HUDUD LAW CAN HELP GOV’T SAVE MONEY?

KUALA LUMPUR: The Pan Malaysia Islamic Party(PAS) Ulama Council has expressed confidence that the enforcement of Islamic criminal laws will result in a reduction of crime and thereby help the government save some of the money it spends on prisoners.

In a statement published by Harakah Daily today, the council’s information chief, Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali, compared Malaysia’s crime rate with that of Saudi Arabia, where hudud is in force. 

He noted that there were 63,221 criminal cases in Malaysia between January and May 2012. In Saudi Arabia, there were 2,699 cases for the entire year.

He also noted a statement by the Director of the Prisons Department, Zulkifli Omar, that the government spends RM35 per day on a prisoner.

Among the inmates in Malaysian prisons in 2013, a total of 6,796 were repeat offenders and out of this figure 5,533 were involved in crimes punishable under hudud.

If hudud were to result in criminals not repeating their offences, Khairuddin figured that the government could save much of the RM5.8 million it spends every month on the repeat criminal offenders. 

He acknowledged, however, that he was assuming that most of the 5,533 were Muslims.

“We should admit that we really need a new law that can protect us from the threat of crime,” he said.

He quoted police statistics showing violent crimes rising from 14,811 cases in 2012 to 15,098 in 2013.

“Violent crimes and crimes against property are becoming rampant in our society,” he said. “Therefore, it would be appropriate to accept Islamic criminal law as the new criminal law in our country.”

Khairuddin pointed out that Islamic criminal law was in force in the nine Malay states before the Malayan Federation was formed.

“The fact is that Islamic criminal law is not foreign to Malaysians. It has been enforced before and it will be enforced again, God willing,” he said.

Source: Free Malaysia Today