Power Play Over Public Whippings

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So, the religious authorities of Terengganu have decided that “enough is enough…no more Mr Nice Guy” and wish to publicly whip a man for being guilty of being in “close proximity” to a woman who is not his wife.
This new punishment seems to be in the spirit of the times as described by the acronym FAFO, for Fool Around and Find Out (except that the first F doesn’t stand for Fool, but another four-letter  word).
Years ago, the consensus of such an event happening would have settled on the likely venue being in Kelantan. Then, for a while, it seemed like Kedah may steal the honour, though I don’t mean “steal” literally, because that’s punishable by even harsher punishments.
But it now seems the honour will go to Terengganu, a state that’s now the capital of conservative political Islam in Malaysia.
That is, if the shariah appeal court decides to reject an appeal filed by a 42-year-old widower convicted of the offence of khalwat. Should the public whipping come about – a first in Malaysia if it does – it is likely to have widespread local support.
The hoi polloi always love a free spectacle of pain, especially if it’s inflicted on somebody else. Think of the Colosseum and lions. They must be saying, “There but for the grace of God go….”
What about higher-ups?
I’m sure, however, they would have enjoyed the spectacle even more if it was one of the “higher people” being whipped instead. They would cheer for the comeuppance being visited upon those they both fawned upon and despised at the same time.
But that’s not likely to happen, even if the propensity to fool around in the bedroom is shared equally among the social classes, ranging from those with rich bedrooms to those with no bedrooms of any kind at all.
You could argue the mighty “higher” people are the more likely to be guilty. After all, they are the ones with the power, ego and the opportunity to do so. Many have been trained in politics, where dishonesty is encouraged, or in business, where winning, including in the bedroom, is all that matters.
But these “higher people” are also less likely to be caught and punished. Don’t bet on one of them being whipped, publicly or even privately, although I don’t mean literally bet on it, OK? Such people get free passes on this, and on many other things too.
A real deterrence
I won’t comment on the merit of having a bunch of people appoint themselves as God’s police, judge, jury and often executioner. These “learned” people would also not bother to waste their time hearing out imbeciles like me on this, so I’ll leave it there.
I’ll just say what would have been a real deterrent would be to have one of the “higher people” being whipped. I would bet (again, not literally) that the religious police know names, times, dates and places where such immoralities have been committed by these “higher people”.
But the chances of the authorities going after these people on this matter, or for that matter on any other matters that really matter to the rakyat – such as abuse of power, corruption or betrayal of amanah – is, you guessed it, zero.
Such an endeavour would be too dangerous, for reminding these powerful “higher people” that the religious police are becoming rather inconvenient.
“Higher people” hate to be inconvenienced, which is bad news for those doing the inconveniencing.
Holier-than-thou
No, my friends, this is all about power. This is about removing any doubt about who’s in charge up there. There’s no point in threatening people with punishment unless you occasionally roll it out as a demonstration, isn’t it?
This is also about virtue-signalling, about being holier-than-thou, about being more pious and courageous in carrying out God’s words as a justification for amassing so much power over other people. So, it’s most certainly about politics too.
Would this punishment reduce cases of “close proximity“ in the state? Certainly not among the “higher people” who’ll always get away with it, and certainly not even among many of the “ordinary people” either, whipping or no whipping.
It’s human nature, and it’ll take more than some whippings to deter it. It’s not like the nuclear deterrent of the global superpowers, which is effective because it certainly has prevented a nuclear war so far.
The moment there is a nuclear war will be the moment the deterrent has failed.
Exercise of power
That means the very next case of close proximity is also proof that the deterrence being touted hasn’t deterred at all, and hence is a failure.
You can then argue such deterrence must cease, and its proponents must answer for their failure.
None of that will happen of course. This is all about keeping the masses in line. This is about the people with power, including powerful “higher people” focusing on a side issue so that they don’t have to deal with the real issues – such as the well-being of the people below them.
What could have helped, however, is the presence of strong moral teachings that focus on right and wrong and the need for a person to not be bad just to escape punishment, or to be good just to earn merit.
That, really, is the whole point of any moral teaching – that we should be good regardless of rewards or punishment – once you strip away all the noise around it.
Public morality
But that’s too tough. That requires compassion and intelligence and courage and humility too. That requires accepting that faith is more than just about showy ritual or pride or arrogance.
However, such an approach doesn’t make you powerful, and hence not very useful or convenient.
So, the whippings shall continue until public morality improves. The fact that the whippings will not deter anything won’t stop the religious police from piling it on against the “ordinary people” and especially the female and poor and powerless.
Ironically enough, all this comes in the midst of some horrendous floods in those parts which favour public whippings. Had these floods happened elsewhere, would the religious extremists have said that the flood-stricken were suffering God’s punishment for not being pious enough?
I wonder now if the floods are a form of God’s punishment being visited on their own state; how would the religious authorities explain it away? Perhaps they’d now claim the floods to be a sign that they must double down and whip even more people to assuage God’s anger.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if that happens. A tad too convenient and hypocritical, I’d say, but hey, being unlearned, what do I know about these things? - FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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