FORMER MP Tawfik Ismail has applied for the dismissal of a legal attempt by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia to strike out his earlier effort to get the High Court to stop the parliamentary debate on PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s shariah bill.

In a legal notice dated December 8, the former Sungai Benut MP repeated his earlier assertions that under provisions in the Constitution, all legal matters pertaining to Islam must first obtain the approval of the Malay rulers of the state before they can be debated and approved by the Dewan Rakyat.

Hadi’s private member’s bill to enhance shariah penalties, also known as RUU355, was first tabled in Parliament on May 26 last year and remains on the Order Paper for the next Dewan Rakyat sitting.

In March, Tawfik filed a suit in the High Court seeking a declaration on the constitutionality of the amendments proposed by Hadi within RUU355 without the approval of the Conference of Rulers.

He also sent a legal notice to Pandikar and Dewan Rakyat Secretary Roosme Hamzah after filing the suit to prevent passage of the bill with the matter in court.

In October, Pandikar and Roosme filed an application with the court to strike out Tawfik’s suit. The High Court has fixed January 11 to hear the application.

In a letter to the High Court dated December 7, Tawfik’s lawyers appealed for his earlier suit to be heard alongside the application by Pandikar and Roosme next month.

“Considering that the defendants are set on tabling and debating Abdul Hadi Awang’s bill as soon as possible in the Dewan Rakyat, we have been instructed by our client to appeal that the court allows the original suit and the application to strike it out to be heard together on January 11, 2018.”

The letter noted that the application by Pandikar and Roosme was “petty and an abuse of the court process” because issues brought up in the application were related to the Constitution, and involved the rights of Muslims and the power of the Conference of Rulers with regard to upholding the sanctity of Islam.

“In this situation, the court holds the final authority to keep, protect and defend the sanctity of the Federal Constitution and the supremacy of the law,” said Tawfik through his lawyers from the firm Mansoor Saat, Siti Kasim & Associates.

Hadi’s bill looks to enhance penalties under the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act. Currently, shariah criminal punishments are capped at three years for prison terms, RM5,000 for fines and six strokes of the rotan. – December 11, 2017.