Commenting on a recent Merdeka Center poll about hudud, Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari said that the poll results showing that 71 percent of Malays are in favor of hudud law was not surprising.

“Hudud law is in scripture, therefore Muslims must support the Islamic law, but the implementation is another thing as it is then fallible,” explaining also that the law had to be contextualized in the modern setting.

“To implement Hudud law would mean that there will be two different laws in the country, one for non Muslims and another for Muslims,” saying that the exclusive nature of the religious law was unsuitable for Malaysia.

Malays ready for Hudud law?

The survey conducted by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research showed that though Malays agreed with the idea of Hudud law, most express doubt in the nation’s readiness to execute the law.

According to the research which was conducted from 12 to 21 April this year, 59 percent of Malaysians think that the nation is not ready for Hudud, while 25 percent thought that the country is set for it.

The survey covered 1009 Peninsular Malaysians. From the 605 Malays interviewed, 71 percent supported Hudud law’s punishments such as the amputation of hands for theft, stoning of adultery offenders; based on the evidence of 4 principled Muslim male witnesses. However, only 30 percent of the Malays feel like the country is ready for the Islamic law.

According to Tengku Zulpuri, Opposition leader for Pahang State Assembly, the Malays do not see a good reference from other countries that implement Hudud, leading to doubt in any possibility of its implementation here.

The study also found that Malay voters aged 21-30 showed the most support for the Hudud law, at 87 percent, higher than all the other age groups from the Malays surveyed. This however did not translate into the confidence in the law being carried out here, as only 37 percent of 21-30 year old Malay voters agreed that the country was prepared for the law.

Tengku Zulpuri says that the younger generation are more knowledgeable in Hudud law and understand the concept of Aqidah in Islam, which is having a firm belief in the tenets of Islam that includes Hudud. He explained that Muslims cannot doubt Hudud because of this, but its implementation would come under scrutiny.

Zairil, on the other hand felt that the poll is a reflection of the younger generation being fed with up the failings of the current system and choosing to opt for “God’s law” instead.

“The younger generation of Muslims see that the system fails at delivering justice; they are also the group that feels the most displaced,” he said.

The survey was carried out by Merdeka Center for Opinion Research on a group of 1,009 respondents from all states in Peninsular  Malaysia, aged 21 and above, to gauge public opinion on Hudud law implementation. Respondents from 12 states and 165 parliament constituencies were surveyed and the selection of the respondents was proportional with respect to the population in each parliament constituency. The voters were made up of 60 Malays, 31 percent Chinese, and 9 percent Indians. -TheRocket