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Strong Momentum Against PAS Criminal law in Malaysia
By
Kazi Mahmood, IOL
South Asia
Correspondent
KUALA LUMPUR
, June 21 (IslamOnline) - Despite its being a majority Muslim country
and an Islamic state according to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad, a large section of the population in
Malaysia
are against the imposition of the Hudud or Islamic criminal law in the
country.
Several
businessmen and a handful of supporters of the Party Islam Se-Malaysia
(PAS) – the strongest opposition party in the Southeast Asian
country – voiced their sentiments against the implementation of the
Hudud in Terengganu, a northern state in
Malaysia
controlled by PAS.
Many
of them support the statement by Mahathir that even though Malaysia is
a fundamentalist Islamic state, it does not mean it has to change the
Constitution to make it more Islamic or adopt PAS-inspired criminal
laws.
Mahathir
Mohamad made the statement Thursday afternoon, June 20, during the
annual assembly of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO),
PAS’s main rival Muslim party.
An
unidentified businessman, who is also a PAS supporter, privately told
IslamOnline that the country was not yet ready for the Hudud laws.
He
insisted that PAS was wrong in its persistence to implement its harsh
penalties on Muslims, arguing that Malay Muslims were not prepared for
such laws.
“A
large section of the population of Muslims does not know the basics of
Islam. That is a fact that can be verified anytime. PAS should gear
itself in securing the practice of Islam by more Muslims than by
jumping forward with the Hudud,” the trader who is involved in
import and export business said.
Mohammad
Mohsin, an herbalist from
Kuala Lumpur
, told IslamOnline that PAS should have consulted Islamic history
books before imposing the Hudud.
History
showed, he said, that the Hudud were practiced in societies that were
fully “imbued with Islam, not modern societies like the one in
Malaysia
where half the population of women are covered with [head] scarves and
the rest are not.”
Mohsin,
who also supports PAS, said Terengganu may be an experimental place
for PAS to start the Hudud, but “PAS will lose political strength by
so doing,” he added.
Meanwhile,
Mahathir outlined his own view that
Malaysia
was a progressive Islamic country. He also urged voters to turn away
from 'unjust' laws proposed, he said, by PAS in the name of the
religion, the Straits Times of
Singapore
reported Friday.
Responding
to a challenge by PAS that the National Front (NF) coalition in power
in
Malaysia
specify the aspects of the proposed law it considers cruel, the
Malaysian Premier said if any law formulated by human beings, however
learned or pious they might be, results in injustice for the people,
then such laws are anti-Islamic.
PAS
wants to introduce Hudud laws in July in Terengganu, the east-coast
state that it controls with neighbor state Kelantan.
The
draft Bill, particularly Section 9, has been the subject of protest by
women's groups on the grounds of its being cruel so far as women who
might have to claim rape are concerned.
If
the victim of an alleged rape fails to produce 'four just witnesses',
she stands to be punished.
The
PAS-controlled state assembly in Kelantan had approved similar laws in
1993, but they could come into force without approval from the federal
government.
However,
in Terengganu itself, the population seems to be in full support of
PAS, sources told IslamOnline Friday.
PAS
wrestled the state from the UMNO after 25 years, defeating the party
of Mahathir Mohamad by a landslide that took the country by surprise.
Terengganu is a majority Muslim state.
Malaysia
is bordered by
Thailand
up North and by
Singapore
in the South. Its neighbor,
Indonesia
, is the largest Muslim nation on earth.
Malaysia
is considered the most advanced Muslim state in the world. It boasts
the highest building on earth, the Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC)
towers.
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