Worryingly, said Ti, PAS wanted to turn Kelantan into a “spectacle of retributive humiliation” no different from the Daesh, Talibans, other tribal authorities and Islamic state nations.
“Such communal shaming will bring out the worst among spectators, as observed in identical situations where hudud law is enforced in Aceh, Afghanistan, Sudan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia, and tribal societies. They will cheer with glee loudly whenever a public whipping or stoning-to-death is carried out.
“Rather than educating the masses, such public degradation will encourage further self-righteous moral policing and persecution, particularly against women,” Ti said in a statement today.
He questioned if such “punitive exercises” conformed with the standard operating procedures (SOP) of the Prisons Department, under which flogging of offenders is conducted within the confines of the prison, away from public scrutiny.
Ti, who is MCA Religious Harmony Bureau chairman. also pointed out that rehabilitative counselling was more effective than public humiliation.
“Not only are the offenders stigmatised, so too are family members, especially in the case of zina (adultery), a personal matter.”
He then accused PAS of being “obsessed with intruding into people’s personal lives” and turning civil matters into a criminal offence but remaining stoically silent on penalties for white-collar crimes.
Earlier today, Hassan Mohamood (PAS–Tawang) had suggested in the Kelantan State Assembly that offenders of hudud law be publicly whipped at mosques after Friday prayers.
“Why not flog offenders in public after Friday prayers? It is not to shame the offender, but to educate him, as well as the witnesses.
“Two men found guilty of zina (adultery) in Tawau by the Syariah High Court were caned 40 times in front of witnesses.
“If Sabah can do it, I do not see why Kelantan, which is at the forefront of the hudud agenda, can’t carry out such public punishment,” he said.
Under the state’s Syariah Criminal Code, those found guilty of consuming alcoholic beverages, having illicit sex and slander can be lashed between eight and 100 times.
Referring to the alleged public caning of two men in Tawau, Ti found it disturbing.
“We urge the Sabah state government to carry out an investigation as to whether such penalties were performed in accordance with the SOP of the Prisons Department,” Ti said.