KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — G25, a group of retired Malay senior civil servants, has added 11 members including education figures and a former judge, doubling its initial membership to 52 people.

The new G25 members include former High Court judge Datuk Syed Ahmad Idid, former Kuala Lumpur mayor Tan Sri Mazlan Ahmad, Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) chair Datin Azimah Rahim, as well as former Education director-general Tan Sri Dr Asiah Abu Samah, said G25 in a statement today.

The prominent group, comprising initially 25 influential Malays, was formed after it wrote a strongly-worded open letter last December, calling on the federal government to review Shariah criminal offences and to assert the supremacy of the Federal Constitution over Islamic state laws in the country.

The group, dominated by some of the country’s most senior-ranking civil servants who have since retired from duty, had expressed its dismay over the unresolved disputes on the position and application of Islamic laws in Malaysia, which it said reflects a “serious breakdown” of the division of powers between the federal authority and the states.