KOTA KINABALU – The Sabah Law Society has asserted that the constitutionality of laws in the nation can be challenged.
The response follows Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament & Law) Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan urging no further challenges to shariah laws following the Federal Court’s ruling that a Selangor shariah enactment on unnatural sex was unconstitutional.
Sabah Law Society president Roger Chin said challenging the constitutionality of laws in the courts is a hallmark of a democracy, and no one should be deterred from seeking legal recourse.
“The Federal Court recently held that a Selangor shariah law was invalid. This decision was by no means an attack on shariah law,” he said.
“The federal constitution was, through that decision, upheld by the Federal Court. The core of the decision is not controversial.”
He stressed that matters which are under the Federal List in the federal constitution are for Parliament to legislate on, while matters which are under the State List in the constitution are for the state assemblies to legislate on.
“Clearly therefore, any laws enacted by the states in relation to matters contained in the Federal List are invalid,” he said in a statement here today.
The nine-member Federal Court bench led by chief justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat had unanimously struck down the provision of the Selangor shariah law that criminalises unnatural sex.
The state shariah provision made it an offence for Muslims in Selangor to perform sexual intercourse against the order of nature.
Chin cited that states simply have no power to legislate in relation to such matters, and lauded the willingness of the Federal Court to uphold the basic tenets of the federal constitution.
“It would be irresponsible for anyone to characterise the decision of the Federal Court as an attack on shariah law, and go further to discourage similar challenges,” he said. – The Vibes, March 2, 2021
