A moment of reckoning for Malaysia

On Friday night, February 24, parishes throughout the country were scheduled to hold prayers for our lawmakers that they may be “guided in knowledge and wisdom to discern and act for the common good of all peoples, namely for peace, harmony, respect and justice.”

Feb 25, 2017

By Anil Netto
On Friday night, February 24, parishes throughout the country were scheduled to hold prayers for our lawmakers that they may be “guided in knowledge and wisdom to discern and act for the common good of all peoples, namely for peace, harmony, respect and justice.”

The prayers were planned ahead of a parliamentary sitting due to convene on March 6.

The Bishops of Malaysia hoped that Malaysians would “stand in solidarity with one another, irrespective of creed and culture” and “strive to be beacons of hope and mercy for, in this way, we mirror the face of Jesus Christ, which is love.”

We live in worrying times. The economy is in the doldrums. National debt has climbed. Purchasing power has dropped following GST and the rakyat now are feeling the impact of the cuts in subsidies and higher fuel prices.

And now we have to contend with Hadi’s bill, which has caused considerable unease. Is the bill something the drafters of the Merdeka Constitution could have envisaged 60 years ago?

The Pas rally in support of Hadi’s bill on February 18 drew a crowd of some 50,000 – well short of party president Hadi Awang’s forecast of 200,000 — and this despite the lack of roadblocks or threats of arrests.

The turnout was probably similar to what Pas could have drawn at a stadium in Kelantan or Terengganu and probably does not suggest a massive groundswell in favour of Hadi’s bill.

Some have argued that the bill is only about empowering the Syariah courts.

But the implications of Hadi’s bill are clear, according to lawyer Surendra Ananth, who is deputy co-chairperson of the Bar Council’s constitutional law committee, last November (in a published news report that was reproduced in the Bar Council’s website). It will pave the way for the enforcement of hudud, he said.

Parliament may set the maximum threshold for the punishments without naming the offences. In this case, Hadi’s bill seeks to allow the Syariah courts to impose a prison term of up to 30 years, fines up to RM100,000 and up to 100 strokes of the cane — much higher than the present limits.

But the state assemblies “can create any Islamic offence wi\xj pE([f@?uhz
Thus, “the Bill, even if amended, would still allow for the implementation of Hudud (though not all offences, says Surendra.) “Further, it would not be specific to Kelantan. It would affect every state in Malaysia.

“The maximum enhancement of the Syariah court’s jurisdiction to such extent is against the basic structure of the Constitution.

Criminal law, he noted, is a matter under the Federal List. Malaysia was formed as a federation where the federal government has greater powers than the state governments. “It is for this reason that inconsistencies between federal and state laws must be resolved in favour of the former.”

“If the Syariah court is given such wide powers (even wider than the civil courts for caning), it would upset the deference given to Parliament on matters on criminal law.”

So the stakes are high. And people of goodwill should pray for wisdom and understanding.

All eyes will be watching what happens next to Hadi’s bill and — if it comes to it — the voting on the motion. Much will depend on how our members of parliament vote.

If the motion is passed in Parliament after debate in the coming sitting, then the ball passes to the federal government’s side and it will then have to decide what to do with the bill — whether or not to take over the process in Parliament and actually table the bill for subsequent readings.

Along the way, each political party, each member of parliament has some hard choices to make. All of them must be guided, not by political expediency, but by what is best for the future of our nation of diverse faiths, beliefs, cultures and ideologies.

The future of our nation — along with its very character — depends on it.

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