KUCHING, April 9 — Thirty-three civil groups based in Borneo Malaysia demanded today to renegotiate the terms on which the country was founded, claiming Sarawak and Sabah would not have entered into partnership with the Malay peninsula if hudud existed in Kelantan.

The groups led by the Archdiocesan Human Development Commission (AHDC) in Kota Kinabalu reminded Putrajaya that religious freedom was among the top issues discussed when the three separate nation states agreed to join forces as a single federation, adding that it eventually formed the basis for the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

“Sabah and Sarawak would not have been part of Malaysia if Shariah criminal law was an item in the negotiation,” they said in a joint statement.

They argued that the views of Sarawak and Sabah natives, a sizeable number who are non-Muslim, should be considered if the Kelantan Shariah Criminal Code II (1993) 2015 were to be enforced.

“In forming Malaysia with Malaya and Singapore in 1963, Sabah and Sarawak signed up for a secular federation, not a theocratic one where any religious criminal justice system may be in force in any part of the Federation,” the groups said.

“Any fundamental change to this packaged deal requires a thorough renegotiation of the Federal Constitution,” they added.

Their concerns come in the wake of PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s two private member’s Bills on the Kelantan Shariah Criminal Code, which were tabled for discussion in Parliament in its current sitting, but have since been deferred to the next session in May.

The Bills seek to remove legal roadblocks to the enforcement of the controversial Islamic penal code that punishes apostasy with the death penalty and theft with the amputation of limbs.

Last month, the Kelantan state assembly passed the amendments to its state Shariah Criminal Code, with support from both PAS and Umno lawmakers.

Despite repeated assurances from the PAS-led Kelantan government, the 33 groups remained uneasy about the impact of the Islamic criminal laws on non-Muslims.

Last month, the Kelantan state assembly passed the amendments to its state Shariah Criminal Code. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

Citing as an example, they said Sabahans and Sarawakians — regardless of faith — who fall prey to theft, robbery, homicide and bodily harm committed by Muslims would have their cases tried in the Shariah Court, instead of the civil court, if the Islamic penal code was enforced.

They stressed that the current secular justice system that also has overview of crimes is part of the entire constitutional package embodied in the Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution.

“If Kelantan is given the power over criminal justice under Article 76A — whether through a government Bill or private member’s Bill — it will be a constitutional coup against the 1963 Malaysia Agreement, no less than advocacy of separatism,” the groups pointed out.

They also alleged that Hadi’s Bills were an attempt to bypass the need for a two-thirds parliamentary majority vote to amend the Ninth Schedule,

A Bill passed under Article 76A of the Federal Constitution undermines the veto potential of the 57 parliamentarians from the two Borneo states, they said.

“It will effectively not just write off the status of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners of Malaya, but even places Sabah and Sarawak as constitutionally inferior to one of Malaya’s states.

“We call upon the Federal government and the governments of Sarawak and Sabah convene a Malaysia Summit to be attended by all lawmakers and executive branch at the federal and state levels to deliberate on a new Federal constitutional arrangement, whereby Sabah and Sarawak may have other rights devolved if Kelantan were to have its own criminal justice system,” the groups said.

The groups argued that the views of Sarawak and Sabah natives, a sizeable number who are non-Muslim, should be considered if the Kelantan Shariah Criminal Code II (1993) 2015 were to be enforced. — AFP file pic