This is me during the presentation at the National Convention on the Enforcement of Shariah Laws in Malaysia. It was held on the 17th and 18th of December 2007 in Kota Kinabalu Sabah, indeed "the land below the wind". (I didn't manage to go to Mount Kinabalu but really hope to do so in the future). The session was at night and some of the audience commented that it should not be done at that hour because most of them were already sleepy after a decent meal.

moral offences

should we criminalise moral offences?

compensating rape victims

Rape is apparently a subject frequently discussed by academicians and public alike and many has been written about it and also its allied subject: incest. Such wide attention has been given to it because the topic seems to inherently exists at the intersection of many other areas of law: gender studies, criminal law, public morality, sentencing, victim’s rights and lately human rights,proving that the subject’s capability to generate a multitude of discussions. While everyone wishes that rape will go away and perpetrators are sentenced accordingly, unfortunately we are always get knocked on the head with new headlines of young girls being raped and sodomised and in some instances killed by the rapists. I do not think that the punishment serves as a deterrent factor for such heinous crime. Nowadays, rape can be associated with more brutal act of violence... penetration is no longer that of penile penetration onlt, but involves other objects you cannot think of. I am writing an article suggesting that we in Malaysia should re-think about the rape law and how it does not prevent rape at all and at the same time, the victims suffer more than any words can say. It is time that we take a turn and suggest compensating the victims so that they can be remedied regardless whether the culprit get sentenced or not.

shariah enforcement in malaysia

In 2006, I led a team of researchers conducting a research on issues pertaining to shariah enforcement and prosecution of shariah offences in Malaysia and Brunei. This research focuses on problems and challenges facing the enforcement unit and also the shariah prosecution unit when dealing with the enforcement of shariah offences in Malaysia and Brunei. Some of the research findings were presented during the National Convention on the Enforcement of Shariah Law in Malaysia on the 17th and 18th December 2007 in Kota Kinabalu Sabah. Among the issues highlighted during the convention is lack of standard operating procedure despite the fact that we have the shariah criminal procedure code. It is something that is lacking and create a problem when it comes to enforcing the law. Without proper SOP, we can always see the discrepancy of action and lack of standardisation. Another issue touched by myselfduring the convention is on the training aspect. It is obvious that new officers are not well-trained. However, we are made to understand that JAKIM has already come out with a moduleof training soon to be implemented through ILIM. Hopefully some improvement will be seen soon.