Reading the Star today, I was overcome with the frightening knowledge that Talibanist Malaysia is now a reality. God help us all. Seriously, we have now unceremoniously entered the era of Talibanism and how we will reverse ourselves and usher in an era of enlightened Islam is beyond me. Things have got from bad to worse and this latest news is a sign of things to come.
Let us consider this event. 3 Muslim women have now been caned for having illicit sex. 2 of them were caned 6 times and the third was whipped 4 times. Further details of the case wasn’t given. We don’t even know who these women were and we weren’t told if there were any witnesses to their offences. What we do know is that these women were not injured in their punishment. That’s one plus at least.
The question arises as to how these punishments were decided. We were told that the punishments were decided by the Federal Territory Syariah High Court. No transparency is given, no opportunity for discussion. Nothing of the sort. Have these punishments even been gazetted to the public? Nothing was said in the news. No, this is how Malaysian Syariah law is carried out. Behind closed doors far from any kind of scrutiny.
Is this punishment Islamic at all? I would argue that it isn’t. Some may suggest that this punishment is from the Quranic punishment against fornicators and adulterors (found in chaper 24, verse 2) but I disagree for the following reasons:
1. The condition of this punishment is when there exists ‘deenillah’ (24/2) or when God’s system is in establishment. This condition exists when people enter willingly into God’s system in droves (110/1-2). Therefore the people must unanimously agree that this punishment is to be established. The Quran doesn’t force punishments on people who haven’t agreed to it beforehand
2. The punishment is 100 lashes, not 6 or 4. So we need to ask why the court sees it fit to reject God’s prescription and decide their own. No jailing at all is mentioned. So who gave the authority to the Syariah court to override Quranic law?
3. This punishment can also only happen when there are 4 witnesses (24/4) . Were there 4 witnesses? We are not told this at all. In fact, if there aren’t 4 witnesses then the Quran stipulates that the accusing party must be whipped and their evidence rejected thereafter (also 24/4). These 4 witnesses have to catch them in the act. The ‘tangkap khalwat’ method cannot work because the specific word used is ‘zina’ (actual intercourse) and not ‘khalwa’ (being together in an enclosed space) or even iqtirab az-zina (coming close to zina or foreplay).
4. This punishment required witnesses from among the believers. This requirement is because the punishment isn’t to physically hurt the guilty but to showcase people who cannot be trusted to keep sexual relations private (i.e. they behave lewdly in public) or are constantly of infidelity. The punishment carried on these women were behind closed doors so it totally defeats the purpose of the act.
This act by the government had nothing to do with Islam. I suspect it is an act to show how ‘Islam’ the UMNO folk are. True to form, they have chosen the most superficial and unislamic way to show their Islam to the world.
What can we the rakyat do about this heinous act? We can think of a political alternative to the BN. What’s more dangerous than a fundamentalist Islamic government is a racist governmen that wants to out-Islam the fundamentalist Islamic party to win votes. That’s when even the little rationale of fundamentalist Islam goes out the window. The ‘Allah’ issue is an example of this rampant fanaticism.
More imporantly, we need to look beyond the Pakatan Rakyat for our new government. PKR has now shown that its candidates cannot be trusted. UMNO culture has reared its ugly head in the PKR despite the good intentions of people like Nik Nazmi, Zaid Ibrahim and Nat Tan. The DAP to me lost their credibility since they stayed in the Pakatan despite PAS’s syariah ambitions.
And what about PAS? Now is the time to ask them: do they agree with this punishment on these three women? Lets see if they can tell the truth or continue to sublimate their syariah ambitions. They have already been exposed once. Expose them again.
What Malaysia now needs is a grassroots democracy. Forget professional politicians, racists and religious fundamentalists. Malaysia can be what it was once again.
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