KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia and three others have been instructed to file affidavits in response to an application to stop the tabling of a private member’s bill on hudud by PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

Lawyer Siti Zubaidah Kassim, who is representing the four plaintiffs, said the directive was made by court deputy registrar Nor Hasniah Abdul Razak last Friday, during case management.

“The defendants have been given until July 10 to file the affidavits, before another case management is held on July 27,” she told The Malaysian Insider.

Federal counsel M Kogilambigai represented the defendants.

The four plaintiffs— Mansoor Saat, Azira Aziz, Hasbeemaputra Abu Bakar and Hazwany Jamaluddin — filed the application in the Kuala Lumpur High Court on June 8.

They are seeking an injunction against Abdul Hadi, who is the member of parliament for Marang, Pandikar Amin, deputy speakers Datuk Ronald Kiandee and Datuk Ismail Mohamad Said and the parliament secretary.

Siti Zubaidah said the application was based on the unconstitutionality of the bill, in which Abdul Hadi is seeking to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, which governs the scope of punishments meted out by the Syariah courts.

The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to prevent the bill from being debated until the case is disposed of.

She said a private member’s bill is a “back-door” attempt to change the Federal Constitution, warning that the proposed bill would have wider implications than just Kelantan as it would apply to Muslims nationwide.

“This is technically amending our constitution. It is not just about Kelantan. If the bill is passed, it will allow Muslims in Malaysia to be punished, according to their interpretation of the Syariah law,” she said previously.

The PAS-led Kelantan state government in March passed amendments to the Syariah Criminal Code II Enactment 1993 (Amendment 2015) to pave the way for the east coast state to implement the Islamic law.

Among its provisions are death by stoning for adultery with married partners, whipping of between 40 and 80 lashes for consuming alcohol, and amputation of limbs for theft.

However, an amendment to the federal law is necessary for hudud to be implemented in the east coast state.

Abdul Hadi presented a notice to table the motion on the private member’s bill at the last sitting on March 18.

Although it was listed in the order paper, it never came up for debate.

Abdul Hadi resubmitted the bill just before the beginning of the second meeting of the year, which began in May.

Again, although listed in the order paper, the bill was not debated when the Dewan Rakyat adjourned on June 18. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on July 3, 2015.