Lawyers: Hudud will divide society

Muslims and non-Muslims will be treated differently in Kelantan, says Bar Council’s Andrew Khoo

PETALING JAYA - Legal activists have spoken up in opposition to PAS’ bid to pave the way for hudud laws to be implemented in Kelantan.

Pas has come up with amendments to the Syariah Criminal Code II 1993 and the Bill has been introduced today in the Kelantan state assembly.

“It would not be helpful to national unity to create marked distinctions between Muslims and non-Muslims,” said Malaysian Bar Council’s Human Rights Committee chairman Andrew Khoo, reports The Star Online.

Hudud law would divide society in a very marked way, said Khoo.

“A Muslim who has committed a crime would face a different set of punishments from a non-Muslim.

“This would trigger calls for non-Muslims to come under hudud law, which would trigger yet another form of unfairness as the law would be imposed on non-adherents to Islam.”

Khoo said this was never an issue with Syariah law because it concerned private matters of the family.

“When the Constitution was drafted it only talked about personal, private law.”

Lawyers for Liberty co-founder Eric Paulsen said that any attempt to introduce hudud law would be unconstitutional.

“Malaysia is a country founded on parliamentary democracy where the Federal Constitution, which is secular in nature, reigns supreme.

“Any attempt at amending the Constitution to introduce hudud would also be unconstitutional as that would violate the basic structure of the Constitution.”

Paulsen said the Kelantan State Assembly does not have the jurisdiction to pass the amendment, as under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, all civil and criminal laws fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government.

“It also violates the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 that restricted the jurisdiction to only offences punishable with imprisonment up to three years, fine up to RM5,000 or whipping up to six strokes.”

As hudud law would only apply to Muslims, and non-Muslims would be subject to civil criminal law, the amendments would be in breach of Article 8 of the Federal Constitution, which guarantees equality and non-discrimination, said Paulsen.