KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — Kelantan’s bid to enforce the Islamic penal law hudud in the state would fundamentally alter Malaysia’s secular Federal Constitution in ways never intended, Malaysian Bar president Steven Thiru said today.

Expressing concern over Kelantan’s passing of the Shariah Criminal Code (II) (1993) 2015 Enactment, Steven said the Islamic penal law exceeds the authority of the individual state to formulate laws pertaining to Islam.

“The Federal Constitution only allows the States to enact laws to create offences by persons professing the religion of Islam against the precepts of Islam, and the respective punishments for such offences.

“These laws must be with regard to explicitly provided areas of Islamic law and personal and family law’,” he said in a statement today.

The head of the legal body for lawyers highlighted the landmark 1988 Che Omar Che Soh case, in which the then Supreme Court held that Malaysian laws need not conform to Islamic principles, and confirmed that Malaysia is a secular state.

In that particular case, the Supreme Court also decided that Malaysian law is secular as the Federal Constitution restricts Islamic legislation to marriage, divorce and inheritance.

“Thus, if hudud were brought into the criminal justice system, it would result in the importation of Islamic penal law into a secular system. This would result in a rewriting of the Federal Constitution,” Steven added.

Other issues he raised regarding hudud included a violation of the right to equal treatment, duplication of existing laws and punishments that are the sole purview of Parliament and limits to the jurisdiction of the Shariah courts, as prescribed by the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965.

“The passing of the Shariah Criminal Code (II) (1993) 2015 Enactment by the Kelantan State Assembly yesterday demonstrates the State Legislature’s indifference and disregard for our constitutional scheme,” he said, demanding Kelantan withdraw the law.

The Kelantan assembly yesterday approved the Shariah Criminal Code (II) (1993) 2015 Enactment with 31 votes from PAS lawmakers supported by 12 from Umno.

PAS now plans to put forward two private members’ bills in Parliament to enable Kelantan to enforce hudud ― one will seek approval for the state to legislate punishment for crimes under the Penal Code.

The other seeks to amend the Shariah Courts (Criminal) Jurisdiction Act 1965 to enable Islamic courts to mete out punishments like the death penalty for apostasy and amputation of limbs for theft.

The Act currently limits the Shariah courts to jail sentences of not more than three years in jail, six strokes of whipping and fines not exceeding RM5,000.

PAS has said it only needs a simple majority in Parliament, or 112 MPs in the Dewan Rakyat, to amend the Shariah Courts (Criminal) Jurisdiction Act.