Mahathir strongly opposed proposed Islamic law in Kelantan: Hadi Awang

SEREMBAN: PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang claimed today that Pakatan Harapan chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had strongly opposed the proposed implementation of Islamic law in Kelantan when he was the prime minister.
He claimed that following the approval of the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment (II) 1993 by the Kelantan Legislative Assembly, Dr Mahathir wrote to the then Kelantan Mentri Besar (the late) Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat warning him not to go ahead with the enforcement of the enactment.
"This is what actually happened Dr Mahathir and the Deputy Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) prohibited the implementation of Islamic law in Kelantan after two-thirds of the Kelantan state assemblymen approved the enactment," he said to reporters after a 'ceramah' (talk) at the Negri Sembilan Islamic Training Complex in Ampangan here last night.
In his speech, Abdul Hadi said that during the Mahathir administration, following PAS' major victory in the 1990 general election, the PAS government in Kelantan was pressured in various ways, including being subjected to a delay in the distribution of the grant to the state government and having to face intervention through the establishment of the Federal Development Department.
He claimed that the federal government then deliberately delayed the payment of allocations to the Kelantan government that should have been delivered in February or April and June or August annually, so much so that it affected the payment of the salaries of the state government employees.
Abdul Hadi said the situation was different under the more open administration of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.
"This included allowing us to table a Private Member's Bill in Parliament to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 or Act 355," he said. — Bernama