Web version available at: http://www.thenutgraph.com/pas-wants-sisters-in-islam-investigated
PAS wants Sisters in Islam investigated (Updated 6.30pm)
By Deborah Loh and Shanon Shah
deborahloh@thenutgraph.com, shanonshah@thenutgraph.com
Updated 6.30pm on 7 June 2009
Documentation of PAS's resolution on Sisters in Islam
SHAH ALAM, 7 June 2009: Sisters in Islam (SIS) should be investigated and declared "haram" if it is found to be anti-Islam, the 55th PAS muktamar declared today.
The Islamist political party also said SIS members should undergo religious rehabilitation should the Muslim women's rights organisation be found to go against Islam.
The resolution to ban SIS was among 11 other motions adopted without debate. Muktamar resolutions committee chairperson, Datuk Mahfuz Omar, announced that these motions had been approved by the committee.
Khalid Samad
The motion against SIS was tabled by Shah Alam PAS, whose chief is Khalid Samad, seen by some quarters as being one of the more progressive leaders in PAS. The motion said SIS espoused a liberal form of Islam and urged the National Fatwa Council to investigate its leanings.
"If proven that it goes against the principles (syariat) of Islam, it should be banned (mengharamkan) and its members to go for religious rehabilitation," the motion read.
It also stated that SIS's liberal views caused confusion and were a threat to Muslims' faith, "especially to the younger generation and to those who have a secular education."
Khalid: Engage with SIS
Khalid, however, explained to The Nut Graph that the resolution was initially mooted by the Shah Alam Muslimat wing.
"I decided to accept the resolution without debate at the division level, but had asked them to revise it to tone down the punitive aspects and stress engagement with SIS," he said after the muktamar officially closed today.
Khalid said that the Muslimat had agreed to reword it, but they ended up submitting the resolution in its original wording to the main body's muktamar without his knowledge.
"But even in its existing wording, the banning of SIS is only a final resort — what is stressed is engagement with SIS to clarify their positions on Islam," he said.
He said that the Shah Alam Muslimat were worried about several views expressed by SIS, and would only seek to rehabilitate and ban them if the National Fatwa Council found their positions to be against Islam.
He also clarified that the party's central working committee would have more flexibility to address motions that were accepted without debate.
"If a resolution was accepted after debate, the committee would have no choice but to implement it to the final letter," he said, adding that in this case, the party could still use its discretion to act on the SIS resolution.
"We might not need to escalate it to the fatwa council immediately — the party itself could choose to engage with SIS first," he said.
But at the moment, however, Khalid said the working committee would probably forward the resolution to the fatwa council.
Mahfuz Omar
Other leaders speak out
Three other PAS leaders also told The Nut Graph they disagreed with the punitive aspects of the resolution on SIS.
Mahfuz said, "[The resolution is] just asking the fatwa council to investigate SIS."
He said the party decided not to debate it because it could not "debate every single resolution tabled" due to "lack of time".
"There were other resolutions not debated also," he said.
Central working committee member Dr Lo' Lo Mohamad Ghazali said, "I have a more open attitude: SIS is a registered NGO, so if you don't agree with them, you can just state your views."
She said that calling for SIS to be banned was not an inclusive step.
Lo' Lo Ghazali
"Why not just discuss your views with them, engage them?" she said, adding that Dewan Muslimat was ready to engage with SIS on this matter.
Former central working committee member Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud also agreed that it was best to engage with SIS.
"I don't agree with banning them because I believe everybody needs to be able to speak their minds," she said.
"We may not agree all the time, and if we feel they are really wrong, it is up to us to engage them and present evidence for our case," she continued.
Siti Mariah said that while she did not agree with everything SIS did or said, she respected that SIS performed good work in protecting the legal rights of Muslim women.
"People think they are wrong, but I think their thoughts are rarely heard in Malaysia, and people tend to misunderstand them," she said.
Siti Mariah
She added that in her understanding, SIS's main message was that Islam is a just religion and accepts diversity within the framework of syariah.
"So if they invite me to their functions, I will go, because I don't have any problems with them," she said.
SIS urges retraction
In an immediate response, SIS senior manager Maria Chin Abdullah said in statement that the move by PAS was "retrogressive" and "undemocratic" and urged the party to retract its resolution.
"It contravenes the guarantee of rights to freedom of expression under the federal constitution. Implicit in the PAS resolution is its intolerance and prejudice against SIS," she said.
