Malay legal codes predate European models, says Tunku Azizah

In a talk at the Manuscripts and the Diversity of Islam(s) in Southeast Asia conference in Indonesia, Tunku Azizah Aminah of Pahang argues that the Malay Sultanates had a structured system of constitutional governance centuries before European models. The Hukum Kanun Melaka (HKM) and Hukum Kanun Pahang (HKP) manuscripts, long viewed as mere legal codes, actually define sovereignty, political authority, roles of rulers and officials, and justice administration.

Tunku Azizah posits that Malay kingship may never have been "absolute" in the sense of being without legal limits, suggesting that sovereignty existed within a normative order bound by Islam, law, adat (custom), justice, offices and responsibilities. The HKM and HKP establish a consistent ordering of political authority grounded in Islamic political thought expressed in Malay through the Jawi script.

These manuscripts not only highlight the continuity of the Melaka constitutional tradition in Pahang but also demonstrate how the tradition was transmitted over centuries, with manuscripts found in Brunei, Riau, Sambas, and Perak. Tunku Azizah contends that these texts should be studied through a constitutional lens rather than merely as historical legal collections.