Selangor Amanah: Nik Elin should have used 'more harmonious' channel

 

The Federal Court decision to strike down 16 Kelantan syariah criminal provisions on Friday was a clear signal that religious authorities must follow the Federal Constitution when legislating state laws, said Selangor Amanah.

However, the chapter's Syariah Affairs Bureau also believed that the Kelantan duo who challenged the provisions' constitutionality should have used “more harmonious” channels before taking the matter to court.

"We are of the view that the petitioners should have chosen other mediums that are more harmonious before filing the petition (to the court).

"Should they have chosen to do this, they could have avoided all these uncomfortable situations among the public," said the bureau chief Azrulkhakim Suradi in a statement today.

The statement came in response to the Federal Court decision on Feb 9 to allow lawyer Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid and her daughter Tengku Yasmin Natasha Tengku Abdul Rahman’s petition.

The family was challenging the constitutionality of 18 provisions in Kelantan’s Syariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019.

However, the apex court chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tengku Mat only allowed 16 out of the 18 to be invalidated.

Prioritise empowerment agenda

Tengku Maimun ruled that Kelantan's legislature exceeded its state-making power contained in the State List (List II) of the Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution.

In delivering the judgment, she reminded that what the family was challenging was not the position of Islam and the syariah judicial system in Malaysia, but rather the constitutional validity of the specific 18 provisions of the state which the petitioners contended breached the limit of state-making power.

"The power of Parliament and state legislatures are limited by the Federal Constitution, and they cannot make any laws they like," Tengku Maimun said on behalf of the majority verdict.

Nik Elin and her daughter filed a notice to challenge the provisions on May 25, 2022, before they received a nod from the court to proceed with the case on Sept 30, 2022.

They then filed their petition on Oct 13, 2022.

Azrulkhakim also praised the federal government's commitment towards empowering the country's syariah system.

Thus, he called for Putrajaya to speed up the establishment of a syariah prosecution department to serve as a coordinating agency at the federal level.