TWO former Bar Council presidents offered differing views on taking action in cases of religious insults, following concerns of double standards in the charging of preachers and comedians.Datuk Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor called for action to be taken against anyone found to have offended any religion, while Datuk Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari recommended education as a means of developing “religious morality”.Their comments come in the wake of news that the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) will not prosecute controversial Islamic preacher Syakir Nasoha over his viral comments seen as disparaging non-Muslims, even as the State sanctions a couple over a skit at a comedy club last month.“For Muslims, it’s very clear… there is a clear prohibition (to insult other faiths) from the primary source, the Quran,” said Fareed, the Bar Council president for the 2019/2020 term, citing scriptural verses.
“As such, the AGC must charge anyone found to have offended religions.”One of the verses Fareed quoted from was the Surah al-An’am which reads: “And do not insult those they invoke other than Allah, lest they insult Allah in enmity without knowledge. Thus, We have made pleasing to every community their deeds. Then to their Lord is their return, and He will inform them about what they used to do.”The other verse comes from Surah al-Kafirun, which reads: “Say, ‘O disbelievers, I do not worship what you worship. Nor are you worshippers of what I worship. Nor will I be a worshipper of what you worship. Nor will you be worshippers of what I worship. For you is your religion, and for me is my religion’.”
Last year, hundreds of police reports were lodged against Syakir over disparaging remarks he made against Hindus and the Dayak community.
Syakir had allegedly said: “The Prophet had said in the hadith that in the end of times, the enemies of Islam will surround you like people hungry for food. The infidels will come to kill Muslims. Who are the ones bombing mosques? Is it America or Israel? No, it’s the Buddhists. Who are killing Muslims in Pakistan and India? It’s the Hindus.
“And remember people who practice those faiths are here in Malaysia too. They don’t like Islam and want to destroy us Muslims.”
Syakir is not the only preacher who has escaped court action. Preachers like Zamri Vinoth Kalimuthu and Firdaus Wong have also had their cases dropped despite hundreds of police reports lodged against them for making incendiary remarks against other faiths.As for the Crackhouse Comedy Club incident, Siti Nuramira Abdullah and her boyfriend Alexander Navin Vijayachandran have been charged in court, with bail set at RM40,000 for the duo.Nuramira was charged for insulting Islam, while Alexander was charged for uploading the video.The authorities had also arrested the comedy club’s co-founder, Rizal van Geyzel, over previous comedy performances of his, which were reported as being offensive to Malays, and temporarily suspended the club’s operating license.Education, not high-handednessFor Kuthubul, the Bar Council president from 2003 to 2005, arresting and charging Nuramira, Alexander and van Geyzel was not the way to resolve such issues.
“It is only through education that we can improve or develop religious morality and instill respect for religious diversity.“The action taken now may cause feelings of enmity, hatred or ill will to some but not all. So, the relevant authorities and religious bodies should look into this to ensure our multi-religious society can live in harmony,” he told FocusM.Kuthubul added that the authorities’ action had impacted freedom of expression to a certain degree, noting that Nuramira’s comments can be considered to be satire, which is a protected form of expression.He also questioned the decision to charge Nuramira under Section 298A of the Penal Code, for allegedly causing disharmony among Muslims.“Section 298A clearly provides that those words, either spoken, written or by visible representations, will cause, attempts to cause or is likely to cause disharmony, disunity, feelings of enmity, hatred or ill will (is an offence).“But, to me, those actions by Nuramira had not caused me to feel hatred, ill will or hostility. I just feel pity for her,” Kuthubul remarked.“I am sure those who watched her felt the same as none had lodged a police report. It’s only after it went viral that various reports were lodged by those affected by her actions,” said Kuthubul, who is also chairperson of the Society for the Promotion of Human Rights (Proham).He also noted that the suspension of Crackhouse’s operating license was somewhat of an “overkill”. – July 17, 2022
Main photo credit: FMT
