UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI

MARA

FACULTY OF LAW:

MASTER OF ENFORCEMENT LAW

CONTEMPORARY LEGAL ISSUES IN ENFORCEMENT LAW

LAW 784

GROUP ASSIGNMENT 2

Prepared by:

FARAH HASLINA BT HUSSIN 2018438828

NORFIRDAWATI BT OTHMAN 2018292666
DR. MOHAMAD ISFA RIZAL B DATO’ ISMAIL 2018208644
DECEMBER 2018
PART B, QUESTION 1

a) Analyse the challenges faced by the enforcement officers above in the

performance of their duty as religious enforcement officers. Suggest possible
recommendations to overcome those challenges.

The enforcement of Shari’ah criminal offences has always been subjected to public
scrutiny. The Religious Enforcement Division of the Department of Islamic Affairs has
rigorously enforced against the commission of selected Shari’ah criminal offences.
Furthermore, there are times that the manner in which the enforcement has been
carried out has led to public criticism. The issues in the above situation are about the
power of the enforcement officers, the modus operandi of enforcement and the
challenges faced by the Religious Enforcement Division.

Armed with the power to enforce Shari’ah criminal offences, the Islamic Religious
Divisions have acquired a rather hostile and negative perception among the public.
Some of their actions have been the subjects of public scrutiny and heavy criticism.
Many quarters question the necessity of having moral policing as it gives the idea of
encroachment on the personal liberty of individuals by the state, which is frowned
against in modern liberal democracy. The state may only encroach into the private
lives of individuals if it can be shown that such act can cause harm to others. The
polemic here in Malaysia is “what constitutes harm to others?”

While modern liberals tend to look at individuals’ rights as the right to be left alone
and the right to privacy, as well as personal space to do what ever one wishes, the
Islamic position has a slight twist. Although the Shari’ah respects the privacy of
individuals, there is also the responsibility of every Muslim to enjoin others to do
good and forbid anyone from committing evil. Therefore, in certain circumstances,
some personal acts may be “curtailed” in order to ensure that these acts do not harm
the public and are not taken as a norm as they are prohibited in Islam.

It is at this juncture that the need for enforcing the Shari’ah becomes a necessity.
However, due to the lack of understanding amongst the public and the existence of
executive intervention, this has led to some ‘highly’ publicized and criticized
enforcement actions taken by the Department.
Despite the negative media reports that highlight the encroachment of personal rights
and liberties by enforcement officers of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department,
in reality, only a limited number of acts are categorized as Shari’ah offences in
Malaysia. This is because the Federal Constitution vests the power to regulate
criminal offences under the civil courts [Federal Constitution, Schedule 9, List I
(Federal List), item 1]. The state is given a limited power to regulate “offences by
persons professing the religion of Islam against precepts of that religion-except in
regard to matters in the Federal List (Farid Suffian, 2012). The state’s power to enact
laws to regulate criminal matters is further delineated by the Syariah Courts (Criminal
Jurisdiction Act) Act 1965, as amended in 1984, which practically limits the maximum
sentences imposed to three years imprisonment, or a fine of 5,000 ringgit and six
strokes of the cane 2 of the Muslim Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) (Amendment) Act
1984. Hence, the power of sentencing is lower than the magistrate courts and the
range of criminal offences that can be potentially regulated by the Shari’ah criminal
system is very much restricted (Abdul Monir, 2009).

For example, the crimes of theft, robbery, false accusation of adultery, fornication,
riddah and al-baghyu (which are also known as Hudud crimes) can no longer be
based on the Shari’ah. These also include Qisas crimes such as causing death or
bodily injury to others. These crimes, except for taking intoxicants, fornication and
qazaf, are now governed by the Penal Code and fall squarely under the jurisdiction of
the civil courts. Meanwhile, the crimes involving consumption of intoxicants,
fornication and qazaf no longer maintain the original punishments due to the
curtailing of the power of the Shari’ah Courts in all states in Malaysia. Crimes that
have been included in the Enactments such as gambling, eating during the month of
Ramadhan is regarded as ta’zir crimes, which aim to protect the public, and
individuals from harm. This is the justification for criminalizing such acts.

