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Overseas voting process has several defects, says DAP
Friday sermon: ‘Enemies’ of Islam staking claim over ‘Allah’ to confuse Muslims
Perkasa is outsourced by Umno, says Anwar
Waytha under fire for silence over temples
Preacher argues the ‘Allah’ case
Free education ‘possible’, say economists

Overseas voting process has several defects, says DAP

Posted: 24 Jan 2013 04:21 PM PST

Syed Jaymal Zahiid, The Malaysian Insider

DAP leaders today said there are defects in the overseas voting process and this could see Malaysians abroad denied the right to fair elections and possible vote manipulation.

Four key issues were listed, among them being the Election Commission's (EC) delay in allowing those living overseas to vote, a problem that left many Malaysians abroad with little time to register as voters.

"It took them so long to implement it and many Malaysians who are trying to vote now can't do so because they are not registered," DAP Socialist Youth chief Anthony Loke (picture) told reporters here, saying that the EC had also done nothing to encourage those abroad to register while the overseas voting process was being deliberated.

Loke noted that a parliamentary select committee on polls reform in its preliminary findings had asked the EC to allow overseas voting more than a year ago. The polls regulator, however, only announced the decision to carry it out early this month.

With Election 2013 expected to be held in March, those who register now cannot exercise their right to vote in this election.

Then there is the new rule that requires overseas voters to be in Malaysia for a minimum of 30 days anywhere between April 2008 to the time Parliament is dissolved.

The problem was raised last July by the My Overseas Vote (MOV) movement which said Malaysians abroad would not be able to vote if the EC does not amend the rules on voter registration and postal voting.

"As long as EC does not amend the regulations, it is impossible for 95 per cent of Malaysians abroad to register as voters," MOV co-ordinator Andrew Yong had told The Malaysian Insider, saying that "there are now one million Malaysians working overseas with the majority being private sector employees."

"What this does is it filters out a lot of applicants. It's just not possible. Those abroad often only come back for a few weeks at the most. Why are they adding new restrictions; that could be a hassle," Loke charged.

Posted: 24 Jan 2013 04:01 PM PST

JAKIM cited "scientific" research to back its assertion that Christians have no legitimate claim to the word "Allah".

Clara Chooi, The Malaysian Insider

Federal religious authorities warned Muslims nationwide today of attempts by "enemies of Islam" to confuse them into believing that all religions are the same, prolonging the debate over the usage of "Allah" by Christians even as it drives a deeper wedge between the country's two most dominant religions.

In today's Friday sermon prepared by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM) here, Muslims were told that being too open-minded and allowing Islamic rights to be abused by other religions was a "dangerous" act.

"It is very clear that, today, enemies of Islam are seeking to divert and undermine the Muslim community's faith.

"They are united among themselves and are attempting, with their many tricks and ways, to stake their claim on the usage of 'Allah' in their scriptures," the sermon said.

JAKIM insisted that "Allah", a word that millions of Arab Christians and those in non-Arabic-speaking lands use to describe their God, belongs to Muslims and is an exclusive right to those who profess Islam as it is clearly to prevent Muslims from becoming confused over the true identity of their God.

Citing unnamed academic research, JAKIM said that the word "Allah" was never found in the Bible as God ― to Christians ― exists as the Trinity of "God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit."

The general term for the Holy Trinity, said the religious department, is "The Lord" which is the English translation of biblical text.

As such, JAKIM insisted that the National Fatwa Council's 2008 decision on the matter was accurate in stating that "Allah" cannot be used by those of other religions and cannot be likened to the gods of others.

"We would like to say that as Muslims who believes in Allah and his messenger, then it becomes our responsibility to preserve the sanctity and defend the word 'Allah' in the best way possible, and should there be elements of insult and abuse, it should be stopped in accordance with provisions in the Federal Constitution.

"Muslims must be firm in protecting the sanctity and the identity of their religion," JAKIM said in the sermon.

The authority also warned that painful punishment would await disbelievers in the afterlife, noting that these "symptoms" of Islam's collapse would only destroy the glory and prestige of Muslims here.

