ABSTRAK: Sejak pertengahan dasawarsa 1950-an, cendekiawan dan tokoh agama di Brunei mulai menegaskan bahwa berbagai peraturan dalam urusan agama Islam dan sistem hukum, yang merupakan warisan zaman protektorat Inggris, adalah berat sebelah dan mengelirukan karena semuanya akan bermuara pada penganaktirian hukum Islam dan dalam jangka panjang meminggirkan agama dari wacana publik. Mereka melihat tantangan ini sebagai “noblesse oblige” dan memutuskan untuk membawa kembali tradisi hukum dan mahkamah Brunei selaras dengan tuntutan ajaran agama. Memang, Undang-Undang Dasar 1959 menentukan, di antaranya, bahwa Islam sebagai “agama resmi” negara. Kemudian sejak akhir 1960-an, ketentuan undang-undang ini telah mendapatkan perhatian serius dan ulangkaji dari para pakar Brunei. Menarik untuk mempertanyakan sejauh mana pengaruh pencarian akar Islam dan penemuan wawasan Islam di Brunei kontemporer mempengaruhi perumusan dan sekaligus proklamasi Melayu-Islam-Beraja (MIB) sebagai falsafah yang juga bertindak sebagai ideologi bernegara-bangsa? Sebagai realisasinya, sistem hukum dan penanganan keadilan di Brunei sudah selayaknya dijadikan sepenuhnya berwatak Islam, sebagaimana yang berlaku sebelum campurtangan Inggris. Namun uniknya, dan ini menjadi pembahasan penting dalam artikel ini, argumen yang berkembang di kalangan pakar hukum Islam di Brunei sejak pertengahan 1990-an adalah bahwa sistem hukum yang ada dan berlaku tidak perlu dirombak total, melainkan ia perlu disusun semula dan dirapikan sehingga selaras dengan pinsip hukum Islam. Bagaimana caranya? Seorang petinggi agama, yang memegang jabatan Hakim Shar`i, berdalih bahwa memang perlu dilakukan ulangkaji menyeluruh terhadap semua produk hukum di Brunei untuk memastikan semuanya selaras, atau minimal tidak bertentangan, dengan ajaran dan prinsip hukum Islam.

Kata-kata kunci: agama Islam dan hukum shar’i di Brunei, warisan hukum kolonial Inggris, dan perlunya reformasi hukum Islam.

About the Author: Prof. Dr. Iik Arifin Mansurnoor is a Lecturer at the Department of History, University of Brunei Darussalam. He was born in Ponorogo, East Java, Indonesia, on December 19, 1949. He earned B.A.Hons. (Drs.) from IAIN (Institut Agama Islam Negeri) Sunan Ampel, Surabaya, in 1975; Master of Arts (M.A.) from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, in 1983; and Ph.D. from the same university in 1987. His dissertation which was then published, was Islam in an Indonesian World: Ulama of Madura (Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press, 1990). For academic purposes, he can be contacted at: Jabatan Sejarah, Fakulti Sastera dan Sains Sosial UBD (Universiti Brunei Darussalam), Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong BE 1410, Negara Brunei Darussalam. E-mail: arifin@fass.ubd.edu.bn

How to cite this article? Mansurnoor, Iik Arifin. (2008). “Formulating and Implementing a Shari`a-Guided Legal System in Brunei Darussalam: Opportunity and Challenge” in SOSIOHUMANIKA: Jurnal Pendidikan Sains Sosial dan Kemanusiaan, Vol.1, No.2 [November], pp.219-248. Bandung, Indonesia: Minda Masagi Press, UPI Bandung, and UMS Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, ISSN 1979-0112.

Chronicle of the article: Accepted (June 5, 2008); Revised (August 25, 2008); and Published (November 20, 2008).

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