To Their Royal Highnesses DYMM The Malay Rulers - RUU355 Is Just A Poker Game.

 

• Convention to Dignify Malaysia’s Syariah Law
• Rulers wanted amendments to Bill 355 made carefully
• Conference of Rulers asked for Bill to be examined
• not seen as hasty or manifesting weaknesses
• must be approved by the Conference of Rulers
• major weaknesses should refer to international experts
• seek the views of international Islamic legal experts.
• to consult all views, agreeing or disagreeing 
• so that our seriousness in implementing (Bill 355) 

My Comments :

Point No. 1 : First of all the RUU 355 is NOT an Islamic law at all. Period.

It is simply increasing the punishments under the existing jenayah syariah enactments.
Presently punishments for syariah offenses in Malaysia are governed by what I call the '3,5,6 Laws'.

'3,5,6 Laws' meaning punishment of 3 years jail, RM5,000 fine and 6 strokes of the rotan for syariah offences inside Malaysia. 

This is the punishment. 
It is NOT THE ISLAMIC law itself.

 This 3,5,6 Law is not Islamic in any way at all. 

Do read on.

Anyway the 3,5,6 Laws seem to imply that these are maximum punishments for syariah offenses inside Malaysia 

No other Islamic country in the world or in 1,400 years of Islamic history has had these 3,5,6 Laws.

However there was a strange case  reported in The Star (click here) on 21 Oct 2009 — The Syariah High Court sentenced Abdul Kahar Ahmad who proclaimed himself a Rasul Melayu (Malay prophet) to 10 years jail, six strokes of the rotan and a fine of RM16,500.

If the maximum jail was THREE years, then how did Abdul Kahar get jailed for 10 years?
If the maximum fine was RM5,000 then how did Abdul Kahar get fined RM16,500?

If the 10 year jail sentence and RM16,500  fines imposed on Abdul Kahar were done according to the law, what then is the purpose of saying "3 years jail, RM5,000 fine and 6 strokes of the rotan"?  Was that fair and just, according to Islam?  Please bear this in mind because it has a bearing on the RUU355 as well. Do read on.

Back to Point No. 1 above. The 3,5,6 Laws are NOT Islamic Laws at all. 

As I said there are no other Islamic countries in the world today or over the past 1,400 years of Islamic history which have implemented these 3,5,6 Laws (3 years jail, RM5,000 fine and 6 strokes of the rotan).  

You cannot go to the Al Azhar University in Cairo, the Medina University or the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul and request to see a copy of the '3,5,6 Laws' from somewhere in 1,400 years of Islamic history. There is no such thing.

These are not Islamic laws. At best they can simply be called 'laws passed in a country called Malaysia'. That is as far as it goes.

Point No. 2 The original RUU355 was entirely a PAS construct. It was a political poker game that has long been played by PAS.  Do read on.

What the PAS fellows have been proposing about the RUU355 is the following.

i) Penjara tidak melebihi 3 tahun kepada Penjara tidak melebihi 30 tahun.
ii) Denda tidak melebihi RM5,000 kepada Denda tidak melebihi RM100,000.00.
iii) Sebatan tidak melebihi 6 kali kepada Sebatan tidak melebihi 100 kali.

They want to increase just the punishments, from the existing 3,5,6 Law.
Repeat : PAS just wants to increase the punishments only from the existing 3,5,6 Law.

 

Instead of "3,5,6" they want to increase the punishment to 30 years jail, RM100,000 fine and 100 lashes of the rotan or '30,100,100'.

Again looking at Abdul Kahar's case is it possible that under PAS' RUU355, someone like Abdul Kahar will one day be jailed for say 60 years, fined RM165,000 and be given say 100 lashes of the rotan? 

100 lashes of the rotan? Today a Criminal Court can sentence males only, below 65 years of age, to a maximum of 24 strokes of the rotan. That is according to the 'cruel' undang-undang penjajah.

• So exactly like the existing 3,5,6 Laws, the proposed RUU355 is not an Islamic law. 
• It is simply increasing the punishment for the existing 3,5,6 Laws.
  

 Point No. 3   A political poker game.

This whole thing is just a political poker game. There are no "higher Islamic ideals" involved. Or higher philosophies involved. It is simply playing on the emotions of the Malay voter. Their sights are firmly fixed on the next elections. This is a short term ploy for political survival of very nervous politicians..

The incumbent is increasingly unpopular. It is almost certain that he will not be re-elected. Or even last a full term. He has lost the Malay vote. So whipping up "Islamic" issues is just fishing for some Malay votes.

The PAS has made a science out of playing poker. About 30 years ago there was no RUU355. Instead it was hudud-hudud. And they did not have 'national' ambitions either. 30 years ago Pas was confined largely to Kelantan. And they were afraid of losing Kelantan. Not knowing how to fix the water problem in Kelantan they began whipping up the hudud-hudud song to fish for Malay votes. They wanted to implement hudud in Kelantan - so they said.

This is where Dr Mahathir expertly called their bluff.  Dr Mahathir told PAS to bring their hudud law proposal to Parliament. Dr Mahathir said all Members of Parliament from UMNO and the government will be given the choice to vote for or against Pas hudud law proposal - according to their conscience

The Pas was cornered.  They never had any intention of implementing hudud in Kelantan. Now despite being in power for 30 years they have never attempted to implement hudud in Kelantan. Or anywhere else. It was just fishing for the Malay vote. That was the end of their hudud-hudud song in Kelantan, until today.

Now they have changed tactics. 
They dropped the hudud-hudud song.
Instead they came up with the RUU355. 
Or the "30,100,100" punishment.
As I said it is absolutely not Islamic Law at all.

It is just increasing the punishments.

In over 1,400 years of Islamic history there is no precedent for a set of punishments consisting of 30 years jail, RM100,000 fine and 100 lashes of the rotan.

 

(Except adultery which earns 100 lashes but the maximum syariah punishment for adultery is death by stoning).

POINT NO 4  There is yet another "problem" with Islamic law. Despite 1,400 years of Islamic history there is no single set of fully written down 'Islamic laws' anywhere in the Muslim world which is agreed to by all the Muslim sects. There is just none.

 

You cannot walk into a law library in any Islamic country and ask to see a completely written down set of Islamic laws. There was none.

 

The Turkish people claim that under the 700 years of the Turkish Ottoman Caliphate there was an extensive record of 'Islamic laws' but that has to be fully determined.  The Turkish are overwhelmingly Hanafis and the Ottoman Caliphate followed Hanafi jurisprudence.

CONCLUSION : 

Here is the real threat.

 

1. There appears to be an attempt at 'back-door' Federalisation of Islamic religious affairs. Presently in Malaysia, Islamic religious affairs are under the prerogative of the States under the respective Malay Rulers or the State Assemblies (Penang, Melaka, Sabah and Sarawak). This is as per the Federal Constitution.

If any attempt is made to pry open the Constitutional demarcation of religious authority (through things like the RUU355) in the coming years it may evolve further to 'centralising' or 'federalising' religious authority. If that happens then one day we may have our own "ayatollah" type characters. The tok guru fellows are already in place and waiting. In such event the Malay Rulers may lose their Constitutional authority over religious matters in their States. It will not happen tomorrow but you never know what the cat will drag in the day after tomorrow.

2. The bigger threat about religion is that once you put something in place then it becomes difficult (and will take decades) to undo what has been done. For example after 45 years the "Islamic" republic of Iran is crashing into the ground. There will be more violence and suffering in store for them.  Be extremely very careful what you wish for.

 

 The views expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.