ALOR STAR: The Kedah government has formed a special committee to study the Federal Court's recent ruling to quash 16 provisions of the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said the committee would study the next course of action after checks showed that seven Kedah syariah criminal provisions were similar to the Kelantan laws ruled as unconstitutional by the Federal Court.
"The committee comprises the state legal adviser, the state secretary as well as other relevant parties," he said.
"I believe the prosecutors will not proceed to charge offenders under the said sections as the defendants will use the (Federal Court) decision to challenge the prosecution's case.
"This will have an impact on the other states as well, depending on how many sections are similar to the ones in Kelantan that have been ruled as unconstitutional.
"Our focus now is to strengthen the state's syariah laws. We shall see what are the immediate actions that can be taken to ensure that syariah law is upheld and no longer have to bow down to Common Law law, since both should complement each other, not competing against each other," he said after presenting RM60,000 cash rewards to 24 national athletes from Kedah who won medals in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games and 2023 Cambodia Sea Games at Wisma Darul Aman here today.
Present was state Youth and Sports Committee chairman Muhammad Radhi Mat Din.
Yesterday, Sanusi told the New Straits Times that the state government would examine the impact of the Federal Court's ruling on the Kelantan syariah laws.
The Jeneri assemblyman said the state government would present the findings of the study to Sultan of Kedah, Al-Aminul Karim Sultan Sallehuddin Sultan
Kedah is the second Perikatan Nasional-led state after Terengganu to announce a study on existing syariah enactments following the Federal Court decision.
The apex court on Friday ruled that 16 provisions in the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment (1) 2019, were null and void, on the grounds that the state assembly did not have the power enact laws on matters that are supposed to be legislated by Parliament.
Last year, Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah had ordered the establishment of a special committee to study the competency of state legislatislatures to enact state syariah enactments and the jurisdiction of syariah courts.