White wave at Palace of Justice, a symbol of purity

PUTRAJAYA - A sea of white flooded the grounds of the Palace of Justice here as thousands of participants, clad in all-white attire, congregated at the Save Shariah Court Gathering since 9am earlier today.

Paroi state assemblyman, Kamarol Ridzuan Mohd Zain, stated that the choice of white symbolizes the purity of the Syariah Court that should be defended by all Muslims.

"I was willing to brave the traffic jam at 7:30am this morning from Seremban to gather here together, and we chose to wear white clothes as a symbolic representation of the purity of the laws of this court that should be fought for.

"We gather here in large numbers with the hope that the decision is not biased against the lawyers, Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid and her daughter, Tengku Yasmin Nastasha Tengku Abdul Rahman.

"I hope that after this, Muslims will come together again to fight for the Syariah Court and focus on those who betray and want to downgrade the Syariah Court," he said when met here on Monday.

Earlier, Nik Elin and Tengku Yasmin Nastasha initiated a constitutional challenge on the 20 provisions of offenses in the Sharia Criminal Code (1) Enactment, claiming that the enactment is invalid because there are federal laws that also cover the same offenses.

Both are of the opinion that the power to legislate on criminal matters lies under the jurisdiction of Parliament, while the State Legislative Assembly is only given the right to legislate on matters related to Islamic doctrine.

Both individuals urge the court to declare that the provisions are null and void.