Public whippings in Johore?
‘A vote for DAP, is a vote for PAS, is a vote for hudud’. Every time BN wants to weaken Pakatan and frighten the electorate, this trite phrase rattles off the tongues of MCA politicians.
Mariam Mokhtar, FMT
Yesterday, MCA president Chua Soi Lek was again proven wrong. Last April, Chua warned Malaysians, principally the non-Muslims, that a vote for Pakatan would lead to the implementation of hudud law, by PAS, if the Opposition coalition were to win GE-13.
On 13 June 2013 Berita Harian reported that within the past two months, 39 people in Johore, of whom 22 were women, had each received six strokes of the rotan, for committing syariah crimes such as incest and sexual intercourse outside of marriage. Two women had their sentences postponed because one was pregnant and the other was in ‘confinement’.
One fact is obvious. More women, than men, are being punished. Why? Are there fewer men because the men had multiple women partners? Are the guilty men still on the run? Who were the witnesses and are they credible? Were the witnesses just seeking revenge?
The rakyat wants to know who represented these women? Were they aware of their rights? Are they first-time offenders?
Our main concern is that religious Islamic bodies fail to act with transparency. On 25 February 2010, it was announced that three Muslim women had been whipped, for committing illicit sex, two weeks earlier. Why was this announcement delayed? Did the government fear a backlash? The Federal Territory syariah court had issued the caning order on these three women, despite the fact that women are supposed to be exempt from caning under Section 289 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The latest Berita Harian report revealed that the offenders ranged in age from 20 to 50 years old and that the first couple who received their punishment on 4 April, had been guilty of engaging in an incestuous relationship. On 17 May, seven men and nine women, all unmarried, were sentenced. The whippings had been carried out in the Kluang prison. Why was the public not informed earlier?
There is worse news.
The senior assistant director of enforcement of the Johor Islamic Affairs Department (JAIJ), Mohd Zambri Kambari, said that the usual punishment was a fine of RM5,000 or a jail term of three years. He said that this was the first time whipping had been enforced in Johore. Zambri denied that whipping could be termed as punishment. He claimed that caning would make the person realise his crime and he believed that canings were effective in heightening public awareness.
Zambri is contemplating whipping offenders in public or in mosques.
Malaysians have always been proud of their multicultural society and they have no problem with Islam being the nation’s official religion. They fear that their secular state is insidiously being turned into a nation which models itself after Aceh, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, northern Nigeria or Somalia.
These religious bodies appear to act, for reasons known only to themselves. A few years ago, pig DNA was discovered in Tabasco sauce (a product which contains only vinegar, water and chillies), HP sauce (HP sauce does not contain any meat derivatives at all) and Golden Churn butter (butter is made from cow’s milk).
These products were subsequently withdrawn from sale, despite protestations from the manufacturers and halal certificates to prove the absence of porcine products.
Many wives, or former wives of Muslim men, believe that men are treated favourably in the syariah courts. The wealthy Shanaz Majid, former daughter-in-law of the Chief Minister of Sarawak, the billionaire Taib Mahmud is treated no differently from a poor Muslim woman in the syariah divorce courts.
Many Muslim ex-wives seeking maintenance for their children give up halfway through their lengthy and costly trials. Several women family members have found that they are at the losing end in inheritance matters.
Religious bodies desiring credibility should raid the Five Star establishments and clubs which are frequented by rich Muslim patrons. Islam preaches equality and whipping as a form of corporal punishment for illicit sex and consuming alcohol, should be given to the ministers, senior Umno-Baru politicians, their cronies and the children of these groups of people, who are regulars at these clubs.
Religious bodies craving respectability should exact the most severe punishments on people who are guilty of corruption and stealing public money. Many of our politicians, civil servants and cronies, deserve attention from the religious bodies.
If these religious bodies want to restore public confidence, they should censure people who bribe their way out of punishment. They should also address the problems of men who marry without their first wife’s approval, or who circumvent syariah law by going to the south of Thailand to get married. On their return to Malaysia, they live as man and wife, and when they are discovered, pay the paltry fine.
Men who are caught raping underaged children, escape punishment by offering to marry their victims. They pay ‘compensation’ to the girl’s family then leave her after they become bored with her. Religious officials fail to understand that a girl’s future is ruined. She is without an education, her health and body are ruined, her psychological scars haunt her for life, she will probably have children to take care of and will end up living in poverty.
The real problem of underaged sex and abandoned babies is not being addressed. Education including sex-education is the answer, not marrying off young children or teenagers just because they are curious about each others’ bodies. Marriage should not be forced on them simply to avoid the stigma of society and to avoid illegitimate children being born.
