Malaysian Islamic party still wants stonings

By Liau Y-Sing

KAMPUNG PULAU MELAKA, Malaysia (Reuters) - Malaysia's Islamist opposition party called on non-Muslims on Thursday to back its election campaign to apply strict sharia law, including amputations and stonings, for the country's Muslims.

Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) is trying to broaden its appeal beyond the predominantly Muslim heartland at the next election, which is expected by political experts to be called by end-March and to be fought partly on the issue of rising street crime.

"The people want the best and there is nothing better than Islam," Nik Aziz Nik Mat, 77, told Reuters after morning prayers at his home in the largely rural northeast state of Kelantan, ruled by PAS since 1990.

An Egyptian-educated scholar, Nik Aziz said non-Muslims had nothing to fear from strict sharia punishments, known as hudud, and a lot to gain from them, especially Malaysia's large and wealthy ethnic Chinese minority.

"It is more important for the Chinese to accept hudud laws because those who steal do not steal from the poor," said Nik Aziz, who wore a skullcap, white shirt and sarong.

"Who steals from the poor?"

Hudud laws would not apply to non-Muslims if the Pas campaign succeeds in the end.

Nik Aziz's spartan, single-storey home of green brick and wood sits next to a mosque and a religious school in a traditional Malay village. Malays constitute virtually the entire Muslim population and are defined as Muslim under the constitution.