Kanun Melayu dahului model Eropah ratusan tahun, titah Tunku Azizah

Tengku Ampuan Pahang Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah addressed the Manuscripts and the Diversity of Islam(s) in Southeast Asia conference in Indonesia, asserting that the Malacca Sultanate's legal systems, Hukum Kanun Melaka (HKM) and Hukum Kanun Pahang (HKP), had established a sophisticated institutional framework centuries before the European model.

These manuscripts, previously thought to be mere codes of law, revealed a deeper understanding of matters such as the definition of sovereignty, political power, government roles, and justice administration. The texts encompassed aspects like the Sultan's position, the roles of ministers, judges, and chiefs, justice administration, maritime and trade powers, and the relationship between Islam, law, and customs.

These elements coalesced to form a constitutional system of governance. Tunku Azizah noted that this development led her to reconsider the historical transition from a monarchical absolute system to a constitutional monarchy in Malacca. She challenged the notion that Malay monarchs had ever operated in an absolute, law-free manner, suggesting instead that power was always governed by a normative structure, limited by Islam, law, custom, justice, roles, and responsibilities.