Richard Riot
KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party’s (SUPP) sole parliamentarian Datuk Seri Richard Riot has been instructed to vote against the Bill to amend the Syariah Courts Act (Criminal Jurisdiction Act 1966) (Act 355) if it were to come to voting in the coming parliamentary session.
Its president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian said SUPP had not wavered from its position to object the Bill even though other Barisan Nasional components might not share the same stand.
He said leaders of the party strongly opposed the Act 355, which was one of issues discussed at the party’s central working committee (CWC) meeting which took more than five hours at party headquarters here yesterday.
“Our position is unchanged. It shows the importance of having a strong BN Sarawak, in line with the instruction made by the late chief minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Sartem last year for all Sarawak BN MPs to vote against Act 355 if it comes to voting in the Parliament.
“The party has reiterated the position today. Even though Datuk Seri Richard Riot is not here, I understand he has agreed along that line and we make sure the message is reinforced,” he told reporters when met after the meeting.
Riot, who is Serian MP and also Minister of Human Resources, could not be contacted for his views as of press time yesterday. It is learned he was attending to functions in his constituency.
Fellow state BN component party Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) has resolved that all its six MPs will vote against the bill in the coming parliamentary session.
According to The Borneo Post report on Friday, the decision was said to be reached at the party’s supreme council meeting on Feb 17.
So far, only SUPP and PRS from Sarawak BN have made public their objections against Act 355.
Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had last year tabled a Private Member Bill to seek amendments to Act 355 to enhance the punishment to be meted out by the Syariah Court.
The bBll has proposed to increase the jail term from the present maximum of three years to 30 years, fine of RM5,000 to RM100,000 and the maximum six lashes to 100 lashes.
Kelantan State Legislative Assembly passed an amendment to the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code 1993 in 2015 but could not enforce it due to Act 355.
Hadi’s Bill has been met with strong opposition from non-Muslims for fear that once passed, it will pave the way for the implementation of hudud in the nation.
Due to the strong opposition from other component parties such as MCA and MIC, Umno, which is also supportive of the bill, decided to take over and table it as a government bill.
In the March parliamentary meeting, it is expected that the bill will be debated and a vote may be called for it to be passed.
On another matter, Dr Sim said the the lengthy CWC meeting also deliberated on SUPP’s preparations for the coming 14th General Election (GE14).
“On every CWC meeting, we talk about that (election). How can we as a political party not talk about election? We not only talked about the parliamentary election, but also talked about preparing for the party election scheduled this year,” he said.
He however did not want to reveal the dates for the party’s coming triennial delegates conference (TDC) during which the party election would be held.
“I cannot fix at the moment. If I fix too early, what will happen if the parliamentary election comes around at the same time. If I reveal too much, then you know when the GE14 is,” he said.
Dr Sim also said the party’s position with regards to reconciliation with United People’s Party had not changed.
He said there was no need for him to repeat what he has previously said regarding the reconciliation. Based on previous reports, Dr Sim said the door was always open for the two Chinese-based parties to reconcile.
“Our position is always very clear, I don’t know how many times I have said it already. No need to say again. I haven’t changed. I got many years to go,” he said.