PETALING JAYA: Jabatan Agama Islam Pahang (JAIP)’s new syariah law to prosecute cross-dressers is unconstitutional as enactments made by a state-empowered body must be grounded on an appropriate legislative competence and should not overrule fundamental liberties, said syariah lawyer Nizam Bashir Abdul Kariem Bashir.
Although the federal constitution provides power to states to pass Islamic laws, it does not give them a blank cheque in drafting legislation, he explained.
