(Petaling Jaya, Thursday): I have emailed to the Terengganu Mentri Besar,
Datuk Hadi Awang calling for the withdrawal of the Terengganu Syariah Criminal
Enactment Bill to remove all provisions which are clearly against the Federal
Constitution, violate human rights and discriminate against women.
In my email to Hadi, I stressed that to proceed
with the Terengganu Syariah Criminal Enactment Bill is to invite legal challenge
to its legality and constitutionality, as well as to fortify public perceptions
and convictions that PAS policies
are at loggerheads with the 1957 Merdeka Constitution, the “social contract”
and the 1963 Malaysia Agreement and incompatible with pluralism, human rights,
women’s rights, development and modernity.
DAP is gravely concerned by the various
provisions in the Bill, in
particular with regard to sections 8 and 9
where a woman who reports that she
has been raped will be charged with qazaf (slanderous accusation) and flogged 80
lashes if she is unable to prove the rape; section 22 concerning death and
confiscation of all property for apostasy; section 43 denying women and
non-Muslims from being witnesses and section 48(2) providing that an unmarried
woman who is pregnant is assumed to have committed zina, even if she is raped.
It is also a matter of grave concern that the
Terengganu State Government has refused to refer the Syariah Criminal Enactment
Bill to the Attorney-General though it clearly contravenes the Federal law and
Malaysian Constitution, especially with regard to the constitutional
limits of “3-5-6” restricting state
syariah laws from imposing
sentences exceeding three years’ jail, RM5,000 fine or six strokes of the
rotan.
The statement attributed to Hadi in the New
Straits Times last Thursday (6.6.2002) quoting him as saying that “We feel our
obligation to God is greater than fulfilling the demands of the A-G’s
Chambers” to explain why the Terengganu PAS Government intends to table its
Syariah Criminal Enactment Bill next month instead of consulting the
Attorney-General’s Chamber is deeply disturbing – as although the
God-fearing sentiments of Hadi are most admirable, it is a matter of grave
concern as to what would happen in a multi-racial and multi-religious
Malaysia if everybody regards his or her obligation to God as greater and higher
than fulfilling the requirements of the Federal Constitution.
(13/6/2002)