PUTRAJAYA, March 1 -- Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail clapped back at Sik MP Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman for claiming the country needed to allow states to enact stricter Shariah laws to prevent underage sexual abuse and rape as existing civil laws weren't enough to prevent them.

He said according to the statistics, Muslim-led states had the highest cases of underage rape with Kelantan leading the way.

"Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah... cases are going up whereas in Penang, it's going down when you compare 2022 and 2023 stats. He (Ahmad) brought this issue up in Parliament after watching the police CID chief's interview.

"Well, if he looked at the numbers, they don't lie... Kelantan has the highest number of cases and 98 ...