"This demonstrates the arrogance and undemocratic practices of PAS and that it has forgotten that the key reason why they were voted in during the 8 March general election. People voted against discrimination, undemocratic practices, non-participation.
"And now PAS's actions have turned the table against the peoples' wishes," she said.
Maria said the resolution showed an intolerance for diverse views and was typical of a totalitarian mindset that brooked no dissent.
She stressed that over the past 20 years, SIS's work was based on a belief that Islam was a just and egalitarian religion. 
Disclosure: Shanon Shah is an associate member of Sisters in Islam.
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You know what? Why don't Lo' Lo' and Siti Mariah just take over PAS (and even UMNO) because they are so much more sensible than anyone else I know?
And I don't buy Khalid Samad's 'clarification' that an undebated resolution is better than a debated one. Shouldn't he have said something when he realised it hadn't been modified?
20 comments:
I read about this in Malaysiakini, and was hoping you would write about this.
I think SIS is a really respectable organization and has done a LOT for Malaysian women. PAS is being REALLY ridiculous.
"Sisters in Islam (SIS) should be investigated and declared "haram" if it is found to be anti-Islam, the 55th PAS muktamar declared today."
PAS only asked you guys to be investigated. Truthfully, in views of many, SIS have been pretty controversial in religious matters. PAS asked SIS to be investigated. If you know you're not doing anything wrong. Don't sweat. Who's being undemocratic? PAS only asks for investigation and you ask for retraction? So much for free speech.
PAS was, is and will always be a fanatical Islamic party with extreme views.
I voted for PAS in March 2008 for both DUN and Dewan rakyat seats and frankly telling you had I had any other choice other than BN or PAS i would have chosen that.
PAS is a fanatical islamic party. UMNO is a racist party. In my opinion both these parties should hug and work with each other and all other parties work with PKR/DAP coaliation.
The rakyat must decide if we want racist and religiously fanatical leaders or moderate one. What UMNO is in BN, PAS is in Pakatan, i.e a thorn in the flesh.
Will PAS and UMNO dare to consider my suggestion ? I doubt the religious fanatics and racists form even 10 % of the population !!!
Isn't what a debate is supposed to do .. to fine tune any decision? If all these chaps came out later and said that they dun agree, but did not say it out... isn't it a waste of time. I think under the direction of Hadi, PAs will behave like this.
all over the muslim men are frighterned of muslim women. i always wonder why,whether it's irage, iran, saudi arabia, pakistan, etc. Woman ,it seems must be beaten, subjugated and controlled. Maybe ,it's time the muslim woman wake up and change religion. As much as they can shout & scream that islam is a tolerant religion. No one seems to be listening, maybe they should get together with guys and check if they are reading the same book or quotes. i think, its the woman who are confused
why don't PAS investigate UMNO for being a haram party too? There is enough evidence that it is.
This is only means that PAS is asking the Fatwa council to investigate SIS whether their views is against the Islamic teaching.
In analogy, this is more or less like asking the BPR to investigate whether someone is involve in corruption.
PAS didn't actually says that SIS is against Islam (they are careful). More or less, PAS is passing the ball to the Fatwa council. It is up to the Fatwa council to decide.
I think over the years, there are a lot of people who felt that SIS have raise some controversial issues.
Don't normally like to comment on the goings on amongst the followers of another religion. I could just say that it is none of my business. But as that often cited quotation goes, if I don't speak up now, when they come for me, there will be no one left to speak on my behalf.
So what makes the promoters and the supporters of this resolution think for one minute that they have got their interpretations right in the first place? How do they know that the fatwa council itself is not moved by its own fears and its own ignorance?
I know for a fact that what they think to be Halal and have been certifying as Halal their Indonesian counterparts think nonsense of it. And why? Because they know that our bunch are not exactly qualified enough. And yet they hold themselves up as the gatekeepers for what is allowed and what is not.
And PAS wants to advise that Pakatan subject its nominees for any Parliamentary or State Assembly seats to a selection process. Soon they will say that even DAP's nominees have to get the sanction of their unelected anonymous Council of Ulamas.
Just like the Iranians. And just see what the Iranians, especially the yopung, are saying to their Council of Ulamas!!
Ahhhh....I despise organized religions.
people come from variety backgrounds and grow in different surroundings...
that's why each of them have their own view...
as long as SIS is doing great jobs..
who care if they are right or they are liberal...
who are PAS to judge... we are merely human being...
we have our right to choose our path..
