Tawfik: Tabling Hadi’s Bill sub judice

Tawfik Ismail (left) and Zailah Ismail believe G25 stands for what their parents stood for. RAYMOND OOI/ The Star

At the dewan rakyat
Reports by MARTIN CARVALHO, HEMANANTHANI SIVANANDAM, RAHIMY RAHIM and RAHMAH GHAZALI

 

IT WILL be sub judice for PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s Private Member’s Bill to be tabled in Parliament, said Mohamed Tawfik Ismail, a pro-moderation activist.

He said that Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia and its secretary Datuk Roosme Ham­zah were barred from allowing the Bill to be debated after being served with legal notice of a pending suit.

The suit, filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court last Friday, is seeking a declaration on the constitutionality of the syariah amendments proposed by Abdul Hadi.

“They are bound by precedent and the Bill should not be brought up at all in Parliament as it will be sub judice,” Tawfik told reporters outside the Parliament grounds yesterday.

He said he was not against Abdul Hadi’s move to amend sya­riah laws but the manner in which it was done – in the absence of approval by the Conference of Ru­­lers.

“I feel that the Constitution has not been respected,” he said.

“There are procedures and Standing Orders for such a Bill on religion to get the sanction of the Rulers.”

As the son of the country’s second deputy prime minister, Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, Tawfik said he was duty bound to initiate the suit.

“I have a personal interest in this because my late grandfather and father were founding fathers of this nation.

“I am here to protect their legacy,” he said.

The former Sungai Benut MP also said that the suit would help restore the dignity of the Conference of Rulers as the sole body respon­sible for Islam.

Tawfik arrived in Parliament at about noon with his lawyer, Mansoot Saat, and served the notice to a Parliament staff after being barred entry at the guardhouse.

He filed the suit last Friday and has written to Pandikar Amin informing him of his intention to seek a court declaration.

Tawfik is seeking 10 declarations and orders that will effectively stop the tabling of Hadi’s Bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Juris­diction).

Meanwhile it is believed that Hadi will attempt to table his Bill today, on the last day of the Parliament meeting.

A source said Hadi would want to elaborate on it but no debate is expected.

“He will defer it like the last session (November 2016) under Stan­ding Order 15 (5),” the source added.

A senior Umno lawmaker, who declined to be identified, also said that he was aware of it but it is up to the order of the day and the Speaker.