These offences are tried under the Shari’ah courts. Unfortunately, unlike the Shari’ah
courts that underwent major changes with the establishment of the Department of
Syari’ah Judiciary in 1998, the enforcement divisions have been neglected (Ramizah,
2011).
Shari’ah criminal offences are part and parcel of the Islamic legal system in Malaysia.
It is therefore imperative that they are properly administered so that the negative
image attached to them can be reduced, if not eliminated all together (Lindsey &
Steiner, 2013)

Enforcement of Shari’ah criminal offences has never been an easy task. The division
faces a number of problems ranging from non-uniformity of the Shari’ah laws to more
practical issues relating to lack of manpower and resources.

Non-uniformity of the Shari’ah laws

As Shari’ah falls within the jurisdiction of the states, the list of Shari’ah offences
varies from one state to another. This leads to a non-uniformity of laws among states
in Malaysia (Zulkifli Hassan, 2007). The non- uniformity of laws gives rise to conflicts
of laws between one state to another in Malaysia (Abdul Hamid, 2002) and there are
also some conflict of jurisdiction between federal with sha’riah court or state
jurisdiction. These offences range from conducts deem to be offending Islam to
offences against persons or immoral behaviour (Farid Suffian, 2012). Those function
maybe can be approved and legal in other state or being allowed through out our non
sha’riah law.

Acute shortage of manpower

The dearth of quality religious enforcement officers poses a major constraint towards
the effectiveness of the Islamic law enforcement in Malaysia. The root of such
weakness lies in the poor planning and coordination of the enforcement process prior
to its full execution. From the data given by the Enforcement Division, JAIS, in 2011,
there is a gross lack of enforcement officers in comparison to the total number of
Muslim population. This was clearly seen in above situation when the enforcement
team was come with minimal number of manpower and stand shocking when they
need to face with outstanding lawyer like Siti Bedah there.

Specialised training and skills

A significant number of the Religious Enforcement officers are civil servants in the
Religious Office / Officer of Islamic Affairs scheme. Like other civil servants, they are
subject to unilateral transfer to other division such as Dakwah, Mosque Management,
Education, Research and the like (Siti Zubaidah, 2008). As a result, there is difficulty
in retaining experienced officers, and as it takes time to recruit and train new officers,
the effective running of the division is significantly affected.

Another serious problem is in the issue of recruitment. Currently, the recruitment of

new officers is not determined by whether the candidates possess a degree in
Shari’ah (Siti Zubaidah, 2008). This makes the training of officers twice as hard as
they need to be ingrained with the basic knowledge of Shari’ah first before they can
truly grasp the rudimentary knowledge of the various Shari’ah offences under the
Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment and Syari’ah Criminal Procedure Enactment.

Without the basic standard knowledge in Sha’ riah law, act and regulating including
detail of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), our enforcement can’t be more
confident and prepared to face any ad hoc issues was raised during the raiding task
like above.

Like other enforcement agencies, the religious enforcement agencies must develop
standard operating procedures (SOP) so that their operations will withstand legal
challenges (Ibrahim & Hanipah, 2015). Among the standard procedures that require
consideration are receiving complaints, taking statements from the witness, carrying
out investigation, conducting operations, arresting, preparing investigation papers for
the purpose of instituting prosecution, analysing evidence, collecting evidence for the
purpose of court exhibits and dealing with witness in the Court when the case was
finally heard. Siti Zubaidah (2008) alluded to this by stating that despite the positive
efforts of the Islamic Religious Department in coming out with SOPs for handling
information and complaints, standing instructions on pre-emptive measures on public
morality and power of arrests such as Arahan Tetap Pengarah Jabatan Agama Islam
Negeri 2007 (Garis Panduan Penguatkuasaan Undang-undang Jenayah Syariah)
need to be done to refine them further.

