Cite Hadi for contempt for attacking judiciary, lawyer tells AG

February 22, 2024

Cite Hadi for contempt for attacking judiciary, lawyer tells AG

PETALING JAYA: A senior lawyer has called on the Attorney-General (AG) to initiate contempt proceedings against Abdul Hadi Awang for attacking the judiciary, saying the Marang MP has breached his oath of office as a member of the Dewan Rakyat.

Constitutional expert Bastian Pius Vendargon said Hadi’s description of certain judges, whom he did not name, as “unwise” and “influenced” by Malaysia’s former colonisers was uncalled for.

“It is contempt of court, and the AG should act against him for violating his oath of office as a Dewan Rakyat member,” the lawyer told FMT.

In an apparent comparison, Hadi claimed that judges who previously occupied the bench of the country’s top court, such as the late former lord president Salleh Abas, would not have entertained efforts to sideline Islamic law.

“There are judges who are ‘unwise’, whose minds and intellect are influenced by the legacy of colonisers,” Hadi, who is the PAS president and Perikatan Nasional deputy chairman, said in a Facebook post last week.

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He insisted that Muslims must oppose efforts to mislead them from the “true Islam.”

“This is because the sin of insulting Islam is greater than the sin of insulting the courts,” he said without elaboration.

Hadi’s statement came in the wake of a decision handed down by the Federal Court on Feb 9 striking down 16 provisions in the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019 for violating the Federal Constitution.

Vendargon noted that Hadi, who has been an MP since 1986, has repeatedly taken a parliamentarian’s oath to “preserve, protect and defend” the Federal Constitution, the supreme law of the land.

He pointed out that judges of the superior courts also take a similar oath upon their appointment and promotion within the judicial hierarchy.

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Vendargon argued that Hadi blatantly disregarded the fact that the constitution empowers the apex court to decide on the constitutionality of federal and state laws.

“Here, the majority bench decided that the state legislature is incompetent to enact laws which fall within the jurisdiction of Parliament,” he said, adding that this in itself shows that Hadi has failed to uphold the spirit of an MP’s oath of office.

Meanwhile, lawyer Salim Bashir stated that the constitution had clearly demarcated the functions of the executive, legislature and judiciary.

He said that in interpreting the law, which includes the Federal Constitution, the judiciary is entrusted with keeping each organ and institution of the state within its legal boundaries.

Salim, a former Malaysian Bar president, also said it was unfair for Hadi to launch an attack on the judiciary or selected judges as they were defenceless to reply.

“Members of the bench can only speak through their judgments and cannot make statements, unlike politicians,” he said.

Salim called on ordinary citizens, the legal fraternity and the Attorney-General’s Chambers to “come out to protect the sanctity of the judiciary”.