The proceedings before the Federal Court, challenging the constitutionality and legality of the provisions of the Syariah Criminal Offence (Hudud and Qisas) Terengganu Enactment 1432H/2002M (commonly known as "the Terengganu hudud laws"), has generated a great deal of public interest.
The Attorney General is reported to have decided to apply to intervene in the said proceedings. According to a report in the New Straits Times (3/11/03, on page 7), this has attracted comments from a Terengganu State Executive Councillor that the Attorney General "should be unbiased and remain neutral", "should not file an application to be a party on behalf of the Federal Government to the proceedings", and should not act as "messengers" (presumably of the Federal Government).
On the assumption that the above report is accurate (and we make this qualification because another report in the Star on the same day, i.e. 3/11/03 on page 10, appears to differ in some important aspect), the Bar Council wishes to state its strong disagreement with those comments, for the following reasons.
When an application is made to declare a law to be invalid, Article 4(4) of the Federal Constitution provides that the Federation shall be entitled to be a party to such proceedings. Hence, it is entirely proper for the Attorney General (representing the Federal Government) to apply to intervene in the current proceedings relating to the Terengganu hudud laws. Indeed it is commendable that the Attorney General, as a guardian of public interest, is taking a positive step to be heard in an issue of such public importance. While the Attorney General should be unbiased and neutral in the sense that he should not have regard to extraneous matters such as the politics of the day, he is duty-bound not to remain neutral when it comes to upholding the Constitution; in that the Attorney General is entitled to, and indeed must, take a position that goes to upholding the Constitution, whatever the political climate of the day may be.
The New Straits Times has also reported that the Pas Dewan Muslimat deputy chief has remarked that the Attorney General's chambers are "challenging God's laws" and are "acting against the Sultan of Terengganu" (simply because the Terengganu hudud laws have received royal assent). The Bar Council deeply regrets that such misplaced and misleading arguments have once again been put forward for public consumption. They completely distort the real issues at hand, and are in the same desperate and untenable vein as the cries of "sedition" and "disloyalty to the King" that are too often heard in our society when a debate on an issue of crucial public interest is proposed.
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Talk on Summary Judgement (25 May 2012) Organised by the Selangor Bar Committee, this talk will take place at 5:00 pm, at the Selangor Bar Committee Auditorium, on 25 May 2012 (Friday). The talk will be conducted by Ramesh Supramanian. Click on the link above for more details.
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Circular No 110/2012: Seminar on Introduction to ICC Arbitration: An Insight into the 2012 ICC Rules
