Breaking into Private Homes – When Muslim Lives are No Longer Private

In Malaysia, there is no such thing as privacy for Muslims. An individual is at the mercy of some vague religious officers and have no right to question their authority.

Early this morning I found out that a friend of mine was caught by JAWI for having male friends over to their house to watch a game of football. They were verbally abused and taken to a JAWI lock-up at 1.30am. They were not told what they did wrong, nor were they not given any explanation. Their house was ransacked without any reason.

I called JAWI asking them to clarify their offence. A male representative picked up the phone, and told me they acted based on a complaint, and when JAWI officers got there, the door was locked, and when no one answered their knocks they broke into the house. I asked the representative what were they doing, and he said they were in their own rooms. The girls were dressed and they were not caught in the act of anything suspicious. So why were they arrested? He then passed me to a Puan Siti, pegawai dewan. She said that it was based on complaint, and if there was a complaint that means it’s not the first time it happened. And they were arrested on the grounds of ‘khalwat.’ She became quite irritated when I posed more questions on khalwat and asked me to read section 27 on khalwat – that a male and female without blood relation found not just in a room, but even a house is considered khalwat, regardless of what they’re doing. And when the officers got there, they found evidence of some hanky panky going on. I asked her what kind of evidence to which she did not reply but asked me to go to JAWI and see the officers there for further questions.

Interestingly, our religious officers breaking into people’s houses is NOT Islamic. A verse in the Quran reads, “Do not enter any houses except your own homes unless you are sure of their occupants’ consent.” (24:27)

Islam protects privacy, not kill it. Where did the Malaysian idea of Islam go wrong?