Act 355: Abang Johari asked to be clear on stand

KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg has been urged to be firm in opposing the Syariah Courts ( Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355) amendment Bill ‘at all costs’ for the interest of Sarawakians.

PKR Women national vice president Voon Shiak Ni said if Abang Johari could direct the 25 Sarawak Barisan Nasional ( BN) MPs to work together with the opposition MPs from Sarawak to vote against the Bill, the possibility of seeing it getting voted-in as part of the laws of the country would be very much reduced.

Voon, who is PKR Stampin vice chairperson, said many were concerned about Abang Johari’s uncertainty in not giving a clear indication to whether all the 25 BN MPs from Sarawak would vote against the amendment to Act 355, which could be tendered for voting in Parliament this week.

She recalled that Abang Johari previously told the media that he had declared Sarawak’s stand to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and it was up to Najib to announce it.

Voon said this was followed by Abang Johari’s recent statement expressing the state government’s concern over the discriminatory and unconstitutional elements in the proposed amendment to Act 355, pointing out that there should not be discrimination in imposing penalties as Article 8 of the Federal Constitution clearly emphasised on equality in the eyes of the law.

“We are very concerned about this uncertainty on the part of Abang Johari and also taking note of the fact that Najib had pledged government support for PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s Syariah Bill in his statement in December, 2016.

“To further fuel the controversy on the support for the Bill, BN’s Santubong MP Dato Sri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had told media recently that the BN MPs would support the Bill if the Chief Minister supported it and the stand of the Sarawak government would depend on the decision of the Chief Minister,” she said yesterday.

When speaking at the Umno general assembly on Dec 1 last year, Najib announced that the federal government would take up Abdul Hadi’s Private Member’s Bill to upgrade Syariah punishments.

Umno previously extended various support to Abdul Hadi in his efforts to increase the punishments available to the Syariah Courts, including elevating his motion above government matters and a special briefing conducted by the deputy prime minister for all Muslim MPs. Abdul Hadi, who is Marang MP, had last year sought to amend Act 355, which has been listed on the Parliament’s Order Paper for this sitting.

On Nov 23 last year, Hadi read out a motion to amend the Bill by inserting the punishment caps of 30 years’ jail, RM100,000 fine and 100 lashes. Syariah courts sentencing powers are currently limited to three years’ jail, RM5,000 fine and six lashes.

Voon said if Act 355 amendment Bill were to be voted-in to be the law, there would be two sets of criminal laws in the country.

Hence, she said discriminatory punishments could not be avoided and it could be unconstitutional considering that the law would contravene Article 8 (1) of the Federal Constitution, which warrants that all persons are to be treated equal before the law.

In noting that there were news that the amendment Bill might be tabled with Sabah and Sarawak excluded from falling under the jurisdiction of the amended law, Voon said if that were the case, then the BN MPs from Sabah and Sarawak should be exempted from their role to vote for it.