During a forum on the role of the executive, legislative, judiciary and constitutional monarchy branches in Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that hudud law was impractical for multi-racial Malaysia.

Added to the system’s reliance on the subjectivity of the judges concerned, the former prime minister said that even Muslims would not want to be under hudud law.

"When I was still prime minister, I checked and found out that hudud law was not uniform in Malaysia," he said. "Each state has a different set of hudud laws.

"I found out later that this is also the case in Saudi Arabia. Hence, how can we execute a set of laws which are not codified yet?" he asked in respond to a question on the push for hudud law.

A participant from non-governmental organisation Prowaris had suggested at the forum that PAS and Umno form a unity government so that Muslims will be able to push for hudud laws to be implemented in Malaysia.

Mahathir was equally concerned with hudud law's obsession with processes instead of justice.

"Take the example of a woman who has been raped. How can she provide four witnesses of good character, who has seen her getting raped?"

Even if the victim succeeded in getting four witnesses, said Mahathir, the question should be asked on why the four were watching instead of helping the woman.

"As for the caveat of good character, even I may not be deemed as one. So how can hudud law determine good character?" said Mahathir at the Perdana Leadership Foundation today.

To top it off, said the 83-year-old, if the victim cannot provide four witnesses, she can be charged with false reporting and whipped.

"What kind of society will Muslims live in if we were to allow this to take place? Think carefully about hudud law and not rush into it just for the sake of votes," said Mahathir.

Citing the example of a Muslim and a non-Muslim who were caught stealing, Mahathir asked: "How do you dispense punishment fairly?

"Is it right to cut off the hands of the Muslim while the non-Muslim is jailed two months for the crime of stealing?" he asked candidly.

Earlier, he had told the forum that democracy is the best form of government ever invented.

Mahathir was equally confident that the system in Malaysia was good enough and so long as the four branches of executive, legislative, judicial and constitutional monarchy did not overstep its boundaries, the nation was safe.

When asked if matters were more complicated after Barisan Nasional’s loss of five states, Mahathir said: "The relationship between the states and the federal government is already spelt out in the constitution.

"Hence, it is not that complicated nor is it anything new. There have been different governments before in Penang, Kelantan, Terengganu and Sabah.