Karpal Singh has criticised the intentions of Kelantan Menteri Besar, Ahmad Yakob to call for a private member’s bill by PAS in Parliament to seek a declaration that the existing hudud law in Kelantan can be implemented.

Ahmad Yakob had said that the state government will use the next six months to carry out an information campaign so that no party would doubt the benefits of implementing syariah laws and that this was the perfect time to table the bill.

The Kelantan UMNO liaison committee chairman Mustapa Mohamad had said that the bill will be supported by UMNO MPs in Kelantan and added that it was a Muslim duty  to support the implementation of syariah in the state.

In response to the hudud bill, Karpal said,

“It is obvious, both PAS and UMNO are seeking to derive political mileage from the implementation of hudud in Kelantan despite knowing fully well that under the law, the legislation of the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment II was clearly unconstitutional.”

“I have said time and again, and I repeat, Parliament cannot approve for implementation, by way of a private member’s bill, a state law which is unconstitutional.”

Karpal also related the 1988 Che Omar B Che Soh v PP  Supreme Court case which ruled that Malaysia was a secular state and will be governed by secular law.

“This case has not been overruled by the Federal Court and has obviously stood the test of time.”

“From the ruling of the Supreme Court, it must follow that hudud, which is Islamic law cannot be reconciled with the country being ruled by secular law through a judicial pronouncement by the highest court in the land.”

“It must be emphasized, in Malaysia, it is the Federal Constitution which is supreme, and not Parliament unlike the position in the United Kingdom,” added Karpal.

He had maintained that a collective decision by Parliament to pass the hudud bill would be an unconstitutional act that shatters the  basic structures of the constitution, namely that Malaysia was a secular state as it was ruled by secular law.

“In view of the constitutional constraints and further in view of hudud being unsuitable for the present time and age and the multi-racial and multi-religious structure of society in Malaysia, the 38 DAP Members of Parliament cannot, in the national interest, support any proposed move by PAS to initiate a futile private member’s bill to provide for the introduction of hudud in Kelantan,” he concluded. -The Rocket