Investigation procedures and the pursuant preparation of evidence are crucial in the
effective prosecution of a case (Zulfakar, 2015). The make and break of a case
depends on the successful proof of the elements of the offence and the full
compliance of all the procedures related to the offence. The inefficiency of the
enforcement officers inadvertently affects the prosecution of a case. This further
mars the already negative image of the division. As a result, a few cases are
prosecuted with the most popular cases being those involving proximity and indecent
acts, which are easier in terms of burden of proof compared to cases like qazaf or
false accusation of zina (fornication) (Zulkifli Hassan, 2007).
Low motivation

Another observable challenge in above situation is the lack of devotion, zeal and
commitment in the work force. Enforcement requires sacrifice, time and expenses, as
well as meticulousness in meeting evidential and procedural rules. The officers
frequently face condemnation, verbal abuse, physical abuse, threats and even
physical threat, which may jeopardise retention of talents. The officers further worry
over the issue of insurance coverage in case anything happen to them. Aside from
that, the lack of opportunities for promotion and small pay have exacerbated the
situation further and subjected the officers to be vulnerable to the abuse of power
and corruption in order to make ends meet.

The raiding over the private function above was done after office hours and we
believed most of the officer involved having their own family that should be spend to
and protected. When they need to do the after hour work and end up been curse and
humiliate with other parties also by public, they will feel demoralized and
demotivated.

It is therefore not surprising that, in 2013, three religious enforcement officers of

JAIS were detained by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) for
allegedly abusing power by accepting a bribe from a couple who committed the
offense of close proximity. It appeared that the officers had been problem as the
stature of an officer whose duty is to combat Shari’ah offences must be beyond
reproach. If they are susceptible to this type of crime, which is declared as a crime in
Islam and in the Enactments, the current system therefore needs to be revamped.

Lack of Resources

Proper resources and equipment are essential in the effective execution of Shari’ah
enforcement in Malaysia (Mohammad Fathi & Nazri, 2015). Unfortunately, the
Religious enforcement Division suffers from lack of equipment that is necessary to
assist them in their enforcement duties. The use of devices is imperative to prove
some offences such as alcohol detection device. Evidence from alcohol testers has
formally been accepted by the Shari’ah court as admissible evidence (Amir & Nik
Azlan, n.d.).

Another major problem faced by the division is the lack of support in terms of
logistics. There is a need to add and improve the necessary transportation needs of
the officers and suitable devices for storing evidence to be used in courts as exhibits.
Failure to fulfill these needs may render cases to be thrown out of court, as they are
inadmissible. Aside from that, the lack of temporary detention rooms or lock ups has
led to detainees escaping, which in some circumstances has rendered the officers
vulnerable to negligence suit.

Other constraints, which are probably minor problems, include the lack of uniforms,
which gives the image that these enforcement officers lack both discipline and force.
On a more fundamental note, however, the Enforcement Officers are not armed
unlike the police officers.

Suggestion

-need to standardize our Malaysian sha’riah enforcement force/agency

-adding more manpower to regulated and enforce the sha’riah law either to add the
number or have a good collaboration with other enforcement like police. -they done
raiding without any police and enough manpower.

-continuous training in term of knowledge and skill to perform more confident and
effective

-more incentive but not a special treatment

It is therefore not surprising that, in 2013, three religious enforcement officers of JAIS
were detained by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) for allegedly
abusing power by accepting a bribe from a couple who committed the offense of
close proximity. It appeared that the officers had been problem as the stature of an
officer whose duty is to combat Shari’ah offences must be beyond reproach. If they
are susceptible to this type of crime, which is declared as a crime in Islam and in the
Enactments, the current system therefore needs to be revamped.

-more budget from state and federal government – fully equip

This has subjected them to physical harm especially when they are faced with life
threatening situations. The cold blooded murder of the Chief of the Religious
Enforcement Officer of Pahang in November 2013 is a defining example of how
dangerous the task of religious enforcers can be in carrying out their duties. In
Malaysia, only the Terengganu Islamic Religious Enforcement officers are allowed to
carry firearms in their daily duties.
Currently, without a clear definition in federal law, states are making their own fatwas
to criminalise offences which they decide to be against the 'precepts of Islam', with
adverse implications on the country’s multiracial society and its international
obligations on human rights.

As crimes are a Federal matter under List I (Federal List), states should not be
allowed to criminalise moral behaviour against the 'precepts of Islam' as this will
complicate the system of justice. In reviewing the legislation, parliament should take
the opportunity to delete the provision empowering the Syariah Courts to impose the
sentence of whipping.

Another way to improve for religious enforcement task is by increasing the manpower
to regulate Sha’riah law, but its was seem almost impossible to be done now with our
national financial issues. If we can deployment of police officers to collaborate with
our Religious Enforcement Officer may seem like an effort to increase accountability
and professionalism of the religious authorities. When this can be done, it would
likely focus on moral policing, with little attention given to the laws themselves and
their impact on our fundamental liberties.

