Oon Yeoh

Everyone knows that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is a deeply religious man. Yet the non-Muslims actually feel more comfortable with his approach to Islam than even his predecessor, who is actually far more secular.

The reason is that unlike Dr. Mahathir Mahathir Mohamad, who often felt he had to out-Islam PAS – to the point that he declared Malaysia an Islamic state – Pak Lah doesn't.

As a result, Pak Lah has gained the trust of non-Malays while the Malays recognize that his beliefs are sincere, not a result of political calculation.

Instead of trying to outdo PAS, Pak Lah has introduced the concept of Islam Hadhari – a moderate, modern form of Islam based on fundamental principles and the pursuit of knowledge. Nobody should take any issue with that, right?

Well, two current issues relating to Islam have made the headlines – and they've made quite a lot of people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, a bit concerned.

Islamic Family Law
The first case concerns a new Islamic Family Law (IFL) bill that was rammed through Parliament with the Parliamentary Whip coercing female Barisan Nasional senators to vote for the bill.

Although the senators complied (surprise, surprise!), it was really against their will and the easy passage of the bill triggered a public outcry, spearheaded by Muslim women NGOs like Sisters in Islam.

The purpose of the law is to standardize the implementation of Syariah law but Muslim women see it as a step backwards in a law that is already so pro-male. It will, they say, make polygamy and divorce easier for Muslim men, and reduce a wife's property rights in the event of polygamy.
 
Muslim men are allowed to take four wives, but under the new amendments they would no longer have to prove that they are financially capable of treating all their wives equally before taking on another.

Upon taking a new wife, Muslim men could seize property belonging to existing wives, and they would be given new rights to claim assets after a divorce, as well as less obligation to pay maintenance.

The government has agreed to review the IFL bill amidst the public outcry over it. Pak Lah has said he wants the Attorney-General to get feedback from NGOs and experts on Islamic law in reviewing the IFL bill.

Converted?
In the other case, the Syariah Court declared that deceased M. Moorthy, a member of the first Malaysian team to climb Mount Everest, was a Muslim and that he be buried according to Muslim rites even though his wife insisted he was a Hindu and that he had never converted to Islam.

The wife appealed to the High Court but it ruled it could not intervene in a decision by the Syariah Court – in effect telling non-Muslims that they have no recourse to justice on matter pertaining to Islam.

To make matters worse, Moorthy's wife is only receiving her late husband's benefits because Moorthy's brother (a Muslim convert who has the right to claim inheritance under Islamic law) has surrendered his right to do so.

So, was the High Court right in refusing to hear the case? The crux of the issue has to do with Article 121 (1A) of the Federal Constitution, amended in 1988, which has been interpreted by judges as the Civil High Courts having no jurisdiction on matters under the purview of the Syariah Court.

Opposition leader, Lim Kit Siang, has led calls for a constitutional change. "We would like to call for the repeal of the amendment and a restoration of the pre-1988 article," he says.

Even some government ministers are arguing for a secular constitutional court to rule on matters involving Islamic conversion.

"If we let the Muslim court decide this, justice might not be served because it would decide in favour of Islam," said Nazri Aziz, minister for parliamentary affairs, who ironically was also the one who pushed the IFL bill through parliament.

In response to the Moorthy case, Pak Lah has said that matters concerning religious conversion needed to be spelt out clearly in the Federal Constitution and other laws to prevent confusion among Malaysians.

The IFL and Moorthy cases are actually a good opportunity for Pak Lah to tackle once and for all the murky relationship between the Civil Court and the Syariah Court. Currently, the Constitution is not clear on this matter.

"Many feel it is necessary to clarify the question in the laws and Constitution to avoid further confusion," he told reporters during the recent Hari Raya celebrations. "I admit that each citizen has the right to his own religion and, in this case, whatever action taken must be done with utmost care so that it does not go against the beliefs of other races and religions."

Such talk is what reassures both Muslims and non-Muslims that no matter how potentially explosive a situation is, Pak Lah can be trusted to handle it thoughtfully and in a fair way. "We want to give justice to all parties involved," he says.