Reviewing the situation

EDITORIAL: Reviewing the situation


IT is much for the best that the progress into law of the Islamic Family Law Act 1984 (Federal Territories) (Amendment) Bill 2005 has been pulled over to the verge for a breather. It was over-heating and emitting a lot of steam and smoke. Not surprisingly, what with the brakes screeching on this piece of legislation throughout its careening skid through Parliament.

The particularly contentious provisions of Section 23, almost cynically catering to the convenience of men seeking polygamy and/or divorce, or the weight of a single conjunction ("and" vs. "or") had ruffled feathers and raised hackles in the Dewan Rakyat — but sailed through to the Dewan Negara intact and unimpeded. Once there, the reservations of especially women senators picked up from where their sorority in the Lower House had left off — but were brusquely lashed into compliance by the Whip.

However peremptory the manner in which senators were "directed" and not "advised" to approve the Bill, that provision was invoked in respect of the legislative process, not the controversial contents of the Bill per se. The urgency of this matter lay in the wider imperative to rationalise and unify Islamic legislation nationwide; the prickly details could be dealt with later in subsequent amendments.

But the devil's in the details. Throughout these acrimonious deliberations, the message sent by women's organisations, elected representatives and individuals, heard loud and clear by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry and the Attorney-General's Chambers, has been to straighten this out before the Bill becomes law, not after. The illogic of passing a law knowing full well it would immediately have to be changed was widely recognised as a farcical distortion of the legislative process. The ensuing furore was a reminder that while our democratic institutions have their due processes, the democratic principle is something on which the people will have their say.

This must be seen for what it is, however. The past week's storm was over the unseemly haste in which far-reaching legislation is shoved through Parliament in disregard of public opinion. That point's taken. But the core issues of this controversy are delicate, with much difficult terrain still to traverse. It must seem to many that no matter how well-intentioned proposed legislation can be, there are parliamentary ways to skew it in favour of one constituency or another. In this case, the efforts of Muslim women in particular to redress injustices are held as threatening to conservative values. The present time-out resolves nothing in itself — it seeks to restore order in the court of public opinion.

There is a need to proceed with more sensitivity and circumspection on all sides of this debate. Those opposed to the proposed Act have been heard and heeded. There is no call for any persistent cynicism on their part that the Government is as deaf to their voices as some parliamentarians may be. For if there's one issue to test the mettle of Islam Hadhari's prescribed infusion of institutional religion with understanding, compassion and kindness, this is it.






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