Therefore, continuous training is imperative in order to upgrade the skills of the

enforcement officers. The training must also include understanding of the various
Shariah Enactments that are applicable to them, procedural rules and relevant court
decisions (Najibah, 2012). These include skills required for conducting investigations
and arrest, gathering evidence, preparing evidence to be used in courts, preservation
of court exhibits, as well as questioning witness in court. Officers could acquire such
skills through attachments at the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) or Institut Latihan
Kehakiman dan Perundangan (ILKAP) or mock trials.

Much effort has been taken to professionalise the Shari’ah courts in Malaysia. It is
now time for the enforcement division to be given the much-needed professional
outlook. After all, upholding justice is the backbone of the Shari’ah system and in
keeping with that, all the agencies involved must be further moulded to make this a
reality.
In what way will all these suggestions help to change the public perception? The
increase in professionalism will definitely help create a more systematic method of
carrying out duties. This will hopefully minimise the negative perception that has long
tainted the image of the Department and the officers. However, a mere system and
even lucrative incentives will not be enough. The requirements used for selecting
enforcement officers must also be increased to include not only academic
qualifications but also the possession of the true Islamic akhlak (morals).

This is pertinent to ensure that whenever the enforcement of Islamic Criminal

offences is carried out, it is done in the most delicate manner, while taking into
consideration the issue relating to the right to privacy and the sensitivity of the
situation. As criminals under the Penal Code are informed of there as on for their
arrest, similarly, those committing Islamic offences must also be made to understand
the reason for their arrest. The Department of Religious Affairs of each state also has
the imperative duty to educate the Malaysian public on the necessity of espousing
good and preventing evil by the State. Hopefully, with the improvement, the
enforcement of Shari’ah crimes will no longer be negatively perceived in the future.
Instead, it will help Muslims and non-Muslims in Malaysia to understand that the
concept of imposing “harm to others” as it is understood that the common law system
is slightly different from the Islamic legal system. This is because what is regarded as
causing harm to others in the common law system is decided on a case-to-case
basis, whereas in the Shari’ah, Allah S.W.T determines it.
b) The media involved in the raid publicized the incident, which indirectly
disclosed the identity of those who attended the event. Analyse whether the
faces and identity of the attendees that were exposed in the national news be
subject to data protection. Was there any possibility of data breach.

According to the definition given in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR),
'personal data' means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural
person. A natural person is considered identifiable if they can be identified, directly or
indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification
number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the
physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that
natural person.

Personal data are any kind of data that may be used to identify a natural person or a
cluster of persons, such as individuals in the same household. Identification can
occur on the basis of one or more factors specific to the physical, psychological,
mental, economic, cultural or social identity of an individual or individuals. Data that
are not directly about people can also be personal if they contain identifiers. An
example of secondary personal data could be fire department information on the
occurrences of fires, which may include addresses. (Elliot et al. 2016.)

Information that is sufficient on its own to identify an individual includes a person's full
name, social security number, email address containing the personal name, and
biometric identifiers (fingerprints, facial image, voice patterns, iris scan, hand
geometry or manual signature). These types of data are called direct identifiers.

Freedom of photography focused on freedom of the press that is present in

Malaysian scenario. It will determine two aspects of Freedom of Photography based
on Press Freedom. The two aspects are rules and regulations and ethics. These
criteria's are used to understand what has been applied in the Malaysian Press.
Code of Ethics will be taken as a consideration to show that most decision making for
press and photography are related to these principles. Press Freedom also affected
the Freedom of Photography in the way of that decision-making. The reason of why
the Malaysian government plays a role in imposing some rules and law to the press
and photography.
In Malaysia, the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) 2010 is meant to be the
vanguard of protection for information collected of an individual. Notably, the PDPA
2010 only protects against the inappropriate use of personal data for commercial
purposes. Even then, 2017 saw a massive data breach affecting the customer data
of more than 46 million mobile subscribers in Malaysia to an online community forum.
This highlights that despite the PDPA 2010, severe gaps in data management and
protection remain. Besides, it is worth noting that PDPA has no provisions that
specifically address the issue of online privacy, which includes data such as
geolocation, and cookies, for example. Making matters worse is that the PDPA 2010
is inapplicable if the personal data is processed outside Malaysia.

