Priorities: A government that minds citizens’ business on this level — as Sharia does — is using resources it could be employing on something more constructive, and it is using public money to do so. It is easier to look busy and productive by making an example of a hapless sixty-something couple than tackling more complex social and economic issues; it is a path of least resistance and encourages a lazy, slow-moving, but ostensibly pious government. Moreover, it affords local authorities a cheap rush of power and the opportunity for state-sanctioned voyeurism, inviting all manner of absurdities and abuse.
It is just one way in which Sharia is simply bad government. “Elderly pair pay the price for khalwat,” from The Star, April 29 (thanks to Twostellas):
Their age did not stop a couple in Kangar from living in sin together.
Following a tip-off, an anti-vice squad raided the love nest of the elderly man and woman and booked them for committing khalwat (close proximity) early this year, Harian Metro reported.
On Wednesday, the Kangar Syariah High Court fined 66-year-old Salleh Nayan RM2,200, in default three months’ jail, for committing the offence with his 60-year-old partner Azizah Saad.
“Syariah” = Sharia.
Judge Azeman Omar fined her RM2,000 or two months’ jail.
The duo had committed the offence at a house in Kampung Permatang Pauh, Simpang Empat, at about 2.25am on Jan 17.
They had initially refused to open the door when anti-vice officers from the Perlis Islamic Affairs Department raided the house.
What a terrifying concept, so casually dropped into the report there.
Prosecutor Fakhrurrazi Mahdzir told the court that the duo were alone in the house until the wee hours of the morning, raising suspicions that the situation could have led to zina (illicit sex).
He said they must be punished to serve as a deterrent to others.
Pleading for a lower penalty, Salleh said he was not capable of working, suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure and had repented.