KUALA LUMPUR: Four bills scheduled for the second and third readings in the Dewan Rakyat today have been postponed to the next session.
The bills include the anticipated Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2024, which is a continuation of the second reading tabled by Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail in the last Dewan Rakyat sitting.
The other three bills are the Mufti (Federal Territories) Bill 2024, the Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) (Amendment) Bill 2024 and the Syariah Court Civil Procedure (Federal Territories) (Amendment) Bill 2024.
The motion to postpone the second and third readings of these bills was raised by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M. Kulasegaran.
"The second and third readings of the bills, as stated in items four to seven of the order and motions for today's meeting, will be postponed to the next Dewan Rakyat session," he said.
The Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2024 had its second reading in Dewan Rakyat in March this year without any debate.
However, several quarters have urged the ministry to further fine-tune the bill following "regressive" amendments to the citizenship laws.
On July 12, the Malaysian Citizenship Rights Alliance unveiled a 23-page document that outlined the alliance's proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution.
The counterproposal was also sent to every minister and member of parliament.
Meanwhile, Raja of Perlis Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Putra Jamalullail expressed his displeasure over the use of the Conference of Rulers' name to support the Mufti (Federal Territories) Bill.
The bill includes the Islamic Laws Administration (Federal Territories) (Amendment) Bill 2024 and the Shariah Court Procedure (Federal Territories) (Amendment) Bill 2024.
The bill also lists the establishment of the Federal Territories Fatwa Committee, Syariah Astronomy Committee, Hilal Sighting Committee and the Islamic Education Oversight Committee chaired by the mufti.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the Mufti bill, which is undergoing expert-level discussions, would be referred to the Conference of Rulers this week.