Relevantly, as things stand with technological advancements and an essentially

borderless cyber realm, Malaysia is unprepared to deal with data privacy matters and
in danger of future data breaches happening on larger scales. Since data is the
currency of the 21st century, and with the mainstreaming of the Internet of Things
(IoT), which will make data even more personal (and intrusive), it should be the
government’s priority to strengthen existing data privacy laws. The ability to harvest
personal data irresponsibly either by individuals or organizations may trigger the
government to introduce more holistic data regulations. While, more measures can
be considered, the matter has to be approached delicately without compromising
public interests.

The media have not been immune from the crackdown on peaceful personal life or
political commentary. Officials have denied licenses required under the Printing
Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) to news outlets viewed as critical of the
government and personal.

For the who attended the event and when it comes to photography, the absence of
consent usually isn’t about a direct physical violation. In general, it’s legal to take and
publish photographs in and from a public space without asking, whereas taking
photographs in a private space requires consent. Thus, when considering the event
was set up in private room in hotel and its was a close event initially before the
raiding have been done, its should being consider as filming the video in private
space and some more, during the raiding itself should not have any photograph or
evidence leaking before the trial or any decision has been made.

In Europe, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force
May 2017, states that any data that may identify an individual will be classified as
personal data. This includes biometric data. Other countries are watching closely as
the biometric privacy issue unfolds. Following Illinois and Texas, the state of
Washington has become the latest US state to pass legislation regulating the
commercial use of “biometric identifiers”, which are the characteristics unique to a
person’s body or behavior. Other states are expected to follow suit in providing
similar consumer protection legislation around the collection, use and storing of
biometric data. Malaysia maybe next need to improve in our Personal Data
Protection Act (PDPA) to include biometric such as photography as one of the
questions of privacy.

Therefore, in this situation the faces and identity of the attendees that were exposed
in the national news be subject to data protection if no censorship of pictures made
by the media. It shows the injury to their reputation and indignity to attendees also
possibility of breach of data protection.
c) How does the above affect the reputation and perception of the public
towards religious enforcement officers in Malaysia. Analyse.

Affect reputation by media? – moral entreprenuer

-exaggreration : worse the scenario, REO raiding was make a shame and officer not
understand the SOP and power they have. More focus to siti Bedah commenting and
videotape recording during the raiding

-symbolisation : label REO as unlawful officer and violent the human right. Not
maintain the peace and doing their job flawed. Peeping and keep try to find the fault.

Preception of the public? – moral panic

- REO and JAKIM was not on the right tract : negative

-hate the officer and Islamic phobic : negative

-public aware about LGBT and have this kind of event in Malaysia : good

-people scare to make any crime under shariah law : good

The people of the 20th century is well described as more liberal in their thinking and
more vocal in raising their opinions with limitless channel in making their opinions
heard such as the newspaper, online blogs and social media. The raid conducted
was not portrayed well and was exaggerated by the media to the public raising
several opinions and views towards the Religious Department and its officers. There
are a mixed of views towards the Religious Department and as for a more liberal
thinking society, the Sha’riah Law is viewed as out-dated and conventional and is no
longer applicable in the present day. The media reports exacerbate the already poor
view of the public towards the Religious Department where the raid conducted was
deemed as out of line and unjustified.

Although Islamic law applies only to Muslims, it also requires understanding and
respect of all Malaysians based on moral and ethical responsibility, to respect the law
as a constitutionally recognised law. Limited knowledge about Islamic law among the
citizen causes confusion and misjudgement against the law itself, leading to and ugly
reputation and defamation Islam as a religion. The implementation and execution of
Sha’riah related laws, there must be a conformity of the Islamic law itself across
Malaysia and it needs to be tailored to suit Malaysia’s legal and social situation. The
Religious Enforcement Officers (hereinafter REOs) under the States’ Religious
Department is entrusted with the task of enforcing the law which involves managing
complaints, investigating, arrest and other related matters as provided for under the
Shariah Criminal Procedure Code.

