DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang was right to rebut acting PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang for saying that syariah and hudud laws which have long been practised in Saudi Arabia could be used as a model for peace and security ( Kit Siang: Hudud law will not deter crime ).
Instead, it has, according to Amnesty International, been a model of torture, degrading treatment, and cruel, inhuman treatment, according to the report A secret state of suffering published in a UK medical group newsletter.
Let's extrapolate on how Malaysian society will be reconstructed according to PAS' ideal as compared with the situation now.
First is the reversal of women's autonomy and individualism. Western feminist values of gender equality are inter-culturally incompatible with Islamic tradition. Their social and sexual behaviour will be closely regulated. In Islamic tradition, their role is subordinated to that of wider family grouping and their modesty and honour are placed on a high pedestal.
Monogamy is relegated to unimportance because polygamy is allowed. The entire relationship between the sexes and nuclear family system will be revamped. See the report Islamic Social Order .
As a matter of legal system, hudud cannot strictly be ameliorated to accommodate women groups' objections. Four credible Muslim male witnesses for proof of rape mean just that. It cannot be reduced in number. Just like the death punishment prescribed in hudud for adultery and apostasy.
A lesser sentence cannot be substituted. For once amended or reinterpreted, hudud no longer represents God's but man's laws.
At best, an Islamic judge will set a higher level of proof for serious crimes. While possibly more people will be deterred from committing serious crimes for fear of severe punishment, more among those guilty will be set free (to prey on society) because of the difficulty of meeting the proof required under syariah . Instead of the standard of proof of guilt beyond reasonable doubt, it will be beyond whatsoever doubt, no matter how unreasonable.
New crimes punishable by death will be created in cases of adultery and apostasy while the present severe punishment of others as in dadah trafficking may be lessened because hudud does not cover them.
There is also less predictability comparing past and present legal punishments. There is, in syariah , no doctrine of precedence as in English law that gives a measure of guidance and consistency in sentencing. Under syariah , each judge is free to punish based upon local norms, customs, and informal rules: the consumption of alcohol in Egypt is punished differently from Iran or Saudi Arabia.
Even within the same jurisdiction, the law may be enforced differently according to wide discretionary powers vested in syariah judges not bound by the English doctrine of judicial precedents.
Our commercial and company laws based on Western "colonial" secular norms including corporate governance and transparency and protection of minority interests have no place in an Islamic regime. Commercial banking based in interest will be replaced by Islamic banking based on profit-share.
The premise of an Islamic state is sovereignty of Allah's (God) laws. There is therefore no need for parliament as an institution to express sovereignty of man-made laws enacted by the people's elected representatives.
By extension, there is also no need for political parties, elections, independent legislature, trades unions, Bar association, civil society interest groups, human rights organisations liquor sale in clubs, lounges, hotels and restaurants will be prohibited.
Suhakam's framework of human rights based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will have to be modified to allow public stoning, beheading, amputation of limbs and corporal punishment.
I very much doubt Keadilan and PRM's commitment to social justice and democracy in the Barisan Alternatif's Manifesto when they continue supporting PAS.
