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