A small change of terminology in the Federal Constitution in 1976 allowed the government to claim religious legitimacy and confused the public, according to the human rights lawyer Aston Paiva.

The change involved swapping terms such as ‘Muslim law’ and ‘Muslim courts’ that has been in constitution since Independence, to terms such as ‘Islamic law’ and ‘syariah courts’, Aston said.

While the changes seemed superficial, Aston argued at a forum in Kuala Lumpur last night, the present terminologies have has different connotations to Muslims.