CONVERT'S WIFE LOSES APPEAL IN 2-1 JUDGMENT

The Star Online > Courts
Wednesday March 14, 2007

PUTRAJAYA: A woman, who is trying to prevent her Muslim-convert husband from dissolving their marriage in the Syariah Court and converting their second son, will have to state her case there, the Court of Appeal ruled.

In a 2-1 majority decision, Court of Appeal judges Justices Suriyadi Halim Omar and Hasan Lah dismissed R. Subashini's appeal against the High Court’s decision to set aside the injunction granted her last year to enable her to temporarily stop T. Saravanan from commencing with the proceedings in the Syariah Court regarding their marriage and conversion of their children.

Court of Appeal presiding judge Justice Gopal Sri Ram dissented.

Justice Hasan, in his written judgment, said Subashini should seek relief in the Syariah Court, to make a ruling on the legality of her husband's application and the injunction obtained by him.

She could do so on the grounds that the Syariah Court has no jurisdiction over the matter as she was not a person professing Islam, he said.

“The wife should have done that rather than ask the Civil Courts to review the Syariah Court's decision,” he said.

Justice Hasan added that the civil court had to accept that the husband's conversion was on May 18 last year.

“It is not for the civil court to question this,” he said.

Justice Suriyadi, in his judgment, said he could not allow Subashini's injunction application as she had failed to fulfil the requirement of establishing a serious question to be made out.

“The fact that the substratum of her case had been whittled away either by factor of time, or by her own act of abandonment of certain issue, did not help either,” he said.

Justice Suriyadi said it was clear that Subashini would face an uphill battle in her bid to stop the respondent from exercising his constitutional rights of choosing the Syariah Court over the civil court pertaining to matters connected to his marriage with her.

“By so wanting the civil court to deal with her problems, the appellant had attempted to convince us that a civil court has the jurisdiction and knowledge to deal with her matter, even though imbued and intertwined with thick strands of Islamic elements.

“In short, the appellant wanted the civil court to arrogate the function and duties of the Syariah Court regardless of the litigant's (Saravanan) right of choice, let alone that he had already made his decision,” he said.

However, Justice Suriyadi admitted Subashini's motives were not frivolous and said her dissatisfaction on the matter would not go away.

“Parliament has to cap any obvious lacuna promptly and as equitably as possible to harmonise the two systems. Justice is never irreconcilable.

“The universal concept of justice and equity, and Islamic Law, is not dissimilar as the al-Quran in surah An-Nisa had revealed that justice is for mankind,” he said.

Justice Sri Ram, in his dissenting judgment said the Syariah Court's jurisdiction was restricted to only what state or Federal law had conferred upon it.

“Any other interpretation would, in my respectful view, produce a manifest absurdity and visit an injustice upon non-Muslim spouses,” he said.

On Sept 25, last year, Judicial Commissioner Aziah Ali set aside the injunction granted to 28-year-old Subashini a month earlier, which had enabled her to temporarily restrain Saravanan, 31, from commencing with the proceedings in the Syariah Court.

The couple, who has yet to finalise their divorce, have two children – Dharvin Joshua, three, and one-year-old Sharvin.

Saravanan, whose Muslim name is Muhammad Shafi Abdullah, had claimed that the elder child had converted to Islam with him in May.

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ACEH'S SHARIA BYLAWS 'HURTING THE NEEDY AND PROTECTING THE WICKED'

THIS IS A REPORT FROM THE JAKARTA POST OF 22 DECEMBER 2006 REPRODUCED FOR THE READER'S CONVENIENCE.

Sharia-style local government bylaws in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam are bringing unnecessary hardship to the Acehnese and discriminating against women, people from the province say.

Yuswardi, a private company employee, criticized the rigid, "formalistic" implementation of sharia law in the province, which he said did nothing to help create a harmonious religious community in Aceh. "Four qanun (bylaws) have been produced that put harsh sanctions on minor crimes committed by needy and vulnerable groups, while many kinds of major crimes committed by 'the haves' and public officials have been ignored by the sharia affairs office," Yuswardi told The Jakarta Post. "Discriminatory bylaws are those on maisir (gambling), khalwat (adultery), khamar (the consumption of alcoholic beverages) and on personal dress, he said.

During the past five years, a total of 72 crimes have been prosecuted under the bylaws. People have been tried for 47 cases of gambling, 20 cases of adultery and five cases of drinking, with those found guilty often caned in public. The provincial administration has also set up a special religious police force to enforce the bylaws and bring perpetrators to trial at the new sharia courts.

Yuswardi also questioned a new draft qanun, which if enforced would see thieves have their hands surgically amputated. He called on the administration to create an antigraft qanun where public officials found guilty of corruption would also have their hands cut off.

"Corruption is far worse than common theft and graft is rampant among public officials -- they should be given the harshest punishments because they have stolen money belonging to the people," he said.

Artist Azahari, 25, said the bylaws were symbolic and did little to encourage moral behavior. Other examples of this "surface" public piety were Arabic writings put up in Muslim shops and the enforced closure of commercial premises during Friday prayers, he said.

"Islamic sharia should focus on Islamic education and spiritual training for Muslims -- to change their thinking and behavior and improve their spirituality," he said.

