Kelantan Islamic dept to be intervener in state syariah law case

The Kelantan government takes seriously the constitutional challenge filed by a lawyer and her daughter over the state syariah law.

The state government has instructed the Kelantan Islamic Religious Affairs Department (JAHEIK) to act as an intervener in the proceedings of the case in the Federal Court.

Kelantan caretaker menteri besar Ahmad Yakob said the case involved questioning the power of the state legislative assembly to formulate the syariah criminal law under the state list, ninth schedule of the Federal Constitution.

“The state government on Thursday (Aug 3) has acted and instructed JAHEIK, as an interested party in safeguarding the implementation of Islamic law in Kelantan, particularly in relation to the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019, to act as an intervener in the case.

“This is because the case will have a very big impact on the interests of Islam, syariah law, and the Kelantan government as a whole,” he said in a statement today.

Ahmad also called on Muslims and Muslim NGOs in the state to play their respective roles in protecting the state’s syariah law.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Mohd Na’im Mokhtar, in a statement, called on state religious authorities, statutory bodies relating to Islam, and religion-related NGOs to involve themselves in the proceedings of the court case filed by lawyer Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid against the Kelantan government either as an intervener, watching brief, or amicus curiae (friend of the court).

Nik Elin Zurina and her daughter, Tengku Yasmin Nastasha Tengku Abdul Rahman filed a constitutional challenge regarding the 20 provisions contained in the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019 which they claimed are invalid as there are federal laws covering the same offences.

The duo contends that the power to legislate on criminal matters belongs exclusively to Parliament, with state assemblies only given the right to enact laws concerning the Islamic faith.

They went directly to the Federal Court as it has exclusive jurisdiction to decide such questions, based on Article 128(1)(a) of the Federal Constitution.

For such constitutional challenges under the Article 4(4) route, it can only start if a Federal Court judge grants leave or permission.

On Sept 30 last year, Federal Court judge Vernon Ong Lam Kiat heard arguments by lawyers for the two women and the Kelantan government, before deciding on the same day to allow the two women to commence their court challenge.

- Bernama