What happened to RUU355 amendments, PAS MP asks govt

 

PAS MP Ahmad Marzuk Shaary said the opposition would back the bill as the party had helped prepare the proposed amendments. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: A PAS MP is demanding an update from the government on the proposed amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act, or RUU355, which had been prepared by the previous administration.

Ahmad Marzuk Shaary (PN-Pengkalan Chepa) said the RUU355 draft, or “blue bill”, was reviewed and approved by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) on Oct 7, 2022.

“It’s been over a year, and the blue bill is already there. Yet till today, it has not been brought to the Cabinet,” Marzuk said when debating the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat.

He added that if the government was planning to table the bill, the opposition would back it as PAS had helped prepare the proposed amendments at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Marzuk also told religious affairs minister Na’im Mokhtar to not be intimidated by the unity government’s component parties and to table the proposed amendments.

Last month, Na’im said the proposed amendments to the RUU355 were expected to be tabled in Parliament this year after engagement sessions with stakeholders were completed.

He said the Islamic development department (Jakim) had invited Islamic religious councils, shariah courts and state Islamic religious departments across the country to provide their views on the proposed amendments, adding that the engagement sessions would be completed soon.

The amendments were approved by the AGC in October 2022 and were supposed to be tabled at the end of that month’s parliamentary session.

However, the process was stalled after Parliament was dissolved.

In 2016, PAS president and Marang MP Abdul Hadi Awang submitted amendments to RUU355 as a private member’s bill.

The amendments were to enact harsher punishments for shariah offences.

At the time, it was reported that PAS hoped to enact a stricter Islamic criminal code of hudud, but it was strongly opposed by the public. The amendment bill was then presented as a resolution to strengthen the shariah courts.

Separately, Marzuk called on the government to disclose the findings of the Tabung Haji (TH) royal commission of inquiry (RCI). - FMT