Friday, July 13, 2007

Indelible ink requires National Fatwa Council to decide?

Nazri, the minister in the PM's department who broke the record of shouting continually "racist" and "bodoh" at the DAP MPs in Parliament (while at the same time also have gone minum dan makan with them) said that the use of indelible ink in the elections, one of many requests by Opposition parties and BERSIH, will have to be referred to the National Fatwa Council for a decision because he worries that Muslims will not be able to wash off the ink for prayers later on. PAS' reaction to this? As the usual clown, this time he made PAS leaders tickled and in stitches. Never mind the fact that PAS was one of many which pushed for the use of indelible ink to prevent multiple voting by the same person, as well as the fact that its use is widespread in other Arab and Islamic countries, as well as India. In fact, PAS deputy president Nasharuddin said it would be more substantial to ask the National Fatwa Council to decide on the legitimacy of "dead people" voting in our elections. Quoting him:

"What’s the hukum (religious judgement) on the existence of phantom voters after they have been recorded dead for many years? Now, this is something which the Barisan Nasional government should refer to the Fatwa Council."
My take on this? I think it's just a stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, ... excuse by the BN government to not implement its use in the general elections. Since they can't find other more valid reasons, they're prepared to go the "Islamic" way by "influencing" the National Fatwa Council to make a declaration over such a trivial issue. I wouldn't be surprised if they decide to issue a fatwa saying NO to the use of indelible ink. After all, the issue is all about politics, and definitely not about religion.

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