RECENTLY I was in Kijal, Terengganu, attending a seminar on “Social Justice in Islam” jointly organised by Ikim and the Development Authority of Terengganu Tengah (Ketengah).
In addition to Malaysian speakers, three foreign speakers, one each from Bangladesh, Indonesia and Brunei, were invited to share their experiences in their countries.
The organisers were impressed by the overwhelming participation of various organisations in the state. The enthusiastic interest of more than 400 participants to be a part of the seminar dealing in social justice was beyond the expectations of the organisers.
Social justice is a very important objective of life in Islam, and I believe the importance of social justice is also evident in other religions. At the seminar, Prof Dr Abdul Rashid Morten from Bangladesh (who is currently attached to the International Islamic University of Malaysia) defined justice as “to straighten and be upright, to move from a position of wrong to a position that is desirable, and finally, it means balance and equilibrium.”
Based on that definition, it could be fairly understood that social justice encompasses all aspects of life. It goes
beyond just economic and political justices.
Sayyid Qutb, the renowned Muslim scholar, once said that justice in Islam “embraces all sides of life and all aspects of activity. It is concerned alike with perception and conduct, with the heart and the conscience. The values with which this justice deals with are not just economic values, or merely material values in general. Rather, they are a mixture of moral and spiritual values.”
Basically, social justice is all about our rights to live in a conducive, safe and peaceful world. If everyone observes the necessity to uphold social justice in society, I believe we will create a better world to live in. But look around us. Does social justice prevail?
Recent domestic and international events suggest that more needs to be done if social justice is to prevail.
For example, it seems the streets are no longer safe for our children. On the local scene, we are all still in shock over the rape, sodomy and murder of 10-year-old Nurul Huda Abdul Ghani.
A few weeks earlier, another girl, Hasirawati Saridi from Menggatal, Sabah, had a similar fate. Ironically, both cases involved drug addicts.
I wrote about the need to address the problem of drug addicts in my last article. Despite some angry responses,
I strongly believe that drug addicts, for the sake of our safety, need to be put away from the rest of society.
I also tend to look at the drug addiction problem from the economic perspective. One has to agree that to drug manufacturers, smugglers and pushers, drugs are a lucrative business.
Borrowing from the economic principle of supply and demand, I believe we can reduce demand (drug addicts) by eliminating the supply (manufacturers, smugglers and pushers) of the drug industry.
We are not talking about reducing the supply but rather eliminating it altogether. Otherwise, the problem will persist and will not go away. Remember the problem of Ecstasy addiction among Chinese youths a couple of years ago? The Ecstasy pills were very expensive and less affordable to the Malays.
Due to effective measures taken by the Chinese community, especially the MCA, they have, to a certain degree, solved the problem.
However, the suppliers changed tactics. The reduced demand for Ecstasy pills pushed the market price down. Now the pills are affordable to the majority of Malay addicts.
I strongly believe the drug problem has reached a level that can affect national security. Can you imagine what will happen to our beloved country if every walk of life is infested with drug fiends?
What will happen to our security and defence systems? How about our education system?
As a measure to curb supply, I suggest that something be done via our legal system.
I suggest that suppliers (even the “suspected” ones) at all levels be detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
Such a provision will allow police to detain suspected suppliers without waiting to catch them red-handed with physical evidence.
From the small fish to the topmost bosses, round them all up, no matter who they are.
I am sure the intelligence mechanism is in place. The police are easily able to identify suspected suppliers of drugs. This is necessary because the death penalty for suppliers does not seem to deter them from being actively involved in the trade. To the suppliers, business wise, it is a risk worth taking.
Our society will be better protected from drug addicts if supply is totally eliminated. Only then can social justice be upheld in our society. However, drug addiction is only one aspect of social justice. There is more. But I’ll get back to that next time.
Till then, let’s work together to get rid of this disgusting problem.