Keadilan has finally made a stand on the controversial Syariah Criminal Offences (Hudud and Qisas) Bill passed in Terengganu recently. It's a "No".

The issue was discussed at length at the party's supreme council meeting last Thursday and several amendments were added to the original stand made by deputy president Abdul Rahman Othman, informed sources told malaysiakini.

Following the four-hour meeting, which also discussed party administrative matters, the 28 members present unanimously rejected the implementation of the hudud law by the Terengganu state government, said the source.

According to documents made available to malaysiakini today, party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said that Keadilan was a multi-racial party struggling for reform.

"We stress that our main goal is to establish a good, open government by enacting laws which are just, equal, democratic and transparent," she said in the one-page document.

"We acknowledge that laws must be based on the Federal Constitution and the 1957 social contract," she added.

However, Wan Azizah also stressed that no Muslim can reject the syariah laws as it is an obligation under Islam.

No more polemic exercise

The issue has been a bone of contention resulting in opposition ally DAP breaking away from the Barisan Alternatif in September last year.

Several quarters, DAP in particular, have been pushing non-Muslim Keadilan leaders to publicly declare their stand on the issue.

At its recent congress in Kuala Lumpur, PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali said that the party rejected a theocratic state.

Chinese-based parties in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, MCA and Gerakan, have been capitalising on the issue, attacking Keadilan's association with PAS, at every social function and by-election.

Meanwhile, Wan Azizah also said the party respected the right of the Terengganu and Kelantan state governments to implement the hudud laws as they were "democratically elected".

"With this stand, Keadilan hopes that all parties will not politicise or turn this issue into a polemic exercise," she added.

When asked after the meeting last Thursday, secretary-general Sahri Bahri declined to divulge what actually transpired apart from saying that any stand the party takes has to be endorsed by delegates at the party's annual general meeting in October.

Supreme council member Dr Lim Boon Chye, when met after the meeting, told malaysiakini he was satisfied with the outcome of the discussion as the party's stand on the controversial issue took into consideration the sensitivities of all races.