11/4/2008
To: Presiden Persatuan Peguam Syarie Malaysia (PGSM) (excopgsm@yahoo.com)
Kenyataan Media-Resolusi Seminar Semakan Korpus Undang-undang Islam
Dear Hj. Zainul,
I take it first that you do not subscribe to the IKIM position (in their statement of 03/04/2008) that “The article in the STAR which reports that the seminar had proposed that non-Muslims caught committing khalwat with Muslims should also be sentenced accordingly but in the civil courts, is entirely erroneous. No such proposal was made, and therefore if what is reported in the Star as being comments allegedly made by Syariah Court of Appeal Judge, are also in error.”
Admitting to a lack of flair for writing on my part, I will only comment on your press statement of 04/4/2008 paragraph by paragraph.
1. Resolusi yang dikeluarkan hasil Seminar Semakan Semula Korpus Undang-Undang Islam Di Malaysia: Keperluan Dan Cabaran antara lain telah mengutarakan cadangan supaya penglibatan secara bersama antara orang Islam dan bukan Islam dalam sesuatu kesalahan atau jenayah syariah hendaklah dihukum dengan hukuman yang setimpal. Cadangan ini jika dilaksanakan akan memberi kesan umpamanya dalam kes khalwat di mana salah seorang pasangannya adalah bukan Islam, maka dia juga hendaklah didakwa dan dijatuhi hukuman sekiranya disabitkan bersalah. Namun seminar berpandangan pendakwaan tersebut hendaklah dilakukan di mahkamah sivil.
Comment:
You cannot prosecute a non-muslim in the civil courts for an offence which is an offence only in Syariah law and prosecutable only in the Syariah courts; not to mention that it is an offence if committed by Muslims only.
2. Golongan bukan Islam seperti Malaysian Consultative Council of Budhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Toaism serta beberapa NGO lain menentang keras cadangan ini dengan mengatakan undang-undang syariah tidak terpakai kepada orang bukan Islam dan menafikan hak orang bukan Islam itu sendiri.
Comment:
I concur that Syariah laws cannot apply to non-Muslims.
3. Persatuan Peguam Syarie Malaysia (PGSM) menyokong sepenuhnya resolusi yang dibincangkan oleh pakar-pakar perundangan dan syariah tanah air. Pakar-pakar yang mahir dalam bidang masing-masing ini sudah tentulah mengambil kira semua sensitiviti dan kedudukan undang-undang sebelum menggarapnya sebagai cadangan.
Comment:
This ASSUMES some sort of dialogue/consultation was conducted with the said consultative council and/or NGO. I unfortunately do not note any particular instance cited in the paragraph.
4. Sebenarnya tidak timbul isu mengenakan atau menguatkuasakan undang-undang syariah ke atas orang bukan Islam kerana pendakwaan akan dibuat di mahkamah sivil. Bukankan salah satu teras negara yang termaktub di dalam Rukun Negara ialah Kesopanan dan Kesusilaan? Oleh yang demikian undang-undang moral boleh digubal bagi menangani masalah moral masyarakat.
Comment:
(a) Again, you cannot prosecute a non-Muslim in civil courts for an offence which is an offence only in the Syariah courts, or an offence which is against the moral percepts of Islam.
(b) The Rukunegara is not a guiding principle when formulating laws that govern Malaysia as whole. The Rukunegara is a “a guideline in the country’s nation-building efforts”
(c) The Federal Constitution is the guideline for formulating laws in Malaysia - Article 4(1) “This Constitution is the supreme law of the Federation …”
(d) Morality is not the sole basis of laws.
(e) Nothing is said about differing moral standards/emphasis among the various communities in Malaysia.
5. Apakah kita lupa bahawa membina masyarakat bermoral dan berakhlak mulia merupakan prinsip asas kenegaraan ini? Lantaran jika kita ingin menghapuskan undang-undang moral maka prinsip kelima Rukun Negara ini pun hendaklah ditiadakan.
Comment:
“Kesopanan dan kesusilaan” (Good Behaviour and Morality) can be achieved without the use of the law (punishement). In fact, it is better achieved when its percepts are internalised and acted on willingly in full understanding of its purpose; rather than by fear of punishment.
6. Jika kita menelusuri sejarah dan hakikat undang-undang jenayah pun kita akan dapati bahawa undang-undang jenayah ini sebenarnya berakar-umbi dari undang-undang mora. Undang-Undang sebenarnya bersandarkan moral manakala moral pula bersandarkan kepada agama. Umpamanya kesalahan membunuh secara tidak sah, sebelum ia memperundangkan atau ditaqninkan menjadi undang-undang jenayah, ia adalah kesalahan moral yang amat dibenci oleh masyarakat.
Comment:
(a) Not all criminal laws are based on morality. And not all religions have same standards on morality.
(b) Murder is a good example for the proposition that murder is immoral, laws should be moral and therefore murder should be unlawful. This logic sequence works because murder by the moral standards of almost all religion (I do not presume to know of all religion) is immoral. However, ‘khalwat’ is not immoral for most of the non-Muslim citizens of Malaysia. They might agree that it is ‘not proper’ or shameful, but not immoral; and certainly not unlawful.
7. Secara hipotetikal pula, sekiranya undang-undang moral ini dihapuskan, apa yang akan berlaku jika terdapat orang yang melakukan perbuatan tidak senonoh di hadapan mata kita atau keluarga kita? Biarkan sahaja mereka dengan hak asasi mereka? Biarkan sahaja anak-anak kita menonton aksi tidak bermoral itu? Apa yang hendak kita lakukan dalam keadaan kita tidak mempunyai kuasa undang-undang untuk mencegahnya? Jika ia merujuk kepada isu hak asasi pelaku tersebut, bagaimana pula dengan hak asasi kita yang jijik terhadap perbuatan tersebut. Apakah hak kita untuk hidup dalam tenang tanpa melihat perbuatan seperti itu?
