Is this ‘Hudud’?

Screaming about corruption is no bloody good. Screaming that we need to change the government is also no bloody good. What I want to hear is about the plan to whack hard on corruption. Only then would things change. Then and only then would we avoid putting old wine into a new bottle.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Read the three news items below. One news item is about what happened in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The other two news items are about what happened in the People’s Republic of China. Iranian law is based on the Sharia -- hudud is one branch of the Sharia -- while China uses a Soviet-influenced system of socialist law.

Nevertheless, whether you wish to call it ‘Islamic’ law or ‘Communist’ law, they are both the same. Corruption is ‘rewarded’ with the death sentence in both Iran and China. Hence there is really no difference between Islam and Communism, at least as far as the punishment for corruption is concerned.

Malaysia too faces a huge problem with corruption. And Malaysia practices ‘British’ laws. Thus Malaysia’s laws are neither Islamic nor Communist but ‘Colonial’. But those found guilty of corruption are not put to death in Malaysia. Some may even get promoted if they happen to be on the right side of the political fence.

In spite of the death sentence being imposed on those found guilty of corruption in Iran and China, there are still incidences of corruption. Hence the death sentence does not deter people from committing corrupt acts. I wonder what it would be like if there was no death sentence for corruption. Would corruption in Iran and China be worse than it is now?

Malaysians are currently engrossed in a debate regarding Hudud. Is that important enough a matter to debate? Does it matter whether the laws are called Sharia Laws, Socialist Laws or British Common Laws? What is more crucial would be the effectiveness in the implementation of these laws rather than the labels we want to attach to these laws.

Labels upset me. And Malaysians just love attaching labels to everything. We have Bumiputera, non-Bumiputera, Muslim, non-Muslim, perjuang, pendadatang, katak, perwira, and many more -- so many that I just can’t remember them all. We also love slogans. We have ‘Pandang ke Timur’, ‘Bersih, Cekap, Amanah’, ‘1Malaysia’, ‘Islam Hadhari’, and, again, many more that Malaysians can no longer even remember. 

Malaysia’s weakness is in its implementation of these laws. Malaysia practices selective prosecution. Malaysia also practices persecution disguised as prosecution. These are the matters that need addressing. So it would be time better spent if we debate this instead.

Let us get back to basics. Is the government serious about cleaning up the country? If so then we need major reforms. And the reason we sent 222 Malaysians to Parliament is so that they can become our lawmakers.

But are these 222 Members of Parliament doing what we are paying them to do? Or are they wasting our time by just playing politics 24-7 and 365 days a year? We complain, lament, grumble, bitch, moan and groan about how we need changes and reforms. We scream ABU or ‘anything but Umno’ because the government has failed us.

Okay, granted, the government has failed us. There is no denying that this is true. You do not have to tell me that the government has failed us. I know that the government has failed us. I can tell you myself that the government has failed us so I did not need you telling me.

What I want to know is what is going to happen once we vote in a new government? Does this new government have a plan? And does this plan include clamping down hard on corruption even to the extent of imposing the death sentence on those found guilty of corruption?

Screaming about corruption is no bloody good. Screaming that we need to change the government is also no bloody good. What I want to hear is about the plan to whack hard on corruption. Only then would things change. Then and only then would we avoid putting old wine into a new bottle.

Hudud ke. Islamic law ke. Communist law ke. British common law ke. Who the hell cares what it is called? Tell us how these laws are going to be implemented for the maximum results.

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Four sentenced to death for Iran’s biggest bank fraud

(Al Arabiya) - TEHRAN, Jul 31: An Iranian court has sentenced four people to death for their roles in a billion-dollar banking fraud scandal that forced bank executives out of their jobs and tainted the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, state media reported on Monday.

The sentences came at the end of a trial of 39 suspects that started in February. The magnitude of the scandal was estimated at $2.6 billion when it came to light in September last year.

“We are typing their sentences now and according to the sentence that was issued, four of the accused in this case were sentenced to death,” judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei told the IRNA state news agency.

Mohseni Ejeie said two other of the suspects were sentenced to life in prison and the remaining received terms behind bars of up to 25 years after also being found guilty of corruption.

The identities of those convicted were not made public. They have 20 days from the date of the verdict to lodge any appeal.

The scandal revolved around a private group that amassed trillions of rials in loans from half a dozen Iranian banks through what were said to be forged or illegally procured letters of credit to buy several state companies up for privatization.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last year denied accusations from some critical media outlets that his office had any links to the fraud.

The affair for several weeks fuelled political infighting between Ahmadinejad’s government and ultra-conservative factions of the regime dominating parliament and the courts.

Economy and Finance Minister Shamseddin Hosseini last November scraped through an attempt by the parliament to have him fired.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani then stepped in to calm the row and order an end to public quarrelling seen as undermining the country’s interests.

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Chinese politician gets death sentence for corruption

(The Times of India) – BEIJING, Apr 27: A Chinese court has sentenced Song Chenguang, former senior political advisor of east China's Jiangxi Province, to death with two years of probation for bribery.

Song, former vice chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), was convicted of taking 12. 63 million yuan (USD 2 million) in bribes from 1998 to 2010, a statement from the Intermediate People's Court of Tai'an city said.

In exchange of the money he had offered favours to 18 companies and individuals in contracting projects, gaining sales permission and getting promotions, it said.

Given his behaviour in asking for bribes and the amount of money he accepted, Song must receive severe punishment but the two-year probation of the execution has been granted as he confessed to his crimes, the court verdict said.

Song, 60, was expelled from the CPC and removed from office last July.

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Corrupt executive gets suspended death sentence in China

(NDTV) Beijing, Nov 9: A Shanghai court handed the former chief executive of a large state-owned pharmaceutical company a suspended death sentence for corruption that enabled him to amass more than 50 million yuan ($8 million), an official said Wednesday.

Wu Jianwen, the former head of Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group Ltd., was convicted of accepting bribes, embezzling public funds and other graft charges by the Shanghai Intermediate People's Court, according to a court official surnamed Wang.

Wang said the court handed down a suspended death sentence with a two-year reprieve. Such sentences usually are commuted to life in prison with good behaviour.

Shanghai Pharma says it is China's third largest pharmaceutical maker and second largest distributor of pharmaceutical products.

The punishment comes as China wrestles with food and product safety concerns and appears aimed at showing that the authorities are cracking down on rampant corruption.

China's increasing importance as a pharmaceutical producer has ratcheted up concerns over a slew of scandals involving fake, adulterated and otherwise unsafe drugs - especially given the thriving market in mail order medications.

In 2007, China executed Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of the country's food and drug regulatory authority, after he was convicted of taking bribes to approve flawed medicine blamed for several deaths.

The punishment became a symbol of a product safety crisis, which had been triggered by the discovery of potentially deadly substances in exports, from pet food ingredients to fish.