While some experts determine the strengthening sharia court powers is principally political theatre, PAS says the government’s vow is a continuation of the work of Perikatan Nasional, the coalition which led Malaysia during the pandemic years and counts PAS as a member.
Those efforts include attempts to raise amendments granting sharia courts the power to issue significantly heftier penalties that include flogging.
“Praise be to God, the religious affairs minister has given his guarantee that amendments under Bill 355 will be carried out this year,” PAS Deputy President Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said in a statement on Monday. “Hence, the efforts by the previous government should be supported and gain approval in parliament by the majority of elected representatives.”
Malaysia’s apex court quashes state’s expansion of sharia law
Malaysia’s apex court quashes state’s expansion of sharia law
The role and reach of sharia laws was thrust back into the spotlight earlier this month when the country’s apex court ruled that amendments to Kelantan’s sharia criminal code – passed by the state assembly in 2021 and broadened to include 18 acts deemed crimes under Islamic law – had breached federal powers and were unconstitutional.
The plan to table Bill 355, however, may add more fuel to Malaysia’s culture wars amid surging religious conservatism and Malay nationalism.
Malaysia practises a unique dual legal system, with civil law governing most aspects of life in the multicultural nation of 33 million people, while sharia law is limited to Muslims in the country and deals specifically with family matters and the practice of Islam.
PAS and Islamist groups, however, have long pushed for the expansion of the sharia courts’ jurisdiction to include criminal prosecution, which currently lies almost exclusively under civil law, and the implementation of hudud law, or Islamic penal law, which prescribes harsh penalties for crimes.
The original bill tabled by Abdul Hadi sought to raise the maximum penalties that can be meted out by the sharia courts to fines of up to 100,000 ringgit (US$20,900), 30 years in jail and up to 100 strokes of the cane.
Existing penalties under the sharia legal system are limited to fines of 5,000 ringgit and three years’ jail. Repeat offenders for certain crimes such as proximity between unmarried couples also face up to six strokes of the cane.
Opinion: What Kelantan’s upended sharia push reveals about PAS’ Islamist politicking
Opinion: What Kelantan’s upended sharia push reveals about PAS’ Islamist politicking
Analysts say Anwar’s pledge to put Bill 355 back to parliament was a necessary public move to quell dissent over the federal court’s decision, and deflect accusations of being secular or liberal – favoured terms used by Islamists and conservative groups when criticising Anwar and his allies for allegedly ignoring the plight of the Malay-Muslim majority.
“This whole question of whether Malaysia is an Islamic or secular state has never been settled, and I don’t see it being settled,” said Syaza Farhana Mohamad Shukri, head of the political science department at the International Islamic University of Malaysia.
“I feel like it’s kind of our permanent impermanence in which we have to seek compromises,” she said.
Critics, particularly among Anwar’s allies in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, accused Abdul Hadi of attempting to undermine the federal constitution at the time the bill was last introduced.
Now they query why Anwar appears to be backing it for political reasons.
Anwar, who has struggled to win over Malay support after a deeply divided national election in 2022, panned the past administration for neglecting the legal reforms needed to elevate the status of the sharia courts.
“Was this done previously? No. You can check, we have set up a committee to study [the proposals] but they use this to divide us,” Anwar reportedly said when launching an event on Sunday.
PAS rose to federal power between 2020 and 2022 as part of a Malay nationalist administration which emerged from the political coup that brought down Mahathir’s government during his second stint as prime minister.