Kenyans have voted and the new constitution has been accepted.
See:
Kenyans
Approve New Constitution
By Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times, 5 Aug
2010
New
constitution for Kenya as 'No' team concedes
By Tom Odula, Associated
Press, 5 Aug 2010
No
need to apologise, Moi tells clerics
By BEATRICE OBWOCHA and RENSON
BULUMA, The Standard, 8 Aug 2010
2010
REFERENDUM PROCESS AND OUTCOMES
PRESS STATEMENT BY THE KENYA CHRISTIAN
CHURCH LEADERS
Thursday, 05 August 2010
On the entrenchment of Kahdi Courts
Before the referendum, Kenya's retired Anglican Archbishop David
Gitari, head of the Christians for Yes campaign, maintained that Christian fears
over the entrenchment and legitimisation of Kahdi (Islamic/Sharia) courts were
misplaced.
"There
is a lot of sharia-phobia in the Christian church," he said.
Sharia-phobia?
International
Crisis Group's July 2006 report entitled
"Islamic
Law and Criminal Justice in Aceh", is worth revisiting, for Aceh can serve
as a model for how Sharia not only divides Muslims, but has a tendency to expand
once implemented.
The ICG report notes that the Muslim Acehnese have long
been divided over Sharia. During Indonesia's battle for independence Acehnese
elites clearly expressed their preference for Dutch-style secular
administration. Even Aceh's ulama (religious scholars) were divided between
those who favoured secular administration and those who wanted an Islamic State
based on Sharia Law. ICG notes that for many, the issue had more to do with
power than ideology - the elites did not want a religious bureaucracy
established that could expand and threaten their authority, while the Islamists
were determined to establish a formal religious bureaucracy from where they
could expand and advance their influence and power.
ICG notes that the
leader of the Acehnese Islamists, Daud Beureueh, led the Acehnese in jihad
against the "kafir" Dutch occupier specifically with the aim of achieving an
Islamic state. Sukarno courted and rewarded Beureueh with assurances that
Indonesia would be built on Islamic principles and Aceh would have Sharia Law.
This was radical as Sharia had no historic precedent in Aceh.
After
Suharto's downfall, President Habibie offered Islamic Law to Aceh as a political
solution to Acehnese unrest and disaffection, which really arose out of neglect
and frustration. ICG reports that Jakarta regarded Sharia law as "something the
Acehnese wanted (although how much was debatable - after the Indonesian
parliament granted it, one Acehnese called it an 'unwanted gift', and he was not
alone)". (ICG p 4)
Since Sharia has been legitimised and implemented in
Aceh it has expanded considerably, for the religious bureaucracy tasked with
codifying and implementing Sharia in Aceh is committed to "its own expansion; a
focus on legislating and enforcing morality; and a quiet power struggle with
secular law enforcement".
According to ICG, many Acehnese worry "that
extension of Shari'a has been taken on as an agenda by conservative
organisations. . . Women's organisations have been particularly active in
raising questions about proposed changes to the khalwat qanun [laws on
relationships between men and women] but in general, the conservatives, who
support more extensive Shari'a application, are more vocal than those concerned
about its consequences".(ICG p7)
The religious bureaucracy constantly
extends the reach of Sharia by revising legislation and increasing the number of
crimes that can be dealt with by the Sharia Courts. It has already been proposed
that revisions be made to the laws covering khalwat (illicit relationships
between men and women) so that any woman who alleges she was raped must follow
Sharia protocols and produce four male adult Muslim eye-witnesses to support her
claim in order to prove it. If she cannot, she will be found guilty of making a
false accusation of rape, guilty of illicit sex, and caned
accordingly.
In 2004, Aceh established the highly unpopular vice and
virtue patrol, the wilayatul hisbah (WH), which is responsible for monitoring
compliance with Islamic law. Not only did Aceh's WH grow from 13 members to 33
in one year, its powers are constantly increasing. What's more, the very
presence of the WH is fueling the rise of hard-line Islamic
vigilantism.
ICG also notes that as the religious bureaucracy expands it
will rely more and more on young recruits who are motivated primarily by their
contacts with intolerant radical foreign elements, in particular Wahhabis,
jihadists, and groups like Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
----------
Secular law
and Sharia law are not parallel systems. Rather, they are conflicting systems
that intersect continuously. The question eventually must arise, when the laws
conflict, which is supreme?
In secular, free
Malaysia the solution has been to give the
Sharia Courts jurisdiction over everything pertaining to Islam -- including the
right to leave Islam.
See:
The Islamisation of
Malaysia
By Elizabeth Kendal, WEA RLC New & Analysis, 7 June
2007.
Bid
to nullify conversion fails
Straits Times, 4 Aug 2010
In Kano, in
secular, free
Nigeria, the Hisbah (vice
and virtue Islamic police) constantly clash with state police overconflicting
issues of morality, including the sale of alcohol.
See:
Nigeria: The Battle
for Shari'ah Supremacy
by Elizabeth Kendal, for WEA RLC News &
Analysis, 20 March 2009
Kano
State’s Islamic Police Destroy 80,000 Bottles of Beer
The Nigerian
Inquirer, 4 Aug 2010
Now they are entrenched in the constitution of
secular, free Kenya, the kadhi Courts are destined to grow in administration and
influence. They will be divisive, and a force for Islamic expansion. What will
be the situation now for Christians who are apostates from Islam? If a man
converts to Islam will he be permitted to take a second wife? What will be the
fate of Christian children deemed Muslim by khadi courts on account of the
conversion of their father?
The rod of repressive Islam might not touch
the flesh of Dr David Gitari, but it will certainly strike any Kenyan Muslim who
puts their faith in Jesus Christ, and any Kenyan Christian caught up in the web
of Islamic family law.
--
Posted By E.N. Kendal. Religious Liberty
Monitoring to
Religious
Liberty Monitoring at 8/08/2010 11:23:00 PM