Women's activist Khairani Arifin criticized the bylaws' simplistic implementation, which she said had worsened the lot of women in the province. "Sharia implementation has focused on and discriminated against women, who are supposed to be agents of satanic deeds," she said. The bylaws are being enforced by people who are unqualified to pass judgment on others, she said. Neither were they properly discussed with the people they were going to affect.

Chief spokesman for the provincial administration, Hamid Zain, said the government's recent evaluation of the bylaws, which was published over the weekend, found they had lowered the crime rate. "The sharia bylaws have gone down well and have been implemented in all 21 (of Aceh's) regencies and municipalities. The last (law passed) was in Jantho," he said.

Hamid said the draft qanun on amputations for thieves would be discussed in public meetings before it was submitted to the provincial council for deliberation.

Meanwhile, the likely next governor of the province, Irwandi Yusuf, said his government would reevaluate the bylaws' implementation. "I personally disagree with the four qanun because they do nothing to improve peoples' religious lives. "All the bylaws will be evaluated and their implementation will be postponed if the people do not want them," he said.

By Nani Afrida & Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

INDONESIA WANTS TO BAN POLYGAMY

Below is a report from The Jakarta Post of December 8, 2006, reproduced for the reader's convenience.

December o8, 2006
SBY defends plan on polygamy, calls for sensible debate
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government's plan to extend the ban on polygamy is being blown out of proportion by those who oppose it, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says.
Yudhoyono said the public debate that has raged since the government floated the idea last week had been derailed by critics using religious arguments.
He maintained the original purpose of revising the law was to protect women.
"Let us think clearly. We shouldn't exert too much energy on this issue because there are many other problems that have to be addressed. I don't want this issue to develop into an unhealthy public discourse," he said when addressing a Civil Servants Wives Association gathering.
The controversy was sparked Tuesday when the State Minister for Women's Empowerment Meutia Farida Hatta Swasono announced the government was considering extending ban on polygamy for civil servants to cover all officials working for the state, including legislators and soldiers.
The plan has received strong backing from progressive Muslims and many women but has met strong opposition from religious conservatives, especially men, who argue that polygamy is allowed in Islam and should not be banned by secular laws.
The polygamy issue resurfaced last week when television cleric Abdullah "A'a Gym" Gymnastiar, who was popular with women and promoted harmonious family values, announced he had taken a younger second wife.
Under the 1974 Marriage Law, men are only legally allowed to take a second wife if their first wives are invalids, terminally ill or infertile. The law, however, is rarely enforced and polygamy is becoming more common among Muslims.
President Susilo said people should not use religion to justify polygamy, as Islam required men to meet many strict conditions before they could take more than one wife.
"If people want to refer to religion (to justify polygamy), please understand the religion properly," Yudhoyono said.
Marriage laws were made by taking religious values into consideration, he said.
The President said he was also concerned that women here were often victims of domestic violence and street crime, he said.
There was an urgent need to protect women from violence, crime, poverty and other forms of misery, he said. The next step would be to empower women by fulfilling their basic right to enjoy adequate public services like health and education.
Minister Meutia said Thursday the revision of the law would depend on an analysis done by women's organizations, human rights groups and universities, which support a revision to the law.
"It is wrong to assume that polygamy would minimize cases of adultery and prostitution," she told The Jakarta Post.
Earlier this week, some legislators argued banning polygamy would only encourage more men to visit prostitutes.
"What we believe is that polygamy can lead to injustice and the psychological abuse of women," Meutia said.

In an earlier post this site carried a report regarding polygamy in the Malaysian state Terengganu: "polygamy award". Here are two contrasting tales for us to ponder. Neither is fiction, yet the different official standpoints is obvious. Again I am soliciting comments.

ISLAM IN MALAYSIA: POLYGAMY AWARD

The following is a report from Malaysia's daily THE STAR pasted for the reader's convenience.


Nation Saturday December 9, 2006
Polygamy awards ‘invite trouble’
KUALA LUMPUR: A woman minister is against a proposal to reward married men for taking single mothers as additional wives.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said the move would “invite trouble” even though the intention might be good and noble.

Shahrizat: ‘The menteri besar promised to get more details on the matter’“I was shocked to read in the newspapers that the Terengganu government intends to give awards to such men. I immediately called Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh for an explanation,” she told reporters after presenting the Nur Foundation’s “Open Minds” scholarships worth RM250,000 to 50 special children.
“The menteri besar promised to get more details on the matter for me,” she said.
Yesterday, a state executive councillor reportedly told the Terengganu legislative assembly that the state government would be giving special awards to married man who were willing to take single mothers as their second or third wives to ease their financial burden.
Community Development and Women’s Affairs Committee chairman Wan Mohamed Wan Hassan had said the special award was a token of appreciation for these men.
Shahrizat however felt such an award would encourage polygamy in Terengganu.
“I acknowledge that the intention is good. But, the worrying thing is that it can be misinterpreted,” she said, adding that it could be abused by some irresponsible men.
Meanwhile, in Kuala Terengganu, Idris Jusoh denied that the state government was planning to give out such awards.
“The state government has never decided to give awards to men who marry four wives,” he said via SMS to reporters yesterday.
The SMS claimed that newspaper reports on the matter were inaccurate. – BERNAMA

Post your comments here. I don't mean to offend, but if we want to make the world a better place make your presence felt with a comment, no matter how brief. Malaysians especially must stand up and be counted. Whether the statement was made in jest is not the point, the point is "men of note" feel able to offend with impunity. Stop this today.