The bulk's determination might have main authorized implications in a multi-ethnic nation that operates a twin judicial system.
Malaysia's prime court docket has dominated that 16 Islamic legal guidelines within the northeastern state of Kelantan are unconstitutional in a historic determination that might have main implications for the nation's authorized system.
By an 8-1 majority, the Federal Courtroom dominated on Friday that the Kelantan state authorities doesn’t have the ability to enact legal guidelines, on offenses from sodomy to sexual harassment, possession of false data, the 'intoxication and scale measures, as a result of they had been already. coated by federal regulation and are the duty of the federal parliament.
Malaysia is a federal nation the place states have jurisdiction over legal guidelines associated to Islam, the official faith. It additionally operates a twin authorized system the place Islamic regulation applies to Muslims, who make up simply over 60 % of the inhabitants, in private and household issues, in addition to within the apply of their faith. All different crimes are handled by the civil courts.
Kelantan, seen as the center of ethnic Malay Muslim tradition, has been dominated by the opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) since 1990.
“The facility of parliament and state legislatures are restricted by the Federal Structure and so they can’t make any regulation they like,” Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mai was quoted by Malaysia's BFM radio as saying the outcomes of the panel of 9 judges.
The case was introduced in 2022 by Kelantan lawyer Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid and his daughter after the state authorities handed a brand new set of legal guidelines on Islamic crimes.
The 2 challenged the constitutionality of 18 of the legal guidelines arguing that they had been outdoors the jurisdiction of the state meeting and already coated by parliament.
The Federal Courtroom didn’t annul the 2 different legal guidelines and confused that the 2 ladies had not introduced the case to problem the place of Islam or the Islamic authorized system.
About 1,000 individuals together with PAS supporters and conservative Muslims gathered outdoors the court docket in Putrajaya forward of the ruling.
