The Position of Shariah Criminal Law in Malaysia and Brunei : A Comparison

Lily Suryati, Mohd Jamil and Nur Amani, Pauzai and Mohd Badrol, Awang (2014) The Position of Shariah Criminal Law in Malaysia and Brunei : A Comparison. Journal of Islamic Law Review, 10 (1). pp. 77-92. ISSN 0973-2918

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Abstract

In Malaysia, serious crimes such as murder, robbery and rape increasing significantly and has leads to the proposal of amending several criminal laws, where the Bill to amend 11 statutes are tabled in Parliament. These amendments and other efforts taken by the government are expected to solve all the problems. Meanwhile, the demand to implement Shari‘ah criminal law, which includes Hudud and Qisas, is still on debate among the politicians, academicians and even the public at large. Despite the fact that Shari‘ah Criminal Offence (Hudud and Qisas) Enactment has been gazetted in Terengganu and a bill had been passed in Kelantan, but no enforcement can be made due to constitutional issues. Unlike Malaysia, the Brunei government has gazetted the Shari‘ah Penal Code on 22nd October 2013 and come into effect in April 2014. The objectives of this article is to analyse the constitutional issues that leads to the inability of the enforcement of Shari‘ah criminal law in Malaysia and to compare it with the Brunei’s constitution that allows the enforcement of Shari‘ah Penal Code. This article also discusses on the position of Islamic religion and other fundamental provisions in both constitutions to determine future position of Shari’ah criminal law in both countries.

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