Zaid Ibrahim lauds Federal Court's decision declaring Kelantan criminal enactment provisions unconstitutional

SHAH ALAM - Former law minister Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim has praised the Federal Court for upholding the supremacy of Malaysia's Constitution in a historic ruling yesterday.

In a posting on X, he said it was a day in history that will always be remembered when the supremacy of the Constitution was protected and reaffirmed by the highest court.

Yesterday, in a 8-1 verdict, the Federal Court invalidated 16 provisions in the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment 2019 after allowing a petition by lawyer Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid who hails from Kelantan and her daughter Tengku Yasmin Nastasha Abdul Rahman.

In his post, Zaid also emphasised the importance of protecting the Constitution against attempts to undermine it, particularly in the face of political agendas.

"Since political Islam reared its head in the 1980s, the easiest way to gain support was to say that our legal system was flawed as being unIslamic.

"These politicians, when entering Parliament, would swear in their oath of office by declaring their allegiance to defend the Constitution. But when campaigning for votes, they pander to the unsuspecting public that they will introduce a legal system that is fully syariah, as they see it. Their approach works well.

"That’s when they started passing criminal laws at the state assemblies under their control laws that they considered to be Islamic, even though such laws, in most cases, were already in place in the Penal Code," he wrote.

He recounted his own challenge against state-level Hudud law, arguing their unconstitutionality as the power to legislate criminal laws was vested with Parliament.

Despite facing political pressure to withdraw the case, he lauded individuals like lawyer Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid, for their courage in upholding the rule of law.

"Congratulations, Nik Elin for your courage to stand by the laws of the land.

"You have succeeded where I could not do it 30 years ago," he said.

Zaid urged parties like Pas, Bersatu and other Malay-based groups to focus on serving the people within the existing constitutional framework.

He emphasised the sufficiency of avenues for Islamic laws to be practiced through Syariah Courts, advocating against politicising religion.

"Syariah Courts already have enough powers to do justice. There is no need to play politics with religion. Serve the Muslims well; take care of their present hardships; make the current system more efficient, etc.

"There is no need to violate and infringe on our Constitution and destroy the framework our leaders had worked hard to establish in 1957/63 by overzealous demands for an Islamic system.

"Work with what we have and accept we are a democracy (some semblance of it)," he wrote.

In delivering the verdict yesterday, Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat who led a nine-member bench said the Kelantan State Legislature did not have the power to enact laws on these offences as there were federal laws covering the same.