"Syariah Laws The 'Best Medicine' Against Sexual Crimes?" Zaid And Saifuddin "Torpedo" PAS Proposal!
7 Mar 2024 • 1:30 PM MYT
JK Joseph
Repentant ex-banker who believes in truth, compassion and some humour.
Former Umno lawmaker Zaid Ibrahim has strongly supported Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution’s rebuke of a Pas lawmaker’s proposal to enforce syariah laws in every state. Credit Image: Malay Mail/Yusof Mat Isa
Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim has taken a swipe at PAS MPs who allegedly tend to be ignorant and simplistic when coming up with proposals to solve complex social problems.
In a recent hard-hitting post in his “X” platform, the lawyer highlighted that they don't seem to understand that just by increasing the punishment for Shariah Criminal Offences will not necessarily lead to a reduction in sexual crimes, especially those perpetrated against children.
The former Kota Baru MP reminded them that this was substantiated by crime data provided by the police; as such, he urged them to do some homework first and find out the root causes of sexual crimes involving children.
Zaid went on to assert that giving more powers to the Shariah Court appears to be an easy way out for them, suggesting that they appear to be bankrupt of ideas and solutions to address the malady.
Incidentally, he also called on MPs to do some work by going to the ground and show more concern about the offences against children; he added that the young are constantly exposed to all sorts of abuse and drug addiction and are literally calling out for help but the politicians seem not serious enough to protect them.
Zaid also reprimanded Umno Youth for seeking immediate popularity by asking for new laws to be created for “insolence” against the King when there were already enough laws in the country for that purpose, adding that he was happy that Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution had given them a tongue-lashing.
In fact, recently it was reported, that Saifuddin had outrightly dismissed Sik member of parliament Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman's proposal that every state in the country need to enforce its own syariah laws to address the increase in sexual crimes.
He then pointed out that it was not the failure of civil laws which were behind the rise of rape cases, adding that Kelantan was among several states that have a high number of sexual crimes against children although it had its own syariah laws.
Furthermore, he underscored the fact that Pas-ruled Kelantan's population was 98 per cent Malay Muslim with its own Syariah Criminal Code; yet, according to official figures, the number of sexual crimes there has shown an upward trend. Why?
Moreover, he highlighted that ironically cases were also increasing in Kedah and Terengganu (both ruled by Pas) while the number in Penang had dropped between 2022 and last year.
Saifuddin then went on to chide the Pas MP by telling him not to point fingers (at civil laws) and instead work together with all quarters to tackle such crimes by raising awareness; moreover, according to him, police statistics show that sexual crimes such as rape, molest, possession of pornographic materials, physical sexual assault and incest were committed mostly by those in the B40 segment.
The strong rebuke from Zaid and Saifuddin was in response to the Pas lawmaker's apparent assertion in parliament last week that syariah laws must be enforced in every state as civil laws had allegedly failed to combat the increasing number of sexual crimes.
While the Pas MP’s call may have been understandable, inevitably it is also believed to have raised suspicions among certain quarters that the opposition Islamist party was trying to capitalise on the crime statistics to justify its call for introduction of stricter syariah laws; this was especially after the country’s apex court had last month shot down sixteen provisions in Kelantan’s Syariah Enactment as it was already said to be covered by civil laws enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim has taken a swipe at PAS MPs who allegedly tend to be ignorant and simplistic when coming up with proposals to solve complex social problems.
In a recent hard-hitting post in his “X” platform, the lawyer highlighted that they don't seem to understand that just by increasing the punishment for Shariah Criminal Offences will not necessarily lead to a reduction in sexual crimes, especially those perpetrated against children.
The former Kota Baru MP reminded them that this was substantiated by crime data provided by the police; as such, he urged them to do some homework first and find out the root causes of sexual crimes involving children.
Zaid went on to assert that giving more powers to the Shariah Court appears to be an easy way out for them, suggesting that they appear to be bankrupt of ideas and solutions to address the malady.
Incidentally, he also called on MPs to do some work by going to the ground and show more concern about the offences against children; he added that the young are constantly exposed to all sorts of abuse and drug addiction and are literally calling out for help but the politicians seem not serious enough to protect them.
Zaid also reprimanded Umno Youth for seeking immediate popularity by asking for new laws to be created for “insolence” against the King when there were already enough laws in the country for that purpose, adding that he was happy that Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution had given them a tongue-lashing.
In fact, recently it was reported, that Saifuddin had outrightly dismissed Sik member of parliament Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman's proposal that every state in the country need to enforce its own syariah laws to address the increase in sexual crimes.
He then pointed out that it was not the failure of civil laws which were behind the rise of rape cases, adding that Kelantan was among several states that have a high number of sexual crimes against children although it had its own syariah laws.
Furthermore, he underscored the fact that Pas-ruled Kelantan's population was 98 per cent Malay Muslim with its own Syariah Criminal Code; yet, according to official figures, the number of sexual crimes there has shown an upward trend. Why?
Moreover, he highlighted that ironically cases were also increasing in Kedah and Terengganu (both ruled by Pas) while the number in Penang had dropped between 2022 and last year.
Saifuddin then went on to chide the Pas MP by telling him not to point fingers (at civil laws) and instead work together with all quarters to tackle such crimes by raising awareness; moreover, according to him, police statistics show that sexual crimes such as rape, molest, possession of pornographic materials, physical sexual assault and incest were committed mostly by those in the B40 segment.
The strong rebuke from Zaid and Saifuddin was in response to the Pas lawmaker's apparent assertion in parliament last week that syariah laws must be enforced in every state as civil laws had allegedly failed to combat the increasing number of sexual crimes.
While the Pas MP’s call may have been understandable, inevitably it is also believed to have raised suspicions among certain quarters that the opposition Islamist party was trying to capitalise on the crime statistics to justify its call for introduction of stricter syariah laws; this was especially after the country’s apex court had last month shot down sixteen provisions in Kelantan’s Syariah Enactment as it was already said to be covered by civil laws enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
Islamic laws and punishments are the Best.
ReplyDeleteNons must accept this, as well as alignment of civil laws with Islamic laws.
Turkey Erdogan's AKP has been very successful at this.
Turkey's AtatΓΌrk designed Constitution is heavily secular, but AKP have been able to Shariah-fy Turkey by amending and introducing civil laws - still under civil law - that are aligned with Islamic laws .
So you CAN have an effective Islamic State even if your Constitution says you are officially a secular country.