Hadi’s rejection of civil law paves way to theocracy, says G25

The G25 group of prominent retired civil servants has warned that a proposal by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang to remove “colonial-era laws” — which he said hinder shariah law implementation — would pave the way for establishing a theocracy in Malaysia.

G25 said Hadi’s proposal would place one interpretation of Islamic law above the Federal Constitution, and “place a small group of clerics above the rulers, above Parliament and above the courts”.

“That is a theocracy, and the founders of this country, Malay and Muslim as they were, rejected it,” said the group in a statement.

G25 rejected Hadi’s call for the Civil Law Act 1956 to be abolished so that the country would no longer be “fully bound” by English common law, and for a constitutional amendment stating that any law that conflicted with Islamic teachings would be rejected.

G25 said the Civil Law Act was carried into independence by Malaysia’s founding fathers, who chose a working legal system. “To call these laws colonial is an attempt to play politics with the foundation of this country,” the group said.

G25 said the Federal Constitution is a covenant that Malaysians of every faith have honoured for nearly 70 years. Honouring covenants is itself an Islamic obligation, the group said, pointing out that the constitution already gives Islam its place as the federation’s official religion, makes the rulers heads of the religion in their states and also protects Muslims.

On Sept 9, Hadi called for the abolition of all colonial-era laws, especially those that prevent Islam from taking precedence over “man-made laws that are not permitted by Allah because of their many shortcomings that spread sinfulness”.

G25 said Muslims believe that God’s law is perfect. However, what human authorities apply is “fiqh”, the interpretation of learned men, which differs between schools of thought and, in Malaysia, between 14 enactments across the 13 states and the federal territories.

Protecting civil law

Hadi had taken aim at the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 which he said prevented the imposition of heavier shariah criminal punishments.

G25 rejected Hadi’s claim that the laws were colonial. It said Parliament had enacted the Shariah Courts Act in 1965, while the Civil Law Act, was carried into independence by Malaysia’s founding fathers.

“It applies the common law only where Malaysian written law is silent and only so far as local circumstances permit, and Parliament can displace it by ordinary legislation at any time, as it has done previously,” added the group.

G25 also warns that repealing this Act would remove the basis on which the courts apply the common law and the rules of equity that underpin tort, trusts, commercial dealings and every area where Parliament has not legislated in full.

“The legal uncertainty and cost to investor confidence would be unprecedented. Malaysia’s Islamic finance industry, among the largest in the world, is built on federal statutes and enforced in the civil courts, and undermining that framework would harm the very Muslim institutions the PAS president says he wishes to strengthen,” G25 said.

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