Muhyiddin: Cross-dressing rule should be reviewed

(Bernama) – He said this was necessary to safeguard Islam, besides involving the integrity of state Islamic authorities.

Muhyiddin Yassin said the government respected the Court of Appeal’s (COA) decision declaring that the Negeri Sembilan Islamic religious enactment barring cross-dressing by Muslim men contravened the Federal Constitution but was of the opinion that it should be reviewed.

The Deputy Prime Minister said, although he was not an expert in the matter, he felt the decision should be reviewed because of its huge implications to society.

“It is an extraordinary decision even though it is decided by the court. I read the statements of Islamic leaders such as muftis and the association representing Muslim lawyers who were surprised by the decision,” he told reporters here on Sunday.

In light of this, he said the Attorney-General’s Chambers and state Islamic religious authorities should appeal the decision.

Muhyiddin had earlier chaired a special meeting on the flash floods and landslides disaster in Cameron Highlands, at the National Security Council operations room here today.

The Appeals Court on Friday decided that the Negeri Sembilan Syariah law which provided punishment for Muslim men dressed in women’s clothes in public as flouting the Federal Constitution.

Judge Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus, who led a three-judge panel, delivered the judgement after allowing an appeal by three men who worked as Mak Andam (beauticians) to set aside a decision by the High Court in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan which rejected their judicial review application to challenge the Syariah law.

Meanwhile, in Kuala Lumpur, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom also suggested that state Islamic authorities appeal the decision.

He said this was necessary to safeguard Islam, besides involving the integrity of state Islamic authorities.

“It is also to show the firmness of state Islamic authorities in curtailing lesbianism, gay, bisexual and transgender leanings among Muslims,” he said in a statement.

He added that the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council would apply to be an intervener when the matter was appealed to the Federal Court.