Hudud laws based on constitutional perspectives

Hudud issue is not a new issue. It has been debated for quite long. A few years ago, PAS, an Islamic political party introduced an enactment relating to hudud laws. What actually hudud means? Hudud generally is laws relating to crimes, punishments and rights and duties that are mention in the quran. During PAS’s administration in Kelantan and Terengganu, there are 3 versions of hudud. First, syariah criminal enactment 1993 which contains 72 articles. Second, the bill tabled in 2002, named syariah criminal offences enactment bill (hudud and qisas) containing 74 articles. The last, syariah criminal offences enactment ( hudud and qisas) which contains 67 articles. The state government during this time claimed that they have power to enact such laws. In this writing I will comment on this based on constitutional perspective.

Legally, my stand towards hudud is, it cannot be enacted in Malaysia. Malaysia is a federation comprising 14 states and have dual systems of government, federal and state government. When talking about hudud, we are dealing with constitution and federalism. Malaysia as a federation has strong central government than the regional government. Constitution is the highest law as stated in article 4(1) and any law which contradict with the constitution, state law contradict with the federal law, and any law which is made not within the jurisdiction shall be null and void. All these are provided in our constitution which is the supreme law.

Reasons why hudud cannot be enacted in Malaysia. First, schedule 9 in the federal constitution provides that state legislative has power to make law relating to the punishment and offences by person professing and practicing the religion of Islam against percept of that religion except in regard to matters in the federal list. This means, state has power to make and enact any law but subject to the matters which included in the federal list. Any matters contained in the federal list, the state has no power. In list 1 of the constitution, among matters which included in the federal list, administration of justice, jurisdiction and power of all courts, criminal law and procedure, creation of offences in respect of any matters are in the federal hands.

Federal penal code has made it clear. Any criminal offences like rape, incest, gross indecency, murder, homicide, robbery, and theft are stated in the penal code which is the federal law. This is in accordance with the list 1 or federal list. Let say hudud is implemented in state. We need to deal with the criminal offences which within the federal list but hudud law is law enacted by state. It is clearly unconstitutional. This is an intrusion towards the federal power.

If we look to the list 2 of ninth schedule, syariah court has jurisdiction towards muslims only means person professing the religion of Islam. This has been stated by the court for example in the case of subashini, it was held that non Muslim cannot be brought to the syariah court. That means syariah court has no jurisdiction over non Muslim. If hudud is enacted by state, Muslim offender will be charged in syariah court and non muslim will be charged in civil court. Where is the equality before the law and equal protection of the law?

Next, the syariah law is not naturally provided. It must be derived and subject to the federal law. Refer to the ninth schedule in list 2 clearly provides that sayriah court has no jurisdiction in respect of offences except in so far as conferred by federal law. Syariah courts act 1965 (criminal jurisdiction) is a federal law. The limit of punishment imposed by this act towards the syariah court is it can only sentence maximum 3 years jail and rm5000 fine and 6 lashes. That is why the syariah court can only impose punishment towards offenses such as khalwat, arak, not fasting, missing Friday prayers and etc. The syariah court cannot impose punishment other than permitted by this act. This is the consequences by this limit. Meaning that, any punishment other than these permitted penalties shall be unconstitutional. Hudud law comprises the punishments like amputation of hands, stoning, or death sentence for qisas are outside the permitted limit. So implicitly, it against the federal law and therefore shall be unconstitutional, null, and void.

The next issue aroused is the enforcement of the hudud laws. The question is who has the jurisdiction to enforce such laws? It will cause constitutional dispute when it comes to the enforcement, the arrestment and detention of the hudud offenders. The problem may be settled if the state set up their own enforcement unit. But surely they will seek help from the federal police. Indirectly, constitutional problem will arise since the police’s powers are derived from the federal constitution and federal laws like police act 1967. Lastly, the ninth schedule list 1 of the federal constitution provides that, police, prisons, remand homes, and places of detention are in the federal list. If the state wants to run their own detention centre, it will be outside the power of the state authorities and therefore is submitted unconstitutional.

If we still want to enact hudud laws, we will face so many difficulties. It is not easy to enact. Hudud laws cannot be enacted by state and state needs the help from the parliament to enact hudud. The implementation of hudud in Terengganu and Kelantan has been challenged by Zaid Ibrahim in court but the case was revoked by him. The implementation of hudud can be done constitutionally by amending many provisions in the constitution. That is why it is difficult and to amend since any constitutional amendment needs to get the support of two thirds lawmakers in parliament. This is almost impossible.

Pemikiran Rasional

Rakyat Malaysia sebenarnya mempunyai kecendurangan dalam memberikan pendapat yang terlampau dipengaruh dengan sentimen kepartian. Sebagai contoh, kebanyakan penyokong Pakatan rakyat akan menyokong segala pendapat pemimpinnya dan menolak bulat-bulat pendapat pemimpin Barisan Nasional. Begitu juga sebaliknya. Kita tidak terbuka untuk menilai idea pihak lain. Kita merasakan hanya pihak yang kita sokong sahaja betul. Ini pemikiran di bawah tempurung yang menyekat kebebasan berfikir. Kadangkala bila kita menyokong pendapat Anwar, kita akan dilabel pembangkang dan pengkhianat kepada kerajaan. Bila kita menyokong pendapat Mahathir orang akan melabel kita orang UMNO. Bilamana seorang pemimpin pembangkang menyatakan sokongan kepada idea kerajaan, dia akan dianggap mahu melompat parti.

