by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Thursday, 27th October 1994:
The Government stop make conflicting statements about the fate of the 15-year-old girl and come out with a policy statement to allay public dismay at the unfairness meted out to her when compared to Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Cik
The Government should stop making conflicting statements about the fate of the 15-year-old girl and come out with a. policy statement to allay public dismay at the unfairness meted out to her when compared to former Malacca Chief Minister and UMNO Youth Leader, Tan Sri Rahirri Tamby Cik.
The Deputy Minister in the Price Minister’s Department Datuk Dr. Abdul Hainid Othman was quoted in today’s press as saying that prosecuting the 15-Year-old girl embroiled in the Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Tamby Cik controversy under syariah law is aimed at identifying the father of the baby she is carrying.
This is a most shocking and unbelievable statement. Can Dr. Abdul Hainid Othnian explain how such prosecution under syariah law could identify the father of the baby the girl is alleged to be carrying?
If the purpose of the government is to identify the father of the baby, aren’t there more satisfactory, scientific and conclusive ways of going about. it instead of charging the girl under syariah law?
Dr. Hamill said the syariah prosecution of the girl is to give justice to the girl and to punish not only the men who had sex with her but also those who influenced her into such indulgence.
If this is the intention, why prosecute the girl under the sydriah law? What the government should do is to prosecute the men who had been alleged to have sex relations with her, including Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Cik, wider syariah law.
Nobody would be able to understand the logic of Dr. Hamid when he said that the syariah prosecution of the girl is to give justice to the girl. Does this mean that Dr. Hamid would also be able to argue that the authorities had been most ‘unjust’ to Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Cik in not prosecuting him under syariah law!
Who is right about whether the girl could now be charged under syariah law based on police investi¬gations – Dr. Hamid the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department or Datuk Hamid Alban the Minister for Law?
Dr. Hamid was the first to say that the girl should be charged under syariah law for having illicit sex and being pregnant out of wedlock – a call which had been taken up by the Acting UMNO Youth leader, Datuk Nazri Ariz.
If the girl is to be charged under syariah law, then she would have to be charged under the Malacca State syariah laws.
Is the Federal Government, through the Prime Minister’s Department, directing the Malacca Religious Department to prosecute the girl under syariah law?
If the Malacca State Government had received the directive from the Prime Minister’s Department to prosecute the girl under syariah law, then the Malacca. Chief Minister, Mohd Zin Abdul Ghani had been most irresponsible when he refused to answer the questions of DAP State Assemblymen in the Malacca State Assembly yesterday on the girl’s case.
For instance, the Malacca DAP State Assembly Opposition Leader, Sim Tong Hin, had asked for the names and dates contained in the police reports against Tan Sri Rahim but the Malacca Chief Minister evaded the question by saying that the Police comes under the Federal Government’s jurisdiction.
If the Federal Government had instructed the Malacca State Government to institute syariah court proceedings against the girl, then the Malacca Chief Minister is duty bound to furnish to the Malacca State Assembly all details about the names and dates pertaining to the girl’s allegations, whether with regard to Tan Sri Rahim or the other persons for all the matters concerned would have come under the State Government jurisdiction as well!
Nonetheless, I welcome the different position taken by the Minister for Law, Datuk Hamid Albar, who said in yesterday’s press that the ‘facts’ from the Police investigations submitted to the Attorney-General’ in connection with the allegation that Rahim had committed statutory rape with the girl could riot be transferred to the syariah court.
Now, who is right about whether the girl could now be charged under syariah law based on police investigations – Dr. Abdul Hamid Othman, the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department that the girl could now be prosecuted tinder the syariah lain of Datuk Syed Hamid Albar the Minister for Law?
Can police investigations be used as a basis for syariah court prosecution of the girl, or has the Malacca Religious Department to conduct its own separate investigations by talking new statements from the girl and the eight men who had allegedly confessed to having sex relations with the girl, before it could prosecute -die girl under syariah law?
Or will this become a test case, with the girl again playing the tragic role of the victim?
Is there a law for the powerful and the rich and another law for the ordinary and the weak in Malaysia?
Yesterday, in Parliament House, I told Datuk Syed Hamid Albar that there is a revulsion in the country at the unfairness meted out to the 15-year-old girl, where the Attorney-General, Datuk Molitar Abdullah had been very protective of Ralim while very unfair to the girl.
The people at large are even more upset that there seems to be a high-level campaign by certain powerful people in government to victimise and punish the girl for unwittingly causing the downfall of Rahim as Malacca Chief Minister and UMNO Youth Leader.
The question every Malaysian is asking is why the government cannot leave tulle girl alone when it could let Rahim off or is this the best example that there is one law for the powerful and the rich and another law for the ordinary and the weak in the country?