Malaysia considers switch to Islamic law

[Aptrgangr]

Malaysia considers switch to Islamic law

By Thomas Bell in Kuala Lumpur

Hardline Islamic law could be introduced across Malaysia under reforms proposed by the country's chief justice.

Prince Andrew looks on during a parade at the historic

Merdeka Square in downtown Kuala Lumpur

As the nation in south-east Asia celebrated 50 years of independence from Britain yesterday, its government was preparing to discuss a plan that would revolutionise the legal system put in place by its former colonial administrators.
As Kuala Lumpur witnessed celebrations that included parades, fireworks and a fighter-jet fly-by attended by the Duke of York, the proposal pointed to the deep differences which locals say are poisoning social relations beyond the glitter and skyscrapers of Malaysia's modern capital city.
Ahmad Fairuz, the chief justice, told an Islamic conference in Kuala Lumpur that 50 years of independence had failed to free Malaysia from the "clutches of colonialism". Sharia law should be "infused" into the gaps created by abolishing common law, he said.

Malaysia's non-Muslim Chinese and Indian communities, who form 40 per cent of the population, are alarmed at creeping Islamisation.
Abdul Badawi, the prime minister, this month joined other leaders for the first time in denying what the British-authored constitution has said for 50 years - that Malaysia is a secular state.
Sharia law already operates in some Malaysian states and is occasionally applied to non-Muslims, as in July when Islamic officials forcibly separated a Hindu-Muslim couple with six children after 21 years of marriage.
The majority ethnic Malays are defined as Muslim by law and forbidden from converting.
Racial tensions are already high due to official discrimination in favour of Malays, who enjoy better employment opportunities, preferential loans and lower house prices.
Dr Mohd Hatta, of the Islamic Party, welcomed the latest proposal in principle, but said: "The chief justice should be enforcing laws, not making them."
Meanwhile, dissent is increasingly harshly repressed. Journalists and bloggers say they are tailed by police and their phones are tapped.

Malaysia considers switch to Islamic law - Telegraph

[Marcus Marulus]

I think Malaysia had always some kind of Islamic law in vigour. During the British colonial rule, the Brits didn't govern the country directly, but Malaysia was in fact a federation of several autonomous sultanates, which were almost completely independent in their interior businesses, but recognized the British crown as their supreme master. The Brits held several garrisons there and were chiefly interested in the exploitation of the kaoutchouk fields (the rubber). The only city they directly ruled was Singapore, a harbour which was the most potent British naval base in the East (nevertheless easily conquered by the Japanese in 1941), nowadays an independent city-state.

In the 50ies a Communist guerrilla, backed by Moscow, infiltrated itself in Malaysia and gained support in some sections of the local population. The Brits fought that guerrilla, in alliance with the local sultans and the Conservative Islamic-based forces. So Britain bolstered the Islamic conservative movement, in a way.

Malaysia, after gaining independence (1957), retained much of the influence of the traditional Islam and was always staunchly anti-Communist.

Now it's probably the case that they want to strengthen even more this already existing domination of the Islamic law (fiqh) over the country.