Penyokong kuat Mahathir sama sekali menentang dan tidak boleh menerima walau satu idea dan pendapat Anwar. Begitu juga sebaliknya. Sebab itu , kebanyakan rakyat Malaysia memberikan pendapat tentang suatu isu dipengaruhi oleh sentiment kepartian. Ini menghalang kita berfikir secara terbuka. Lihat shaja media. Utusan Malaysia semua mengampu kerajaan dan mencela pembangkang. Harakah hampir seratus peratus mengkritik kerajaan seolah olah semua yang dibuat salah. pas dikatakan memperjuangkan kebebasan media tetapi harakah juga tidak tebuka sebenarnya. Barangkali mengikut contoh utusan dan berita harian. Sebab itu, dalam soal pendapat kita harus terbuka dan rasional. jangan anggap orang yang menentang sesuatu idea kerajaan, terus akan dilabel sebagai pembangkang. Isu PPSMI umpamanya, a samad said yang menentang idea tersebut akan dituduh sebagai orang pembangkang dan penyokong pakatan rakyat. Ini budaya pemikiran tertutup dan jumud.

english.english.english

While I was in uitm, many law students speak English fluently and make it as a language for daily conversation. This indirectly help me to improve my English by communicating with them. Right now, I live in an environment where most of the people cant speak English. i dont mean to underestimate but that is the truth. maybe i never heard. How can I improve my English? This makes me quite worry and im still thinking the way to speak very fluent.

Ability to speak English fluently is a an important skill which only certain people have it. This skill is essential due to the reason that, English is a global language. English is used as medium of communication in the entire world. It can be said that English is the most used language in the world. In Malaysia, all students are compulsory to take English subject. All Malaysia students learn English for 11 years.

Not all people can speak English fluently even though we have learned it quite long. People who can speak English will have good impression and respected. In my view, some Malaysians cant speak English because they don’t use it in daily life. They use malay all the time and become used to that language. Malay is their official language while communicating and they use English very seldom.

The way to improve English is only one word. Application. Language need to be applied. In other word, it need to be always used. When we always use that language, we will become used and comfortable to the language. Everything that we want to convey will automatically appear in our mind if use that all the time. Everything in the mind must be in English. What we say to ourselves must be in English. So that, we got no problem in communicating in English because every single words in our mind are in English which implicitly make the words that we want to say appear automatically.

Talk to yourself in English ,thinking in english and make everything in my mind in English is my own way to improve that language. As a lawyer( god willing) to be, it is compulsory for me to be able to speak English. Lawyer need to deal with clients and arguing in the court. Some of the clients might speak English and certain judges tend to use English. Lawyer has no choice. By hook or by crook, i need to have that ability. lets hope and pray for that.

if all malaysians speak english and make it as daily conversation, how about the supremacy of malay language like what the ppsmi's protestors strive for?

corak pemikiran Sun Tzu

Filasuf dan strategist besar dunia sun tzu mengungkapkan senjata paling ampuh semasa peperangan adalah strategi. Karya art of war atau seni berperang merupakan suatu bacaan wajib bagi tokoh-tokoh besar dunia, panglima perang termasuk ahli-ahli perniagaan berstatus billionaire. Karya ini mempengaruhi pemikiran dan tindakan pembacanya. Idea sun tzu memberikan pengaruh besar kepada genghis khan dalam meluskan empayar taklukannya. Begitu juga dengan Napoleon yang mempelajari buku ini daripada para rahib yang menterjemah dari bahasa cina. Di tahun 1991, dalam operasi Desert Storm dan Desert Shield di kawasan Teluk, setiap anggota Marinir Amerika memiliki dan mempelajari buku strategi perang Sun Tzu.

Strategi memberikan suatu panduan yang memandu manusia mencapai sesuatu. Strategi dilakukan dengan pelbagai cara. Untuk merangka strategi yang berkesan itu memerlukan kekuatan fikrah atau berfikir pada kadar maksima dan menilai dari semua sudut. Strategi yang berkesan sebenarnya memerlukan seseorang melakukan penelitian yang terlalu rapi, merangka dengan sistematik, mengatasi kelemahan, handal menggunakan peluang , dan bijak menjangka masa depan. Strategi juga boleh berupa muslihat. Dalam peperangan strategi yang berkesan sama sekali tidak dapat dijangka oleh lawan. Strategi muslihat akan menyebabkan lawan terleka dan menganggap sesuatu yang tidak wujud itu sebagai wujud dan sesuatu yang wujud itu sebagai tidak wujud, sesuatu yang dekat itu dianggap jauh, sesuatu yang jauh itu dianggap dekat. Strategi yang baik adalah suatu strategi yang sukar dijangka dan orang langsung tidak merasakan bahawa itu adalah strategi.

