PAS Youth will hold a demonstration in front of Utusan Malaysia's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur over the daily's cartoon on yesterday which allegedly insulted Islam.

pas muktamar 130610 nasruddin hassan 2 According to a report in the Islamist party’s online organ Harakahdaily today, its wing chief Nasruddin Hassan ( right ) said the event tomorrow would serve its first response over what it said was the Umno-owned daily’s “big mistake” over the matter.

If the newspaper ignored PAS Youth’s remonstrances over the matter, the former will see increasingly larger and bigger demonstrations against it, Nasruddin was reported as saying.

“The caricature clearly insulted the Islamic laws when it was drawn to convey the message and portray Islamic laws as weak, whereas (Islam) came from Allah, of which justice and effectiveness when (properly) implemented are proven,” he told Harakahdaily .

The cartoon, carried by Utusan yesterday and entitled ' Confusion on Rape Cases ', depicts a victim going to a religious cleric to complain of being raped.

Asked whether she has four witnesses to corroborate her claim, she said she has a recording of the crime on a handphone.

The cartoon then has the cleric dismissing such equipment as useless evidence, and advises her to drop the claim for lack of the witnesses required.

The second strip depicts the complainant making the same complaint to a police officer.

Asked what proof she has of her claim, she replies she has a phone video recording, to which the officer is shown saying immediately that such evidence was sufficient for an investigation to begin.

Muslim groups yesterday blasted Utusan for what they claimed was its insult of Islam, with one group calling for action to be taken against the daily and the cartoonist implicated.

Attempts to seek Utusan's comments over the furore has been futile.

'Charge Utusan, cartoonist'

pas demonstration article 121 200106 Condemning the cartoon, Melaka PAS Youth chief Aizat Baharuddin said Islamic law clearly demands that four credible witnesses be produced when a person is accused of illicit sex.

"However, the cartoon dialogue showed the cartoonist not being sensitive to Islamic law but is seen to make fun of the religion.

"It seemed to show that the law of having to produce four credible witnesses cannot be used, while video evidence and pictures could be used as evidence.

"It also depicts that the religious officer as not serious and ignorant, compared to the police," said Aizat.

Strict interpretations of Islamic laws stipulate that the only evidence acceptable evidence in matters of sexual crimes in the absence of four witnesses is the confession of the accused.

Yesterday, the Ulama Association of Malaysia (PUM), meanwhile, called for Utusan and the cartoonist to be prosecuted for "having clearly insulted religioius scholars and Islam".

"Cartoons such as this seek to belittle the views of the ulama and give a negative impression of Islam," said PUM president Sheikh Abdul Halim Abd Kadir.

Abdul Halim also called for the state muftis to give notice to Utusan about the cartoon, while urging the National Fatwa Council to make known its stand on the matter of video evidence in accusations of a sexual nature.

"Newspapers should be used to unite and create awareness, not increase the level of conflict and disunity among Muslims."

One raises dignity, one degrades

Former Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin has said that if those responsible for the cartoon had intended to insult Islamic laws over the mater of sexual crimes, then they have committed an act that place them out of the fold of Islam.

However, if the intention was to inform the public as to the difference between the laws of consensual but illicit sex and rape, then the state of his faith has not been affected as he is only seeking to correct the misperception that both illicit sex and rape are governed by the same laws of evidence.

While illicit sex is a sin that Islam prefers to be kept in the realm of private morality - and thus demands testimony of four credible witnesses to make the charge stick, rape is a cruel violation against an individual and is thus governed by laws of evidence that are less stringent.

“There’s a difference between accusing somebody of illicit sex and alleging one has been a victim of a violation of one’s dignity.

“Accusing a person of having committed zina has elements of bringing down someone’s dignity, while claiming one is a rape victim is an act of defending one’s dignity.”