The proposed amendments for Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, or Act 355, only focus on increasing the sentences without specifying the offences, pointed out prominent lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan.

"The offences are not named in this amendment. In other words, the offence is defined by the punishment, not the other way around.

"We have to now scour all the state legislation and see what could possibly fall in the scope of that punishment, and then we can derive by that what is covered," she said, in a debate on the Act 355 amendments in Petaling Jaya last night, which was attended by more than 100 people...