It is again the same BN wakil (BN-Jerai) who in the UMNO General assembly waved the May 13 book and warned non malays not to stir the hornet’s nest by questioning Malay rights who recently expressed concern over the tight-fitting and skin-baring outfits that Muslim artistes wore. Figure-hugging clothes, he said, did not reflect Malaysian culture. He was quoted as saying that “some of the attire seemed to be made from little material, exposing skin and were too tight.”

Soon after Siti Noor Idayu Abdul Moin, 22, who was wearing a sleeveless top and long trousers was detained by state religious officials who raided the place in which she performed on last Tuesday Siti said that the officers wrote her a notice accusing her of dressing sexily and encouraging immorality just because she sang there.

The religious authorities are aggressive in pushing their agenda because there are BN politicians out there playing to the gallery with race and faith issues and who for their own narrow political agenda are goading, encouraging and cheering them on.

The problem is playing on racial and religious sentiments seem to always work in this country. It brings results either in garnering political popularity or getting the religious authorities to punish some people for infractions of so called Islamic propriety.

On the other hand, those who preach moderation – like the Prime Minister who promotes a moderate practice of the faith by way of Islam Hadhari or the enlightened messages of the more progressive amongst the elites like Datuk Zaid Ibrahim (BN-Kota Bharu) and Raja Nazrin – find their message largely ignored as rhetoric, but a more radical and reactionary approach to race/religion as that taken by MP (BN-Jerai) seem to always work in terms of showing influence and power which will then serve as an incentive for the rest of the flock to follow example and take an increasingly reactionary approach to race and religion….

The forces of moderation are sidelined whilst that of the radical are rewarded and growing in influence and power – that is the trend in the country akin to lighting a match in a petrol pump station, which if unchecked will eventually ignite the country in flames.

“Treason? Treason? What the fcuk is this reasoning by the Syariah Court??? asked by a commenter who must be forgiven being an obvious kafir (infidel or a pagan) – sorry, but that’s how you are viewed by them!

In a nation based on sovereignty of man made laws, treason is the crime of disloyalty and being traitorious and treacheous to one’s nation as shown by causing harm or death to the Sovereign, the Prime Minister, levying war and conspiring with the nation’s enemies to levy war against one’s own country.

The gravity of such an offence is deermed so great that in many a so called developed and modern countries, the punishment is life imprisonment whilst for others more traditional, it is death.

Scottish rebel, Sir William Wallace, featured in Mel Gibson’s “Brave Heart” was, as depicted in the film, tortured, quartered and had his heads and limbs displayed on poles in different parts of England as a deterrent against committing treason against the English King.
Apostasy or irtidãd too in Islam (esp the Shia sect) is equal to treason.

In an Islamic state, the sovereignty of laws is not derived from men’s deliberations and reasoning but God’s. It is His kingdom. To apostate is to renunciate and turn your back against the Sovereign, the Almighty Himself. It is to incite rebellion within His Kingdom.

Of course there are controversies (depending on which verse one selects from the holy references) on how to treat an apostate.

Take this one : “ They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah’s way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper” [ Q 4:89]

In Islamic jurisprudence, no murtad (apostate ) is allowed to exit from the faith.

Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance and kindness is viewed in the context only of the apostate being allowed rehabilitation ie in the sense of recanting his apostasy, repenting his intransigence against God and reverting into the fold of Islam. If the ‘murtad’ is still“recalcitrant” (the famous word Paul Keating used on Dr Mahathir) then the punishment is death, imprisonment and exile.

Some of you may cynically call this a checking into Hotel California (the Eagles’ famous song) but consider this – was William Wallace allowed to repent and spared punishment if he reaffirmed allegiance to the English King ?

Yes he would be spared his life but he would still be imprisoned in the Tower of London for the rest of his natural life.

In comparison the treatment meted to the apostate who recant, rehabilitate and return to the fold is certainly more merciful and compassionate in an Islamic state. He will not have to go to prison after a short stint in the rehabilitation and re-educational centre.

Even in ancient religious societies there’s always leeway for those deviants from majority faith to be rehabilitated or at least spared certain death.

For examples, in Greece Socrates would be spared if he renounced his teaching methods but he didn’t. Roman Governor (Pontius Pilate) enforcing the laws of the realm of the Jewish clergy would be all too glad to spare Jesus from punishment of death had he agreed to recant and renounce his teachings about the Kingdom of Heaven of which he was son of God – but again Jesus like William Wallace and Socrates didn’t!

Well if you are “modern” and believe like what 3rd American president Thomas Jefferson said about happiness being an inalienable right of man, a necessary condition of which is the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, then if you are living in a religious society, prepare to be punished and die for such beliefs.

But don’t be too happy living under jurisprudence of a modern state like UK and US when you commit ‘treason’ of selling defence secrets to the nations enemies. When caught and convicted, you can recant and express regret and vow to return to the fold of good citizenry, but when it comes to punishment the judge will still sentence you to long imprisonment term in their Hotel California there.

But not so in an Islamic State. Marimuthu’s wife, Raimah Bibi Noordin, who was like an apostate committing “treason” in Islamic state was not further harassed when she returned to the Muslim fold after “rehabilitation” and religious counseling. That is why the Religion is viewed and held merciful and compassionate in contrast to secular jurisprudence.