KL trip - Part III -- Forum on Constitution Law at Crystal Crown Hotel

I stayed for one more day to attend the Constitution Law Forum jointly organised by a coalition of NGOs called "Article 11" and Bar Council.

The event was reported in The Sun, The Star and Malaysiakini.

Here is what I picked up. I would not repeat what has been carried in the above news reports.

During the Q & A session, one man asked the panelist what can we do now.
To me, the remedy is in the court and the ballot box.

1. Prof Shad Faruqi
-- Majority of Muslim in Malaysia are from Mazhab Shafie. This mazhab has placed the Hadith on a higher position than other mazhab. Prof Shad is a Hanafi.
-- He is open to multi-cultural. He sent his daughter to Kuen Chen Chinese Primary School. Now, his grand-daughter studies in Kuen Chen too.
-- He said Malaysia is neither a secular state nor Islamic State. It is kind of in the middle, a hybrid state to be exact. Cyrus Das disagreed on this point.

2. Cyrus Das
-- He promoted the idea of "culture of constitutionalism". The Federal Constitution has to be embraced to be part of our daily life.
-- He argued that Malaysia is a secular state. He found the support from the 1957 Constitution document and the case of Che Omar bin Che Soh.
--He also supported the view on the setup of the Constitutional Court. This is to enable the public to have direct access to the apex court instead of going through the three-tier court.

3. Ivy Josiah
-- She gave the case summaries of Lina Joy, Morthy, Kamariah Ali (wife of Ayah Pin), Sharmala etc.

4. Zaid Ibrahim
-- He said he is yet to be a cabinet minister, thus he wouldn't be able to comment on the decision of the cabinet. He also mentioned that some of his colleagues (read as UMNO MPs) believe that they are more equal than others.

5. Malik Imtiaz
-- He discussed about the fatwa issued by the Fatwa Council. He reiterated the view that one ijtihad does not bind another ijtihad.
-- He also told the audience that the AGs Chambers submission in a court case that the authoritative text of the Federal Constitution is now in the National Language. To him, this is tantamount to the rewriting of the Federal Constitution.