PETALING JAYA: The government will not make a hasty decision on a proposal to amend the Federal Constitution to grant states the freedom to enact shariah criminal laws, says religious affairs minister Na’im Mokhtar.
The proposal, he told the Dewan Rakyat, needed to be comprehensively reviewed to ensure it could not be challenged in courts.
“Any proposals related to this matter should not be rushed,” he told Abdul Hadi Awang (PN-Marang) in a parliamentary reply.
Hadi had asked the government if it was prepared to amend the Federal Constitution to safeguard the rights of states to enact their own shariah criminal laws.
Na’im said that the special committee looking into the competence of state assemblies to enact Islamic laws was currently in search of a solution.
He said the committee’s findings, which are expected to be presented within six months to a year, would then be reviewed by the government and brought to the attention of the Malay rulers for further deliberation.
Na’im said separately, another committee was looking into improving, coordinating, and standardising shariah laws among states, besides harmonising shariah and civil legislation.
Calls for amendments to the Federal Constitution were made following a landmark decision by the Federal Court to strike down 16 provisions in Kelantan’s shariah criminal code on the grounds they were unconstitutional.
Last year, Kelantan-born lawyer Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid and her daughter, Tengku Yasmin Nastasha Tengku Abdul Rahman, filed a constitutional challenge regarding the 20 provisions contained in the Kelantan Shariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019, which they claimed were invalid as there were federal laws covering the same offences.
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They contended that the power to legislate on criminal matters belongs exclusively to Parliament, with state assemblies only given the right to enact laws concerning the Islamic faith.
