Hudud is democracy
I take it you now understand what I meant many months ago when I said that democracy is not perfect and is merely the tyranny of the majority. And we are about to see why I said that. But then if you really respect democracy, as you keep saying you do, then you must be big-hearted enough to accept Hudud in Kelantan if this is what the majority wants.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Today, Joceline Tan wrote about PAS and the Islamic law of Hudud in the state of Kelantan (READ HERE). Basically, what Joceline said is that it is inevitable and we are going to see those laws implemented in that state, which has a 95% Muslim population.
The Hudud Bill was actually passed in the Kelantan State Assembly two decades ago. The only snag is, while the Sharia involving family laws are state matters, those involving criminal laws come under Federal jurisdiction. Hence Kelantan will need the approval of Parliament to be able to implement those laws.
But then there is a grey area. For example, extramarital sex, close proximity, the drinking of liquor, etc., are considered crimes in Islam. But these are not crimes under common law. However, you can still be arrested and punished for these ‘crimes’.
Then we have sodomy, which is also a crime in Islam. But then it is also a crime under common law. Hence you will be arrested and punished under common law and not under the Sharia.
How many of the 130 or so Muslim Members of Parliament will vote in favour of Hudud in Kelantan? According to Joceline, you do not need a two-thirds majority. You only need a simple majority. So this means you need 112 of the 222 MPs to vote ‘yes’. And with that Hudud gets implemented in Kelantan.
And this will bring us back to the article on democracy, which I wrote some months back.
In that article I said that democracy is not the best system in the world. It is just the lesser of many evils but still an evil nevertheless. It is, as I said, merely the tyranny of the majority (over the minority). And tyranny, by any other name, is still tyranny, even if you call it democracy.
Democracy means you follow the wish of the majority, at least what 51% of the people want. And if 112 Muslim MPs vote ‘yes’ then that is democracy. And since 95% of the citizens of Kelantan are Muslim, and if 51% or more want Hudud, then we have to follow the wish of the majority, even if 49% of the Kelantanese do not want Hudud (or the rest of Malaysia does not want Hudud).
That, as the opposition constantly reminds us, is what democracy is all about. Even HRH the Sultan of Selangor has been many times reminded to follow the wish of the majority. So this is what we shall have to do, follow the wish of the majority.
Is it fair to implement Hudud in Kelantan? More importantly, is it fair to implement Hudud in Kelantan when non-Muslims do not want that law? This is not about what the non-Muslims want or do not want. It is about what 51% of the citizens want and in a democracy what the 51% want counts and not what the 49% do not want.
I take it you now understand what I meant many months ago when I said that democracy is not perfect and is merely the tyranny of the majority. And we are about to see why I said that. But then if you really respect democracy, as you keep saying you do, then you must be big-hearted enough to accept Hudud in Kelantan if this is what the majority wants.
