Sisters in Islam Should Mind Their Own Business

It is reported that Sisters in Islam (SIS) is planning to appeal the Kartika Sari sentence. This is despite Katika’s own plea for her to be left alone. Kartika herself is willing to go through her punishment and had refused to appeal. Why is SIS acting like a busybody and sticking their nose where it’s not needed?(“Kartika: Leave me alone, I'll face the music”)

For an organization who advocates equality among men and women in Islam, their action to file for appeal on the Kartika Sari sentence is nothing less than an act of hypocrisy. The right stand that SIS should adopt to to commend the Pahang Shariah court for prescribing the same type of punishment to women as they would men.
Also, I wonder if SIS finds the whipping punishment prescribed by the civil courts in our country to be more “humane” compared to that of the Shariah courts. For one, the whipping in Shariah court is not meant to physically hurt. That cannot be said about lashings under civil laws.

In other words, SIS will tolerate punishment that is more inhumane simply because it is prescribed by a secular court. It’s really the true ideology of Sisters in Islam, secularism. If they’re really interested in fighting for humanity, they should then protest the lashings methods used by the civil laws. That would make more sense and consistent.

In truth, SIS is a secular organization, anti to patriarchy, and by extension, anti to Islam. They dislike the Kartika Sari sentence because it is prescribed by a Shariah court. If it came from a secular court, SIS will not even make a noise.

Thus far, all of the issues raised by SIS is irrelevant and weak. None of their case against the Shariah courts and shariah law is substantive. All their attacks against Islam and Islamic jurisprudence is nothing more than their own ill feelings towards Islamic law and thus far has provided zero evidence that the Shariah law is discriminatory to women. In short, we have yet to see one proof from SIS showing the Shariah system to be unfair.

The good news is majority of Muslims in Malaysia, men and women alike, rejects SIS. They see SIS as nothing more than a loud mouth organization bent on imposing secularism on the Muslims and fighting to their ideology rather than the welfare and benefits of Muslim women in Malaysia.

For example, if SIS was really interested in the welfare of Muslim women, they should instead fight for the rights of Muslim women to work part-time as practiced in the Netherlands. (Refer to my last article entitled "Women in Netherlands Prove Feminism Wrong")

They’d be better of pursuing this type of policy change as compared to trying to shut down the entire Shariah court system in Malaysia. Their current course is just a waste of time as it is based on nothing more than lies and fictitious ideology.

SIS is a waste of oxygen for all Malaysians as their existence serves no purpose to the Malaysian public. Their like our tonsils. They should be removed fast if we want to have a healthier life in the future.

In conclusion, SIS’s latest move to appeal the Kartika Sari’s sentence is hypocritical, inconsistent to their ideology, waste of time and money and not to mention disrespectful to the wishes of Kartika Sari herself.

My advise to SIS is to start looking into their own ideology rather than being a busybody and sticking their noses where they are not needed.

Tulang Besi