Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia along with three others have been instructed to file affidavits in response to an injunction application to stop the tabling of a private member's bill on hudud by PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, July 2, 2015.
Lawyer Siti Zubaidah Kassim, who represents the four plaintiffs, said the directive was made by court deputy registrar Nor Hasniah Abdul Razak last Friday during a case management.
"The defendants have been given until July 10 to file the affidavits before another case management is held on July 27," she told The Malaysian Insider.
The four – Mansoor Saat, Azira Aziz, Hasbeemaputra Abu Bakar and Hazwany Jamaluddin – filed the application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on June 8.
They are seeking an injunction against Hadi, who is MP for Marang, Pandikar, deputy speakers Datuk Ronald Kiandee and Datuk Ismail Mohamad Said and the Parliament secretary.
Siti Zubaidah said the application was based on the unconstitutionality of the bill, in which Hadi was seeking to amend the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 which governs the scope of punishments meted out by the Shariah court.
The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to prevent the bill from being debated until the case is disposed of.
She said a private member’s bill was a "back door" attempt to change the Federal Constitution, warning that the proposed bill would have wider implications than just Kelantan as it would apply to Muslims nationwide.
"This is technically amending our constitution. It is just not about Kelantan. If the bill is passed, it will allow Muslims in Malaysia to be punished according to their interpretation of the Shariah law," she said previously.
The four plaintiffs are also contending that Hadi's attempt to introduce the bill was also in breach of the Pakatan Rakyat manifesto as outlined in the "Buku Jingga" of which the PAS leader is a party.
The PAS-led Kelantan government in March passed the amendments to the Shariah Criminal Code II Enactment 1993 (Amendment 2015) to pave the way for the east coast state to implement the Islamic law which now has, among others, provisions like death by stoning for adultery with married partners, whipping of between 40 and 80 lashes for consuming alcohol and amputation of limbs for theft.
However, an amendment to the federal law was necessary for hudud to be implemented in the east coast state.
Hadi presented a notice to table the motion on the private member’s bill at the last sitting on March 18.
Although it was listed in the order paper, it never came up for debate.
Hadi resubmitted the bill just before the beginning of the second meeting of the year which began in May.
Again, although listed in the order paper, the bill was not debated until the Dewan Rakyat adjourned on June 18.
By convention, government business takes priority and has to be finished before any private member's bills can be debated.
- TMI
By convention, government business takes priority and has to be finished before any private member's bills can be debated.
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