• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
The Nut Graph

The Nut Graph

Making Sense of Politics & Pop Culture

  • Projects
    • MP Watch
    • Found in Conversation
  • Current Issues
    • 6 Words
    • Commentary
    • Features
    • Found in Quotation
    • News
  • Columns
  • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Found in Malaysia
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Pictures
    • Videos
  • Corrections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Vault
    • Found in Translation

Judiciary to resolve conflict of civil, syariah laws, says CJ

November 18, 2008

PUTRAJAYA, 18 Nov 2008: The institution of the judiciary will seek ways to resolve the conflict between civil and syariah laws to avert any misinterpretation, Chief Justice Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi said today.

A solution must be found because many more cases pertaining to syariah laws are expected to be heard in the civil court, he said in his address at the International Seminar on Comparative Laws (ISCOM 2008), here.

The two-day seminar is organised by Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia.

Zaki made reference to a Federal Court case two months ago when he was the Court of Appeal president and had his first experience of hearing and deciding a case involving a conflict between civil and syariah laws.

In that case, one Sulaiman Takrib had wanted to declare sections 10 and 14 of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Discretionary Penalty) (Terengganu) Enactment 2001 as well as Section 51 of the Administration of Islamic Religious Affairs (Terengganu) Enactment 2001 invalid.

He had been charged in the Besut Lower Syariah Court with disobeying the orders of the Terengganu Religious Affairs Department in being a member of the Ayah Pin deviationist sect.

The Federal Court decided that the state enactments in dispute were valid laws.

Meanwhile, at a news conference later, Syariah Chief Judge Datuk Ibrahim Lembut acknowledged that it would take a long time for a merger of the common law courts and Syariah courts of a Muslim-majority country, as proposed by retired Chief Justice Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad.

“We try to harmonise the requirements of the civil and syariah laws. Either side would have to accept (the provisions of) the other. They (the civil laws’ side) do not want to accept at all. This is a little difficult,” he said.

Ibrahim, who is also director-general of the Syariah Judicial Department, said a first meeting of the civil and syariah lawyers had been held to identify the suitable or unsuitable matters in the merger process.

On assumptions that the rights of non-Muslims would be neglected, he said that matter did not arise because Islam cared for the people of all religions in the country.

“These assumptions must be discarded. Islam has never discriminated against another religion. This matter has not arisen at all. Why do we need to talk about this (neglect of rights) before concluding discussions on the merger?” he said. — Bernama

 

Filed Under: News Tagged With: chief justice Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi, civil, syariah law

Primary Sidebar

Search

Recent Comments

  • Wave33 on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Adam on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Andre Lai on The Nut Graph stops publication

Recent News

  • The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Nasihat tentang sepupu yang mengganggu perasaan
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: The Sunni-Shia split and the answer to Muslim unity
  • Why Malaysia needs the national unity bills
  • Challenging government in the digital age: Lessons from Kidex
  • Najib’s failure
  • Babi, anjing, pondan: Jijik orang Islam Malaysia
  • Kidex and the law – What the government’s not telling you
  • Beyond Dyana Sofya
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Does Malaysia need hate speech laws?

Tags

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Ibrahim Barisan Nasional BN Bukit Selambau by-election dap Deborah Loh Ding Jo-Ann Election Commission elections Found in Malaysia Found in Quotation Gan Pei Ling government high court Hishammuddin Hussein ISA islam Jacqueline Ann Surin Khairy Jamaluddin KW Mak Lim Guan Eng Malaysia MCA Menteri Besar MP Watch Muhyiddin Yassin muslim Najib Razak Pakatan Rakyat Parliament Parti Keadilan Rakyat pas Penang Perak PKR police politics prime minister Selangor Shanon Shah Umno Wong Chin Huat Zedeck Siew

Footer

  • About The Nut Graph
  • Who Are We?
  • Our Contributors
  • Past Contributors
  • Guest Contributors
  • Editorial Policy
  • Comments & Columns
  • Copyright Policy
  • Web Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
The Nut Graph

© 2025 The Nut Graph