Penang group wants preventive law on apostasy

The Penang Malay Congress wants Parliament to enact a law to deal with apostates in the Muslim community.

Its president Rahmad Isahak said apostasy occurs as a result of negligence and the lackadaisical attitude of Muslims themselves towards such a serious issue.

He said there were special preventive laws to deal with drugs, but not with apostasy and it was therefore the responsibility of the federal government to draft a law on the matter as soon as possible.

The issue of apostasy should not be politicised as it is related o religion and the dignity of Islam.

"Many politicians and ulama talk about the Islamic faith, but nothing much has been done on the implementation of law and enforcement on the issue of apostasy," Rahmad (left in picture) said.

"We propose that there be a special preventive measures law to deal with apostasy," he added at a press conference in Penang today.

"If the government views this matter seriously and critically, it should have the first reading of the draft in Parliament during this October sitting," Rahmat said in response to Perak mufti Harussaini Zakaria's statement in Sinar Harian on Aug 20, where he called for a law on apostasy.

Harussaini said poor enforcement and implementation of syariah law was also the cause for cases of apostasy.

Rahmat said apostasy was a long standing issue, but there were no statistics until today to show how serious the matter was.

'A danger to the community'

State religious departments should make known the gravity of the matter and how they had been dealing with apostasy.

Rahmad warned against hiding the issue from the Muslims as it could pose a danger to the community.

The issue of apostasy blew into the open when Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) officers, accompanied by police, gatecrashed a dinner at the Dream Centre, a hall located in the Damansara Utama Methodist Church grounds, on Aug 3, as a dinner was being held.

Church and civil society leaders have immediately attacked Jais for the raid, calling it "high-handed", but the latter described the action as an "inspection visit".

Following this, 12 Muslims were quizzed over their involvement in the charity dinner on the church grounds.

However, Selangor executive councillor Hasan Ali of PAS and several Malay and Muslim NGOs came to the Islamic authorities' defence, citing concerns over Christians proselytising Muslims.

On the issue of the Jais purported 'raid', Rahmad said the situation would not have gone that far if there was proper enforcement and implementation of a law on apostasy.

"Murtad cases are more critical than cases of close proximity (khalwat) but the latter is being publicised widely," he said.


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