Press Statement 
by Teresa Kok, DAP Wanita Secretary and MP for Seputih
on 6th June 2002 
in Kuala Lumpur  


The proposed Terengganu State Syariah Criminal Enactment is discriminatory against rape victims, women and non-Muslims and is contrary to the Malaysian constitution

Clause 9 of the proposed Terengganu State Syariah Criminal Enactment stated that a victim who reports that she has been raped will be charged with qazaf (slanderous accusation) if she is unable to provide clear evidence or without the support of any Qarinah. The victim thus  shall be flogged 80 lashes and her credibility as witnesses will be disqualified.

Such absurd provision is clearly a result of male chauvinistic design, drafted by a small group of exclusively male legislators who do not have any inkling of what a rape victims, usually a woman, had gone through and have to go through if she is to seek justice. The proposed Enactment shows no compassion for rape victims but instead, provide protection to the rapists.  

Laws are enacted to prevent crime, not to prosecute victims or  protect criminals. This is especially so in rape cases where the very nature of the crime and the common social prejudice against rape victims had always hindered the process of justice. It is thus fair to demand that the state initiates proceedings against the alleged rapist and the burden of proof is on the state, not the victim. 

If the Terengganu State government is truly fair and just as it often pledged, it should immediately withdraw the proposed Syariah Criminal Enactment and apologise to the Malaysian people for such insensitive and cruel intention. It should also take serious note of the gender and racial discriminatory tendency of itself which manifested in the proposed Enactment, for example, under the requirement of witness. 

According to clause 43 of the proposed Enactment, only Muslim men who are ‘aqil baligh’ and ‘adil’ can become witness. 

In a modern and plural society like Malaysia, where the people are multi-ethnic and multi religious, with women currently made up of more than 50% of the total population, such  discriminatory law that rules out  the rights of women and non-Muslims is completely unacceptable. 

The DAP Wanita view such insensitive move by the Terengganu Government in the  exclusion of non-Muslim in its legislation  as a result of the unhealthy competition between UMNO and PAS in regaining their respective ground, which directly jeopardised the texture of Malaysian plural society. The declaration of Malaysia as an Islamic State by The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad had further aggravated the situation. 

It is DAP Wanita’s hope that all parties should refrain from continue to infringe the Malaysia constitutional guarantee that this is a plural society  which upheld parliamentary democracy and power-sharing between both genders and all religious and ethnic communities.