Mujahid: Act 355 'political', not way to empower syariah courts

For newly minted Minister in the Prime Minister's Department for Religious Affairs Mujahid Yusof Rawa, there are bigger issues to tackle than the amendments to syariah punishment levels that his former party PAS has been keen to push through Parliament.

“I feel this is a political issue and not a substantive one. That’s because the substantive issue is to strengthen the syariah court, not to increase the levels of punishment.

“The issue is to improve all the weaknesses in the syariah court, such as the need to strengthen the process structure, human resources and judges’ wages. Aren’t these more substantive?

“If you increase the levels of punishment, do you solve all these issues?” Mujahid said in an interview with Malaysiakini.

PAS is still determined to push for amendments to the Syariah Court (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 or Act 355, which are central to Kelantan clearing the final obstacle to implementing hudud (punishments under syariah law) in the state.

The BN government had worked with PAS to have party president Abdul Hadi Awang table the amendments in Parliament during its final term in power, before the motion was finally bumped off the order paper in the final sitting just before the 14th general election.

Asked about the possibility of the motion being tabled again in the coming parliamentary session starting July 16, Mujahid said this would depend on circumstances.

“I don’t know. It’s up to PAS because it has the right to put forth the motion.

“We will not politicise religious issues, because there are other matters that are bigger than such politics,” the Parit Buntar MP added.

Hadi’s (photo) unilateral decision to table his motion to push for hudud in Kelantan, and subsequently to amend Act 355 to increase punishment levels meted out by syariah courts, was instrumental in the acrimony between the former opposition bloc Pakatan Rakyat that had eventually led to its break-up.

'LGBT have rights too'

On the issue of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, Mujahid said a dialogue was the way to go, rather than punitive action.

The Amanah leader, who has been seen to have a soft stand on the community, explained that every citizen has his and her own rights.

Just like any other citizen, regardless of their sexuality, as long as they do not break the laws, the authorities would not take action against them.

“LGBT acts are ‘haram’ (illegal in Islam), even if they do it in private, but that’s between them and Allah.

“Allah will deal with them. But if they expose the matter in public and say they are happy to do it, then we can take action,” Mujahid said.

He gave the example of consuming alcohol, which is haram in Islam, but if done in private, was a matter between the individual and Allah, but if done in public, the person would court action according to the laws.

“When it comes to morality, that is their personal space. But don’t publicly encourage it in the open because it then becomes an offence under the law.”

Therefore, Mujahid said, his department would continue to have dialogues with the Muslim community to explain the religious implications to them.

“Here, we need dialogue. Having a dialogue doesn’t mean we support it. We don’t support LGBTs because it goes against Islamic teachings, and goes against customs and morals,” he said.

“But we will deal with it through a dialogue because it is more beneficial,” he added. - Mkini