Law and morality in Malaysia: selected issues

This paper is about the co-existence of law and morality in the Malaysian legal provisions especially in civil laws. Though morality is a fundamental element in Islamic law, morality does exist in most of the civil laws in Malaysia. The paper is divided into two parts. Part one discusses the concept of morality in the Malaysian legal framework, especially in the Federal Constitution of Malaysia. The position of Morality in Islam as enunciated in the Qur’an and traditions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) are highlighted to show that morality is the pillar of any Islamic laws in Malaysia or perhaps, in any parts of the world. The second part discusses some selected cases or laws in civil and Islamic laws in Malaysia where morality exist in those laws and to identify what kind of morality that needs to be protected. It is important to emphasize that the future of law, the future of Asia including Malaysia depends on how morality has been incorporated in the codified laws passed by the legislative bodies in Muslim countries. This is a qualitative research based upon data collected from primary sources such as al Quran and al Sunnah for the first part of the paper. Whereas the second part is based on laws in Malaysia, reference are made to some existing laws in Malaysia.