NU sets double standard on bribery
NU sets double standard on bribery
Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post/Surakarta
Paying money to officials or brokers in order to obtain posts in
governmental agencies that require a civil service exam is
considered a bribe, which is forbidden, or haram, under Islamic
law, according to a regulatory commission of the Nahdlatul Ulama
(NU).
However, the payment of gratuities is halal -- permitted under
sharia -- if prospective civil servants pass their exam, but are
barred from assuming the posts unless they paid money, added the
nation's largest Muslim organization.
"It means a dloror (emergency) situation, which permits
Muslims to pay a bribe in order to claim their rights," senior
cleric Masyhuri Na'im said on Wednesday. Masyhuri was chairing a
commission meeting on contentious, contemporary Islamic issues.
Asked who would determine that a case was an emergency
situation, Masyhuri replied: "Anyone, but they must follow the
basic principles of dloror as regulated by Islamic law."
For example, he said, eating a pig was haram for Muslims
except in certain emergency cases, such as serious health
problems that required the consumption of the animal or parts of
the animal for treatment.
However, the NU agreed that receiving a bribe from prospective
civil servants in any situation was strictly haram.
Bribery was one of four controversial issues discussed by the
commission during the five-day NU national congress in Surakarta,
Central Java, which will end on Thursday.
More than five hours was needed by the commission to resolve
the bribery issue concerning prospective civil servants, as its
members -- all experts in sharia law -- strongly defended their
respective arguments.
Among the three other issues -- DNA testing to determine
bloodlines, localizing prostitution and capital punishment for
drug dealers -- the bribery issue raised the most heated debate.
A participant proposed that bribery be declared haram so as
not to provide any opportunity for the people, particularly
Muslims, to commit bribery under any circumstances.
The commission rejected the suggestion unanimously, but did
not provide a clear explanation for its decision.
In response to the double-standard ruling that allowed bribery
in emergencies, several observers of the meeting questioned the
organization's commitment to eradicating corruption.
Bribing officials and other authorities for civil service
posts is common practice in Indonesia.
The commission agreed to forbid the use of DNA tests to
determine spiritual ancestry, even though the scientific method
could prove biological bloodlines.
"However, this method can be used to confirm the termination
of family lines under sharia," Masyhuri said.
He said under Islamic law, spiritual ancestry was determined
through the confessions of the concerned parties, or via
witnesses who testified that the concerned parties were related.
This also means that two biologically unrelated people can
become legitimate relatives if both declare it.
The DNA testing issue was important, as it concerned the
legacy of material inheritance and legitimacy of heirship, as
well as the religious legitimacy of a marriage.
The NU has banned localizing prostitution -- of organizing
commercial sex workers within a particular area -- as doing so
would mean to tolerate and accept the vice, which was haram.
On capital punishment for drug dealers, the NU sided with the
government's policy, despite the strong objection of human rights
activists. The organization argued that a drug dealer committed
an extraordinary crime that caused worldly destruction and the
death of others, and thereby deserved to be sentenced to death.
"Allah commands us so," Masyhuri said.