The BN and Pakatan Rakyat governments are not helping to curb Islamic extremism in the enforcement of syariah laws, says spokesperson for the G25 Group of Moderate Malays, Noor Farida Ariffin.

A former Malaysian ambassador to the Netherlands, Noor Farida said the BN, especially Umno, was trying to outdo PAS in showing it is fighting for the “Islamic cause”.

Citing the use of the term ‘Allah’, which the nationalist party portrays as limited to Muslims as an example, she said Umno was using this issue to win the support of the Malays, especially those in the rural heartland.

“Umno has already lost the support of some urban Malays, the non-Malays and non-Muslims. It is now trying to win the support of the Malay rural areas, the heartland of the Malays, to maintain its power base.

“However, Umno forgets that the move angers the people of Sabah and Sarawak, where the majority there are Christians,” Noor Farida ( left ) said when speaking on “Restoring Faith in the Constitution” at an event organised by law firm Lee Hishammuddin Allen and Gledhill in Kuala Lumpur last night.

The former diplomat also illustrated another example in Johor, where action was taken last year to demolish a surau in Sedili, Kota Tinggi, which had been once been used by Buddhist tourists for meditation, despite no idol being placed there during their meditation.

Later when answering questions from the floor, Noor Farida said it was unfortunate that the Pakatan government was also no better on this issue, as could be seen from examples in Selangor and Kelantan.

She said Kelantan was bent on having hudud implemented, despite the constitutional implications, and in Selangor raids have been conducted on churches following fears of proselytisation, besides the seizure of the 321 copies of the Bible bearing the word 'Allah' from the Malaysian Bible Society.

Stressing that Islam emphasises justice, Noor Farida who besides being a former ambassador, was once a sessions court judge, said she observed from feedback received in Pakistan that the implementation of hudud there has led to women becoming victims.

This, she said, arose from the syariah laws on unlawful sex, since under hudud, four true Muslim male witnesses are required in to testify in a rape case.

However, Noor Farida said, it is difficult, in this day and age, to find four male witness who witnessed a rape and as a result women who work as maids or housewives are become victims of rapists and they become pregnant.

With the seizure of the Bible, Noor Farida said, the attorney-general declared there was no case but the Pakatan Selangor government did not take the initiative to return the seized holy books.

“It is only through the timely intervention by the Sultan Selangor that the matter was resolved,” she said.

Creeping Talibanism in Malaysia

She also spoke at length on the dangers of extremism creeping into Islam, citing the Borders bookstore case, transexual cases, child conversion cases, body snatching cases and the arrest of the Hindu bride during a wedding ceremony as examples of such of “Talibanism creeping into the country”.

She expressed fears of attempts in trying to silently rewrite the Federal Constitution to make syariah law the law of the country, which clearly violates the constitutional provisions.

This is an area of concern of the G25 group, which addressed the issue at a meeting with several Malay rulers last month.

“It is sad that this is happening and when the courts abdicate their jurisdiction. In one case, like the R Subashini case, the Federal Court ruled the syariah court is of equal footing with the civil court, but in another case a few months before, in the Latifah Mat Zain case, the apex court ruled that the syariah court is inferior to the civil court.”

“This is what we mean by attempts to silently rewrite the constitution. When the court abdicates its jurisdiction, it is not following the constitution and similarly with the state legislatures (that enact new syariah laws that go against the constitution),” Noor Farida said.

However, she credited the Negeri Sembilan government for coming up with a proposal requiring for divorce to be completed in a civil marriage before the converting spouse embraces Islam as the other maintains his or her original religion.

“Other states should emulate this move to resolve the problem of a converting spouse pushing for the conversion of their children. All the ancillary provisions, such as custody of children, relief and maintenance for the divorced wife, must be resolved before the husband is registered as a Muslim,” she said.

Two such conversions cases are the plight of S Deepa, whose husband N Viran (Izwan Abdullah) converted to Islam, and despite a court order, took his son away by force from his wife’s house in Negeri Sembilan,  and that or M Indira Gandhi, whose husband Mohamad Ridhuan Abdullah converted and took away their daughter.

Consultative council on syariah proposed

G25, Noor Farida said, is proposing the formation of a consultative council comprising syariah law experts and constitutional experts, either foreign or domestic experts, to look into existing syariah laws that violate the constitutional provisions.

“We have already identified the experts and are writing the terms of reference for them. We have suggested about 10 members and have given their names to the government.”

However, she would not name the experts, saying these people proposed have yet to be formally informed on this.

Noor Farida said the G25 is proposing those names for the government to consider in establishing the council and “we will involve the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) as well in this”.

She added that if the government did not want to form such a consultative council, then a council would be formed by G25 and it would submit proposals to the government to ensure its independence from government influence.

“Jakim should be part of it as it would be a good education for them,” she added.