Islam Agama Bagi Persekutuan: Satu Kajian Sejarah Perundangan (Islam as The Religion of The Federation: A Study of Legal History)

Abstract

Makalah ini berusaha untuk menyangkal pandangan yang mendakwa Perkara 3 Perlembagaan Persekutuan 1957 hanya menarafkan pemakaian Islam pada upacara rasmi, bersifat simbolik dan Malaysia dikatakan sebuah negara sekular berdasarkan Laporan Suruhanjaya Reid dan keputusan Mahkamah dalam Che Omar Che Soh lawan Pendakwaraya. Kajian ini bersifat kualitatif menggunakan reka bentuk sejarah perundangan. Dapatan menunjukkan selama ini unsur-unsur watan masih diabaikan oleh ahli perundangan dan akademik apabila mentafsirkan kedudukan Islam dalam Perlembagaan Persekutuan sedangkan sudah ada sebuah perlembagaan bagi Tanah Melayu iaitu Hukum Kanun Melaka sebelum kedatangan British, Islam adalah undang-undang watan (law of the land) bagi semua Kerajaan Negeri Melayu yang membentuk Persekutuan Tanah Melayu 1957 dan aqidah Raja-raja Melayu adalah Islam; kesemua itu adalah ciri-ciri konsep kedaulatan watan seawal zaman  Kesultanan Melayu Melaka dan ianya  tidak pernah dicabar oleh pentadbiran British-Malaya.  Di samping itu, perjanjian-perjanjian antara Raja-raja Melayu dengan British merupakan satu pengiktirafan kedaulatan watan dan garis sempadan yang menentukan kesahan dasar-dasar yang diperkenalkan oleh British sepanjang tempoh campurtangan mereka di Tanah Melayu tertakluk pada Perlembagaan Tanah Melayu. Kesimpulannya, tafsiran sebenar Islam hendaklah berdasarkan al-Quran dan al-Sunnah kerana itu adalah selari dengan konsep kedaulatan warisan Kesultanan Melayu Melaka yang dijamin oleh Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Tafsiran yang betul tentang Islam dapat menguruskan pelbagai isu semasa yang menyentuh pemakaian prinsip perundangan dan penggubalan dasar negara kita.  

Kata kunci: Islam; sekular; warisan; undang-undang watan; pengamanahan kedaulatan

Abstract

This article seeks to rebut the opinion that claims article 3 of the Federal Constitution 1957 only recognises the adoption of Islam for official ceremony, as a matter of symbolic and Malaysia is said to be a secular State based on the Reid Commission report and the court decision in Che Omar Che Soh versus the Public Prosecutor. This qualitative study used the design of legal history. The findings show the indigenous elements have been continuosly ignored by the members of the legal and academic fraternities when interpreting Islamic position in the Federal Constitution, whereas there is already a constitution for Malaya that is Hukum Kanun Melaka before the arrival of the British, Islam is the law of the land for all the Malay Sultanates forming the Federation of Malaya in 1957 and the faith of the Malay Rulers; all those are the characteristics of the concept of indigenous sovereignty traced as early as the Malaccan Sultanate  and it has never been challenged by the British-Malaya administration.  In addition, the agreements made between the Malay Rulers with the British was a recognition for the indigenous sovereignty and a parameter ascertaining the validity of policies introduced by the British-Malaya throughtout their intervention in Malaya subject to the old Malayan Constitution. In conclusion, the accurate interpretation of Islam shall be based on the Quran and al-Sunnah because it is in line with the concept of the indigenous sovereignty inherited from the Malaccan Sultanate as guaranteed by the Federal Constitution. The correct interpretation of Islam can manage multi-current issues affecting the application of the legal principles and policy making in Malaysia.

Keywords: Islam; secular; legacy; law of the land; sovereign trust