THE organiser of a forum that was supposed to be held at the Universiti Malaya Alumni Association (PAUM) clubhouse today was told of the booking cancellation at the eleventh hour.

Dr K.J. John, the organiser of the “Is the Parliament or constitution supreme?” forum, said he received an official email on the matter from the PAUM president yesterday, stating that the clubhouse does not encourage activities deemed to be religious, political and racial in nature.

“It (the forum) is not religious, it’s not political, it’s not racial,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“I don’t understand. The subject is not political. It’s to do with legal issues, and these are important issues. We want to educate the people, and we paid a deposit.”

He said he had booked the venue six months earlier.

Asked if the booking cancellation may have to do with the title of the forum, John said there is nothing wrong with it.

He said he has met with some lawyers, and might take the matter to court.

“This is an abuse of authority.”

The forum, featuring Professor Shad Saleem Faruqi, Thulsi Manogaran, Rosli Dahlan and Dr Gurdial Singh Nijar as panellists, was subsequently moved to Petaling Jaya.

Thulsi, a lawyer, said there is a danger in thinking that Parliament is supreme.

“The danger in that is the fact that the number of seats won by a certain party, which later becomes the ruling party – I’m talking about the current situation in Malaysia – is not done properly.”

She said the electoral system is flawed as there is room for gerrymandering to take place.

“If the court, the judiciary, which forms the third arm of the government, pulls back and says Parliament is supreme, even in a democratic space like ours… when the electoral system is flawed, the whole purpose of protecting the rights and liberties of the people is displaced.”

She spoke about another problem, where bills are usually rushed through in Parliament, and MPs do not have sufficient time to read and understand them thoroughly.

Rosli, also a lawyer, highlighted a problem with the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, also known as RUU355.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang made history in April last year when he became the first opposition MP to be allowed to table a private member’s bill on RUU355 in the Dewan Rakyat.

However Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia halted debate on the motion, and ended the sitting after PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan seconded the motion.

“Islamic laws are state laws, and state laws are not the same in all states,” said Rosli.

“If something is an offence in one state and not in another state… this truly happened in the case of (the late) Kassim Ahmad.”

He said Kassim was arrested in Kedah over a speech he made that was deemed to be against a Federal Territory fatwa.

“Teaching about or doing things against the fatwa is an offence in Wilayah (the Federal Territory), but there is no similar prohibition in Kedah, where Kassim was from.

“He gave the speech in Wilayah. He was not arrested in Wilayah, but they (the authorities) went to Kedah, arrested him there and violated laws. They brought him here and charged him in Wilayah.”

Last August, the shariah court ruled in favour of Kassim after the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Department charged him with insulting Islam and going against the fatwa during a seminar in February 2014. – March 10, 2018.