The "Allah" dispute, which first erupted after the watershed Election 2008, remains a hot-button topic in the run-up to this year's polls.

Debate resurfaced last month after DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who is also the Penang chief minister, called on Putrajaya in his Christmas message to lift a ban on Malay-language bibles in Borneo Malaysia.

Posted: 24 Jan 2013 03:56 PM PST

Zurairi AR, The Malaysian Insider

Perkasa can get away with racial slurs and religious insults because it is backed by Umno, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim alleged today.

Malay rights group Perkasa and its president Datuk Ibrahim Ali have been playing up racial and religious issues as Election 2013 looms, without any rebuke from the government or the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN).

"(Perkasa) is an organisation outsourced by Umno to fend racist and religious bigotry at the behest of Umno," Anwar (picture) claimed here.

During Perkasa's convention in Penang last weekend, Ibrahim had urged Muslims to unite and burn all Malay-language bibles that contain the word "Allah" and other religious words in Arabic script.

"We have not yet found a tough response by the Umno leadership nor the prime minister, nor the home minister," said Anwar.

"This is, to me, disturbing ... you may have differences between PKR and Umno, Pakatan Rakyat and BN, but you have to draw the line."

Anwar said that parties on both sides of the political divide can continue their political battles, but should never resort to defending racial and religious bigotry.

On Wednesday, Anwar had called for Muslims nationwide to condemn Perkasa's threat to burn all Malay-language bibles.

The opposition leader, a Muslim, said those who profess Islam and claim to protect "Allah" and the Quran should also defend their faith and morals by preventing the spread of racial insults, which were discouraged by the religion.

Yesterday, Perkasa insisted that its president's words were actually a "wake-up call" to prevent possible violence against distributors of bibles containing the word "Allah" and other religious words in Arabic script.

The group's secretary-general, Syed Hassan Syed Ali, said Perkasa was merely protecting Islam and its position, as enshrined in the Federal Constitution, and this included rejecting those who insult the religion and who try to spread their own faiths to Muslims.

Ibrahim's remarks had immediately sparked furore among Christians and politicians across the political divide and invited calls on the government to cite him for sedition.

The "Allah" dispute, which first erupted after the watershed Election 2008, remains a hot-button topic in the run-up to this year's polls.

Hot on the heels of the DAP leader's remarks, several state Rulers and Islamic religious authorities reminded non-Muslims of state laws banning use of the word despite conflicting with a 2009 High Court judgment that ruled "Allah" was not exclusive to Islam.

Waytha under fire for silence over temples

Posted: 24 Jan 2013 03:47 PM PST

A MIC Youth leader has also questioned Hindraf's plans to 'take down another Indian' via contesting in MIC allocated seats.

B Nantha Kumar, FMT

Hindraf pioneer P Waythamoorthy has come under fire for his deafening silence over the Selangor government's handling of two temple issues in the state recently.

Accusing Waythamoorthy of "pretending to be in the dark" over the issue, Selangor MIC Youth chief M Shanker Raj Ayanger said the Hindraf man's silence showed that he was an opportunist.

"While the Malaysian Indian community is upset that the Selangor government through the Sepang Municipal Council barged into a house and broke a shrine there recently, Waythamoorthy has kept mum on the matter.

"Would he have done the same if the Selangor government was run by the Barisan Nasional?

"It is surprising to note that Hindraf, which claimed to safeguard Indian rights, has remained silent on the two temple issues involving the Pakatan Rakyat government" he said.

He was referring to the recent case where the enforcement officers from the Sepang Municipal Council demolished a private shrine built within the compound of a house.

As soon as the issue subsided, the Kajang Municipal Council issued summons and fines to the Sri Mahamariamman Temple in Kajang, for excessive noise during prayer sessions.

The council has since rescinded the summons and compounds.

"It looks like Waythamoorthy has deliberately overlooked these two incidents.

"There were also reports that seven temples have been demolished in Selangor after Pakatan's rule began in 2008 but Hindraf has disregarded the issue.

"It seems quite clear Hindraf only makes noise if it is the BN.

