PM Anwar Ibrahim’s administration plans to revive a contentious bill which carries harsh penalties – including whipping – in sharia courts
The plan to table Bill 355 may add more fuel to Malaysia’s culture wars amid surging religious conservatism and Malay nationalism
Joseph Sipalan
20 Feb, 2024
The Islamist Parti Islam Se Malaysia (PAS) has given its full-throated support to a government plan to revive a contentious bill allowing sharia courts to impose harsher penalties – including more severe whipping – which has previously stirred fevered debate over secularism and Islam in Malaysia.
The drive to reassert the influence of Islamic religious courts follows a landmark ruling by the federal court on February 9 which rolled back sharia criminal law amendments in PAS-led Kelantan state.
The ruling caused alarm among some Islamist elements, who appeared on the ascendancy after a sequence of recent poll victories. These leaders say it is the responsibility of all Muslims to support efforts to elevate laws prescribed in the Koran.
The court ruling has also prompted Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration into vowing to pursue Bill 355, a controversial piece of legislation on sharia legal reforms tabled in parliament by PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang in 2016, as part of a pledge to empower the country’s Islamic legal system.
PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang first tabled Bill 355 in parliament in 2016.
Photo: AFP
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
9 Feb 2024
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.
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
9 Feb 2024
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.
A mosque in Kelantan. PAS and Islamist groups have long pushed for the expansion of the sharia courts’ jurisdiction to include criminal prosecution.
Photo: Shutterstock
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
16 Feb 2024
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.
“PH was completely opposed to the amendments under Bill 355 when PAS proposed it. Day and night, PH supporters criticised PAS’ proposal,” Endie Shazlie, a former press secretary to two-time leader Mahathir Mohamad, said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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.
Joseph Sipalan has done extensive reporting of Malaysia, specialising in politics and more recently macro-economics. An alumnus of Reuters and several major Malaysian news organisations.
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
16 Feb 2024
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.
PAS supporters in Kelantan ride with the party’s flags on November 18, 2022, ahead of the general election.
Photo: Shutterstock
“PH was completely opposed to the amendments under Bill 355 when PAS proposed it. Day and night, PH supporters criticised PAS’ proposal,” Endie Shazlie, a former press secretary to two-time leader Mahathir Mohamad, said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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.
Joseph Sipalan has done extensive reporting of Malaysia, specialising in politics and more recently macro-economics. An alumnus of Reuters and several major Malaysian news organisations.
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