Comment:
(a) In no way do I equate ability to be lewd in public with human rights.
(b) The Penal Code does provide for punishment for some lewd acts (“perbuatan tidak senonoh”). Please see sections 268 & 290-294 Penal Code.
(c) Khalwat that is done in private cannot logically be seen and therefore the question of it being ‘jijik’ to children does not arise; and if done in public, they would come under the offence of public nuisance. There is already protection under the law against such lewd acts and such laws applies to everyone in Malaysia, regardless of religion.
8. Jika kita bercakap tentang hak orang bukan Islam untuk melakukan khalwat, berzina dan sebagainya, adakah mereka ini mempunyai hak untuk melanggar undang-undang syariah? Sekiranya salah seorang pasangan adalah bukan Islam, maka adakah mereka mempunyai hak untuk berzina sehingga melahirkan anak-anak luar nikah tanpa didakwa? Malah dalam beberapa agama selain Islam juga telah meletakkan perzinaan adalah suatu kesalahan yang berat.
Comment:
(a) Yes. Non-Muslims can go against Syariah laws because Syariah laws do not apply to non-Muslims. Non-Muslims can ‘berzina’ (commit adultery) and not be punished criminally for it because adultery is not a crime for non-Muslims. It is morally reprehensible, yes; but not a crime.
(b) If a Muslim & non-Muslim commit adultery and a child out-of-wedlock is born, it is not a crime. Granted, there will be administrative and social reprecussions (amongst other things), but it is not a crime under the general criminal law of Malaysia.
(c) May I have the reference where adultery is punished severely (criminally) in religions other than Islam? (“Malah dalam beberapa agama selain Islam juga telah meletakkan perzinaan adalah suatu kesalahan yang berat”)
9. Kenapa pula kita sering mengamalkan ‘double standard’ terhadap Islam? Apabila ia tidak berkaitan dengan Islam, kita amat mudah menerimanya tetapi tatkala nama Islam muncul maka kita resah, menentang dan menyangkal tanpa memberikan justifikasi yang adil terhadap Islam.
Comment:
I apologise for being a broken record, but I have absolutely no problems with the Syariah being applicable and enforceable to Muslims. I am, as a non-Muslim, however concerned when Syariah laws are proposed to be applied to non-Muslims.
10. Umpamanya, sekiranya seorang rakyat Malaysia yang tinggal di Semenanjung pergi ke Sabah atau Sarawak dan di sana beliau telah melakukan suatu kesalahan yang melanggar undang-undang adat peribumi Sabah dan Sarawak. Orang ini akan tetap dihukum melalui undang-undang adat tersebut walaupun beliau berasal dari Semenanjung. Ini tidak bermakna kita menjadikan beliau sebagai peribumi Sabah dan Sarawak. Begitu juga perbandingannya bagi undang-undang Islam dalam aspek yang terlalu sedikit ini, tidak bermakna menjadikan mereka orang Islam.
Comment:
(a) Your example of a non-native person breaching the native laws in Sabah and Sarawak and being subjected to those same laws is not on all fours with the issue at hand. Do permit me to comment as follows:-
(1) In Sabah, the governing provision is, I believe, Native Courts Enactment 1992,
(2) specifically, where one party is a native and another non-native, Section 6 (Jurisdiction of Native Courts) states that “(1) Every Native Court shall exercise original jurisdiction to the extent set forth and subject to the provisions to this Enactment to hear, try, determine and dispose of the following cases … (b) cases arising from breach of native law or custom, religious, matrimonial or sexual, if the written sanction of the District Officer acting on the advice of two Native Chiefs has been obtained to the institution of the proceedings, where one party is a non-native”
(3) Section 6 thus preserves a form of filter/check & balance in the form of the written sanction of the District Officer where one party is a non-native before the native laws are applied to him/her.
(4) Your proposal of applying Syariah to non-Muslims proposes no such filter, and more importantly, goes against the tenor of the 9th Schedule of the Federal Constitution.
(b) I, unfortunately, am not able to comment on the Sarawak situation.
11. Pengenaan tindakan terhadap orang bukan Islam dalam hal yang berkaitan dengan orang Islam adalah kena pada masanya bagi mengelakkan keresahan di kalangan orang Islam sendiri. Ia sebenarnya tidak langsung memaksa orang bukan Islam menganut agama Islam. Malah ia selari dengan Rukun Negara menekankan peri pentingnya kesopanan dan kesusilaan disemat di dalam diri setiap warganegara Malaysia. Ia adalah jati diri rakyat Malaysia.
Comment:
But you ARE in turn causing anxiety (“keresahan”) to non-Muslims by seeking to impose the Muslim standards on us. Non-Muslims may agree to many parts of the Syariah, but not to all of it. Khalwat is one area where there is, as is quite obvious from the opposition to its implementation on non-Muslims, disagreement.
12. Cadangan seminar ini juga tidak berkaitan dengan persoalan Perlembagaan kerana orang bukan Islam ini hanya akan didakwa di mahkamah sivil bukannya di mahkamah syariah.
Comment:
But the proposal to apply Syariah laws, even in the civil courts, on non-Muslims automatically raises constitutional issues.
13. PGSM mendesak agar semua pihak berlaku adil dalam memberi pendapat dan tidak membuat serangan melulu tanpa justifikasi yang wajar terhadap Resolusi Seminar Penyemakan Korpus Undang-undang Islam yang telah diisytiharkan itu.
Comment:
Could you please email me a full copy of the resolutions from the seminar?
Thank you.
Jason Kay
http://jasonkaykl.blogspot.com/
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