‘To oppose Act 355 is not to oppose Islam’

YOURSAY | ‘India, an 80-percent Hindu nation (with a huge Muslim minority), is declared a secular nation.’

Hadi: Act 355 critics are 'mosquitoes', ignoramuses

David Dass: We have been a peaceful and harmonious nation largely because we respected all religions. We did not question the validity of any religion. We just worshipped and prayed in our own way, recognising that others did the same.

We walked past or entered the places of worship of others reverentially not because we believed what they believed, but out of respect and also with humility recognising that the God we worship is the God for all.

My faith requires me to love my God with all my strength and with all my might and to love my neighbour as myself. Who is my neighbour? Everyone - no matter what his/her ethnicity or religion.

When we teach our children to be respectful, to be generous and compassionate, we do not say - only to members of your race and religion. When we send our children to study in other countries, we expect people of those countries to treat our children with love and respect and not to exclude them or to discriminate against them. We expect them to be treated equally and to enjoy the equal protection of their laws.

We presently have a brilliant system of laws, both civil and criminal, and we have a carefully structured judicial system. The hierarchy of courts we have has served us well.

The criminal law of the country is a federal matter administered by the civil courts. Judges of the civil courts are trained to administer the criminal law. They are taught the laws relating to crimes, the rules of procedure and evidence. And there are several levels of appeal, from decisions of the courts of first instance, i.e. where the case is first heard and decided. Senior and experienced judges are empowered to administer harsh sentences.

The doctrine of binding judicial precedent ensures that judges do not decide cases arbitrarily in accordance with their biases and prejudices. Like cases must be decided in the same way unless upset on appeal.

The Syariah Court was meant to be a court restricted in its jurisdiction to matters involving the personal law of Muslims, i.e. matters relating to marriage, divorce, adoption and inheritance. They were never meant to administer the criminal law. That was meant to be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal courts.

The enhanced sentences will immediately create a dichotomy where the syariah courts would have the authority to impose sentences they were never meant to impose. The perception will be created that Muslims are treated unfairly. Two systems of law of crimes cannot co-exist.

We are opposed to two systems of criminal law. We consider the enhanced punishment for the offences stipulated as too harsh and beyond the competence of the syariah courts. We are opposed to the taking of any step towards making syariah the law of the land. We are smart enough to recognise a tactical step towards that objective. We are not, because we take a different view, ignoramuses.

To oppose Act 355 is not to oppose Islam. Indeed, we are not opposed to Islam and we regret having to take a position like this, which may seem to some to be disrespectful to Islam. For that, we apologise and state quite emphatically, that it is not our intention to show any disrespect to Islam.

We simply assert the constitutional position. It was the wisdom of our forefathers that we should remain a secular nation. India, an 80-percent Hindu nation (with a huge Muslim minority), is declared a secular nation. We should not take any step that will set religion against religion.

Existential Turd: If "mosquitoes" is how PAS view the critics of Act 355, imagine how they are going to treat dissenters when the Act is passed.

Make no mistake, this will affect non-Muslims. Already non-Muslims space are being squeeze by all sorts of rulings in the name of "protecting" Islam and Malay.

This is a ruse. The ones under threat are the non-Muslims.

Clever Voter: The PAS leadership uses religion to promote its own political agenda. If successful, it’s the start of a system people in turbans deciding what's 'right' for society, including what you wear and what you eat.

In their pursuit of an 'utopian' Islamic state, liberals will likely be thrown into jail, moderates will seemingly be marginalised and women will be restricted.

These politicians use fear, intimidation and violent means to pursue their objectives. BN is flirting with PAS in the hope of neutralising their threat but as long as they continue with their decadent behaviour they, too, will fall.

This is a multi-ethnic society. BN, too, is to be blamed for allowing the zeal go unnoticed.

Ttc: One person requires 4 square feet of average standing space. Two hundred thousand people require a clear space of 800,000 sq ft. This is equivalent to 18.37 acres. This assumes no void spaces within the gathering.

Does Padang Merbok have 18.37 acres? Padang Merbok is approximately the size of Dataran Merdeka which is just under 5 acres. This can accommodate a maximum of 55,000 people, each occupying an average standing space of 4 sq ft.

If anybody claiming a crowd of more than 55,000 people standing shoulder to shoulder, just ignore it. It is pure humbug. If you dispute this basis of crowd estimation, show us how 200,000 can be physically accommodated in Padang Merbok.

Anonymous #19098644: There are over four million plus Muslims living in the Klang Valley alone and not even 1 percent attended the Act 355 rally. Yes, that is the extent of PAS’ support - a shadow of its past strength.

Roger 5201: PAS can rally all they want and have their Act 355 so long as they can provide a constitutional guarantee that it will never be applied on non-believers nor impinge on the fundamental constitutional rights of all Malaysians.

Anonymous #37634848: I agree with PAS Supporters' wing information chief Balachandran G Krishnan who says those afraid of the amendments are gambling den operators and that the proposed syariah law amendments do not affect the non-Muslims.

I am only concerned about its implementation. We seemingly do not have God-fearing people to implement it as can apparently be seen from our judicial system and also the syariah courts.

Maybe DAP and others should not be so terrified about it. Let it be and we shall see (hopefully) 30 years’ imprisonment for the corrupt who allegedly steal from sovereign funds.

Rupert16: Let these religious bigots and those who are against the Act but are afraid to speak out, get what they wish for.

AJ: Ask those who attend if PAS who want to make the amendments if they knew or understood that PAS has failed terribly in running their state. PAS is trying to divert the attention from their failure in retaining Kedah and just trying to fool everyone.

Gggg: It is an irony that PAS chose the colour purple. Don't they know the colour is sometimes associated with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community?- Mkini