KUALA LUMPUR: The Special Committee to Review the Competency of State Legislatures to Enact Islamic Law has been urged to engage states, ulama and academicians to empower the Syariah court.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he had informed this to the Malaysian National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs (MKI) meeting, chaired by the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, on Feb 15.
"I want this committee to discuss with states, ulama and mufti, and listen to the academicians.
"They should listen to whoever wants to give their views, before giving their proposals (to the MKI).
"We will then further scrutinise in terms of the constitution, at the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC), the Council of Rulers and back to the cabinet and subsequently, Parliament.
"In Parliament, the members of parliament must agree with two-thirds majority to allow for any amendment (to the Constitution)," he said in his speech at the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP) Carnival 2024 at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa here.
Present were Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na'im Mokhtar, Setiawangsa member of parliament Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, who is also natural resources and environmental sustainability minister, and MAIWP chairman Syed Kamarulzaman Syed Kabeer.
In his speech, Anwar criticised certain quarters who deliberately politicised the recent Federal Court decision involving the Kelantan Syariah criminal enactment, saying it was a violation of the Syariah court.
He said the case was filed when he was not the prime minister.
"Why didn't you condemn it back then? Because you were the government then.
"Now, when we are in power and the decision was made, we get condemned for it, including the chief justice. The judge made the decision based on the law and the Constitution.
"If we were to allow all states to have their laws, we would have 13 different laws," he added.
Anwar said some people believed critics of the decision without trying to understand the law properly.
"All parties should read the full judgment of the apex court's ruling. The Chief Justice (Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat) had explained that there was no attempt to undermine Islam or the Syariah court or discuss the position of state laws in the Constitution," he said.
On Feb 9, a nine-member panel of the Federal Court, led by Tengku Maimun, ruled that 16 out of 18 provisions under the Kelantan Syariah criminal enactment were unconstitutional.
The 16 provisions nullified by the court in an 8-1 decision were sections 11, 14, 16, 17, 31, 34, 36, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47 and 48.
Tengku Maimun, who delivered the majority judgment, said the essence of these provisions were matters under the federal list, which only the nation's Parliament had the power to legislate.
The ruling was made following a petition filed in 2021 by lawyer Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid and her daughter, Tengku Yasmin Nastasha Tengku Abdul Rahman, also a lawyer.