Between khalwat charge on non-Muslim and Islam Hadhari
Friday, April 4th, 2008 | 5:30 pm @ SK
While the other side of me is feeling uneasy with the latest proposal to prosecute non-Muslims for khalwat (close proximity), the other side of me is feeling the ridiculousness of the religious-obsessed group political culture we now live in.
To cut it short, here’s a few critical points from human rights lawyer Malik Imtiaz and human rights activist Farish A. Noor.
First, the Constitutional framework envisaged Islamic law being relevant only to the personal law of persons professing the religion of Islam to the extent that the same did not conflict with the fundamental liberties of these individuals.
Second, what would happen to the image of Malaysia as the so-called bastion of moderate Islam when the international media gets a glimpse of this non-so-moderate Islam at work? Is Islam Hadhari to be enforced by the whip today?
If it take ages to build up an empire, it’s taking a mere split second to come out with a dumb idea to provoke the making of disaster.
Unfortunately, that’s quite what’s happening in our backyard now.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
The unchallenged charge of the zealots, as in this case, is one of the strongest reasons yet why the non-Malays (read, non-Muslims) are no longer supporting the BN government. All such inflammatory statements come from bodies associated to the government and not one of the leaders have stood up for the non-Muslims.
Is khawat a crime for the non-Muslims? Or is it just a sin? Why should a non-Muslim be charged in court if he has not committed a crime?
Has any MCA, MIC or PPP leader said anything about this?
April 8th, 2008 at 1:16 am
On second thoughts, MCA, MIC and PPP must be busy licking their wounds. :)
Wake up, guys, before your pants are lost!