Caning Kartika! What's Next?
by Eugene Yapp
In August 2009, the Kuantan Syariah High Court sentenced Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor to a RM5,000 fine and six whippings after she pleaded guilty to consuming an alcoholic drink in public last year. Kartika was charged under Section 136 of the Pahang Administration of the Islam Law and Malay Custom Enactment.
The court's decision has caused great controversy and invited criticisms from various quarters. Some feel that Kartika should not be caned as the punishment could damage Malaysia's reputation abroad as a moderate Muslim country. On the other hand, the Islamists claim that the punishment must go ahead as she has breached Islamic law.
Is it any of our business?
Although, there is a wide spectrum of opinions coming forth, the non-Muslim community has generally been silent on the issue. One reason may be ignorance. After all, how many non-Muslims are familiar with Islamic jurisprudence or the Syariah enactments? Notwithstanding our unfamiliarity with Islamic matters, can we afford to be ignorant and remain silent?
The Muslim authorities may wish for non-Muslims to stay silent. "This issue pertains to Islamic matters and non-Muslims should therefore stay out of it as it does not concern them and have no bearing on them", so they reason. Some may go as far as to think that this is a divine sanction and should not be subjected to questioning.
Should Christians think likewise?
For one, aren't we all Malaysians irrespective of our creed and race? If so, whatever befalls another Malaysian should be of equal concern to us as we are all citizens of Malaysia and part of the destiny and fortunes of our beloved nation, Malaysia!
Hence, Christians in Malaysia should care for the plight of their fellow citizens like this mother of two who is forced to undergo this sort of punishment.
When a crime is committed and where judgments and decisions under-taken are within the public sphere, all such judgments, punishments and decisions should be subject to public scrutiny and appropriate legal reasoning. It should not be the case that public scrutiny and debate is exempted for one community.
Otherwise, where is the justice of the case and fairness to all others of different race and community?
Sri Lankan scholar Vinoth Rama-chandra points out, "Christians should not respond by demanding a state makes no controversial moral judgments but rather by demanding a state be more transparent in its judgments, precisely so that they may be subjected to wide-ranging public scrutiny and debate."
In the case of Kartika and her sentence, the question is whether the punishment to be meted out is just?
The Kuantan Syariah Court Appeal panel thinks so. On what basis was this decision arrived at? No reasons or grounds were given as to whether the sentence was just.
Again, what's the crime?
Specifically, one may ask, what was the crime she was supposed to have committed? Is it in breach of the very precepts of Islam or is the crime merely against some 'man-made' legislation?
And even if the act committed is a crime in that it is against the precepts of Islam, does the sentence commensurate with the so-called crime committed and in accordance to present-day mode and circumstances?
As Zainah Anwar of Sisters in Islam pointed out in her article "Growing List of Don'ts", Kartika was a first-time offender and showed remorse for the wrong she committed.1 There was also no violence in the commission of the so-called offence either.
Under such circumstances, normal guidelines would prescribe she receives an automatic one-third remission of the sentence. 1
Yet, as we know it, these considerations have not been highlighted or appear to have been taken into account in arriving at the pronouncement that her sentence is deemed just.
The fact that Kartika has now boldly made her stand on the matter - that she prefers to go ahead with the punishment - does not detract from the legitimate concerns from wider society and of Malaysian citizens as a whole about the question: "What is the crime and why the sort of punishment?"
It's our business too
And this, if we may submit, is a question all Christians must ask and take cog-nizance of. For if one aspect of our criminal justice system is brought to bear on another in the name of religion and with State sanctions without discourse or debate as to its legality or illegality and whether the form of sentencing invoked is appropriate for the mischief rendered in accordance to our times and age, then it may be that we are well on our way to a form of 'religious tyranny' where religion or religious clerics or even the State have the final say.
This is undesirable given that Malaysia has consistently held herself out as a democratic country with a Muslim majority community and in the light of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's 1Malaysia concept.
We therefore call on Christians to exercise their prophetic witness - to cherish and uphold justice and transparency by calling for a review of the judgment and sentencing and to ensure that any decision regarding the case is made manifest subject to the Rule of Law and Equity as well as established legal reasoning and jurisprudence.
Only then will our beloved nation thrive and prosper as a truly democratic and yet pluralistic-multi-cultural community of people under the blessings of God.
May God bless Malaysia!
1 The Star, Oct 4 2009. Accessed on 7 October 2009 |
