Facing increased criticism, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang argued today that his private member’s Bill is only following the mandatory judicial process to enhance the Shariah courts’ punitive powers.
He maintained that his Bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, also known as Act 355, is “not hudud law” and is the “right of Muslims alone” as it seeks to introduce the concept of “judiciary within Islam”.
“Yes! It is mandatory for all laws to go through a fair judicial process including hudud. Is it their understanding that Islam is a messy religion that does not have its own judicial system, and therefore Muslims have to simply rely on the directives that are inherited from colonial masters?” he said in a lengthy statement in response to criticism from the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST).
The umbrella body representing the country’s five main non-Islamic faiths had issued a statement last Saturday beseeching MPs to vote down Hadi’s Bill, which seeks to remove all limits on the punishments that Shariah courts can impose except for the death penalty, fearing that it would ultimately allow hudud laws to be enforced.
Hadi argued further that Islamic law encompasses all aspects of human life including in matters involving an individual, families, society, national and international aspects.
“So it is unfair to Islam, if hudud punishment is the amputation of hands directly, as if Islamic laws including family laws do not have to go through a fair judicial process,” the Marang MP said.
Hadi has been touting the need to amend Act 355 to tackle rising crime. In his statement this time, the Islamic scholar urged the MCCBCHST representatives to look over the teachings of their respective faiths that addressed this issue and compare it to the solutions offered by the current civil penal code.
“For the sake of seeing a solution towards the problem of crime and moral decline that the world is facing, including our beloved country Malaysia, I invite the interfaith group to return to the holy scriptures of their respective faiths, in order to take the legal perspectives found in it and to study its comparison with Islamic law including hudud and its comparison with colonial-inherited laws that are not in the holy scriptures of all religions. Please show it to us,” he said.
He also cautioned against cruel actions against Islam and Muslims to the extent of “crossing boundaries”.
“This is our solution,” he concluded.
Shariah court punishments are currently limited to jail terms not exceeding three years, whipping of not more than six strokes, or fines of not more than RM5,000. Hadi’s Bill seeks to remove this limitation and allow the Shariah courts to enforce any punishments in state Islamic laws except for the death penalty.
In 2014, Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah told Malay Mail Online of the PAS-led state government’s plan to empower the Shariah courts to try Muslims for various hudud offences ― such as premarital sex and making unproven accusations of illicit sex both punishable by 100 lashes, drinking alcohol punishable by 80 lashes and adultery punishable by death.
He had then said PAS wanted to amend the 1965 law to enable Shariah courts to impose heavier penalties such as death penalty and amputations, as well as to seek approval to enact punishments for crimes that fall under the Penal Code.
Both PAS and Umno have insisted that Hadi’s Bill is not hudud and only seeks to further empower the Shariah courts to deliver harsher sentences, but others have said it is a backdoor method to allow the carrying out of hudud punishments.
Hadi’s Bill was listed as the fourth item on the agenda in the Order Paper for the month-long Dewan Rakyat sitting that started today, but was not read out.-themalaymailonline
