My interview with Susan Loone of Malaysiakini on the mild sentence meted out by court on a man who intentionally destroyed sacred objects at Hindu and Buddhist temples in Penang. In case you have not subscribed to Malaysiakini, here is the full article: The “mild” sentence of an RM3,000 fine imposed by a court on Mohd Firdaus Said for destroying the images of several Buddhist and Hindu deities in Seberang Perai has caught some by surprise. Shamsher Singh Thind said he felt compelled to raise the issue due to the “inconsistency” of the charge against Firdaus, compared with that against other suspects for allegedly committing offences related to Islam. Shamsher, a law lecturer with a private college, cited the case of site supervisor Chow Mun Fai, who was last September charged in a sessions court in Kuala Lumpur for posting an offensive comment on the Hari Raya celebration on his Facebook wall. Chow pleaded guilty, but was yet jailed for a year under Section 233 (1)(a) of the 1998 Communications and Multimedia Act - the maximum sentence provided for under the Act. “There is a legal maxim that says justice must not only be done but it must be seen to be done,” Shamsher said. “Based on such conflicting decisions, the people can wrongly perceive that one religion is superior and more protected than the others,” added Shamsher, who is also doing his PhD in criminology with Universiti Sains Malaysia. He said such perception was unescapable in the case of another Facebook user, Rahamah Mahamad, who is yet to be charged for allegedly insulting Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, in October last year. “I advise the authorities not to take the principle of legitimacy for granted,” Shamsher said. “As Malcolm Gladwell, a Canadian journalist, put it, the authorities have to be fair, not treat one group differently from another without good reason,” he added. “Public confidence in the judiciary and criminal justice system must be restored.” Firdaus, 29, of Tasek Gelugor, who is unemployed, was convicted under Section 295 of the Penal Code for destroying the images of three deities at the Wat Chantararam in Tanah Liat on Jan 2, with intent to insult Buddhism. The next day, armed with a parang, he launched another attack on the images of four Hindu deities at a temple in Kampung Pokok Machang, Tasek Gelugor. Firdaus was initially believed to be “mentally unstable” and Penang police chief Abdul Rahim Hanafi said police were seeking psychiatric evaluation on Firdaus to ascertain if he was mentally ill. However, Seberang Perai district police chief Rusli Mohd Noor said the judge presiding in Firdaus’ case yesterday did not find him mentally unstable and fined him RM3,000 or three months’ jail. “If the magistrate was doubtful, or found him to be mentally unstable, she would have proposed that he (Firdaus) be admitted to a psychiatric ward or go for medical check-up,” Rusli told Malaysiakini. However, Rusli was not able to confirm if Firdaus had ever been admitted to a mental ward when police remanded him after he attacked the Hindu temple. Asked if Firdaus posed a danger to other places of worship, since he has paid the fine and is now on the loose, Rusli said the court has made its decision, “and hopefully, such incidents will not happen again”.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 05:22:19 +0000