Court Dismisses Bid By Islamic Healer To Declare Tcm Act Unconstitutional

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The Act makes it compulsory for every ‘pawang’, ‘dukun’ and Islamic healer to register with the ministry. (Facebook pic)PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court today dismissed a leave application by an Islamic healer who was seeking a declaration that the Traditional and Complementary Medicine (T&CM) Act was unconstitutional.
Ramli Ghani said that under the Act, which came into force on Aug 1, 2016, Islamic healing practitioners have to register with the health ministry and did not come under the State List.
However, Judge Zawawi Salleh, who sat as a single judge to hear the application, dismissed his bid.
“After having gone through the relevant provisions in the Federal Constitution, I find that Parliament is competent to legislate the law.
“Section 25 of the law only provided for the registration of medical practitioners and that included traditional Malay and Muslim healers,” he said.
Zawawi said, therefore, the law did not infringe on “hukum syarak” and Malay customs.
“This court holds that the application to challenge the constitutionality of the legislation did not fulfill the requirements under Article 4 of the constitution,” he said.
Zawawi did not order costs to the government, represented by Shamsul Bolhassan and Masriwani Mahmud.
Ramli, who was represented by Shahrudin Ali, filed the application last November and named the health ministry and the government as respondents.
He said the federal legislature had no power to pass the Act because Schedule 9, State List, Item No. 1 of the constitution provides that only the states have the power and jurisdiction in matters of Islam and the Malay customs.
He added that Islamic healing strikes at the core of Islamic faith, the five pillars of Islam, “aqidah”, and the recitation of Quran.
According to Ramli, the Act made it compulsory for every “pawang”, “dukun” and Islamic healer to register with the ministry and it is the health minister who makes the rules and regulations.
He said one had to comply with the ministry’s “Islamic requirements” instead of those by states and their Islamic religious councils.
The Act also covers matters of traditional Chinese and Indian medicine. - FMT

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