PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang said the division of legislative powers between the federal and state governments had constrained the ability of state legislatures to enact shariah criminal laws.
Abdul Hadi said the pre-Merdeka Reid Commission, which promulgated the Federal Constitution, “was meant to continue colonisation in a clandestine manner”.
He singled out the Ninth Schedule, State List (List II) of the Federal Constitution, which gives state legislatures the power to enact laws concerning offences by Muslims against Islamic precepts.
However, states cannot legislate on matters under the Federal List, including criminal law, resulting in overlapping areas of jurisdiction, he said.
“The overlapping scope of criminal laws has often resulted in provisions under state enactments being challenged in court,” Abdul Hadi said in a social media post on Wednesday.
The issue has previously come before the Federal Court, which in 2024 ruled that provisions in Kelantan’s Shariah Criminal Code Enactment were invalid as the state had encroached on federal legislative powers.
PAS has since sought to circumvent the court’s ruling through a new Kelantan Shariah Offences Enactment Bill, which its legislature passed in early August.
Abdul Hadi said the shariah courts are constrained by the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, or Act 355, which limits them to mete out sentences of not more than three years’ jail, fines of not more than RM5,000.
He pointed to Article 4 of the Federal Constitution, which establishes is as the supreme law of the land and any legislation that contravenes it is invalid.
“Therefore, the full implementation of shariah criminal law would require extensive constitutional amendments at the parliamentary level,” he said.
Abdul Hadi said former chief justices and legal scholars supported this view.
Among the proposals were a broader interpretation of Article 3(1), the gradual repeal of the Civil Law Act 1956, constitutional amendments to strengthen Islamic principles in the legal system, and greater harmonisation between civil and shariah laws.
