Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz slammed the Malaysian Muslim Lawyers Association (PPMM) for being ignorant when they disputed the Sultan of Pahang’s decree to commute Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno’s sentence.
He said the Sultan has the right to commute Syariah punishment as he is the head of Islam in the state.
“What do you do to people who are ignorant?
What do you do? I don’t know. Have they checked what law the Sultan has contravened?” he told reporters in Parliament.
PPMM had said that the rights and powers of the ruler as the head of the religion in the state were contingent on him defending Islamic law and the Syariah courts.
Its secretary-general Abdul Halim Bahari said that the Sultan’s decision also did not reflect Kartika’s wish to be caned.
However, Nazri added that the Sultan has the right to commute any Syariah sentence because of public interest.
“The Sultan is the highest religious authority and he can commute every punishment based on public interest and I think he did the right thing,” he said.
The part-time model was sentenced to six strokes of the rotan and fined RM5,000 for drinking beer at a hotel in Cherating on July 11, 2008.
However, the caning sentence that was delayed from last August was commuted last week by the Sultan of Pahang.
The state ruler had instead ordered her to perform community service at a children’s home in Kuantan for three weeks.
courtesy of Malaysian Insider
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