e-ISSN 2231-8542
ISSN 1511-3701
Narizan, A. R.
Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science, Volume 25, Issue S, October 2017
Keywords: Judicial review, Malaysia, shariah criminal offence
Published on: 16 Apr 2018
This article examines the role of civil court's judicial review pertaining to the enforcement of shariah criminal offence in Malaysia. The civil court has the power to judicially review the decisions of administrative authorities including any enforcements carried out by government officials and their subordinates whether it is in tandem with law and legislation or not. It assesses the validity of the enforcements and whether the procedural aspect has been legally adhered to. Similarly, the court also has the power to review shariah enforcement actions. Recently, three cases which had been reviewed judicially, namely, the seizure of a book entitled Allah, Love and Liberty, the Muslim men cross-dressing cases and the Kalimah Allah disputes. In these cases, the shariah enforcement actions have been declared unconstitutional, as they infringed the principles of freedom of expression enshrined under the Malaysian Constitution. The primary objective of this paper is to examine the position and implication of such judicial review over shariah criminal offence enforcements. Additionally, examine whether the civil-law trained judges have the necessary expertise to review the shariah related enforcement actions or not. Finally, repercussions of these reviews to the position of Article 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia are also assessed. This article employs full library research as the main source of data and collection content analysis is applied throughout the discussion.
ISSN 1511-3701
e-ISSN 2231-8542