Muslim doctors to ‘resign temporarily’ for amputation job, Kelantan hudud panellist claims

KUALA LUMPUR — Kelantan may hire Muslim doctors to perform amputations under its Shariah Criminal Code (II) Enactment after a group signalled their willingness to “resign temporarily” from their posts to carry out the job.

Dr Azhar Abdullah, a member of Kelantan’s hudud implementation committee, claimed that the group of Muslim medical experts had offered their services in order to ensure the punishment will be administered professionally.

“For the Muslim doctor society, they see the punishment as not contradicting to their profession as doctors, to amputate patients and convicted criminals. Because to them it is a responsibility,” Dr Azhar told a forum here organised by the University of Malaya Muslim Students Association last night (April 1).

“If they are given the mandate, elected by the sultan, then at that time maybe they will choose to resign temporarily while they administer the punishment,” he added.

It is unclear how the Muslim doctors can quit their profession “temporarily” as Dr Azhar did not elaborate.

However, he revealed that two members of the Muslim doctors’ group included a surgeon and an anaesthetist who had suggested for amputations to be performed under general anaesthesia so as to prevent excessive bleeding, or the convicted offender losing consciousness during the operation.

Last year, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) vowed it will seek to disqualify surgeons who perform the unethical amputations on criminals convicted under hudud in Kelantan, and warned that it will lodge police reports against non-doctors performing the punishment.

Under Kelantan’s hudud law, the offences of theft (sariqah) and robbery (hirabah) can be punishable by amputation of a limb.

Despite that, Dr Azhar sought to allay the public’s fears by claiming that Kelantan wishes to implement the controversial Islamic criminal law in stages.

He reiterated the PAS-led state government’s explanation that the first stage of punishment will only involve whipping, which is prescribed for Islamic crimes such as alcohol consumption (syurb), illicit sex (zina), false accusation of zina (qazaf), and anal sex (liwat).

The more extreme punishments under the Shariah penal code that have been passed in the Kelantan assembly include stoning to death and crucifixion, apart from amputations.

These, Dr Azhar said, would come later.

“We will not implement them straight away. Maybe we will take two or three years,” he said.

He compared their enforcement to Putrajaya’s rollout of the goods and services tax (GST), which took effect from yesterday, roughly a year after the relevant law was passed in Parliament.

Dr Azhar also claimed that over 90 per cent of Kelantan residents supported the state government’s Shariah criminal enactment, noting that the Kelantan Centre of Strategic Studies had conducted a survey through text messages last year.

Citing the study of over 70,000 respondents in 24 out of Kelantan’s 45 state constituencies, he said a whopping 97.94 per cent agreed to implement the enactment, while 85.84 per cent approved of the PAS-led state government’s decision to set aside political differences and work with Umno to achieve this goal.

Dr Azhar also insisted that the tabling of the hudud bill at the Kelantan state assembly and subsequent proposal of two private members’ bills in Parliament were only done after Putrajaya gave the green light.

Besides Dr Azhar, other panellists at the forum last night included prominent civil liberties lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan, UMNO cleric Dr Fathul Bari Mat Jahya, University of Malaya’s head of Shariah Law Department Dr Siti Zubaidah Ismail, and the dean of its Business and Accountancy Faculty Prof Dr Nazari Ismail.

The Kelantan state assembly approved the Shariah Criminal Code (II) (1993) 2015 Enactment on March 19 with 31 votes from PAS lawmakers supported by 12 from UMNO.

PAS now plans to put forward two private members’ bills in Parliament to enable Kelantan to enforce hudud — one will seek approval for the state to legislate punishment for crimes under the Penal Code.

The other seeks to amend the Shariah Courts (Criminal) Jurisdiction Act 1965 to enable Islamic courts to mete out punishments like the death penalty for apostasy and amputation of limbs for theft. MALAY MAIL ONLINE