Saturday, 21-Feb-2004 10:59 AM

HARAKAH DAILY

SCOMI: Guilty by association

Raja Petra Kamarudin

SCENARIO: Say, you own a vineyard. Say, you produce the best grapes in the region. Say, you sell your grapes to a wine manufacturer. Say, you are fully aware that your grapes would be used to manufacture wine. Say, you are a Muslim and wine is classified as haram under Islam.

QUESTION: Would you not be participating or collaborating (subahat) in a haram business? Would you not be guilty of a crime under Islam? Would not your profits then be considered haram?

FLASHBACK: Bernama ran a story, lifted from SBS Australia, in October 2003 about Dr Abdul Rahim Ghouse’s previous links to Abrar International. Yasin al Kadi, a Saudi Arabian businessman “designated” by the United States government as a “terrorist”, was also once linked to Abrar. Dr Rahim is one of the Directors of the Free Anwar Campaign (FAC). Due to these links, the FAC, therefore, is said to have international Islamic terrorist links. And, since the FAC is campaigning for Anwar Ibrahim’s freedom, Anwar too, according to the Malaysian government’s logic, has international Islamic terrorist links.

FAST FORWARD:  Scomi Precise Engineering is a company owned by the Malaysian Prime Minister’s family. In 2001, Scomi entered into an agreement with a Dubai company, Gulf Technical Industries, to produce centrifuge components. The deal was set up by a Sri Lankan businessman, Buhary Seyed Abu Tahir. The technology came from a Pakistani scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, the ‘father’ of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, who also transferred the technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea. Buhary Seyed Abu Tahir was fully aware that the centrifuge components manufactured by Scomi were to support Libya’s uranium enrichment programme.

QUESTION: Would this then not make Scomi also guilty by association?