Sabah PAS, however, claims the Hadi Bill — to amend the Syariah Court (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 and introduce a new section — has nothing to do with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“It (MA63) has no merit at all (on the Bill),” said Sabah PAS deputy commissioner II Hamid Ismail in a statement in Daily Express.
“The Federal Constitution is the supreme law of the land.”
The Hadi Bill was not inconsistent with the Federal Constitution, he added.
Besides, he said, it’s not a new law, despite Section 2A being introduced in the Bill to enhance the sentencing powers of shariah courts.
Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) deputy president Maximus Jonity Ongkili, in disagreeing with the notion that the country has two legal systems, said “the country cannot allow such a situation”.
If the Hadi Bill comes to pass, he cautioned, it will overlap the existing legal system “that we have been practising all this while”.
If enforced, he continued, it will dictate the lifestyle of everyone, especially non-Muslims.
“PBS will strongly object to the Hadi Bill,” he was quoted as saying at a function in Lawas on Monday.
“The country already has the Penal Code to punish criminals.”
The Hadi Bill, he argued, contravenes the Federal Constitution.
Likewise, the consensus among various parties and NGOs in Sabah was against the Hadi Bill.
The arguments range from Sabah and Sarawak having no religion to “no people can be judged by two separate laws for the same crime” and criminal law remaining a federal matter.
“The Bill was not sanctioned by jurisprudence,” said human rights advocate Daniel John Jambun when contacted by telephone.
Law must have source to have authority, jurisdiction and power, he said. “What’s the source for the Bill?”
The punishment must also fit the crime, he said, according to the principle of proportionality.
“The Hadi Bill over-punishes,” said Jambun, who heads the UK-based Borneo’s Plight in Malaysia Foundation (Bopim Foundation).
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) supreme council member Yew Chau Khiong stressed that Sabah and Sarawak did not agree in 1963 on a theocracy in the federation.
He was commenting on a statement by Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) president Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman that hudud be enforced on non-Muslims as well.
Pertubuhan Perpaduan Rakyat Kebangsaan Sabah (Perpaduan) vice-president Muaruffidin Abdul Malek Chua said in a statement that “Malaysia was secular, although Islam is the religion of the Federation of 1948/57”.
“If Isma wants to talk from the religious perspective, the peninsula was actually Hindu and Buddhist before Islam came,” said Muaruffidin.
It was also the Indians and Chinese who brought Islam to the peninsula, he said. “We must accept our history and not be driven by collective amnesia.”