Anwar Ibrahim & Syariah Court
Being someone who is keen on the development of a double civil-syariah court system in our country, I am quite aghast at Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s latest move to seek restitution in the syariah court against Saiful-what’s-his-second-name’s allegation of sodomy.
Malaysiakini reported that
The complaint, referred to as qazaf in Islamic law, is to request a probe into ‘false allegations’ pertaining to adultery or sexual misconduct…
Under syariah laws, Saiful will be required to produce four credible witnesses to back up his claims, lawyers said.
If he fails to do so, he can be declared a fasid or unreliable person, and faces three years imprisonment, or a fine up to RM5,000, for bearing false witness.
As constitutional advocates have been pushing for the upholding of our civil court as the adjudicator of dispute, noting that a double court system would not only complicated our judiciary processes but may create opportunities for legal loopholes which will jeopardize the Malaysian judiciary (which is already in a sorry state lah, sorry to say), Anwar’s latest move is seen as a step backwards, especially when this time around he is invoking an Islamic criminal law which for whatever reason seemed to place disproportionate onus of proof on the plaintiff/complainant.
Will the would-be Prime Minister of Malaysia create a precedence in this matter where the defendant of a criminal case flying to the syariah court and escaping the constitutional civil court (I take that to include criminal courts). Granting such unnecessary power and role to the syariah court by such high profile personality will only create further confusion over this matter.
While I understanding there are political cost at stake, the whole matters seemed to be Dato Seri playing into the game of his opponent who challenged him to swear on the Quran of his innocence. With due respect to the religion of Islam and my Muslims brothers and sisters, this is a criminal case and we must allow for the normal criminal investigation and persecution process to take place. No individual must be allowed to be presumed innocent from a crime by personal declaration. The devil himself knows not the intent of man – says the common law. And when we call upon the now silent Arbitrator of the Last Day, we are putting not only the whole judiciary in mockery but god himself who has ordained civilizations and systems whereby men may adjudicate one and another. Dato Seri’s move to bring the matters to a judicial court is wise, but my only contention is why the syariah court? If this is a distrust of the civil court system (which is understandable), we just had to remember the late SM Moorthy and Lena Joy and others whose basic constitutional rights were unrestituted in the syariah court.
I believe the matters ought to be deliberated further between PKR’s political partners since the can of civil-syariah-jurisdiction-dichotomy worms is being reopened.
I am a true-blood Penang "kia" (son of Penang) who love everything about my beautiful home-state, well, almost everything. :)
Formerly I served as the Special Assistant to the Penang State Executive Councillor (State-level ministerial post) in charge of Youth and Sports. I am now pursuing an MA in Philosophy at a local university.
I am also the Executive Secretary of the Network of Social Democracy in Asia (www.socdem.asia) and sit on the committee of the State-sponsored Good Governance and Gender Equality Society (3Gs). Since 2007, I also served in various capacities in the office of the Hon' Madam Chong Eng, a leading Malaysian woman Parliamentarian.
Politically, I had the privilege to help manage four successful political campaigns since 2007 and was involved in planning, campaigning and monitoring of eight state and federal level elections in Malaysia.
I am engaged with the love of my life, Jorin. Both of us worship at the Bukit Mertajam Gospel Centre.
July 12th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
If Muslims want to go to the Syariah Court to get justice, they should be allowed to do so. But on criminal matters, the jurisdiction of our civil courts should prevail. For example in this case, Anwar may be exonerated by the Syariah court but he can still be charged and convicted under the Penal Code if there is enough evidence. To hold otherwise will be another step towards the establishment of an Islamic state in Malaysia.
Our current problem is our civil courts have abdicated their duty to do justice whenever an Islamic issues cropped up e.g. the decisions of those ‘body snatching’ cases. They just washed their hands citing lack of jurisdiction.
Lastly, I don’t think Anwar’s action in bringing this matter to the Syariah court can be construed as his distrust of the civil courts (though I wouldn’t blame him if he does based on his previous experiences). He has filed a defamation suit against Saiful in the civil court. I also think in the event he is charged for sodomy under the Penal Code, he wouldn’t ask his lawyer to raise a preliminary objection that he is a Muslim and therefore only the Syariah court would have jurisdiction.