KUALA LUMPUR, July 8: Malaysia’s eastern Terengganu state passed Shariat laws on Monday allowing amputation and death by stoning.

Terengganu’s legislative assembly approved the Hudood penal code after 28 lawmakers from the Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) in the 32-member house voted for the bill.

Three of the four legislators from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s BN coalition, in power nationally, abstained while one was absent.

“This is nothing but a political gimmick for PAS,” Rashid Ngah, a spokesman for the coalition legislators, said after the vote in the state capital, Kuala Terengganu.

PAS says it wants to apply the law only to Muslims, who account for over half of Malaysia’s 23 million people.

Legal experts say the Hudood cannot be enforced under the constitution.

A decade ago, Mahathir’s federal government, which controls the nation’s criminal code, refused to let PAS use similar laws in the neighbouring state of Kelantan.

Analysts said PAS, which wants to turn Malaysia into an Islamic state, is trying to win the support of Muslims who could be swayed by theological beliefs.—Reuters