Make syariah Malaysia’s only law, urges ISMA

(MM) - Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA) suggested today for syariah to be the law of the land replacing the country’s existing dual-track legal system.

This comes as ISMA lamented the lack of political will to champion a concept it called “ketuanan syarak” (syariah supremacy), which places Islam above all other considerations.

“Actually, there is no need for civil laws, there should be Islamic laws ... History has shown that our country has practised Islamic laws even since the times of the Malacca empire,” ISMA deputy president Aminuddin Yahya said here.

Aminuddin claimed that it was only during the British rule that Islamic laws were pushed aside to be replaced by secular laws instead.

He cited the landmark High Court case of M. Indira Gandhi in July ruling it unconstitutional to convert a child to Islam without the mother’s consent, as proof of civil law’s weakness.

Aminuddin was speaking to a crowd of about 50 attendees at a seminar held by ISMA titled “Ancaman Liberalisme” (The Threat of Liberalism) here, which criticises an alleged “human rights agenda” by the Coalition of Malaysian NGOs (COMANGO).

COMANGO had recently issued its list of recommendations ahead of the October 24 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by United Nations’ (UN) Human Rights Council.

One of the resolutions adopted by the seminar today included a rejection of a “West-interpreted democracy”, to be replaced with “syariah supremacy”, in order to solve “political liberalism”.

“Fairness in Islam does not mean equality. If we say everybody is equal, that is communism. Fairness means Islam must be number one,” Aminuddin said later, explaining the “syariah supremacy” concept.

He also stressed the need for Malay-Muslim lawmakers to adopt and champion the concept, gifting the Muslim community political power which can influence federal policies and amend the Constitution.

As a result of political liberalism, the Malay Muslim community has been “overly tolerant” and “submissive” to the point of jeopardising Islamic fundamentals, by giving in to the whims and fancies of non-Muslims, he said.

Malaysia is expected to face a beating for its human rights record when the government faces its second UPR this October 24.

The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM) had said in its weekly sermon yesterday that there is a global liberal conspiracy to challenged the position of Islam in Malaysia and local rights groups were acting as its agents, pointing particularly towards COMANGO.

COMANGO is made of NGOs such as Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), Sisters in Islam (SIS), the Pusat Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower), Christian Federation Malaysia, Amnesty International Malaysia, KLSCAH Civil Rights Committee, Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) and others.

Malaysia was first came under the UPR review on February 11, 2009, and consequently accepted 62 of the 103 recommendations issued by the UPR working group.

The UPR, according to media reports, is a United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council mechanism that was established in 2007 to improve the treatment of human rights in all 193 UN member states.