Karya sun tzu ini adalah bacaan wajib seluruh umat manusia. tanpa ragu, pemikiran sun tzu cukup dinamik bila melihat corak penulisan beliau dalam karya ini.. strategi sun tzu tetap relevan walau telah merentasi rentang 25 abad.

Anggun

saudara haris azman dalam pengucapan awam bahasa amerikanya mengungkapkan 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'.

kecantikan merupakan sesuatu perkara yang subjektif. setiap orang mempunyai pentafsiran sendiri terhadap erti kecantikan. setiap orang juga mempunyai kayu ukur tersendiri dalam menilai keanggunan seorang perempuan. sebab itu, seseorang ini akan dilihat anggun bagi pandangan mata seseorang lelaki tetapi tidak bagi lelaki lain. begitu juga sebaliknya. sesetengah lelaki memerlukan darjah yang tinggi dalam mengiktiraf keanggunan seseorang.

English dramatist John Lyly, in his Euphues and his England, wrote:
"...as neere is Fancie to Beautie, as the pricke to the Rose, as the stalke to the rynde, as the earth to the roote."

Shakespeare said

Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean,Needs not the painted flourish of your praise:Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye,Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues

Benjamin Franklin, in Poor Richard's Almanack, 1741, wrote:
Beauty, like supreme dominionIs but supported by opinion

David Hume's Essays, Moral and Political, 1742, include:
"Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them."

sempoi,cool=kematangan

Kematangan meupakan sesuatu yang subjektif. Umat generasi muda mentafsir kematangan sebagai cool. Jika dahulu, seseorang yang punya sikap kedewasaan seperti pandai berkomunikasi, beretika, suka berbicara tentang isu semasa, dan mudah bergaul akan diannggap matang. Pendekatan pentafsiran perkataan matang ini telah berubah sejajar dengan kemodenan manusia. Anak-anak muda sekarang mengguna pakai perkataan cool sebagai memeperlihatkan kematangan dan kewibawaan seseorang. Apa sebenarnya kayu ukur atau elemen yang boleh kita katakan sebagai cool? Melalui pemerhatian, generasi sekarang melabel seseorang yang coo l mestilah bersikap gila-gila, riang tetapi ada kalanya serius, gemar berjenaka, suka muzik indie, berfikiran liberal atau tidak konservatif, dan juga semestinya gemar melepak serta banyak lagi elemen lain yang tidak mungkin saya sebutkan semuanya . Ini definisi matang bagi sebahagian anak-anak muda sekarang. Bagaimana dengan golongan sebaliknya? Adakah seseorang yang matang mengikut pentafsiran konservatif kini dianggap sebagai tidak cool atau skema? bagaimana sebenarnya gaya pemikiran atau falsafah yang dipegang anak muda sekarang? bersambung

Ekonomi: Pelaburan

dalam merentas arus dunia kompetan masa kini, Malaysia menuju pesat ke arah sebuah negara maju menjelang 2020. gagasan ini cetusan tun dr mahathir yang bakal menobatkan Malaysia sebagai negara dunia pertama. untuk mencapai gagasan ini bukanlah suatu tugas yang mudah. ianya memerlukan semangat daya juang dan daya tahan yang luar biasa. jika diimbau sejarah, kebanyakan bangsa mengambil masa cukup lama untuk membina tamadun. Rome tidak dibina dalam masa sehari. kita memerlukan semangat menyeluruh yang berterusan.

pengurusan ekonomi yang baik merupakan suatu kayu ukur kepada negara maju. waktu ini, pertumbuhan ekonomi agak perlahan. ini adalah fakta. kita seharusnya tidak boleh berpuas hati dengan kadar pertumbuhan ekonomi sekarang. kini , kita hidup dalam khayalan. catat ekonomi lima peratus kita anggap sudah cukup tinggi dan sukses. ekonomi kita katakan cukup stabil. pada persidangan asean 2006, dalam indeks pelaburan kita nombor 4. angka ini mungkin lapuk dan tidak relevan tetapi sekadar untuk memberi peringatan bahawa ekonomi kita perlu diperkasakan.

sekitar 80an, kedudukan ekonomi kita setanding dengan korea selatan, taiwan dan singapura. sekarang?? negara-negara tersebut melonjak naik menjadi negara gergasi ekonomi. sebab itu, saya katakan kita harus tarik pelabur-pelabur asing untuk melabur di negara ini dan galakkan pelabur2 tempatan untuk melabur semula dalam negara. ini pada hemat saya mampu menjana kekuatan ekonomi kita. suntikan pelaburan yang luar biasa bakal mengubah suatu bandar baru menjadi pesat membangun, sebuah pekan di pedalaman berubah menjadi bandar tumpuan, dan sebuah bandaraya menjadi kota metropolitan. pelaburan bukan sekadar menjana ekonomi, tetapi juga memberi pulangan kewangan kepada kerajaan dan rakyat yang akan mendapat manfaatnya.