KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 ― Malaysia does not have enough Islamic criminal lawyers to ensure justice for all if a parliamentary motion to enhance the Shariah courts’ punitive powers is passed, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim claimed.
The former de facto law minister is openly opposed to enabling the Islamic courts to pass out stiffer penalties and argued that the basic legal structures have not been met to support PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s proposal.
“I also want to remind these Muslim lawyers that we do not have enough peguam syarie (Shariah lawyers) specialising in criminal matters for those who can afford them,” he wrote in his latest blog post.
He pointed out that unlike the practice in civil courts, there is no central qualifying board to regulate sharie lawyers across the board here.
“Also, peguam syarie are accepted at the state level — if you are one in Kelantan, it does not mean that you automatically qualify to practise in Terengganu,” said Zaid who used to own the largest legal practice in the country.
In Malaysia, Islamic matters fall under state jurisdiction. This includes approval for legal practising permits.
The former Kota Baru MP was also sceptical that the state Islamic authorities would allow lawyers who hold a “liberal view” to practise or to defend “deviants”, and cited the example of the late Ariffin Mohammed, better known as Ayah Pin.
Ariffin had claimed to be a prophet and founded a commune in Besut, Terengganu in the 1980s known as the Sky Kingdom. He was accused of founding a deviant cult that posed a corrupting threat to public order and forced into exile and reportedly died in April this year.
“So, why should we give the Shariah Court more power under Act 355 to impose long jail sentences and caning, amputation, and so forth when even the basic legal infrastructure isn’t there?” Zaid asked.
Abdul Hadi tabled a tweak of his private member's Bill to amend Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 yesterday. However, he deferred it to the next Dewan Rakyat meeting next year.
The amended version of Hadi’s Bill seeks to increase the Shariah punishment ceiling to 30 years' prison, RM100,000 fine and 100 lashes of the cane.
