IT is Christmas today and the new year is around the corner.

THE Faculty of Law at Universiti Malaya and prominent law firm Chooi & Company relaunched their Constitution and Rule of Law Series last Thursday at the Auditorium Tun Mohamed Suf­fian.

States do not have authority to empower syariah courts with powers the states themselves do not possess.

IN all of the 25 or so federal systems in the world, occasional conflicts of interest between the ­federal and regional governments are unavoidable. Malaysia is no exception.

MALAYSIA’S system of an elected, rotational monarchy at the fede­ral level is unique and one of a kind in the world.

THOUGH 66 years old, our nation has not yet developed a shared constitutional culture. The Constitution has not yet become the chart and compass and the sail and anchor of our nation’s legal endeavours.

ON Saturday, The Star reported that the Higher Education Ministry has drawn up guidelines for entertainment activities including concerts at higher educational institutions. However, due to some backlash, the ministry is graciously reviewing these guidelines (“Relook at concerts in universities”; online at bit.ly/star_relook).

Parliament is not powerless to deal with outsiders, MPs or ministers who obstruct it in its role as the grand inquest of the nation.

STATE electoral results have no bearing on the formation or continuation of the Federal Government.

MINISTER for Law and Institutional Reform Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said has proposed a new “State and Nation Act” to control provocations against race, religion and royalty (the 3Rs).

THE allegation is spreading that it is against the grain of the Constitution to describe Malaysia as a multiethnic, multireligious and multilinguistic nation. Proponents of this view rely on the fact that nowhere in the text of our document of destiny is there any explicit usage of words like multiracial or multicultural Malaysia.

Mercy is not the subject of legal rights. It begins where legal rights end.