The Malaysian Islamic leader spearheading a campaign for severe sharia punishments chuckles as he dismisses the firestorm that has ensued, saying visions of thousands of law-breakers with amputated limbs are way off the mark.
Hadi Awang's party has passed a law in its northern stronghold permitting amputation for thieves and stoning for adulterers, heightening fears about growing Islamisation in the moderate-Muslim country and threatening to break apart a successful three-party opposition coalition.
The Pan-Malaysian Islamic party (PAS)'s law in conservative Kelantan is unlikely to be implemented due to federal constraints, but has sparked debate in the Muslim-majority nation and riled PAS's ethnic Chinese and multi-racial party allies.
Hadi, the PAS president, told AFP in an interview that the "hudud" penalties were largely symbolic and would be "almost impossible" to impose on law-breakers, even if implemented, due to strict limits on their use under Islamic law. [AFP] Read more
