The group of 25 eminent Malays has met several sultans last month to express their concern over the overzealousness of Islamic authorities in enforcing syariah laws to the extent of violating constitutional rights.

 

Their spokesperson and former Malaysian ambassador to the Netherlands, Noor Farida Ariffin, however declined to disclose the number of sultans the group had met but noted that the rulers were receptive to the concerns expressed by G25.

 

Noor Farida said G25 raised their concern that parts of the syariah laws trespass the Federal Constitution, where certain states have enacted laws on matters that are beyond their jurisdiction - those included in the Federal List - thereby turning personal sins into crimes.

 

G25 has called for the establishment of an expert group comprising syariah law experts and constitutional experts to review the existing Islamic laws.

 

Noor Farida said this was to determine whether syariah laws are consistent with the Federal Constitution as there are clear limits set, especially in the Ninth Schedule List 2, where the states can legislate on only 26 areas of syariah law or subject matter.

 

The former ambassador also pointed out that some of the laws passed by the state legislatures were not proposed by the rulers, who are heads of Islam in their respective states.

 

“We have seen a few of them (sultans) but we cannot name them as it (the meetings) are all under the Chatham House rules. We had very good discussions, but they cannot publicly agree with us as they are above the law as constitutional rulers.

 

“They encouraged us to speak and meet their brother rulers as this matter will be brought up in the Conference of Rulers and they need the consent of all the rulers, for you cannot have even one ruler abstaining or disagreeing,” the former ambassador and Sessions Court judge said.

 

Under the Chatham House rules, an individual at a meeting is free to use information from the discussion but is not allowed to reveal identity of the person who makes the comments. It is designed to encourage free discussion, especially on controversial issues.

 

The G25 meeting with the sultans followed others held with representatives from the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) and the government.

 

Yet to meet Agong and MBs

 

However, Noor Farida said, G25 has yet to meet the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who is the head of Islam in Malacca, Penang, the Federal Territories, Sabah and Sarawak.

 

She said that besides meeting the Malay rulers, G25, which now has 44 members, would seek meetings with chief ministers and menteris besar.

 

“This is in the pipeline,” she told journalists after giving a dinner talk on ‘Restoring Faith in our Constitution’, organised by law firm Lee Hishammuddin Allen and Gledhill in Kuala Lumpur last night.

 

Throughout her speech she cited numerous examples of transgressions by the Muslim authorities, among them, the Federal Territory Islamic Department's (Jawi) raid on the Borders bookstore - known as the Nik Raina Nik Abdul Aziz's case - and the arrests of transsexuals which resulted in the Court of Appeal declaring Section 66 of the Negeri Sembilan Syariah Offences Act unconstitutional.

 

Other examples include the body snatching case of Everest climber and Muslim convert M Moorthy, and many others, conversions of children, the midnight raid on think-tank Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs chief executive Wan Saiful Wan Jan's hotel room, parading those caught not performing Friday prayers in Terengganu and the fatwa against Sisters in Islam.

 

Noor Farida lamented that unfortunately, the courts have given mixed signals on where syariah laws stand - in the R Subashini case, the Federal Court interpreted that the syariah court and the civil court are equal, while in the Latifah Mat Zin case, the apex court ruled that the syariah court is inferior to the civil court.

 

She stressed that G25 has no intention of challenging the precepts of Islam, but is seeking to create the correct public perception so that the religion will not be viewed negatively.