A single mother was found guilty of the sin of “khalwat” (closeness) in a state ruled by the Islamist party. The sentence – the first – is scheduled to be carried out at Marang Prison on May 6. A case that is destined to offer a thermometer of power relations with fundamentalists in Anwar Ibrahim's Malaysia.
Kuala Lumpur () – In the State of Terengganu, northeast of Malaysia, governed by the Islamists of the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), a woman has been sentenced to be beaten for having inappropriate relations with a man, applying Sharia, Islamic law. If executed, it would be the first case of its kind in the state.
Nurfifi Amira Nawi, 37, a mother of one, was charged under Article 31(b) of the Sharia Criminal Offenses (Takbir) (Terengganu) (Amendment) Act, 2022, for being alone with a 40-year-old man who was not her husband at a house in Kemaman district on January 31.
Nurfifi Amira pleaded guilty to the crime. Judge Rosli Harun then sentenced her to six strokes of the cane and a fine of 4,000 ringgit (785 euros), as well as eight months in prison. The defendant had already been convicted of a similar crime in 2018 and she was fined. The judge also advised Nurfifi Amira to get married immediately to avoid committing a similar crime again. “Previously, you said you would get married, but it didn't happen. There is no remorse in you,” the judge told the woman, also advising her not to get married in the border town of Golok, Thailand, where Muslim couples enter into illegal marriages. .
PAS has governed the northeastern states of Terengganu and Kelantan since 2018. Ideologically focused on Islamic fundamentalism, its electoral base is largely concentrated in the four rural and eastern coasts of Peninsular Malaysia, including the conservative north, especially in Kelantan, Terengganu, Perlis and Kedah.
With these victories, PAS has pushed to toughen Islamic law punishments through each state's sharia penal code. However, the party now has to rely on new players after Najib Razak's government, which supported the PAS agenda, lost its electoral mandate. In the past, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed had blocked PAS' attempts to pass Islamic laws in Kelantan and Terengganu.
The National Confidence Party (Amanah), a PAS breakaway party that is now part of the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's “unity government”, is expected to block PAS' attempts to push for the implementation of sharia law. . However, PAS and the coalition it is now part of – Perikatan Nasional – performed well in the last elections. The Islamist party won the largest number of seats and the Perikatan Nasional pact reasserted its control over four state governments from August 2023. This has led many observers to suggest that a “green” or “Islamist” wave is transforming the landscape Malaysian politician.
