KUALA LUMPUR: State governments should have referred to the Federal Constitution before formulating and enacting any laws in the state, a senior top leader in the unity government said.
Datuk Seri Mohamad Hassan said this is to avoid a recurrence of cases similar to that of the Kelantan syariah criminal enactment.
Speaking based on his experience as the former Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar, Mohamad said laws drafted and enacted by a state government must not overlap with matters and provisions in the Federal list and the Constitution.
"I was previously in the state (as the Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar).
"And we would refer to the state legal advisor before drafting and enacting laws in the state.
"This is to ensure and avoid laws being formulated and enforced in the state from 'overlapping' the provisions enshrined in the criminal code at the federal level," said Mohamad, who is now the Foreign Minister.
He was speaking to reporters after attending the Chinese New Year celebration's open house hosted by MCA at Wisma MCA here today.
The guest of honour at the event was Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Also present were Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamid and MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.
Also present were several ministers and their deputies including Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu; Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, Finance Minister Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan and Deputy Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Minister Datuk R. Ramanan.
Also in attendance were former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Barisan Nasional component parties leaders including MIC deputy president Datuk Seri M. Saravanan.
Mohamad also repeated Anwar's statement yesterday that the apex court ruling on the Kelantan syariah criminal enactment is not about the federal undermining the powers and position of the Syariah court in state or the sanctity of Islam.
The Rembau member of Parliament described the Federal Court's ruling yesterday, which found 16 of the 18 provisions under the Kelantan syariah criminal enactment unconstitutional, as a purely 'technical' issue.
"Personally, in my opinion, the issue is solely about the Kelantan government drafting laws that are overlapping with the Constitution.
"And this is not allowed in the Constitution. This issue is more about technicalities.
"It has nothing to do with the Federal Court undermining the powers of the Syariah court or Islam," he said.
Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who led the nine-member bench, had ruled that 16 out of the 18 provisions under the Kelantan syariah criminal enactment, which were challenged at the Federal Court, are unconstitutional.
The provisions are Sections 11, 14, 16, 17, 31, 34, 36, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47 and 48.
Tengku Maimun, who delivered majority of the judgement, ruled that the essence of these provisions were matters under the federal list in which only the Parliament has the power to make.
The constitutional challenge was initiated by Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid, a lawyer born in Kelantan, and her daughter Tengku Yasmin Nastasha Tengku Abdul Rahman on May 25, 2022.