Monday April 23, 2012

Amended law may usurp Ruler’s power, says Tunku Laksamana

ALOR SETAR: Tunku Laksamana Kedah Tunku Mansor Tunku Kassim lodged a police report over the Kedah State Assem-bly's amending of an enactment to give absolute power to the state mufti and fatwa committee.

“I am making this report because I fear the enactment will usurp the powers of the Sultan of Kedah, who is the head of Islam in the state,” he said after lodging the report at the Alor Setar police headquarters at 9.30am here yesterday.

The state assembly recently amended Section 22A of the Kedah Mufti and Fatwa Committee Enactment 2008 to give the mufti and fatwa committee unlimited powers.

Following the amendment, all decisions by the mufti and the fatwa committee need not be gazetted and cannot be challenged in any court, whether syariah or civil.

Meanwhile, Save the Madrasah Salihiah Kanchut movement chairman Mansor Ahmad denied a statement by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak recently that they had withdrawn their court action to save the surau which was built in 1909.

“We only withdrew our original application for an injunction to prevent the surau from being demolished but replaced it with a new one,” he said.

Mansor added that the Alor Setar High Court had given them permission to do so and that they had hired a lawyer to fight the case. - Bernama

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