Chin Chong Foh: To put forward a petition to rulers, negotiation among political parties, appeal to Federal Court, three channels to deal with 355 Bill

Nanyang Siang Pau, August 14, 2016

Kota Bharu, Aug 13 – Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman Institute of Chinese Studies Head of Department Dr. Chin Chong Foh opined that there are three channels to solve the controversies regarding private member’s Bill to amend Act 355, i.e. to put forward a petition to the rulers, to appeal to the Federal Court as well as negotiation among political parties.

He said the Conference of Malay rulers could make a final decision on the National Islamic Affairs; therefore the stance of state rulers is very crucial. He understood that many Sultans did not support the amendment to Act 355, so the persons concerned could try to approach the Malay rulers and to submit petition, hopefully the rulers would make their stance.

He said this in answering to questions posed by Huang Yan Sheng and Zheng Jia Yao at a forum on “How to treat the Bill on amendment on Act 355 and hudud” held yesterday.

Islam also advocates democratic consultation

He said another way is to go through litigation process in Federal Court to challenge the said Act to seek court ruling on whether it is against the Federal Constitution, or lastly, to solve the problem through negotiation among the political parties.

He stressed that Islam also advocates democratic consultation; whoever disagreed can bring up the issue as the most important thing is to achieve unity. If any person feels that it affects their life, he is allowed to express his view.

Dr. Chin Chong Foh also mentioned that at the moment the jurisdiction of Shariah court is very clear, i.e. it can only hear cases on Muslims and impose jail sentence not exceeding three years and six strokes of rotan, the amendment to Act 355 is to enhance the jurisdiction of the Shariah court.

He said Shariah court of Kuala Lumpur can hear 40 categories of cases, man dressed in woman clothe can also be punished in Shariah court. Presently the maximum sentence for such a case is one year imprisonment, with the increase of the jurisdiction the sentence will exceed one-year jail term, eventually people throughout the whole country will have to strictly follow the dress code, no shorts are allowed for non-Muslims in market place and this has happened in government departments where the public are prohibited from wearing shorts.

Amendment will have cascade effect on non-Muslims

Dr. Chin Chong Foh said once the Bill is passed, there will be the emergence of more related acts, and the grass roots people below will collaborate to gradually affect the life of non-Muslims.

Malaysia is an integral nation, Muslims and non-Muslims are living together, and therefore, there would be cascade effect.

He felt that the formulation of Acts must be fair where punishment must be made in accordance with the seriousness of the nature of the crime. Small crime must not be imposed with heavy punishment and major crime must not be released without punishment.

To turn a blind eye to big crime

“Why must we impose heavy penalty against small crime but turn a blind eye to big crime? The embezzlement of treasury funds, corruption, murder are major crime, while consuming of alcohol and adultery are just small crime,” he said.

He said the most frequent words mentioned in the Holy Quran are to help the poor, equality, justice, righteousness, consultation and democracy, whereas consuming of alcohol and adultery only mentioned once or twice. Have the national and state leaders fulfil their responsibilities?

“We mustn’t put the cart before the horse; leaders of 75% Islamic countries also understood that hudud can’t be imposed by force, when problem of corruption has yet to be solved, there will be many injustices when implementing hudud. When the country is besieged with scandals, do we have confidence that there will be justice in the implementation of hudud?”

He said when Muslims are subjected to strict regulations, they will be psychologically imbalance, and as such he did not rule out that Muslims would force the government to also impose hudud law upon non-Muslims.

He also said draconian laws could not effectively prevent crime, for instance in China, corruption case will face death penalty, but corruption is still rampant in China. True fairness, transparent and corruption-free are the most important elements in a country. If the government is corrupted, people will continue to commit crime, and the implementation of hudud may bring greater damage.