Yes, it has come back after about five years of silence. Hudud has come back to center stage. Why did I say five years? After 2008, Pakatan Rakyat leaders from PKR, PAS and DAP actually believe they could wrest Putrajaya from the ruling coalition of more than 50 years, Barisan Nasional. They need to be more united than ever, and certain compromises had to be done. DAP agreed to be more inclusive of the Bumis and would even go far from mentioning that the rights of the Bumis will be abolished. PAS, will restrain from making over-zealous comments and the holier-than-thou attitude was shunned "indefinitely" by bringing slogans to portray as if "PAS is for All". "Negara Islam" was then changed to "Negara Kebajikan". PAS did not even push for Hudud to be in the "Buku Jingga", the long-term masterplan of the administration of Pakatan Rakyat Federal Government should they come to power. Meanwhile PKR, would just stay as they are. Multi-racial, holding up the Constitution. Whoring supports through lies and controversies.
After the Chinese Tsunami failed to clinch Putrajaya but gave DAP a commanding 38 Parliamentary seats, it sent jitters to their ally PAS who saw many seats in Kelantan being taken away and their Parliamentary seats reduced. Fear that they might gone overboard by overlooking the grassroots supporters who are mostly pious Muslims, the compromises made during that five years did not seem to be pooling dividends. Alas, PAS is back with their Islamic rhetoric only a year after the 13th General Election.
As a Muslim, I am not denying Hudud, at any cost. Who am I to question the Almighty and what is the use of living in this world if there is no God? I would not say that I am the best of Ustazs but maybe this piece is simply to remind the Non-Muslims in Malaysia what we Muslims, who are the majority in the Malaysian population, believe.
We believe that the word "Allah" is exclusive to us Malaysian Muslims. Since the question of language plays a role, we do not feel the Non-Muslims in Malaysia should use this word freely because you guys are not even Arabic speakers. Even the Christian Arabs mostly use "Ar-Rab" in the Bibles. The complication that we have is the Christian community in Sabah and Sarawak have been using the Indonesian version Bibles where the word "Allah" is referred to what they believe as their God. Since it doesn't look to be easy to take this away from the Sabah and Sarawak Christian community, it is decided by the Government to just let it be. Status quo.
We also believe in Hudud, as commanded by Allah. I know the Non-Muslims in Malaysia fear that they would have their hands chopped off for giving bribery or receive death by stoning for keeping a mistress in one of those studios, SOHOs, SOFOs in the Klang Valley but as far as I know, when you talk about the Malaysian context, the separation of laws between Shariah law (which is a State matter under the Constitution) and the secular (criminal and civil) law would see the Non-Muslims being free of the Shariah law.
However, it is not as simple as that. The punishment for crimes are very different in both laws. For example, what would a Non-Muslim man gets if he was caught of khalwat ? (close proximity, or in my own words, caught pants down, literally). The thing is though, I do not see Hudud as a law to punish people but more of a preventive law. You should also know that Hudud promotes forgiveness and if the criminal was forgiven by the victim's family, he or she is spared from the punishment. But of course some of you did not know this before because all that was playing in your head is to be Islamophobic, prejudiced, ticking Islam at any chance you get, racist and so on.
Lets go back to the example of khalwat above, or lets make it up by one more level - adultery. Adultery is an act of extramarital sex and is seen to be the mother of all sins to you women out there, especially the feminists. Logically speaking, feminists of all people should be supporting hudud like diehard fans! Funny though most of the protestors across the Beverly Hills Hotel featuring Jay Leno had the sign "Feminists are the Majority", boycotting the Sultan of Brunei for implementing hudud in the country he rule. According to the holy book Al-Quraan, the punishment for adultery is death by stoning. Dear feminists, Yay or Nay? That's why I have said this before that feminists do not really know what they want. To me, feminists are also extremists. Islam meanwhile, promotes moderation (wasatiyyah).
Death by stoning is extreme, not moderation you say? Like I said earlier, Shariah Law is more of a preventive law rather than punishing. In the case of a Non-Muslim dude committing adultery with someone's wife (which again, the biggest sin to the feminists), under Hudud, this actually will not happen at the first place! That someone's wife know about the repercussion, the risk of doing it with this guy. SHE COULD BE STONED TO DEATH! What horror, seconds later that necessary fear starts sinking in and it is actually fear of God that comes to play (And yes we Muslims should fear God). So she would just keep calm and reject the baldy hunk and straight away seek fasakh (divorce initiated by the wife) from the wrong man she married.
By the way. it has also come to my attention that Hudud is actually in the Bible as well especially the stoning as above, but linked to more sins. Since I am not a Christian and Islam taught me to respect other religions, I will leave it to my Christian brothers and sisters of the following interpretations from the Bible:
When the politicians started bashing PAS for wanting to table the Hudud plan for Kelantan, they actually forgot (or ignorant) about the fact that we Muslims believe in Hudud. Fearing loss of support from the Muslims, it is only politically correct that PAS has to come back with their Hudud stance and feeling disappointed after being rejected by the Chinese, UMNO shows a silent support. Sad enough, the next Parliamentary seating could even blow up the sides into Muslims and Non-Muslims because of Hudud. It was truly a fatal mistake for the Non-Muslims especially the Chinese to reject the winning coalition in General Election 13. As we speak, there is no Chinese representative (MCA) in the Cabinet but so many in the Opposition through DAP. The constant bashing of Muslims by Christian or Non-Muslims NGOs (most recently the UiTM alleged "Anti-Christian" talk) certainly do not help. The Muslims might seem stupid or pleasant people but silently they realise they are losing if they are not united, at least for UMNO and PAS leaders.
PM Najib Razak might afterall give freedom to any member of the BN component parties to reject, approve or abstain from voting when the Hudud Bill for Kelantan is tabled. Traditionally, Barisan Nasional would find a consensus from the component parties and to vote yes or no, like how it happened in the GST Bill. However, he is indeed a politician through and through, having set foot into the political scene at a tender age of 23. He was the first to coin the words "Chinese Tsunami" right after the General Election 13 result was announced. Like PAS, he was pushed back to reality that Malaysians are too divided to be united thanks to the dividing education system (vernacular schools expecially) and economic racial disparity. Announcing this freedom, he is playing a huge gamble but might hit the lottery gaining the support of the Muslims majority. If Hudud for Kelantan is passed, there would even be a huge call to invite PAS into the Barisan Nasional coalition, making it stronger, to the expense of the Non-Muslims' (especially the Chinese) already shrinking representatives in the Government.
Just like Hudud in the example of whether that someone's wife would sleep with anyone else, Hudud would have not been tabled in the Parliament should there was no such Chinese Tsunami. The Chinese are indirectly the proponents of Hudud. With a strong MCA in the Government, Hudud issue would just come and go, like in 2004. Power sharing or not, the minorities need strong representatives in a ruling Government.
So, there you have it. You were the ones who voted and now you have to bear the consequences. This is not permanent though, if you vote again wisely come the 14th General Election.
