Drafted with the help of Hadi Awang, the code prescribes stoning for adulterers, amputation for theft and the nonrecognition of women and non-Muslims as witnesses in Islamic courts. Despite this seemingly extremist agenda, non-Muslims voted overwhelmingly to keep Pas in power in Kelantan. Pas has preserved Umno's pro-business policies and promoted a new culture of transparency that it hopes will resonate with voters fed up with decades of patronage and opaque government. But what's different now is that the papers come down to us for our opinions, and not with a decision already made, where we just function as implementers. But in general, in the business community, the sense is that Pas has changed little else.
Most businessmen seem pleased.
If opinions like Lin Tzu Keng's are any indication, Umno and its leader, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, should worry. A serious-looking Taiwanese, Lin invested over 20 million ringgit in a furniture plant in Terengganu in 1998. His company, Latitude Tree, employs 400 locals and rang up 35 million ringgit in exports last year. So are the policies, the procedures. No matter who is running the government, it doesn't make a difference to us.