Punca Kuasa dan Bidang Kuasa Pegawai Penguatkuasa Agama Islam Berkaitan Enakmen Kawalan Pengembangan Agama Bukan Islam Kepada Orang Islam di Malaysia

According to the provision under Article 11(1) of Federal Constitution, those who professing non-Islamic Religion can practice their belief freely, subject to the restriction that they cannot propagate their belief to Muslims. Meanwhile, Article 11(4) of Federal Constitution gave the authorization to the state in Malaysia to control or restrict the propagation of any religious doctrine or belief among Muslims. In relation to both provisions stated above, triggered an enactment on Controlling and Restricting the Propagation of Non-Islamic Religion to Muslims, which has been legislated since 1980 by the state of Terengganu, and then followed by other states in Malaysia. To date, after 37 years of legislation and introduction of the enactment, all states in Malaysia have gazetted this except Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Pulau Pinang, Sarawak, and Sabah. However, there were only seven out of ten states has gazetted the authority to their Islamic Enforcement Officers to execute the law. The purpose of this article is to give justification about the source of power and jurisdiction of the Islamic Enforcement Officer related to the said Enactment. From 2014 to 2017, twelve (12) Islamic Enforcement Officers has been interviewed structurally and non-structurally in order to obtain related information pertaining to this issue. This study revealed that the respondents (Islamic Enforcement Officers) were not aware about the existence of the said Enactment in their states as well as about the power and jurisdiction that are already in their possession, including when facing any cases in court against the non-Muslim accused. Therefore, the importance of this research is to empower the institution of justice in Malaysia in handling the issues of propagation of the non-Islamic Religion towards Muslims, in corresponding to limit the rights of propagating religion, as provided under the Federal Constitution.