud.

“It is time for the state government to focus on the real issue affecting the people following the December floods,” the Seremban MP said.

Separately, 17 committee members of Batu PAS branch announced their resignations from their posts yesterday.

Batu PAS chairman Ishak Surin said the resignations was due to their dissatisfaction with the party’s central leadership, especially its president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

‘We will be declining nominations for the upcoming Batu PAS annual general meeting on April 19,” he added. The branch is now left with eight committee members.