Action on the online Syariah offences
Published on: Saturday, April 27, 2024
By: Hayati Dzulkifli
Arifin tabling the Syariah Criminal Procedure Enactment (Amendment) Bill 2024 at the State Assembly on Thursday.
Kota Kinabalu: Islamic department enforcement officers in Sabah would be able to investigate and charge any Muslims committing cyber crimes on social media following the amendments to the Syariah Criminal Procedure Enactment 2004 by the State Legislative Assembly.
Speaker Datuk Seri Kazim M Yahya announced the passing of the Bill after majority of the August House members agreed to the amended enactment which is now cited as the Syariah Criminal Law (Amendment) Enactment 2024.
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State Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Dr Mohd Arifin Mohd Arif, who is also the State Exco of Islamic Affairs, tabled the Bill.
He said the Bill was enacted to give clearer authority to the enforcement authorities of Islamic bodies to probe and gather evidence for Syariah offences committed on social media.
He said it is also intended to facilitate Syariah prosecutors to take action because provisions relating to charges published electronically through social media are not provided for under the Syariah Criminal Procedure Enactment 2004.
“Undoubtedly, the widespread use of social media has provided many benefits to users.
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“However, at the same time, it can have a bad effect and be misused for purposes that are against Islam and the occurrence of violations in the Syariah criminal offence itself.
“Among the acts that can be linked to Syariah criminal offences under the State Shariah Criminal Offences Enactment Year 1995 are false doctrine (heresay), playing with verses from the Qur’an or hadith, insulting Islam and insulting religious authorities,” he said.
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Prior to the passing of this Bill, Dr Mohd Arifin said there is no provision that authorises enforcement officers of Islamic authorities to access computerised data.
Hence, he said such situation makes it difficult for them to complete the investigation as well as to take further action against the perpetrators of the crime that cannot be made.
In addition, he said it also gives difficulty and inconvenience to the prosecution because the charge needs to state the exact location even though it has been published electronically through social media.
In order to ensure that there are no loopholes in the law in the cyber environment, especially in dealing with investigations and prosecutions involving electronic publications, Dr Mohd Arifin said the Bill will further enhance implementation of the law.
He said the Bill will not involve the State Government extra financial expenditures and the enactment comes into operation on the date of its publication in the Gazette.
He said the Bill involves amendments to two Clauses only namely:- Clause 1 seeks to introduce new provision of Section 63A into the Syariah Criminal Procedure Enactment 2004 [No.9 of 2004] (hereinafter referred to as the “Main/Mother Enactment”) that provides power to the enforcement officers of Islamic authorities to access computerised data whether stored in a computer or otherwise and to allow the enforcement officers to conduct investigations on information received that involves the conduct of offences made electronically; and Clause 2 aims to amend Section 79 of the Enactment by numbering Section 79 as subsection (1) and after that subsection (2) that “when the accused is alleged of committing an offence related to publication by electronic means and the place of publication is where the publication is seen, heard or read by any person”.
He said he supported the Bill so that the investigation and prosecution of Syariah crimes committed through the internet and social media can be addressed more orderly.
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