Brunei Sultan has recently adopted the strict Islamic Sharia Law Wednesday. As the Brunei Sultan has adopted it, Brunei has now become the first East Asian country to take on the law.
The Brunei Sultan has confirmed the Islamic penal code on Wednesday and now the shift in the country has reportedly created a big concern over women and minorities rights.
The Sharia law to be implemented by the Brunei Sultan will begin Thursday, May 1, Sharia nationwide.
According to a report by AFP, Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said in a speech:
"Today... I place my faith in and am grateful to Allah the almighty to announce that tomorrow, Thursday May 1, 2014, will see the enforcement of Sharia law phase one, to be followed by the other phases."
The Sharia law's implementation by the Brunei Sultan denotes that Brunei residents will be facing conviction by Islamic courts for their crimes. Several areas of the law will reportedly be applied to non-Muslims too.
According to RT News, the first phase of the law as mandated by the Brunei Sultan will hand have offenders be given strict fines or jail time for acts ranging from pregnancy outside marriage, and propagating other religions, to failure in performing Friday prayers.
Reports say that the second phase of the law enforced by the Brunei Sultan will be taking effect after a year However, it will be as severe as it will have people who steal or consume alcohol punished with whipping and even - amputations.
The third and final stage be happening two years later, and will have the most extreme of all penalties - the death penalty. People who commit crimes such as adultery, sodomy, or insulting the Koran or the Prophet Mohammed will be punished with possible stoning punishment through the Sharia law enforced by the Brunei Sultan.
The implementation of the Sharia law by the Brunei Sultan has sparked concerns on the rights of minorities because about 20 percent of residents in the country are non-Muslim. This minority are composed of Buddhists, Catholics, Christians, and indigenous belief systems.
According to RT, Chinese populate most of the minority at 10 percent, and the majority ethnic Malays build up the 65 percent. According to Reuters, Brunei is also reportedly home to about 30,000 Roman Catholic Filipino migrant workers and numerous Western oil workers.
The United Nations has already spoke out against the revised penal code by the Brunei Sultan. Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights told reporters, "We are deeply concerned about the revised penal code in Brunei Darussalam, due to come into force later this month, which stipulates the death penalty for numerous offenses. The application of the death penalty for such a broad range of offenses contravenes international law."
Gay rights organizations in the Asia Pacific have also condemned the Sharia law began by the Brunei Sultan. Two gay rights groups wrote in a Malaysian Insider op-ed, "It may open the floodgates for further human rights violations against women, children, and other people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Penalty by death sentence contravenes several international human rights laws. Further, death by stoning constitutes torture or other cruel, degrading and inhumane acts of punishment, thus a clear infringement of international humanitarian principles and universal human rights."
Southeast Asia legal adviser for the International Commission of Jurists Emerlynne Gil also told Reuters, "A lot of these provisions and penalties discriminate against women. Stoning to death normally has a huge impact on women because more often than not they are found guilty of these crimes."
The World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples reported that indigenous peoples who are not inclined to the Malay Muslim majority are pushed to immediately move away.
The Brunei government, headed by the Brunei Sultan, meanwhile addresses non-Muslims by organizing proselytizing activities and providing financial incentives for converting to Islam.
Brunei Sultan, since adopting the Sharia Law, have created worldwide response and concern. Meanwhile, diplomats still patient in seeing how the law will turn out as the system can only be evaluated once implemented, says Reuters.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
