PARLIAMENT | A PAS lawmaker today grilled Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh over a RM20,000 allocation to Sisters In Islam (SIS), on the grounds that the NGO "misuses" the name of Islam.
Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff, however, became agitated when Yeoh claimed that there were also political parties who misused religion for their own gain.
"On groups who misuse religion for their own gain, it is not just NGOs but there are also political parties who always misuse religion for their own gain," Yeoh had said in her reply to Siti Zailah's question in the Dewan Rakyat today.
"What do you mean we have misused religion? Please explain, what do you mean?" Siti Zailah said, interrupting Yeoh on mid-sentence.
Yeoh said she had read news which said religion was used as a defence for "lying, corruption and other such things". Yeoh did not specify what news, citing the Dewan Rakyat speaker's ban on quoting specific news articles.
Earlier, Siti Zailah (above) had brought up a fatwa by several state's Islamic affairs departments which had declared SIS a "deviant group".
"For example, SIS uses the name Islam but the ideas it brings go against Islamic ideas [...] that is why there is a fatwa saying it (the NGO) is haram," the PAS lawmaker said.
She said she welcomed any effort to help women but stressed the government should not be providing allocations to groups such as SIS as it could "confuse" Muslim people.
Yeoh said her ministry provided funding to SIS on the basis the NGO had done a lot to provide legal assistance to women and pointed out that any issue related to religion in this issue was out of her jurisdiction.
"I have said that the minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of religious affairs will explain this further," she said, reiterating this point a few times throughout the discussion.
However, Nor Azrina Surip (Harapan-Merbok) then stood up to offer her own explanation on the matter.
"Some Muslims are sensitive about SIS as they believe that SIS does not represent Muslim women as a whole, so can we stop such things?
"What I mean is, any NGO can request (for allocation) and the ministry can approve it because the NGO is also doing good work. Can I put it this way?" Nor Azrina asked.
Yeoh responded to this by insisting that she had already explained the issue clearly.
"I believe I have already explained this clearly to everyone here. Everyone nodded their heads, everyone understood my explanation," she said.
RSN Rayer (Harapan-Jelutong) also attempted to have his own say on the issue, but Yeoh shut him down quickly.
"Jelutong, I have actually answered and everyone is already okay. Now you are raising it again," she said.
The discussion was finally put to rest when Maria Chin Abdullah (Harapan-Petaling Jaya) pointed out that the fatwa against SIS, which was first brought up by Siti Zailah, was the subject of an ongoing court case.
"If there is a case in court, then this is already sub judice so there is no need to discuss this," said Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamad Ariff Mohd Yusof.
When Ahmad Marzuk Shaary (PAS-Pengkalan Chepa) tried to mention the fatwa again, the speaker turned off the PAS lawmaker's microphone and reminded him of the court case.
"Let us just leave it," Mohamad Ariff said.
In 2014, SIS had filed an application for a court order to revoke the fatwa issued against them.
The Federal Court on Sept 25 last year remitted the case back to the High Court for merits of the application to be heard.
Yeoh announced the RM20,000 allocation to SIS's legal aid office Telenisa on March 9. She had explained that the contribution was to aid Muslim women. -Mkini
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