Sure next election I won't vote for any PAS candidate any more. Too extreme and arrogant..
sokong kata malayamuda & Joseph ... belum masuk Putrajaya wanna ban this & that ... no tolerance at all ... this PAS can do to a fellow Muslim, imagine what PAS can do to shut up the non muslim citizens!
Apparently Zulkifli Noordin, who is a PKR member, has suggested that action should be taken against SIS, instead of banning SIS. One of the actions recommended by him is ..
"For SIS to cease and desist "using" the daughters of ex-Umno leaders in their activities because "this would weaken the resolve of the authorities to take action against them"." - TheNutGraph
erm..does he mean YOU, Marina? hehehehe
Salam Kak Marina,
I had visited your blog well knowing that you would have your opinion on the issue. There is nothing more that I can add. While certain quarters continue to deride SIS, SIS received international recognition through their organization of the Musawah. I don't think our political Wanitas and Muslimat wings would even have the moral courage to form such an initiative.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7897184.stm
BTW, your musings in the Star (Wed, 10th June) was both entertaining and enlightening. Your jabs were as good as Ali's..
hi marina,
can u put up ur post in The Star here? just wonder if it violates your agreement with them...
well, cox i don't read The Star anymore...
Sue, I never knew I was a human shield!!! :-)
CK, my column today is here:
http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?col=musings&file=/2009/6/10/columnists/musings/4074350&sec=Musings
God is angry
Using His religion to fool people
Of caste system
When He says we are His children
The self proclaimed experts
Telling the way they want you to hear
Branding others as different
Only on skin colour
God is angry
He lets us see the wars
He punishes us through diseases
He engulfs us in tragedies of seas and land
Yet we haven't learned
We are children of God
Equally made equally recognized
In equal terms in front of Him
But the so called religious experts
They want to make women as slaves
Branding them as second class beings
To be satisfied, discarded, chattels
How wrong the men have been!
Women are God angels
Created on Earth to balance
The system of management
Of services and population growth
Women make the world
Into them the men should learn
They are the caretakers
Of whom God bless
People should only allow banning of banning anything not agreeable to them. It's a stupid culture serve to drag the humans back into stone age mentality. Oh well, great scientists were tortured and died in the hands of the church, Islamic Auta-rities are fast taking over the less potent church's role in reversing the Darwin's evolution theory.
Are these jokers looking at the National Fatwa Council to ban SIS? The same National Fart-wa Council that avowed Tapai as non alcoholic and therefore not haram?(sorry, i still cannot get over the tapai issue).
Really, someone ought to extract these brains and put them in a jar next to Einstein's preserved brains, except theirs are labeled, "study of an underutilized gray matter - where did it all go wrong?" The answer may not be "42"
but probably "it's the too tight a kepiah, impinging on the middle meningeal arteries hence, a gangraneous excuse for a brain"
Answer to all of your insecurities ...BAN EVERYTHING YOU DON'T AGREE WITH..including those you don't fully comprehend....what makes you think you are "the chosen ones" to judge ???!!! I say to BAN ALL BANNERS!! (err...that will probably include me)
Hi Marina. I have a suggestion. Since PAS and the likes always dismiss the views of SIS and like minded individuals and organisations due to their 'lack' of religious training, why not sponsor and send a few SIS members to institutions like al-Azhar to gain the 'necessary' credentials so that PAS can't harp on the 'lack of qualification' bit.
PAS does dismiss religious scholars as well, like the former mufti of Perlis and Dr Hamid Othman. I notice that PAS members who condemn these religious figures question these people's Islamic credentials since their education in the Middle East was supposedly 'only on the Arabic language' or that their religious education was obtained from the UK and other infidel lands.
Imagine a SIS scholar (prefarably an associate member who is a 'brother', or is that not possible?) who studied at the same places as the tok gurus of PAS. I bet PAS will still come up with reasons to condemn them but perhaps PAS could not rubbish them as easily as it does now.
Same old, same old....
It sounds like Malaysians in office can't see the forest for the trees by circumnavigating the same tired old issues unceasingly wasting unnecessary ergs of "go rounds". It's like no one has a clue!!!
No vision, no solid plan to get anywhere fast, and certainly no strategy. So we'll talk and "ban" ourselves ad nauseum on an "absolute top economic, crime busting, education solving problem of the highest priority" ie the subjugation of women. meh.
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