Nurul Izzah: Is the Arab Spring 'haram' as well?

PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar today questioned whether the National Fatwa Council's fatwa banning any demonstration that causes disturbance in the country also means that the Arab Spring taking place in several Middle East nations is haram as well.

"Fatwa council chairperson Abdul Shukor Husin said any action that would create disturbance and destroy public property is against Islam and any intention to topple the government outside the law through demonstrations is haram in Islam.

"Therefore, what about the actions of Muslims in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and now Syria against their legal government. Are these also haram?" Nurul Izzah asked in a press statement yesterday.

She said the Bersih 3.0 protest for clean and fair elections was a just cause, but the court order barring them from protesting at Dataran Merdeka had denied the people's democratic right and inevitably led to confrontation.

Nurul Izzah also referred to a question she raised in Parliament in March this year, on whether the National Fatwa Council would issue a fatwa on electoral cheating.

"Unfortunately, the response given by the prime minister's representative in the Prime Minister's Department was that the council does not need to make a fatwa on the matter as all forms of cheating are banned in Islam," she said.

She pointed out that the council had not commented on several issues in the electoral system and had ignored several forms of "cheating" in the electoral system, including banning the court from reviewing the validity of the electoral list and gerrymandering.