I have just come back from the Shah Alam High Court which dismissed the habeas corpus application for the release of Revathi A/P Masoosai/Siti Fatimah binti Abdul Karim filed by her husband Suresh A/L Veerappan on the ground that she had been released from 180-day detention at the Ulu Yam Islamic Rehabilitation Centre by the Malacca Syariah High Court yesterday.
Revathi was released to the custody of her parents by the Malacca Syariah High Court yesterday evening with the order that she could not convert out of Islam. Syariah High Court judge Radzi said Islam is not only between man and Allah but is also the responsibility between the community and country, and to come out of it is “treason”.
Is it right and proper for the Malacca Syariah High Court judge to describe as treason a conversion out of Islam?
Isn’t it ridiculous to release Revathi to the custody of her parents when she is an adult woman of 29 years with a 18-month daughter from her marriage to Suresh according to Hindu rites, with the couple stoutly defending their family despite Revathi’s 180-day detention?
What does the Syariah Court’s order of release of Revathi to the custody of her parents mean? Could she be punished and even re-detained and sent again to Ulu Yam Rehabilitation Centre on ground of breach of term of her release order?
Revathi had been detained for six months since 9th January 2007 and sent to the Ulu Yam rehabilitation centre, and her family of three forcibly separated in three different locations when the Malacca Islamic Religious Department also took their daughter Diviya Dharshini from the custody of the father and placed her in care of the grandparents on March 26, 2007.
Diviya Dharshini is now more than 18 months old and she has no birth certificate — an example of bureaucracy gone crazy.
The lawyer for the aggrieved family, Karpal Singh, will file an appeal to the Federal Court against the Shah Alam High Court dismissal of the habeas corpus application, contending that although Revathi had been released rendering her habeas corpus application an academic exercise, there are important public issues concerning constitutional rights and fundamental liberties which the court should have addressed as they concern not just parties to the case but the larger public.
#1 by sotong on Monday, 9 July 2007 - 10:28 am
It all about power and wealth by hook or by crook……..religion, race and other issues are excuses!
#2 by grace on Monday, 9 July 2007 - 10:31 am
When I was in China, I happened to just ask for the price of a piece of cheap set of tea pot. Afger I examine the quality of the pot, I decided not to buy and walked out of the shop. The owner refused to let me go out and threated to beat me up. Thus I was forced to buy the good. Upon reaching the otel, I gave away to the chambemaid.
On the other hand, back in Malaysia, I went into a shop selling Levi Jeans. Tried a few pairs and not to my satisfaction, I went out witout buying any. No one stopped or force me to buy. Why? Because Levi is a popular and high quality product. It does not fear losing any customer. For any one customer who rejected the jean, there would be thousand clamouring to own one.
Similarly, if a religion is a true one, it must not fear any one walking out of it. Being a Christian, our church does not stop any one leaving us. Because we know that there are thousand more who would want to joing us!!! We know that we have the truth.
#3 by maya on Monday, 9 July 2007 - 11:20 am
Dear Uncle Lim,
Just wanted to share this story with you and the rest of the gang.
Long long ago in a holy city in India there lived a priest. He was a very religious man and a very orthodox brahmin who apparently spent his days chanting mantra and performing poojas. Across his house, there lived a commercial sex worker, Radha, who went about her chores entertaining the men who visited her home. Now, our priest, sitting on his verandah, will be seething in anger at the immoral and sinful activities going on, feeling very indignant at the decay of ethics etc etc etc.Years went by and on one faithful day, they both died and arrived at the gates of heaven where it was to be decided where the souls should go. To his horror, the priest was sent to Hell and Radha was allowed into heaven. Our Priest, with all the pent up emotions, ranted and raved against this ” i dedicated my life to your service, Lord, whereas she sold her body for money! What kind of judgement is this??”
The Lord then replied ” Your mouth spoke mantras in my name but your heart, mind and soul was lusting over this young woman whereas she sold her body for a living but her mind, soul and heart was always longing to be like you, so that she can be off service to ME”
The priest in this story reminds me of the MPs, and the religious officers who are running amok in our country now. Pity them, they are at such a low level of spirituality that they are eons away from making any connection to the Supreme Being. They have allowed their perception of religion to cloud everything they see.
The scary part is that nothing is being done to stop this mass delusion!
To Revathi, God bless you sister, and protect you too!
#4 by RGRaj on Monday, 9 July 2007 - 1:00 pm
sotong wrote:
*** If you are selective in interpreting the holy books and not fully understand the circumtances at that time and its relevancy to the present, it could be a destructive and violent source of reference. ***
—- —- —- —- —- —-
Oh, I tell you that those verses I quoted are very much relevent for all time, place & circumstances. Islam @ the “religion of peace” is perpetually at war with the infidels. Islam has separated the world into darul Islam (house of Islam) & darul Harb (house of war).
So the Quranic verses are supposed to be Allah’s own words. As such, verses 9:5 & 9:29 are still applicable in this modern times, as much as it was more than 1400 years ago in Arabia.
