KUALA LUMPUR: The proposed amendment towards the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Bill 355) is still in the engagement process with stakeholders, heard by the Dewan Rakyat, today.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Na'im Mokhtar said the proposed amendment would also take into consideration the amendment of the Syariah Court (Federal Territories) Act.
"The amendment process is still ongoing and in engagement with relevant stakeholders, such as the state Islamic religious council as well as the palaces of various states.
"At the same time, we will also take into consideration the process of amending the Syariah Courts (Federal Territories) Act into the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965," he said during the minister's question time in the Dewan Rakyat, today.
Na'im said this in response to a supplementary question from Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman (PN-Sik) on the progress of the long-delayed amendments to Bill 355.
In March this year, the government announced its plan to continue the long-delayed amendment left by the previous administration.
Nai'm reportedly said the proposed amendment aimed to empower the Syariah courts would also be tabled in due time and be done concurrently with the tabling of a new act relating to shariah laws.
The amendment to Bill 355 was tabled by Pas president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, who is also the Marang MP as a Private Member's Bill in 2016.
The tabling was aimed to strengthen the Syariah Courts and increase existing punishments stipulated in the current legislation and will not involve non-Muslims.
Hadi had previously proposed the maximum sentencing of syariah criminal offences to be increased to 30 years in prison, RM100,000 fine and 100 strokes of the whip from the current three years in prison, RM5,000 fine and six strokes of the whip.
