File contempt action against Hadi for attack on judiciary, says ex-judge

 

Ex-federal court judge Gopal Sri Ram says Hadi Awang’s statement is highly contemptuous both of the court and the Federal Constitution.

PETALING JAYA: A retired Federal Court judge wants committal proceedings to be instituted against PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang for making a scurrilous attack against a Federal Court bench over their ruling that a Selangor shariah enactment which criminalises unnatural sex was unconstitutional.

Gopal Sri Ram said it was obvious from Hadi’s statement that he had not read Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat’s judgment.

“In my respectful view, his statement is highly contemptuous both of the court and the Federal Constitution. His attack shows his complete disregard for the rule of law,” he told FMT.

Sri Ram was referring to a statement posted by Hadi on his Facebook page two days ago in response to the verdict by a nine-member bench on Feb 25.

Tengku Maimun said Section 28 of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Selangor) Enactment 1995 is unconstitutional as the Selangor state legislature is incompetent to pass the law since it is already on the Federal List.

The top judge, who chaired the panel, had said the primary power to enact criminal laws lay with Parliament.

On Aug 21, 2019, the Selangor chief sharie prosecutor filed the charge against a man in the Selangor Shariah High Court.

The man, whose identity is being withheld at the request of his lawyers, attempted to commit sexual intercourse against the order of nature with other male persons at a house in Selangor on Nov 9, 2018.

The man claimed trial and the proceedings were stayed pending the outcome of his constitutional challenge in the Federal Court.

Sri Ram said those who had an interest in the matter should urgently take committal proceedings against Hadi, who is Marang MP and Malaysia’s special envoy to the Middle East.

“If Malaysiakini was guilty of contempt, then Hadi’s position is no better. If not worse. There cannot be a duality of approach when it comes to an attack upon an important pillar of government,” he said.

Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd, the company which runs Malaysiakini, was fined RM500,000 by the Federal Court after it was found guilty of scandalising the judiciary in publishing readers’ comments last year.

The Attorney-General brought the charges against the news portal and its editor-in-chief Steven Gan who was subsequently found not guilty. - FMT