The reason these Quranic laws are NOT applied to us non-Muslims in all Islamic countries is because the Islamic caliphate has NOT been reestablished yet.
And yet even you (a Muslim) admit that these verses are very destructive & violent. It’s these verses (ayats) that give inspiration to jihadists, alongside other verses & hadiths.
I wonder how a “religion of peace” can actually look upon such verses for inspiration & still call itself the “religion of peace”.
#5 by sotong on Monday, 9 July 2007 - 1:57 pm
The Jews, Christains, Muslims came from the same book….verses encouraging violent behaviors could be found in the book.
#6 by good coolie on Monday, 9 July 2007 - 2:59 pm
Sotong, Sotong! What do you expect from books that record early history of peoples? “An eye for an eye” was a common rule in those days. Take Jewish,Christian, and Muslim holy books as a whole, and adapt them for modern living. Don’t let the extremists in any religion dictate the day.
#7 by somethingStirring on Monday, 9 July 2007 - 3:16 pm
To the religious fanatics, how would you feel if i lock you up, feed you with pork etc etc? Suppose you hold fast to your belief? Same thing here.
has the religion substituted your conscience with masochistic urges?
the sight of our PM touting islam hadhari in russia while this happens undeterred in his own country fills me with disgust. He fits the description of a hypocrite quite nicely.
#8 by Toyol on Monday, 9 July 2007 - 3:39 pm
All is lost. The powers to be hide behind religion like some sort of safehouse. They use religion to protect their own selfish interest, pursue their ambitions, suppress their enemies, suppress their own kind and above all deny all non-Muslims their fundamental right under the Constitution. No wonder we lag behind our neighbours!
#9 by slashed on Monday, 9 July 2007 - 4:56 pm
Noone here should judge Islam or any religion for that matter without first being fully informed. By ‘fully informed’ I mean one who can properly say he understands the ‘correct’ (emphasis on this word) interpretation of Islam – and as there is none in the world but God – no man should speak of it as if he knows everything.
Truly the fact that there are many types of muslims – moderates, extremists, religious etc – as there are many denominations in that religion we can already presume that there is no humanly correct way of understanding what the texts truly mean for if we can know what the words truly mean, the existence of multiple schools of thought is illogical. It is Man, not religion, nor words, that kill; It is Man that ‘interprets’ and ‘understand’, not religion nor words; As such the problem with religion is the Man who Thinks he Knows.
Therefore, the correct direction to point the finger is at the people behind the ideas (and indeed it is ‘ideas’ for unless we are God, may we presume to know the Truth?). But there you see, even by pointing at them, I have presumed to judge them as wrong.
The problem with this country is that religion has been infused into our system of governance. A clear separation of ‘Church’ and State is fundamental for the preservation of peace, justice and tolerance. For who can the ppl turn to but the State in times of trouble? But if that State pledges allegiance to one side, who then? When religion is the justification for Law, then any interpretation of the Law is flawed for the reasons I have mentioned above.
======
Anyway, my two cents on the apostate issue is that the civil courts/parliament should take this jurisdiction away from the syariah courts. It is illogical, unconstitutional, as well as unconscionable that a group gets to decide whether or not a member may leave it. While it may dictate the terms of its entry, it should not be left to decide how one may leave it. It’s like a bad Chinese Triad movie.
#10 by devilmaster on Tuesday, 10 July 2007 - 12:41 pm
Pak Helah just said “anyone could leave Islam as he/she wishes”, or was he just lying again??
http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/newsncom.php?itemid=6263
#11 by Joetan on Tuesday, 10 July 2007 - 1:15 pm
The enforcers must realise that by not allowing the followers of a religion to leave the religion is like making the followers a prisoners of that religion. I might say The enforcer has successfully projected the religion into that.
#12 by i_love_malaysia on Tuesday, 10 July 2007 - 1:51 pm
Real gold can withstand the test of fire. Real faith can withstand the test of trials. Real faith dont force people to trust & obey!! Unless it is not!!
#13 by BraveHeart14 on Tuesday, 10 July 2007 - 3:10 pm
Upon birth, all men and women are of one race, one religion, one language.
The Human race, blessed to live humanly religion and to speak the language of love and compassion.
Only after that are they seperated, divided, scattered and made to difference each other.
Other races come into the picture, other religion and other languages.
The objective of the secondary religion, races and languages are to only improvise, not to contracdict the fundamental value of humanity.
Is something that seperates a healthy, sensible and caring mother from her infant called religion?
Is something that forces people to eat what they have learned to respect called religion?
#14 by AnakTiriMalaysia on Tuesday, 10 July 2007 - 9:06 pm
It is clearly breach of basic human rights!
and
This religion- ISxxM is synonym with TERRORISME
#15 by greatstuff on Thursday, 12 July 2007 - 6:09 pm
The Syariah Courts in Malaysia have become inhabited by beings so out of touch with reality and mental evolution that Charles Darwin would have studied them with great interest- for they are a species unto themselves! How come they became so powerful in Malaysia that they are now managing to hold back the country’s progress and maturity?