In a Facebook post today, Tariq Ismail said that although he has no issue with the private member’s bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act, brought in Parliament by PAS President Hadi Awang, he had serious concerns over the enforcement and monitoring.
“A major area of concern for me, which I am pretty sure echoes the sentiments of the liberals and non-Muslims, is in the area of enforcement.
“If this law passes Parliament, will there be any training for religious enforcers?” Tariq wrote.
Tariq pointed out that religious enforcers will have to be trained to be courteous in their duties instead of “raising their voices as if they are on a hunt”.
He also said that they will have to ensure at the same time that no form of sexual harassment occurs.
“How confident are PAS and the Federal Government that these laws will be enforced in the Islamic tradition of fairness and without malice?”
He also pointed out that false accusations were already a problem with the enforcement of Islamic morals, which was complicated by the Quranic requirement of four witnesses in the act of zina or adultery.
“Many have told me that the religious snoop squads have raided their homes or hotel rooms, where they were not committing any sort of sexual acts,” Tariq said.
Adding that the veracity of these stories was not the point, Tariq noted instead that the Quran and Hadith required four witnesses in accusations of zina.
“Thus, will the snoop squads be made redundant or will they still be maintained?
“If four people witnessed the act of zina, what are they doing there in the first place?”
Tariq also said checks and balances were necessary to ensure the law was not abused by those in power who have personal vendettas.
He drew up a possible scenario.
“Where can a victim run to so their rights are protected? For example, let’s assume Person A is accused of adultery by Person B, who has a vendetta against the former. Person B is of influence while Person A isn’t.
“There needs to be necessary checks and balances here. There is nothing wrong with the laws in my view, but it is the human and administrative aspect that I am very concerned about.”