Yesterday, the High Court dismissed an application by the Speaker and Secretary of the Dewan Rakyat to strike out an ex-MP’s suit against them for wrongfully tabling a Bill, better known as RUU355, by PAS chief, Abdul Hadi Awang, seeking to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965.

Tawfik Ismail, who filed the suit in March last year, contended that the tabling of RUU355 was unconstitutional as the Conference of Rulers, as the Heads of Islam, had not been consulted earlier, in breach of Articles 38(2) and 38(4) of the Federal Constitution. He also contended that RUU355 itself is in violation of Art 8 of the Constitution and creates inequality before the law among Malaysians for purported Syariah criminal offences.

In August last year, the Speaker applied to strike out the suit, citing that proceedings in the Dewan Rakyat are not justiciable in the courts due to privilege conferred on the Speaker and Parliament on grounds of the supremacy of Parliament.

On 11 January 2018, Rosli Dahlan as counsel for Tawfik had argued that the court has jurisdiction to hear the challenge where the Constitution is involved and that the Speaker had misled the court by relying extensively on English cases on Parliamentary supremacy and privilege. He argued that the doctrine of Parliamentary supremacy does not apply here as it does in the UK.