KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 ― G25 will not stop questioning unconstitutional Shariah laws, the pro-moderation group’s spokesman Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin said today, despite sedition investigations against her and another G25 member.
Noor Farida, a former Sessions Court judge and ex-ambassador, also pointed out that Perlis Mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin has, like the group of Malay retired senior civil servants, questioned Islamic laws prohibiting khalwat (close proximity among unmarried couples).
“No, G25 will not be deterred nor silenced,” Noor Farida told Malay Mail Online.
“The Mufti of Perlis has questioned it and they have repealed the khalwat law in Perlis. Dr Asri supported the G25 in his Facebook posting. Sisters in Islam questioned it in their statement in support of us,” she added, referring to the Muslim women’s rights group.
News portal Malaysiakini reported Asri on December 9 as questioning the reaction of religious leaders towards G25’s recent call to review Shariah laws on khalwat, many of whom were outraged and even said the group should be declared deviant.
Asri has long criticised khalwat raids, with local daily New Straits Times reporting him in 2006 as highlighting the case of a khalwat raid that was mistakenly carried out against an American Christian married couple in Langkawi. He had reportedly said invasion of privacy was against Islam.
Malay Mail Online reported earlier today that the Malacca police are investigating Noor Farida for sedition over her statement criticising khalwat laws.
She is the second G25 member to be investigated for sedition, with Tawfik Ismail also under a sedition probe for allegedly calling for the abolition of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim).
At a recent forum titled “Islam in a Constitutional Democracy”, G25 had said it was setting up a consultative committee to review and to recommend for repeal or amendment unconstitutional state Shariah enactments and laws that violate personal privacy, such as khalwat laws.
Noor Farida, as group spokesman, had said G25 was against criminalising “personal sins” and that intruding a person's privacy was not Islamic.
“The objective of the consultative committee, which we are proposing, is to harmonise Shariah laws with the Federal Constitution,” Noor Farida told Malay Mail Online today.
