OCTOBER 10 — Have you ever wondered how Malaysia’s Islamic religious departments are spending the hundreds of millions of ringgit in taxpayer funding they get each year (which, by the way, comes from both Muslims and non-Muslims)?
Last week’s launch of the Jais (Selangor Islamic Religious Department) smart application certainly provides an answer to that question.
Currently only available for Android smartphones, “Hotline Jais” is a noteworthy effort by the religious department to move ahead with the times, to connect and keep up with the needs of the faithful. Providing a range of information from religious laws to the location of mosques, it provides a channel for news and updates for anyone interested in the goings-on of Jais. If only it was that innocuous.
During the launch, rather than highlight its usefulness in terms of connectivity and as a source of useful reference and information, Director Datuk Haris Kasim decided to emphasise on the app’s “reporting” feature..jpg)
Users are able to lodge reports via the app on syariah crimes which include maksiat (immoral behaviour or acts usually linked to individuals being in close proximity to each other and sex. Gasp!), allegedly deviant teachings, religious sermons conducted without a permit (I wonder, do they paste the permit at the door like business licenses before the start of the ceramah?) and other offences. You can even send photos and videos.
Now everybody can become a mat skodeng!
Where ever you and whatever you are doing, if you see a couple making out in the bushes or a guy entering his girlfriend’s apartment, just tap onto the Hotline Jais icon and make your report, silently and quickly. No fuss and certainly no need to whisper into your phone. Yes, you actually won’t get punished for snooping or being a voyeur.
While creative and innovative Malaysians are pushing boundaries, creating new markets and becoming game changers in every sense of the world from commerce to medicine, Jais is busy recruiting and encouraging the Muslim public to become its eyes and ears. To become a mat skodeng. An e-skodeng to inform on fellow Muslims so that they can be prosecuted and punished.
The intent behind Jais’ punitive approach is the Quranic verse ““There has to be a nation among you summoning to the good, bidding what is right, and forbidding what is wrong, it is they who are the felicitous” (Al-Imran: 101). Or the short hand version commonly recited as “amar ma’ruf nahi munkar” or “bidding what is right, and forbidding what is wrong”. Which basically means that you, as member of society, have a duty to prevent wrongdoing.
Sounds good except the road to hell is paved with good intentions and this is one such pavestone.
Just like the conventional phone-in report mechanism, this too is ripe for abuse, harassment and exploitation. It will encourage vigilantism. It will be used to maliciously target individuals such as actor Faye Kusairi whose family home was raided by a Jais anti-khalwat squad. After all, hasad dengki (jealousy) is practically a way of life in Malaysia.
Datuk Haris has been quoted as saying that in order to prevent shariah crimes, people should not only fear Jais but also those around them.
Is this what Islam is about? Recruiting people to inform on their brothers and sisters in faith, finding their faults and alleged moral transgressions, and cultivating a culture of fear and suspicion of each other?
The religious authorities in our country really are of the mindset that it is necessary to strike fear into others in order to gain compliance and adherence to Islamic teachings. That the rod is necessary and should be used as frequently as possible to teach, compel and ensure obedience. What happened to there being no compulsion in religion?
This is the same tone that is being used to argue for the proposed amendments to the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355) to supposedly strengthen the enforcement of Shariah laws. Increase the number of lashes and whipping, and lengthen the jail sentences under these laws and somehow fewer people will commit these offences.
This is a lazy approach to getting out of making the harder effort to educate, convince, and trust in the believers of the faith to practice what the religion teaches.
Only oppressive and authoritarian regimes depend on the punitive tools of fear and tyranny to control and dominate their societies.
Also ask yourself whether you trust the religious authorities to be fair and to uphold justice when they constantly feel that they are above criticism? Who believe that to criticise or question them is to question Islam.
In moral policing as in all other things, despite the lofty ideals of religion, there will always be an actual risk of abuse and misuse of power by those who act as enforcers of virtue and values. It is not abstract or theoretical. It is very real.
Meanwhile, Muslims in other parts of the world are making use of smart technology to connect better with the ummah, sending sermons, answering questions of faith and spreading the teachings of Islam. One example is Imam Suhaib Webb of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center who uses Snapchat to share mini sermons with his congregation.
To curtail and restrict fundamental liberties and rights under the pretext of religion, is an abuse and misuse of religion. The invasion of one’s privacy is itself a heinous offence under Islam. Yet, this is what our religious authorities depend on.
To everyone who reads this article, I ask that you help to ensure that the Hotline Jais app is removed from the Google Play store. Go to the bottom of the app page and flag it as inappropriate due to its hateful or abusive content. It is not enough to give it a poor rating.
Help fight oppression and the creation of a society of fear and suspicion.
Malaysia deserves better. We deserve better.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
