KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 — Tengku Yasmin Nastasha Tengku Abdul Rahman said that her mother Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid began getting death threats and getting labelled as ‘takfir’ (blasphemous) after lawyers from a certain political party that she did not name, made the constitutional challenge viral on social media.
Tengku Yasmin divulged that although the Federal Court ruled in their favour by nullifying 16 out of the 18 provisions that she and her mother challenged, she has had trouble sleeping and eating.
“Going back six months ago when the case was first (made known) by lawyers affiliated with a certain political party, Mum and I have been constant recipients of death threats and takfirs from that crowd.
“For the last four days, I have not had enough sleep and can barely eat,” she said in her X post yesterday.
She said the countless attacks directed at them aimed at tarnishing their image and public perception of the truth behind the spirit of the legal challenge.
“Her (Nik Elin) past writings were egregiously manipulated, taken out of context to portray her as a ‘liberal.’ This deliberate mischaracterization, orchestrated to serve vested interests, exemplifies the depths to which our adversaries stooped to undermine our endeavour.
“The vitriolic campaign waged against us by adversaries manifested in baseless allegations, portraying us as threats to the sanctity of Islam in our nation,” she said.
Tengku Yasmin spelled out again that the petition only revolved around jurisdictional issues between the state legislative assembly and the federal government and had nothing to do with the position of Islam.
She also said that the case has nothing to do with the authority of the Malay Rulers despite attempts by certain parties to find a link.
On February 10, Nik Elin disclosed that she lodged three police reports over the countless death threats she had received for merely challenging the validity of laws enacted by Kelantan’s state government.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Allaudeen Abdul Majid said in a statement yesterday said that police are investigating the three cases under Section 507 of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act for offences related to using network facilities.
Police had also sought the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s help to identify the social media account owners involved in this case.
Nik Elin and Tengku Yasmin challenged the constitutionality and validity of 18 provisions under the Kelantan Shariah Criminal Code (l) Enactment 2019 claiming that the Kelantan State Legislature does not have the power to enact laws on these offences because there are federal laws covering the same.
The Federal Court decided in their favour on Friday and declared that 16 out of 18 provisions of Kelantan’s Shariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019 were invalid, as the Kelantan state legislative assembly had overstepped its powers or had no powers to make such laws.
Following the win, Nik Elin said the Federal Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of several provisions under the Kelantan Shariah criminal enactment is a testament to the Federal Constitution as the nation’s supreme law.
Acknowledging the court’s ruling, Nik Elin said her challenge had nothing to do with Islamic doctrines, but rather the competency of state legislative assemblies as determined by the Federal Court.
