Red-shirt leader Jamal Md Yunos’s condemnation of Muslim politicians who do not support Hadi’s hudud bill as “devils” sounds very much like a ‘fatwa’.

Some people have been using Islam as a weapon against non-Muslims, politicians and others, (although the Prophet did not mean it to be used as such), and Jamal is now using it against Muslim politicians who have different views from that of Hadi and similar-minded persons. It is like condemning them to hell.

Will Muslim politicians be intimidated by Jamal calling them devils?

This reminds me of an incident in the mid 80s when the then-Kedah menteri besar, who was guest of honour at a function, was upon arrival taken to the waiting room and persuaded to dress up as a cowboy, complete with sombrero, and enter the hall with a blazing gun. He was greeted by shouts of “Montoya”.

‘Montoya’ became such a catchy word and wherever the MB went, he was called “Montoya,” especially by children. He wasn’t able to take this taunting for long and soon gave up his post.

“Devils”. That’s what Jamal has labelled Muslim politicians who don’t support Hadi’s hudud bill. He is, whether he remembers ‘Montoya’ or not, doing a similar thing. He wants the pak-turut Muslims to start sneering at their leaders who do not support hudud with the hope that this will make them ‘repent’ and support hudud, as they will not say “I will rather resign or be kicked out than support Hadi’s hudud” as the spoils of office are too good to sacrifice.

The Sun on Nov 25, 2016 carried a picture of children carrying placards stating ‘Saya Muslim, Saya Sokong RUU 355'. What do these young children know about hudud, or how much about Islam itself? Is this kind of practice actually allowed in Islam - using innocent children to further the cause of politicians?

These children are merely following orders, merely showing ‘respect’ to their teachers or elders, without being able to appreciate what it is all about, whether it is good or bad.

Will Muslims politicians who do not support Hadi’s hudud become psychologically broken if they should begin to be called “devils” by Muslim voters in their constituencies or will they stand by their conscience and educate their constituents about the hypocricy behind Hadi’s hudud?

Will they tell their constituents that research done by Muslim scholars has shown that Ireland, a Roman Catholic country, was found to be the most Islamic compared to Middle Eastern hudud practicing Islamic countries where crime has not gone down?

Jamal is pitting these politicians against religious authorities such as the ulama and muftis who are all for Hadi’s hudud. How will they face up to these authorities if their own knowledge of Islam is no match to that of the authorities’?

The Muslim politicians who have in the past declared that they will not support Hadi’s hudud for some reason or other should show us they are people of honour by staying steadfast to their declared stand. Jamal has no divine authority to turn them into ‘devils’, or to compel them to support Hadi’s hudud.

All Muslim politicians should not be taken in by the baseless blanket explanation that existing punishments under the Islamic laws are not effective in deterring crimes and therefore RUU 355 is necessary.

School discipline has gone down

Crime has gone up because school discipline over the past 40 over years has gone down and down to such a level that in some schools teachers are afraid of their pupils. Isn’t this the most absurd situation, where adults cannot control children, allowing the children to acquire devilish behaviour and become criminals in adult life?

Hadi and his ilk should instead look seriously into the causes of school indiscipline and take measures to bring back the standard of discipline that existed in the 50s and 60s.

Can Hadi tell us whether it is not better to give young children a few strokes of a small, light cane and change their behaviour for the better (kalau hendak meluntur buluh, biarlah dari rebungnya) than to allow indiscipline to grow and turn into crime in adult life and then give them 100 lashes, 30 years’ jail, chop off their hands or even stone them to death?

The answer to rising crime is not hudud but bringing back strict discipline into our schools to create future adults of a much better character than the adults of today.

Has Hadi got the mettle, the will and the knowledge about child character development to take this challenge if he is genuine about making our future society a better one with minimal crime?