Ahead of Federal Court ruling, Perikatan seeks to rally Muslim support against legal bid challenging Kelantan’s Shariah criminal code
PAS deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the coalition will hold three separate gatherings in Kelantan, Terengganu and Putrajaya on November 16, 18 and 20 respectively.
(MMO) – Perikatan Nasional (PN) is seeking to drum up Muslim support in defence of controversial Shariah criminal laws in PAS-led Kelantan ahead of a Federal Court decision scheduled to be delivered this month.
PAS deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the coalition will hold three separate gatherings in Kelantan, Terengganu and Putrajaya on November 16, 18 and 20 respectively.
“We want to invite all Muslims who are concerned about this issue to join the rallies.
“We are actually quite disappointed that no one from the government met with a group of non-governmental organisations when their representatives came earlier to submit a memorandum in protest of the Nik Elin case.
“This issue transcends across all political parties, by right everyone should be together in this,” he said in a press conference at Parliament today.
He said the Federal Court is scheduled to deliver its decision on November 20 and that PN will hold a prayer gathering outside the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya on that day.
Tuan Ibrahim was referring to a constitutional challenge filed by lawyer Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid and her daughter Tengku Yasmin Natasha Tengku Abdul Rahman in May to nullify and void 20 provisions in the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019.
The mother-daughter pair claimed the Kelantan legislative assembly has no powers to make criminal laws, and cited Article 4(4) of the Federal Constitution.
Under Article 4(4), the validity of any laws made by the Parliament or state legislature can be questioned in court.
In August, a panel of nine Federal Court judges heard a constituency review of 20 provisions in the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019 as part of the proceedings for Nik Elin’s case and was reported saying that there was no dispute arising over Islam as the official religion of the federation in the hearing.
PAS leaders, including its president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang who is Marang MP, and secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan who is also Kota Baru MP, have repeatedly accused the federal government of not standing up for Islam even after the federal Islamic affairs minister said the Anwar administration’s stand is not to intervene in court cases.
Takiyiddin, a former law minister, has claimed that if the constitutional challenge were allowed to proceed, it would nullify not only Kelantan’s Shariah criminal enactments but all of the other states in the country.
He also claimed that the outcome would mean that state legislative assemblies do not have the authority to enact Shariah criminal laws.
Takiyuddin has described the court case to challenging religion, race and the royal institution — dubbed the 3Rs — which the police have warned the public not to question.
