Mahathir denounces PAS and pledges to block 'syariah' law

Mahathir denounces PAS and pledges to block 'syariah' law

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Tuesday vowed to block an opposition party's plan to introduce Islamic Sharia law and warned its leaders they could be headed for hell.

Describing the Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) as deviationist, Mahathir told an impromptu news conference the government would if possible prevent the party from enacting a version of Sharia in a state under its control.

Referring to the plan by Terengganu state chief minister Abdul Hadi Awang, Mahathir said: "He will sin because he approves laws that are unfair and when he dies he will face hell.

"Because he has approved laws that are not based on true Islamic teachings and tarnish the true teachings of Islam he will receive his punishment on judgement day."

He said the government would study PAS's plans and "if we have the power, we will prevent the implementation of such unfair laws."

Mahathir said opposition by his United Malays National Organization (UMNO) to PAS's proposals would not make the party unIslamic.

"We are Islamic. They are unIslamic. Their God is a thug and that is why they deviate," he said.

Mahathir, 76, who on Monday described Malaysia as an Islamic fundamentalist state because it abides by the fundamental teachings of Islam, said Islamic laws were fair but PAS laws victimized the people.

"They insult Islam by creating a set of laws that is supposedly Islamic but has no justice. It is clear their laws are unfair," he said.

Sharia criminal law, which PAS wants to introduce, carries punishments such as stoning to death for adultery and amputation of limbs for theft, and has been widely opposed by women's groups and other civil activists.

PAS is the main opposition within the majority Malay Muslim community to UMNO, which was Tuesday due to launch its annual assembly at which the role of religion in government is expected to be high on the agenda.

The issue has become central to Malaysian politics in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States and a crackdown here on alleged Islamic militants, many of them PAS members.

Mahathir, who has condemned the attacks and won praise from the U.S. for his cooperation in the war on terrorism, has said terrorism is unIslamic and in September declared that Malaysia was a true "Islamic state".

The Chinese-based opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) in this multi-cultural country objected, saying it was against the secular constitution and could make non-Muslims second-class citizens.

PAS, on the other hand, derided Mahathir's declaration as false and is using its plan for Sharia law as an attempt to embarrass the government.

The Islamic party rode a growing wave of support ahead of 1999 elections, in which it tripled its parliamentary seats and took power in a second of the country's 13 states.

But since the Sept. 11 attacks Mahathir, who has been in power for 21 years, has deftly used fears of Islamic militancy against PAS and UMNO has seen a resurgence in support.

Mahathir's latest "fundamentalist" declaration can be seen as political juggling by a veteran prime minister who enjoys semantics and could call an early general election to capitalize on PAS's discomfort.

He has repeatedly told non-Muslims they have nothing to fear from his definition of the country as "Islamic", while accusing PAS of wanting to impose an oppressive Taliban-like regime.

Muslims make up 60 percent of Malaysia's 23 million population, but large Chinese and Indian minorities follow Buddhism (19 percent), Christianity (9 percent) and Hinduism (6 percent).

Also on Tuesday, Islamic militant suspects detained in Malaysia confessed publicly for the first time that they underwent weapons training in Afghanistan and tried to help Muslim separatist groups in Southeast Asia.

They also claimed that many of their comrades remained at large.

The testimony came at the start of an inquiry by Malaysia's human rights commission into conditions at the Kamunting prison camp in northern Malaysia, where suspects jailed under the Internal Security Act are held. The act allows for indefinite detention without trial.

The handcuffed detainees said they had been well treated but pleaded innocent, claiming they had never threatened Malaysia's security. Freeing them is outside the commission's powers.

Abdullah Daud, 48, told the panel he was a committed member of Jemaah Islamiya, a group accused of links to al-Qaeda and of attempting to blow up U.S. targets in Singapore. But Abdullah denied assertions that the group wanted to establish an Islamic fundamentalist state across Malaysia, Indonesia and the largely Muslim southern Philippines.