The federal government's decision to intervene in a lawyer's challenge on the constitutionality of the Terengganu Syariah Criminal Offence (Hudud and Qisas) Enactment will have no effect on its enforcement, a state official said today.

Terengganu Syariah prosecution unit deputy commissioner Mustafar Hamzah told malaysiakini that officers will not hesitate to record and investigate complaints lodged under the enactment, if any.

"We will not stop enforcing the law just because the federal government has announced its intention to challenge the validity of the enactment," he said.

"We will continue working normally because the enactment was legally gazetted last Monday. We'll only stop enforcement should the Federal Court declare that the enactment is unlawful."

Mustafar said that, to date, his unit has not received any report under the enactment, but also noted that complaints were not expected in the short term.

"I think any complaints will come in after Ramadhan, but I don't think any of the serious crimes will be involved. (It will) probably be complaints about consumption of liquor, for which the penalty is 40 strokes of the rotan," he said.

The PAS-led state Terengganu government has come under fire for gazetting the enactment despite a dispute that is currently before the Federal Court.

Lawyer Zaid Ibrahim has filed a suit against the Kelantan government which had earlier enacted (but not enforced) a similar law, which he has claimed to be unconstitutional.

Zaid has filed similar action against the Terengganu government. Recently, the Attorney General's (AG) civil division head Azahar Mohamed said the AG would be filing an application to be a party to Zaid's proceedings.

However, the move was criticised by PAS legal adviser Wan Abdul Muttalib Embong who said that the government should file separate proceedings against the state instead of becoming Zaid's "passenger".

Public interest

Commenting on similar issue, DAP national deputy chairperson Karpal Singh said the federal government should take more serious steps to challenge the constitutionality of the enactment, beause "it is a law of far reaching consequences".

"It is demeaning for the AG to take a piggyback ride on Zaid's application, which is only for leave to appeal before a single judge of the Federal Court," he said.

Karpal said it would be better for the federal government to seek the King's help to refer the matter to the Federal Court.

This, he said, would guarantee that the matter will be heard by the Federal Court.

In the case of Zaid's action, the Federal Court may not even hear the merits of the case in the event his leave application is rejected, Karpal pointed out.

"I call upon the AG, Abdul Gani Patail to advise the cabinet to call upon the (King) to invoke his powers under Article 130 of the Federal Constitution to refer to the Federal Court issues as to whether the enact is unconstitutional ..," he said.

"In the public interest the issue should be decided authoritatively once and for all by a full bench of the Federal Court."

Bar's stand

Meanwhile, the Bar Council commended the AG Chambers's intention to intervene in the matter.

Council chairperson Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari said in a statement that it was entirely proper for the AG, in representing the federal government, to apply to intervene in the proceedings.

"While the AG should be unbiased and neutral in the sense that he should not have regards to extraneous matters such as the politics of the day, he is duty-bound not to remain neutral when it comes to upholding the constitution," said Kuthubul.