Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin speaking at the ‘Restoring Faith In Our Constitution’ dinner dialogue last night. ― Picture by Saw Siow FengKUALA LUMPUR, March 14 ― Seeking a review of the country’s diverse Islamic laws, the moderate Malay group dubbed G25 said it has been “encouraged” after meeting with several state rulers to discuss unconstitutional Shariah laws and moral policing.
At a dinner dialogue here last night called “Restoring Faith In Our Constitution”, G25 representative Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin noted that state Islamic laws have been encroaching on federal jurisdiction, which was why the group had sought out some of its rulers.
“We got a very good discussion,” Noor Farida told reporters after the dinner, referring to the recent meetings between G25 and a few state rulers.
The retired diplomatic envoy said among the concerns raised were the implementation of hudud as well as the setting up of rehabilitation camps for Muslims that purportedly deviate from Islamic teaching.
Noor Farida said the meetings were held in the past month, but declined to specify the number of rulers the group of influential former civil servants had met, or the identity of the sultans.
“They encouraged us to speak to other rulers,” she said, noting that decisions by the Conference of Rulers are made through a consensus.
G25 also plans to meet other rulers, as well as mentris besar and chief ministers, to discuss the increasing Islamisation of Malaysia, Noor Farida said.
She cited cases like the Negri Sembilan cross-dressing case, child conversion cases, body-snatching cases, the Borders case and the arrest of a Hindu bride.
In the Borders case, the Shariah High Court here discharged Borders bookstore branch manager Nik Raina Nik Abdul Aziz last month of selling a book deemed un-Islamic by local religious authorities.
Noor Farida also expressed fears of a “silent rewriting” of the Federal Constitution through the encroachment of Shariah law on crimes that should be under federal jurisdiction, as well as through the reluctance of civil courts to hear cases on constitutional issues that overlap with Islamic law.
“The Federal Court decided they had no jurisdiction to decide on cases concerning apostasy,” Noor Farida said in a speech at the dinner organised by law firm Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill, referring to the Lina Joy case.
The G25 spokesman also criticised moral policing by Islamic authorities, saying that khalwat raids are “totally un-Islamic”.
Khalwat raids are carried out against Muslims who are in “close proximity” with someone of the opposite sex who is not married to them or related by blood.
“In Islam, you’re not supposed to invade someone’s private spaces. That’s totally forbidden in Islam,” said Noor Farida.
She told reporters that G25 is planning to set up an expert group comprising local and international Shariah and constitutional experts to review Shariah laws in the country, noting that the jurisdiction of Islamic legislation is limited to the Federal Constitution’s Ninth Schedule, List II.
“We’ve identified members and given their names to the government...We’re working with the government to form this,” Noor Farida said, adding that 10 members have been identified but they have yet to be formally approached.
The G25 group currently has 44 members.
Last December, the initial group of 25 influential Malays had, in a strongly-worded open letter, called on the federal government to review Shariah criminal offences and to assert the supremacy of the Federal Constitution over Islamic state laws in the country.
The group, dominated by some of the country’s most senior-ranking civil servants who have since retired from duty, expressed its dismay over the unresolved disputes on the position and application of Islamic laws in Malaysia, which it said reflects a “serious breakdown” of the division of powers between the federal authority and the states.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/g25-claims-met-with-some-sultans-upbeat-over-islamic-law-reform#sthash.T3rzMMwK.dpuf
No comments:
Post a Comment