Dr M: Hudud law will create injustice

The former prime minister says hudud with its shortcomings cannot fit into multi-racial countries like Malaysia.

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KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad made his strongest ever objections on hudud law today, saying that its implementation will create an unjust judiciary system in Malaysia.

Speaking at the Islam and Women’s Health forum today, he said hudud with its shortcomings cannot fit into multi-racial countries like Malaysia, as it only punishes the Muslims.

“In hudud, if you steal, you can have your hand chopped off. But they want to chop off only Muslims’ hand, not the non-Muslim who steal same amount of money. Surely it’s not justice,” he told the audience during the question-and-answer session.

He also took a swipe at the hudud’s condition on rape offence, whereby four witnesses are required to convict a perpetrator.

“Today we have the modern equivalent tool of DNA. You can collect evidence of rape through collecting DNA samples and compare them with the offender.

“Surely, we can accept circumstantial evidence even if there are no four witnesses.

“In Islam, the most important thing is justice. When you judge, you must make sure justice has been served. If you judge knowing clearly that this is unjust, then I think it is un-Islamic,” he said.

Mahathir’ comment came amid repeated statements by PAS lately to implement the stringent law should it come into federal power.

Earlier, the longest-serving prime minister said that the hudud debate came about because certain individuals wanted to be stringent to show they are more “Islamic”.

“There is no mention in the Quran about stoning to death, or shooting with M16 gun, but this is regarded as the most appropriate [by some individuals].

“This shows we prefer the most extreme interpretation of Quran as against the norm of the day,” he said.
He urged Muslims to follow the Quran instead of the Sunnah or Hadith, which are merely “optional” interpretations of the Quran.

“In Islam, certain things are compulsory and certain [things] are optional; if we don’t accept the optional ones, that is not wrong for us,” he said.