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Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Constitution does set clear limits to syariah laws



Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom’s statement that the constitution does not limit syariah laws is astounding (The Malay Mail Dec 9, 2014).

This is because the federal constitution which is the supreme law of the federation (Article 4) has set clear perimeters for Islamic law and the Syariah Courts in the 9th Schedule L.II. The matters set out under this schedule relate to personal and family law including divorce, marriage, maintenance, adoption, etc...  

A further limit imposed is that : “...except in regard to matters included in the Federal List.” The Penal Code matters are in the Federal List and thus the states have no jurisdiction over them.

The third restriction imposed is that : “...shall have jurisdiction only over persons professing the religion of Islam and in respect only of any of the matters included in this paragraph, but shall not have jurisdiction in respect of offences except in so far as conferred by federal law”.

Thus, Syariah Laws envisaged refer to minor offences and cannot go beyond the perimeters allowed in the 9th Schedule L.II.

In fact the Syariah Courts scheme was not part of the constitutional scheme when the constitution was promulgated in 1957.

Originally the 9th Schedule L.II only provided for: Muslim Courts: and “Muslim Law”. The 9th Schedule L.II was amended by Act A354 to rename “Muslim Courts as Syariah Courts” and “Muslim Law as Islamic Law”. This Act came into effect on Oct 27, 1976.

The above shows that the call by the 25 eminent Malaysians for a dialogue on these issues, is clearly the right thing to do so, as we see above that the minister appears to have a divergent view and a dialogue can help to clear the matter.



JAGIR SINGH is president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST).

1 comment:


  1. Just to share this...

    http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/an-open-letter-to-the-group-of-25-prominent-malays-farouk-a.-peru

    You be the judge.

    Cheers.

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