In the eye of the book. And the norm.

A couple of writers have already raised the very deep question of what makes something morally good or just. Are, as Pa-naeng suggests, all such opinions only (?) an expression of the culture a person grows up in (Supatanarungsan, 2014), or is the morally good and just what brings about the best outcome for the most people, one view that Book among others appears to think worth some consideration (Trairatananusorn, 2014)?

According to Thomas Fuller in "Malaysian Opposition Leader Sentenced in Sodomy Case" (2014), in a move seen by many as politically motivated in the lead up to an election he might have won, a Malaysian court has ruled that Anwar Ibrahim must serve a five-year prison sentence by reversing an earlier court decision that freed the leader of the increasingly popular Malaysian opposition party. The decision, which disqualifies Anwar from election, has been greeted by public controversy within Malaysia, especially on the Internet, and concern abroad from both governments and rights groups.

When I read Fuller's article, I thought it helped to clarify some of the very complex questions that we need to consider in deciding whether something is good or bad, just or unjust. Malaysia's law is perfectly clear: a man who has sex with another man is guilty of a serious crime. And it is likely that this law reflects Malaysian culture, that is, the Malaysian people's opinion that gay sex is immoral is constructed by their culture, I suspect largely under the influence of Islam, just as Christianity led to similar laws throughout almost all of the West until very recently. If we accept the idea that moral right and wrong are determined by culture, then it would seem that in Malaysia and similar cultures, gay sex really is evil and it's right to severely punish people who engage in such acts that are offensive to many people and are clearly against the religion. But is this right?

I have no idea whether Anwar is guilty or not, and it doesn't matter. Let's assume he is guilty: I think it still makes sense to ask whether he has done anything wrong. Even if he has regularly been having gay sex, I don't think that is anything wrong or immoral, although if he raped or used coercion, that would be wrong. Therefore, I think that Malaysian law is unjust, and that the cultural attitudes it's based on are in fact immoral. The moral beliefs of people who think that gay sex is evil and must be punished are false beliefs that need to be corrected. And since it's the people's religion, the teachings of Islam in the Koran, that are the basis of those morally wrong beliefs, then the Koran is wrong and is in fact teaching morally bad and false beliefs that should be corrected. Naturally, Malaysia has laws against criticising Islam or the Koran. Thankfully, over the past three to four decades, most Western countries have made great progress in this area, and have moved from punishing gay and lesbian people to treating same sex marriage as equal to mixed sex marriage.

Fuller also makes and reports some interesting comments about the questionable impartiality and independence of Malaysia's courts, but I might leave that for another discussion.

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Reference

Fuller, T. (2014, march 7). Malaysian Opposition Leader Sentenced in Sodomy Case. The New York Times. Retrieved March 10, 2014 from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/08/world/asia/malaysia-opposition-leader-sentenced-in-sodomy-case.html

Supatanarungsan, T. (2014, March 5). Beating Beauty Standard [Blog post]. Class Blog - AEP at AUA. Retrieved from http://peteraep.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-shift-of-beauty-standard-barbie-i.html

Trairatananusorn, R. (2014, March 5. 9:45 PM). Re: Less tax, more prison [Blog comment]. Class Blog - AEP at AUA. Retrieved from http://peteraep.blogspot.com/2014/03/less-tax-more-prison.html