The Kelantan government's bid to re-enact provisions struck out from the state's shariah criminal enactment is not only an exercise in futility but also a constitutional crisis in the making, said former Court of Appeal judge Datuk Hamid Sultan Abu Backer.
Umno’s sole assemblyman in Kelantan, Mohd Syahbuddin Hashim, said his party has always supported the state’s shariah criminal provisions and will cooperate with the PAS-led state government in strengthening Islamic law.
The Kelantan state legislative assembly unanimously passed a motion to re-enact 16 provisions under the state's shariah criminal enactment, which had been declared unconstitutional by the Federal Court last month, now slated for reinforcement in the state.
PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang has received a royal rebuke from the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, for disrespecting the Federal Constitution as well as the Malay Rulers, who are the guardians of Islam in the country.
In Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa's opinion, the framing of the issue is politically motivated, manipulated, and blown out of proportion. As concerned and responsible lawyers, Nik Elin and her daughter understood that what the Kelantan shariah court intended to do was blatantly in excess of provisions in the constitution.
