KUALA LUMPUR – Days after the Federal Court declared a Selangor shariah enactment on unnatural sex unconstitutional, PAS is calling on all quarters to stop challenging state laws.
Secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan, in a statement, expressed concern that “decisions made by the judiciary due to public pressure” will lead to negative implications for the country and rakyat.
Because Malaysia is a Muslim-majority nation, he said, PAS will continue its efforts to ensure the country’s civil laws, which are based on common law, are in harmony with shariah law.
“As such, PAS urges all quarters to respect and not use improper approaches to challenge existing aspects of laws enacted by the respective state legislatures.
“This is for the good of the country’s social life, religious and cultural harmony, and national unity.”
On Thursday, the Federal Court declared that Section 28 of the Shariah Criminal Offences (Selangor) Enactment 1995, which criminalises unnatural sex, is inconsistent with the constitution, and therefore, void.
This came after a motion was brought by a local Muslim man contesting the Selangor shariah law provision on sexual intercourse against the order of nature.
Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, reading from the judgment summary, said the criminalisation of unnatural sex is an area where only Parliament is empowered to enact laws on.
Section 28 of the Selangor enactment makes it an offence to perform “sexual intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal”, with the punishment being a maximum fine of RM5,000, or a maximum three-year jail term, or a maximum six strokes of the rotan, or any combination.
However, the apex court ruling does not make unnatural sex legal, as Sections 377 and 377A of the Penal Code still state such actions are an offence.
Takiyuddin said just as what the British court did in the pre-independence era, recognising shariah law will give a new, dynamic face to the country’s legal system.
He cited court decisions in 1927 and 1939, where it was determined that “the Mohammedan law is not a foreign, but a local, law”.
The Mohammedan law refers to a branch of personal law that British administrators applied to those practising Islam. – The Vibes, February 28, 2021
