MGG Pillai Commentary View

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A 7th century paradise in the 21st century

The Trengganu mentri besar, Dato' Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, is in no doubt opposition to the state's Hudud Bill, which provides for equality of the civil law with Islamic law, is misunderstood. If those opposed knew the "facts", they would not. Since they do not, he infers it is their duty to be, therefore, there is nothing wrong with the Syariah Criminal Bill. Women's organisations are horrified a rape who could not prove her rape could be guilty of slander and punished severely. The fundamental issue here is if the state assembly could pass a law that conflicts with the Federal constitution. It cannot. That it does means it can. The constitution is amended to give equal status to civil and Islamic law. Since the states are responsible for how Islam is administered in the states, they can enact laws that one they once could not. Which is why the National Front (BN) and UMNO cannot openly confront the Trengganu government on this. The BN is also committed to an Islamic state in Malaysia; indeed, the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, insists it already is.

The Trengganu government is shocked by this strident opposition to the Hudud Bill, and promises to rectify the offending sections. Like the Federal government, it does not believe in public opinion about the bill before it is introduced in the state assembly. Now, the state promises to rectify "flaws" in the final Bill. Haji Hadi told the PAS annual congress in Kota Baru over the weekend the Bill was to have been tabled in June "but we postponed it to allow more inputs and feedback". People had a chance to air their views at a special seminar in Kuala Trengganu. That in his view is enough. Here he behaves as the Prime Minister. Important constitutional amendments and contentious laws are rushed through Parliament on certificates of urgency after MPs are given the bills an hour before debate begins. Now, the Trengganu PAS administration does in similar fashion.

The BN cannot oppose the Trengganu move. It has its own plans to ensure Malaysia is Islamic. It allows no discussion or concession. The constitution allows it. We are the government. You elected us. We know what is good for you. The right of the people is to elect the BN into power. It is this arrogance that is now evident in PAS in Kelantan and Trengganu. PAS is right in one argument: the two states are overwhelmingly Malay and Muslim, more than 90 per cent, and even BN in the state would not oppose syariah criminal legislation except in the details and form. So, it goes ahead with the bill knowing fully well there would be no opposition from Malay and Islamic parties. But it forgets that other Malay states would be forced, in electoral pressure, to impose similar laws. For the federal and Trengganu moves presume the non-Malay parties need not be consulted or their views taken because they do not understand Islam or how well Islamic law functioned in the Prophet Mohamed's administration in the 7th century.

It is more than that. When the Prophet administered his state, the punishments he imposed, horrific to modern sensibilities though they are, he brought a system of law and administration into a lawless land. It brought peace. But it is agreed even amongst Muslim scholars that that was an ideal. To then translate that set of laws -- there was in Christianity laws more severe than an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth several centuries later --- right for the time into a modern system of a working civil administration would be retrograde unless the laws itself are modified to modern times.

When Islam did that in Spain after that nation was brought to heel by Islamic forces in the 8th century, the retribution after the Christians regained the land was even more severe, with much of Christian-Islam hatred and confrontation derived from that. There is a similar convulsion in Pakistan after Islamic law was peremptorily imposed on a system similar to Malaysia nearly two decades ago, and is still unable to impose it fully. Neither Haji Hadi nor any Muslim cleric of scholar could convince a man in an established civil system of laws that instead of imprisonment his arms should be severed for theft; or for a rape victim to be punished for not properly identifying the rapist.

But the tragedy in this rush to the 7th century is made for a political agenda to obtain votes and marginalise the non-Muslim. The Hudud is proof that UMNO and PAS can do what it likes, whatever their non-Malay partners say. It is this frightening overview that does not augur for the non-Muslims. With UMNO in trouble with its Malay ground and PAS needing Malay support for its theocratic worldview, the two parties inch towards a Muslim-Malay alliance which can only strength this march to this promise of an ideal 7th century paradise in the 21st century. Neither the Muslim nor the non-Muslim in Malaysia would discuss issues as frankly as they should. The constitution ensures "sensitive" subjects should never be discussed; one that cannot is Malay dominance in the country. If non-Muslim leaders raise in public doubts and worries about this impending Islamisation, he would be decried as challenging the position of the Malays in Malaysia, tried and jailed. Discussion of important issues is therefore non-existent. When it is, it is dismissed as simplistic political propaganda or that the speaker does not know what he talks about.

The non-Muslim religious leaders kept their silence, not wanting to rock the boat, hopeful that this would give them a bit more space in this multiracial country. What that brought them is a deliberate and systematic denial to propagate their faith, and force them into a status where they are there to prove the multiracial and multireligious generosity of the government, but with little else to show. There is, for instance, an interfaith council that meets regularly with the government. The meetings are usually held on Fridays, in time for coffee and aimless chatter before the government officers go for their Friday prayers. And so it has for a decade and more. Was this group ever asked for their views on this move to impose Islamic law and practice into their lives? No. Should it have been? Yes. But the government is not interested in their views. What was set up with good intent is now a millstone around their necks. So, a DAP MP, Ms Teresa Kok, calls for an Interfaith Council before the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, meets the Pope to break the gridlock. Would it succeed? I doubt it.

So what happens in Trengganu is part of this Malay political dominance which is re-inforced by the deliberate impotency of the non-Malay political and religious leaders. They were happy to wallow in their small ponds, given an occasional irrelevant gift to keep them quiet and glued to their bailliwicks. The non-Malays did not think politically or strategically to fight for their rights. Nothing is free. But they thought it was. And so gave up the struggle even before it began. And find they are now hostage to a deliberate, brilliant Malay scheme in which they are neutralised and made irrelevant before their own eyes and thankful they are. This is the tragedy of the non-Malay and the non-Muslim in Malaysia. The Malay Muslim has decided he wants his 7th century paradise in the 21st century. And there is not one principled non-Malay and non-Muslim politician or religious leader who can change that. He could have. But not any more. And the Malay and Muslim has made clear that if he does not like it, there are nations around the world who would gladly accept him.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my