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THE Mufti Bill 2024 being tabled in Parliament now has no impact on Sarawak at all, said a Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) state minister.
Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Karim Hamzah, who is State Minister for Tourism, Culture and Arts and also State Minister for Youth and Sports, today said Sarawakians should not be worried about the Bill.
"That Bill only involves the Federal Territories even if passed by Parliament. Islamic laws in Sarawak are under the jurisdiction of the state.
"That Bill has no impact on us. There are NGOs (non-governmental bodies) in Sarawak and Sabah that recently voiced their comments in public against the Bill.
"No need to be so alarmed … why be so worried," he told reporters in Kuching today.
Karim is also a vice-president of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu which is the backbone party of GPS.
Government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil had said that the proposed new law on the powers of the mufti in the federal territories contains provisions that are almost the same as a 20-year-old Sabah law.
He said he had been informed of this by religious affairs minister Na’im Mokhtar that almost all the articles and clauses contained in the Mufti (Federal Territories) Bill are nearly identical to the Sabah Fatwa Enactment passed in 2004 on powers of the Sabah Mufti.
Yesterday, 14 groups based in Sarawak and Sabah claimed that the bill would turn Malaysia into an Islamic state overnight. They alleged that the bill violated the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and represented a direct attack on the secular system in the country. - October 14, 2024