He was responding to Umno supreme council member Ahmad Maslan’s statement that BN component parties are compelled to support amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act once the bill is taken over by the federal government.

“It’s too premature to make a stand on behalf of BN as a whole,” said Khairy in a press conference after handing out new schoolbags to children at an event outside SK Wangsa Maju here today.

“We still need engagements between all BN component parties.

“Then I hope we can come up with a joint decision, reflective of our policy which calls for a consensus over all decisions the coalition makes.”

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had, during the Dewan Rakyat sitting last month, tabled a motion to amend the Act.

The matter would be debated during the next Dewan Rakyat session in March.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said had earlier said that once the motion moves to the second reading stage, it would be taken over and read by Minister in the PM’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom.

Hadi’s bill was initially rejected by all BN’s component parties, except Umno, for fear that it was merely a way for PAS to put into force Kelantan and Terengganu’s enactments which prescribe hudud law.

Hadi eventually amended his motion, proposing higher penalties instead for jail sentences, fines and lashes that could be handed by the shariah courts.

The current cap is three years’ imprisonment, RM5,000 fine and six strokes of the whip. Hadi is now pushing for a maximum 30-year jail term, RM100,000 fine and 100 lashes.