Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir is a well known personality in Malaysia. On her blog she describes herself, inter-alia, as a “general nuisance” who occasionally “irritates some people by going on about feminism and Islam”. And now she may have just proven herself right when The Star newspaper pulled an article that she has written. But Marina Mahathir believes this is wrong, and she responded on her blog, Rantings byMM, saying: “There is room for courage, to stand up for freedom of speech… Online there is room for all points of view… what is the point of censoring the mainstream media when there is the freewheeling internet?”
For 20 years, Marina Mahathir has been faithfully writing articles for the Musings column in The Star. This is the first time that The Star has refused to publish an article written by Marina Mahathir. But English speaking readers can still find her article on her blog, while Chinese speaking readers should hopefully find a translated copy of her article in the Chinese press, Nanyang Siang Pau.
But why did The Star take this drastic action, the first time in 20 years? Marina Mahathir said: “The Star has refused to publish it because, after what happened to P Gunasegaram’s article which was pulled out after the Home Ministry gave them a show-cause letter, they don’t want any ‘sensitive’ articles that may jeopardise their KDN permit. The Publishing and Printing Presses Act requires every single publication to apply for a permit every year. And no media which wants to survive can afford to get shut down.”
P Gunasegaram is the Managing Editor of The Star. He recently wrote a commentary on the caning of 3 Muslim women for illicit sex entitled “Persuason, not compulsion” in his column, Question Time in which he asked whether the sentence of both caning and detention are proportionate to the offence, ie illicit sex, and argued against punitive sentence for private behaviour.
P Gunasegaram also wrote: “With three women already having been caned for illicit sex, the way has been paved for more caning of women in the future. That will not endear Malaysia to Malaysians, let alone foreigners who are inevitably going to equate us with the Taliban. And who can blame them? And are we going to go further down the slippery road and cane women for dressing immodestly too, as has been done in some countries?”
And he also added: “There are already indications that Malays, especially women, are migrating and leaving their homeland, not because they don’t have opportunities here but because as Muslims, their personal freedom is restricted – and there is danger that it will be curtailed even more.”
Following publication of that commentary, 8 individuals and several NGOs lodged police reports against P Gunasegaram and The Star. Press reports identified the NGOs as National Indigenous Organisation (Perkasa), Perkasa Selangor, Muslim Consummers Association of Malaysia (PPIM) and the Malaysian Muslim People’s Coalition (IRIMM).
But why the police reports? The press reported that the NGOs viewed the commentary as an insult to Islam because it came from a non-Muslim. Besides an apology, the Muslim NGOs demanded that the writer be sacked.
Following the police reports, the Home Ministry issued a show cause letter to The Star, which thereafter issued an apology and withdrew the article from its website.
Marina Mahathir said: “Indeed the space for any form of public discussion is narrowing every day, with not only the PPA (The Publishing and Printing Presses Act) being used but also police reports against anyone who puts forward the slightest alternative or opposing view. ”
Deborah Loh who wrote an article entitled “Who Speaks for Islam?” in The Nut Graph asked: ”Can non-Muslims speak about Islam? For that matter, can faithful, practising but non-scholarly Muslims, or Muslim women, or Muslim human rights activists, speak about Islam? As long as the fundamentals of Islam are given due respect, can’t there be room for comment or to express concern about aspects in the implementation of Islamic law, which, directly or indirectly, has affected or can affect all citizens, even non-Muslims? Apparently, the answer is “no”. There seems to be growing hypersensitivity over different views on issues involving Islam, whether about using the word “Allah”, or the caning of women. Any contrarian view is deemed as an insult to the religion.”
So what did Marina Mahathir write that caused The Star to stop its publication? Her article is about the weaknesses in the formulation of syariah laws. In it she also said that “ there are some people who are of the view that the Syariah court is superior to the Civil courts simply because Syariah law is deemed of a higher order than Civil laws. This is because apparently God made Syariah laws while mere human beings made the Civil laws.”
Marina Mahathir said: “If one believes that Syariah laws are superior to Civil laws, should they not be held to higher standards? If Syariah courts are deemed superior to Civil courts, should not their processes be more transparent and efficient?”
Then she asked: “How is it also that we suddenly hear about women being caned without any information about the processes they went through? Did they have the benefit of legal representation and heard in an open court? If they did, who were their lawyers and what defense did they mount? Surely the best court of law is one that strives for justice, which shows it is fair to all parties. In this case, on whose behalf was justice served?”
Is Marina Mahathir then against Syariah law? She said: “I have no problems with Syariah laws if their foundation is justice, equality and non-discrimination for all, even non-Muslims. But when their intent, processes and enforcement are unfair, they only give the impression that Islam is unjust and discriminatory. Surely to give such an image of Islam is a sin.”
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