Brunei, Malaysia and the hudud brouhaha!
By Zan Azlee

So the Nation of Brunei wants to implement shariah. It shouldn’t be a problem. It is a declared Islamic state, so they should be allowed to practise shariah. I don’t have a problem with that. Just like how I wouldn’t have a problem if Malaysia were to implement shariah. I’m a Muslim and I believe that it is a just system, if interpreted properly.

But I do have a problem with the different hudud punishments that will be meted out on offenders under the law that will be implemented in Brunei. And these same kinds of punishments are also going to be meted out in Malaysia if shariah is to be implemented in our country. Don’t pretend to not know what the punishments are.

It involves the severing and dismembering of limbs depending on the kind of crime you commit. Stoning to death is also on the list. For someone who is even against capital punishment and the death sentence, I just can’t accept these kinds of punishments. Not in this day and age.

These days, the study of psychology and sociology means we understand human behaviour much better and we know that rehabilitation is how you fix social ills and crime. So I think these punishments are just barbaric and they suit a time like the middle ages – maybe around the 7th or 8th centuries during the Islamic Umayyad and Abbasid Empires.

Hey! Wait a minute! That is exactly the time when these severing of limbs and stoning to death kinds of punishments were implemented. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]