JUDGMENT

Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat CJ (Majority):

Preliminaries

[1] This judgment is delivered by the remaining judges on this panel pursuant to s 78 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964, as our learned brother, Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil FCJ, has since mandatorily retired from the Bench.

[2] My learned brother, Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim PCA and my learned sister Nallini Pathmanathan FCJ, have seen this judgment in draft and have agreed with it.

[3] In all civilised democracies with independent Judiciaries, judicial review applications are routine against the Executive branch of Government for decisions and omissions they make in the exercise or non-exercise of their discretion. In most cases, the subject matter of the exercise of discretion is not the main issue in the plaint; rather, it is the manner in which the decision was made and/or concerns a review of the legal basis upon which such power was exercised or not exercised.

[4] It will be appreciated that this appeal is no different. While it concerns a certain fatwa (religious edict), the case has nothing to do with the substantive beliefs held in the religion of Islam nor does it have anything to do with the administration of the substantive aspects of the religion of Islam.

[5] The 3rd respondent is the Government of the State of Selangor and a member of the Executive branch. The 1st and 2nd respondents are organs of the 3rd respondent and are also members of the Executive branch.

[6] They, like all other Executive organs, are conferred powers by the Federal Constitution ('FC') and laws passed by the State Legislative Assembly ('SLA') of Selangor. Their exercise or lack of exercise of those powers is therefore subject to judicial review. The fact that they deal with matters pertaining to Islamic faith, dogma, and doctrine — is beside the point, and these matters are, in any event, not within our purview.