Snub non-Muslim views on hudud, says Muslim convert Ridhuan Tee

(Malay Mail Online) – Muslim proponents of hudud should decide among themselves whether the Islamic penal law should be enforced and no longer seek to appease the “ultra kiasu” opposing its implementation, controversial Muslim convert Ridhuan Tee said today.

In his column published by Malay language newspaper Sinar Harian, Tee said the “ultra kiasu”— a euphemism he uses to describe the DAP and its supporters — were unreasonably aggressive in their resistance towards hudud.

Tee pointed out that the group was still demanding that PAS abandon completely its plan to enforce hudud in Kelantan, after the Islamist party’s announcement that it is delaying the bid to allow a bi-partisan committee proposed by Putrajaya to study the rollout.

“It is not a question of hudud being unconstitutional as alleged by the ‘ultra kiasu’ and supported by PAS. It is a matter of the ‘ultra kiasu’ openly rejecting hudud in its entirety. We would be naive to misconstrue this.

“So, no need to be too accommodating. Discuss this among us Muslims, and enforce it when there is agreement,” Tee wrote.

The senior lecturer with the National Defence University also questioned the motives of non-Muslims in rejecting the Islamic penal law, repeating the claim regularly put forth by its proponents that the law will not extend beyond Muslims.

Tee also insisted that hudud would not spread beyond the borders of Kelantan, which he claimed was nearly 100 per cent Muslim.

Tee then asked PAS why it should still be aligned with an ally that opposes its goals, and why it thought better of DAP than Barisan Nasional rival MCA.

“To me they are both the same. Living in a Muslim majority country but against Islam.”

In 1993, the PAS state government passed the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment II, allowing it to impose the strict Islamic penal code in the state. But the laws have not been implemented.

PAS is now looking for parliamentary approval to implement hudud. It plans to put forward two private members’ bills in parliament. One seeks approval for unconventional punishments, some of which are for offences already covered in the Penal code. The other seeks to empower sharia courts to mete out the unconventional punishments.

Legal experts insist that hudud cannot be implemented in Malaysia as it would be unconstitutional.

They also pointed to complexities in enforcing a law in which non-Muslims witnesses could not be compelled to appear in sharia courts.