{"id":2283,"date":"2008-08-08T23:29:37","date_gmt":"2008-08-08T15:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/borninmalaysia\/2008\/08\/08\/bar-council-defends-forum\/"},"modified":"2008-08-08T23:33:36","modified_gmt":"2008-08-08T15:33:36","slug":"bar-council-defends-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/borninmalaysia\/2008\/08\/08\/bar-council-defends-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Bar Council defends forum"},"content":{"rendered":"

The report<\/a> in Malaysiakini provides more explanation on the forum<\/a>‘s objectives:<\/p>\n

Although matters of faith and race are always sensitive and emotive, dialogues and discussions of the problems arising out of the Syariah and civil courts\u2019 separate jurisdictions and issues \u201cancillary\u201d to religious conversions are critical to their resolution, he (council vice-president K Ragunath) said.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a press conference at the council\u2019s office in Kuala Lumpur, Ragunath said such forums are also necessary given the government\u2019s reluctance to address the issues constructively and by including all the relevant stakeholders increase the probability of arriving at \u201ca just and amicable solution\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cConcerns of some quarters, including a number of cabinet ministers such as Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar, (minister in charge of Islamic affairs) Ahmad Zaid Hamidi and various NGOs and PAS are noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe reiterate that our concern is to address the issues of conflicts of laws facing families caught between the separate jurisdictions of civil and Syariah laws,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Such calls for the forum to be cancelled in view of the sensitivity of the topics expected to be raised therein – and claims that the forum will create \u201cmisunderstanding, anger and tension\u201d – stand opposed to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi\u2019s plea for more interfaith dialogues among Malaysians to promote and ensure religious harmony, he added.<\/p>\n

Ragunath reiterated that the forum will not be questioning Article 121 (1A) of the Federal Constitution which gives Syariah courts jurisdiction over Muslims, nor diminish Article 3 which explains Islam\u2019s position.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe forum is not about conversion per se, as the Bar Council endorses the right of individuals to embrace Islam. Instead, the forum will address the ancillary issues that arise from such situations and will emphasis the need for laws, and a judicial system that protects everyone equally.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way forward to resolving any dispute or issue is to firstly promote greater understanding of the views of all the parties involved. We accept and understand that matters relating to faith and race are always sensitive and emotive.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, regardless of the sensitivity, we must strive to move forward to achieve a just, fair and amicable solution to the problems faced by so many individuals. The stifling of debates, talks and discussions would be counter-productive and would only fuel hate, fear and insecurity within the affected communities,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n

Describing Malaysian society as \u201cmature and responsible,\u201d Ragunath said \u201cit wants to, and is ready to, exchange views in public, even difficult issues, in efforts to further strengthen national unity and foster interfaith harmony.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDiscourse on issues confronting the nation cannot take place only at official levels, behind closed doors, but must be inclusive and involve the public and those whose lives are affected by them.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalls to halt discussions on any issue imply that there are aspects to those issues that the public does not have a right to know about, which is counter to the principles of the open, progressive and democratic society that we have evolved into.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that the continued suppression of open and respectful discourse, not public forums, that will cause tension and jeopardise national unity,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He also called for the government to do more by way of \u201cconstructive dialogue and meaningful debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Explaining that the issue of separate legal jurisdictions is not unique to Malaysia, Ragunath stated whenever there are two conflicting or differing views (on a legal matter), \u201cwe need to dialogue (on it) and create awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the part of the council, Ragunath said it was taking the necessary precautions to ensure the dialogue takes place in a \u201ccontrolled and constructive measure\u201d and invited all – supporters and critics alike – to attend the forum and to air their views.<\/p>\n

Even those intent on demonstrating tomorrow against the forum or submitting to the council a memorandum expressing their grievances with it, are welcome to do so, said Ragunath.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re sending a memorandum, we\u2019ll accept the memorandum. If they want to demonstrate, that is their right to demonstrate – as long as it is peaceful,\u201d he said further.<\/p>\n

Among the speakers at the forum are director of the Institute of Islamic Understanding\u2019s Center for Syariah Laws and Political Science Dr Wan Azhar Wan Ahmad and Syariah lawyer Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdullah.<\/p>\n

Mohd Haniff represented the Federal Territory\u2019s Islamic Religious Council in the case of R Subashini. K Shanmuga and Ravi Nekoo, who were counsel for Subashini and S Shamala, respectively, are also slated to speak.<\/p>\n

The moderator will be Zarizana Abdul Aziz of the Women’s Centre for Change (WCC).<\/p>\n

Ragunath said the only person to have pulled out as a speaker is former Syariah judge and currently the Federal Territory Islamic Department\u2019s Syariah prosecutor Dr Mohd Naim Mokhtar. About 150 people are expected to be at the forum.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At least the Bar Council is stating its reasons for organising the forum.\u00a0 Its about the non-Muslims and how conversion of our loved ones affects us. Estimated crowd is about 150 only. If the media doesn’t write about it or broadcast it, more than half of Malaysians won’t even know about this forum. Now with all this publicity, the forum will attract more attention. Which is good. Bar Council organised a few forums and so far attempts to create problem by certain political party and its affiliated religious NGOs has failed. Hope this one goes on well too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The report in Malaysiakini provides more explanation on the forum‘s objectives: Although matters of faith and race are always sensitive and emotive, dialogues and discussions of the problems arising out of the Syariah and civil courts\u2019 separate jurisdictions and issues \u201cancillary\u201d to religious conversions are critical to their resolution, he (council vice-president K Ragunath) said. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10],"tags":[92,112,113,302,42],"class_list":["post-2283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-borninmalaysia","category-religion","tag-conversion","tag-discrimination","tag-intolerance","tag-religion","tag-syariah-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}