Kelantan sedia pertahan undang-undang syariah baharu

Kelantan's Deputy Chief Minister, Fadzli Hassan, announced that the new Syariah Law (Kelantan) 2026 has undergone a highly meticulous enactment process, taking into account the Constitution and the reasons for judicial decisions in previous cases. Speaking at a Majlis Exco meeting in Kota Darulnaim, Kota Bharu, Fadzli said that anyone can challenge the law in court, but only the court can determine whether the challenge has a basis or not.

He added, "Anyone who wants to challenge, open it up. We are ready to defend in court, and our lawyers will be ready if such a case arises." The new law, he said, was made after the draft was reviewed by various parties including legal, religious and constitutional experts. "These experts have investigated and provided their views.

We followed the experts' views, including the changes to be made and the adjustments made." Only after the approval of the Technical Committee, the Parent Committee and the Religious and customary council of Kelantan, was the law brought to the Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) and approved. This month, the Dewan approved a replacement for 16 provisions that were canceled by the Federal Court in 2024 due to lack of governance and exceeding state law-making powers.

Recently, Nik Elin stated that she found at least 11 provisions in the law that could be challenged in court and urged the Kelantan government not to enforce the law in its entirety because it "sounds damaging". She reminded that the new law could ultimately become "political rhetoric" and be challenged in a case "Nik Elin 2.0" in court.