KUALA LUMPUR: A former chief justice will chair the special committee to review the jurisdiction of the various state legislative assemblies, says Datuk Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar.
Without revealing the name of the candidate, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) told the Dewan Rakyat that the list of committee members in the special task force will include those who are experts in the legal field.
“All the names selected for the special committee have been finalised and appointed.
“Apart from the former chief justice as chairperson, it will include former judges, representatives from the Attorney General’s Chambers, Syariah Courts, as well as state religious councils.
“Academicians who are specialised in civil, syariah and Federal Constitution matters and lawyers will be part of the committee,” he said during the Minister’s Question Time at the Dewan Rakyat.
The special committee is expected to meet for the first time on Dec 4, whereby the meeting will discuss the direction of their study and research and offer recommendations based on their findings to the issues faced by syariah-related laws in the country.
The role of the special committee, Mohd Na’im said, is an effort by the government to resolve the conflict of jurisdiction between the Federal Government, the state governments and civil courts when it comes to empowering and strengthening the syariah judicial system in the country.
Mohd Na’im was replying to a question by Datuk Ahmad Saad @ Yahaya, MP of Pokok Sena, who wanted to know the progress of the special committee.
In a supplementary question, Ahmad also asked if the government had set a timeline to implement the recommendations issued by the special committee.
Mohd Na’im said the special committee will be reviewing the judgment of the Federal Court for both cases involving Iki Putra and Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid and her daughter against the Selangor and Kelantan syariah courts, respectively.
In 2019, Iki Putra challenged the Selangor Syariah Criminal Enactment 1995, claiming that neither the state nor the syariah court had the jurisdiction to enact and try sodomy cases.
Last year, Nik Elin and her daughter Tengku Yasmin Nastasha Tengku Abdul Rahman filed a constitutional challenge against 18 provisions under Kelantan’s Syariah Criminal Enactment.
In the petition, the mother-daughter duo argued that these provisions, which include punishments for incest, gambling, necrophilia, sodomy and sexual harassment, among others, were invalid as they were already covered by federal law.
