Member lodges police report against Bar Council president
(Bernama) – A member of the Bar Council lodged a police report against the council’s president, Lim Chee Wee, whom he claimed had made a seditious statement in relation to the amendment to the Mufti and Fatwa Enactment (Kedah Darul Aman) 2008.
Mohd Khairul Azam Abd Aziz, who made the report at the Dang Wangi police headquarters at 11 am this morning, told reporters that he considered Lim’s statement on the council’s website to be seditious and that it could incite hatred towards ‘fatwa’ or the State Fatwa Committee.
He added that he was dissatisfied with Lim’s response to questions on the authority to make the statement, on whether there was a meeting prior to it being issued and if there was an official request to issue it.
The Bar Council had earlier voiced its disappointment and concern over the recent amendment to the Mufti and Fatwa Enactment (Kedah Darul Aman) 2008 passed by the Kedah legislative assembly, describing it as being contradictory to the Federal Constitution.
The statement issued by Lim said the amendments appeared to oust the jurisdiction of the courts.
The amendment inserted a clause into the Enactment by way of section 22A, which provides that ‘notwithstanding any written law or rule to the contrary, a fatwa decided by a mufti or a fatwa committee, “whether gazetted or not, cannot be challenged, appealed, reviewed, denied or questioned” in any civil or Syariah Court.’
