PETALING JAYA: Selangor PAS has condemned the government for channelling public funds to Sisters in Islam (SIS), as the religious authorities had issued a fatwa (edict), declaring it as a deviant group.
On Saturday (March 9), Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister Hannah Yeoh announced the allocation for SIS.
Selangor PAS commissioner Sallehin Mukhyi said Yeoh should not disrespect the fatwa issued by the religious institution, which was under the purview of the Sultan of Selangor.
“We call upon the Women, Family and Community Development deputy minister of DAP to take back the RM30,000 contributed to SIS, and to openly apologise to the Sultan of Selangor, Mais (Selangor Islamic Religious Council), and all Muslims,” he said.
Sallehin said this in response to a news portal report, affirming that the government had contributed RM30,000 to SIS.
In response, Yeoh said that the contribution was in aid of Muslim women.
She said that PAS should take a keen interest in issues concerning mistreated Muslim women, adding that it was far better than supporting corrupt people.
Sallehin said Yeoh’s explanation was not acceptable, because Mais had decreed that SIS had deviated from Islamic teachings.
“The DAP deputy minister’s action can be construed as indirectly challenging the Islamic institution under the purview of Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah,” said Sallehin.
SIS had in 2014 filed an application for a court order to revoke the fatwa issued against them.
On March 2 last year, the Court of Appeal, in reversing a High Court judgment, allowed SIS to challenge the gazetted fatwa in Selangor.
On Sept 25, the Federal Court’s seven-man panel chaired by Chief Justice Richard Malanjum, had ordered the case to be remitted to the High Court to hear the merit of the application.
A decision on whether a civil court had the jurisdiction to hear a judicial review application relating to religious edicts is still pending.
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