Hudud laws based on constitutional perspectives
Hudud issue is not a new issue. It has been debated for quite long. A few years ago, PAS, an Islamic political party introduced an enactment relating to hudud laws.
What actually hudud means? Hudud generally is laws relating to crimes, punishments and rights and duties that are mention in the quran. During PAS’s administration in Kelantan and Terengganu, there are 3 versions of hudud. First, syariah criminal enactment 1993 which contains 72 articles. Second, the bill tabled in 2002, named syariah criminal offences enactment bill (hudud and qisas) containing 74 articles. The last, syariah criminal offences enactment ( hudud and qisas) which contains 67 articles. The state government during this time claimed that they have power to enact such laws. In this writing I will comment on this based on constitutional perspective.
Legally, my stand towards hudud is, it cannot be enacted in Malaysia. Malaysia is a federation comprising 14 states and have dual systems of government, federal and state government. When talking about hudud, we are dealing with constitution and federalism. Malaysia as a federation has strong central government than the regional government. Constitution is the highest law as stated in article 4(1) and any law which contradict with the constitution, state law contradict with the federal law, and any law which is made not within the jurisdiction shall be null and void. All these are provided in our constitution which is the supreme law.
