Women’s rights Sisters slammed, Pas urges ban

SHAH ALAM: Women were on the main agenda at the closing of the Pas annual general assembly yesterday.

The party passed a resolution urging that the women rights group Sisters in Islam be banned if it was found to be against Islamic teachings, while a senior woman party leader jumped to the defence of female reporters who had not “covered up” while reporting on the assembly.

Pas urged the National Fatwa Council to investigate SIS.

“The organisation should be declared haram and banned if investigations by the council show that SIS is against Islamic principles and a rehabilitation programme should be conducted for its members,” the party said in one of its 11 resolutions.

In an immediate reaction, SIS programme manager Norhayati Kaprawi slammed Pas’ move.
“Why are they adopting such scare tactics? They are going out of their way to find fault. This smacks of a vigilante mindset and approach,” she said.

Meanwhile, the party’s only elected woman central working committee member, Dr Lo’ Lo’ Mohd Ghazali, also disagreed with the call to ban SIS.

She suggested engagement with the non-governmental organisation.

Dr Lo’ Lo’ also told off delegates who demanded that female reporters cover their heads.

She advised them to bite their tongues and take a more inclusive stance.

Dr Lo’ Lo’ said while it was a good idea for women to dress modestly and wear headscarves, she stressed that under no circumstances should this be forced on them.

The Titiwangsa member of parliament, in her winding-up debate on party president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s policy speech, said the Pas constitution did not demand that women must wear a tudung.

“Of course, wearing a headscarf would be part of fulfilling our faith, but each individual should start at a level according to how far they are willing to go.”Efforts are made to explain our beliefs. There is education and women are given a choice... there is no compulsion," she said.

NST

 SIS says PAS ‘ban’ move anti-democratic

KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 – Sisters in Islam (SIS) today urged PAS to retract its motion calling for a ban on the group, saying the Islamist party’s move was retrogressive and anti-democratic.

SIS senior manager Maria Chin Abdullah said the PAS resolution underlined the party’s intolerance and prejudice against the non-governmental organisation, noting it was not even debated in its assembly that ended today.

“It contravenes the guarantee of rights to freedom of expression under the Malaysian Federal Constitution,” Maria said in a statement here.

“This demonstrates the arrogance and undemocratic practices of PAS and that it had forgotten that the key reason why they were voted in at the March 8 General Elections,” she said.

Maria pointed out that people voted against discrimination, undemocratic practices, non-participation but now PAS’ actions have turned the table against the peoples’ wishes.

“It also showed up PAS’ intolerance for diverse opinions and views and its action is typical of a totalitarian mindset that brooks no dissent, different views, debate, or dialogue” she added.

Maria reiterated that SIS’ work for the past 20 years is based on a belief that Islam is a religion that promotes justice and egalitarianism for all humankind.

The 55^th PAS muktamar today passed a resolution asking the National Fatwa Council to ban SIS and conduct a study over its approach to reclaim the rights of Muslim women, which PAS claimed was confusing Islamic society and also infiltrating the minds of Muslims and which may destroy the Islamic faith, especially among the younger generation.

Malaysian Insider