Set up Constitutional Court, Ku Li tells Putrajaya

Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah says issues related to rights and the legislation have become a polemic.

PETALING JAYA: An Umno veteran has urged Putrajaya to set up a Constitutional Court to hear issues revolving around the Federal Constitution.

According to New Straits Times, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said issues related to rights and legislation have become a polemic.

“The setting up of the court can solve issues raised by many quarters, such as who are immigrants and who are not original inhabitants, and so on,” he was quoted by the English daily as saying.

The Gua Musang MP, who is better known as Ku Li, said this after appearing on a talk show which discussed the future of the Malays.

The longest-serving parliamentarian, Tengku Razaleigh said the court should be placed within the existing judicial system, but would focus only on resolving cases involving rights and legislation related to the Federal Constitution.

His call comes in the wake of a suit filed against the Kelantan government by Putrajaya to protect Orang Asli land rights in the state.

Orang Asli communities in the state are unhappy that their land, which is the source of their livelihood, is being encroached into for logging activities.

The PAS-led Kelantan government argued, however, that the Orang Asli did not own any land in the state, while Kota Bharu MP Takiyuddin Hassan of PAS was reported to have said that there is no provision for ancestral land in Kelantan.

He said the state government has only gazetted the Orang Asli’s “kawasan rayau” where they can farm or rear animals.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P Waytha Moorthy refuted claims that the Orang Asli did not own any land.

He argued that the superior courts in the country had recognised and repeatedly reaffirmed customary land rights as stipulated in the Federal Constitution. - FMT