While it is understood that the sets of rules regarding transgender and its
enforcement have been regulated through the Shariah Criminal Offences Enactment
and Shariah Criminal Procedure Code, enforcing such a law is never easy and is not
free from criticism. When the video of the raid was made public, the more liberal
people (both muslim and non-muslim) are more concerned and being vocal of the
basic human right’s where one should be free to choose and should not be bounded
to conventional and tradition religion like Islam. What was not been made clear to the
public was that the Religious Department has the rights to conduct the raid as the
activity is going against the Sha’riah Law where the law was passed by the
Parliament, signed and sealed by His Royal Highness the Yang DiPertuan Agong
and the REOs are actually duty-bound and have the rights to enforce the law and the
public who questions the law is actually criticizing the power of the Yang DiPertuan
Agong, as the ruler of the country (Ismail & Awang Mat, 2007).

Accusation has it that there is a conflict of interest between upholding the law and
justice and personal interpretations of what constitutes personal freedom, individual
privacy and rights. There is an array of Muslims ‘types’ where some are very
particular with the subject of choice and personal rights and come out blatantly
criticising the existence of non-moral activity law and its enforcement by the
Religious Enforcement Division. Zainah Anwar, an activist, accused transgender as a
“religious sin (that) has become a crime against state” (Anwar, 2005) while a more
liberal Muslims calling themselves as G25 want the transgender law to be abolished.

There are also public who are more concerned of the raid activity instead where the
manner of enforcement was in questioned rather than of focusing on the Sya’riah law
that was broken. Zainul Abidin, the former Malaysia Mufti described that the
investigation procedure by REOs as snooping and spying, but he failed to realise that
to investigate the public complaint, REOs need to go to the alleged location and to
the private residence. He also claimed that REOs need to prioritize their job on other
more pressing issues where he gave an example of the menace created by the
street-racers, well known as Mat Rempit. However, he clearly failed to understand
the law and jurisdiction of REOs, as such a matter is not within REOs area of
enforcement. Statements like this, coming from a well-known and established person
aggravates the already poor image of the public towards the Religious Department.

The REOs have also been accused of being the “moral police” and were urged to
leave the policing to the parents. Since 2007, a Standard Operating Procedure
(SOP) was established to facilitate and standardise the appropriate manner of
enforcement and application of the law by the REOs in their daily operations. Some
REOs admit that the real challenge is in establishing the evidence or element of
suspicion to meet the legal requirement and not the public perception of them.
Another challenge is the capacity of legal understanding among newly appointed
REOs where most of them does not have a legal background as it is not required for
the position of a REO. When Siti Bedah questioned Jihan’s authority of the raid and
she was not able to address Siti’s questioned and was recorded for public’s views, it
showed the public that the officers involved have poor knowledge on their rights and
reasons of the raid and that they were merely following the superior’s order, making
the public to lose their confidence in the Religious Department as a whole.

On the other hand, those situations above have brought public to view violations of
the ‘rights of God’ in the Shariah are an important counterpart to crimes in the
Western legal tradition. Of course, the ultimate ‘right of God’ upon mankind, as
explained by the Prophet Muhammad, is for God to be worshipped without partner,
and this right extends to other acts of worship as well, like giving the zakat charity.
But, unlike human beings, God is eminently beyond the capacity of any creature to
harm. Also, unlike human beings, God has “ordained upon Himself mercy”, and
promised that His “mercy encompasses all things”.

This is due to the fact that enforcement of criminal law is very close to human rights.
Islam introduces a comprehensive concept of respect for human rights, as compared
to other systems. Consequently, the enforcement of Islamic criminal law must portray
the beauty of the concept. For instance, Islamic principles on presumption of
innocence and standard of proof are far more stringent in cases punishable with
severe punishment.
Public also will realize in a system where there are few or no police or where the
police do not busy themselves investigating crimes, moderately intelligent criminals
faced little chance of being caught. According to the E=SxP equation, if the
probability (P) of being caught is minuscule, then in order for any meaningful
deterrent effect to be created the severity of punishment (S) must be mammoth.
Frightening punishments were seen as the only way to deter potential criminals
whom police (what few there were) would never be able to reach and this may
resulting the low criminal numbers for Sha’riah offences.

Therefore, the above situation does affect the reputation and perception of the public
towards religious enforcement officers in Malaysia because of