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Kampung Pulau Melaka: A leader of Malaysia's Islamist party, which made surprising gains in March elections, wants its secular allies to apply strict Sharia law.
The hardline Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) has enacted such laws in its Kelantan stronghold to punish rapists and adulterers with stoning to death, while thieves would lose their limbs.
However, the country's federal government has barred PAS from enforcing the laws.
PAS and other opposition parties wrested control of five of Malaysia's 13 states in the March election as voters punished the ruling coalition for concerns ranging from rising crime to racial tensions.
"Islam is a moderate, soft religion," PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat said last week in Kelantan, the party's stronghold.
Way of life
"We took small steps to introduce Islam as a way of life in Kelantan. We would like to do the same in the other states that have fallen to the opposition."
Nik Aziz, also chief minister of Kelantan, said he had asked leaders of the opposition-held states to come together to discuss implementing Sharia law.
"But we don't want to force or pressurise people, we want to discuss. We can surely come to a compromise," he said.
Half of Malaysia's 26 million people are ethnic Malays, who by definition are Muslims. Ethnic Chinese and Indians, the largest two minority groups, are either Hindus, Buddhists or Christians.
Sharia laws, which relate to many aspects of behaviour, would not apply to non-Muslims.
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