Islam and the moral police in Malaysia

Big Pharaoh:

Malaysia is a beautiful country. It’s political and economic situation is better than many Arab and Muslim countries. Malaysia still didn’t reach the freedom or the economic advancement of its South Korean neighbor, but we in Egypt tend to look up to it. Many Egyptian commentators praised its former prime minister when he willfully stepped down from power. Several opposition figures wish that President Mubarak would imitate him.

Nevertheless, something awful happened in Malaysia last January. The country’s government-sanctioned moral police, commonly known as “jawi”, raided a nightclub in Kuala Lumpur at midnight and ordered the clientele to separate into groups of Muslims and non-Muslims (Malaysia has a sizable non-Muslim minority). Aiming to “protect” their fellow Muslims and punish them for their “un-Islamic” behavior, the jawi arrested the Muslims and humiliated the females.

This incident sent shock waves throughout Malaysia’s political spectrum. Many denounced the raid and the prime minister said that the power of the jawi must curbed, not by banning it but by forcing it to seek permission from the police before launching raids to catch Muslims alleged to be committing immoral acts!! Liberal* Malaysians, both Muslim and non-Muslim, expressed their concern that their country would be threatened by Taliban-like mobs that have government authorization to correct people’s behavior.

In the news:

PM: Moral laws to stay

Yesterday the Jawi officers, today the police

Around the Blogosphere:

Moral Dilemma?

The State Has No Role in Policing Morality

is Islam above the law?