The National Front, so it thought, could go to town with it.  Kuala Lumpur religious affairs officials raided a flat in a suburb after midnight on saturday, to arrest a couple for khalwat, the man the 60-year-old retired headmaster, Mr Idris Ibrahim, the elder brother of the ousted deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim.  Since Mr Idrus Ibrahim is also active in Parti Keadilan Nasional (keADILan), it provided the National Front with grist to spread the gospel of a political party suffused with sodomists and bigamists.

 The identify of the man was confirmed by the minister in charge of religion in the prime minister's department, Dato' Abdul Hamid Othman, who confirmed the filing of charges and a righteous declaration of no political motive but old-fashioned tip-off unearthed the man.  The Utusan Malaysia and TV3 named him.  The Star was more discreet:  it did not name him, but said the arrests followed two reported lodged.  The woman, in her thirties, arrested with Mr Idris, was unidentified.  They were to have been charged in the syariah court, possibly with mattress in tow, today, with the evening news all set to splash the news all over.

     That did not happen.  The government, instead, is splattered with egg on its face.  Mr Idrus Ibrahim, it turns out, was
caught for khalwat with his own wife, his second whom he married four years ago in Thailand.  This is not a secret, but, yes, his wife, is far younger than he is, but his wife nevertheless.  This evening, the Utusan and other newspapers, along with the religious affairs officials and, possibly Dato' Hamid Othman, faces the prospect of a libel action from Mr Idrus. What it thought a sure-fire campaign issue went horribly wrong.  The newspapers must now grovel wholesome apologies, defend a libel action with the religious affairs department and others;  the government must explain why its religious affairs officials went on an unjustified rampage to harass Mr Idrus.  And the glee in which it was reported.

     But this also raise serious concerns of Rambo-like religious affairs breaking down doors in the middle of the night to arrest people caught in sin, of Muslim men and women not married to each other being caught for the Islamic offence of khalwat.  The religious affairs officials justify what they do as to preserve the moral fibre of Muslims.  But how moral is it to break down of doors of a married couple's bedroom on a mere suspicion they live in sin?

 Why should a married couple have to prove their relationship every time religious affairs officials think they live in sin?  The religious affairs officials should have verified before they acted.  But they do not. They should have talked to them before they rushed in blindly.  How did the minister become involved in what is an administrative procedure? Would he have been involved if the man arrested is a lorry driver?  So, why this special treatment unless it was to further a political objective?  Was it to paint keADILan as a party of sodomists and adulterers?  More important, why this penchant to break down doors in the hours after midnight to root out Muslim adulterers?  Would the police take action against these religious officials for trespassing, as they clearly are in this case, and for damaging private property?

     What frightens about is how religious affairs officials act on unproven reports of khalwat by persons unknown.  More than a decade ago, the Thai military attache was on holiday in Kuala Trengganu with his wife in Trengganu when religious affairs broke down their hotel door to arrest them for khalwat.  Their protestations that they were Buddhists, diplomats, Thai citizens married to each other did not cut much ice. They did not, of course, have their marriage certificates about them, their diplomatic papers seized in the raid disappeared when the enormity of what they had done struck them.  So they brazened it out, and forced the couple to spend a night in jail before a sheepish state government released them the next morning with profuse apologies.

A Singaporean couple, a Hindu and his Muslim wife, allowable in Singapore if the wife is not a Malay, was caught for khalwat in Cameron Highlands, an issue which threatened bilateral ties severely.  The Pahang religious authorities, who arrested them, insisted they should be tried for khalwat since they could not produce their marriage certificate.  There are many such issues, hidden from public eye but causing fright and concern amongst thinking Malaysians, Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

When religion is used supercilliously to threaten and harrass, with such stupiditie as the demand for a marriage certificate of a couple on honeymoon or a husband and wife married for four years, of Muslims and non-Muslims alike, is what one fears of an Islam used to wound and harass Muslims and non-Muslims alike.  In the case of Mr Idrus Ibrahim, the government has to explain why it targets the family of He Who Must Be Destroyed At All Cost now.  Could the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, care to explain why and how this happened?

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my