What’s the matter with SIS?
By Jacqueline Ann Surin, The Nut Graph
WHAT do you know? Politicians from across the divide are actually united on an issue. The issue? The threat that Sisters in Islam (SIS) poses as a Muslim women's rights organisation that may be deviating from the faith.
The latest spotlighting on SIS — just one of many through the 20 years of the non-governmental organisation's existence — began on 7June 2009 when the PAS muktamar passed without debate a resolution calling for the National Fatwa Council to investigate SIS. The resolution, moved by Shah Alam PAS, said that if SIS was found to be anti-Islam, it should be banned and its members rehabilitated.
Since then, both Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)'s Zulkifli Noordin and Umno's Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo have said that SIS should drop the word "Islam" from its name. Zulkifli even suggested that SIS should be investigated under the Syariah Criminal Offences Enactments and the Penal Code as if the organisation was a criminal suspect.
So, just what is it about SIS that is deemed to be so threatening to Islam, to Muslims and to the nation? How does an organisation, founded by Muslim women to understand and uphold their religion's teachings on justice and compassion, become such a threat that it needs to be investigated, banned and reformed?