"But if Pakatan does anything, it is silent. When you fight for the community, you must be fair and just. You must fight even if the opponent is your friend.

"You are fighting for the people. But now it looks like Hindraf is only there to criticise the BN and nothing else," he told FMT.

READ MORE HERE

Preacher argues the ‘Allah’ case

Posted: 24 Jan 2013 03:34 PM PST

An Islamic preacher argues why he disagrees with Christians using the word Allah and reprimands Muslims for not understanding their own faith.

G Vinod, FMT

Amid threats of burning Malay-language Bibles due to the use of the word Allah, one Islamic preacher reasons why he disagrees with Christians using the Arabic holy word to refer to God.

Saba Islamic Media preacher Shah Kirit Kakulal Govindji, in a YouTube video, said the generic word for God in Arabic is not Allah, but Ilah or Rab.

The 22-minute video, taken during a ceramah session at the Al-Azim mosque, shows Shah Kirit saying that he disagrees with Christians using the word Allah to refer to God as the holy word is a unique name conferred in the Quran.

"When you say in English, 'man is a thief' and translate it into Malay it becomes 'lelaki itu seorang pencuri'.

"But can you translate that same sentence into 'Shah Kirit itu seorang pencuri'. Does it reflect the same meaning as the English sentence earlier?" he asked.

Shah Kirit then quoted the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 28, where Jesus has said that," For my Father is greater than I."

"So can I change the word Father to Allah and say, for Allah is greater than Jesus? Would the Christians agree to it?" he said.

Shah Kirit also disagreed with arguments that it was all right for Christians in Malaysia to use the word Allah as even Indonesians do it.

"We are talking about Bahasa Malaysia here, not Indonesian. If that's the case, the Indonesians call their primary schools as Pancasila. Shall we change the names of our schools then?" he asked.

While he agreed that Christians in Arab countries use the word Allah to refer to God, Shah Kirit said that it was due to the cultural factor.

"Besides, they are referring to Bibles in the Arabic language. We re talking about Malay Bibles, not Arabic," he said.

Posted: 24 Jan 2013 11:30 AM PST

(The Sun Daily) - "If the government wants to do it, they just need to stop wasting money on things like BR1M, free tyres, RM100 for school children, petrol subsidy, and divert the money to tertiary education"

Free tertiary education is possible if we cut down on "unproductive" spending, Malaysian economists have suggested.

Their comments were solicited by theSun in the wake of national debate on the issue that has been stirred by an exchange between undergraduate K.S. Bawani, and Suara Wanita 1Malaysia (SW1M) president Sharifah Zohra Jabeen, at a forum in Universiti Utara Malaysia. The video of the exchange has gone viral on the internet.

Chief Executive of Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), Wan Saiful Wan Jan said the current government is capable of reducing the cost of tertiary education.

"If the government wants to do it, they just need to stop wasting money on things like BR1M, free tyres, RM100 for school children, petrol subsidy, and divert the money to tertiary education," he said.

He noted that the recent "free tyres and cash rewards" seemed to take precedence above cushioning the cost of tertiary education.

It is only a matter of re-juggling priorities and putting tertiary education as priority above other "unproductive" spending, he said.

"The cost will be removal of the wasteful spending and we will not receive the cash handouts and subsidies anymore," he added.

The national education budget has been slashed from RM50 billion in 2012 to RM37 billion in 2013, which is a drop from 20% of the total national budget to 15%.

Economist, Khoo Kay Peng, speculated that this is largely associated with government cash handout programmes such as BR1M and BR1M 2.0, and the RM200 rebate for smartphones.

"The cut is unnecessary. Funds spent on one-time cash handouts and rebates do not create a lasting impact on the economy," he said.

Ideally, Khoo sees that education funding should occupy 20% to 22% of the GDP.

Another suggestion by economists to fund free tertiary education is to cut the defence budget.

The director of Centre for Policy Initiatives, Dr Lim Teck Ghee, said the expenditure used in defence can be cut back to cushion the cost of tertiary education.

"If we cut back expenditure in sectors such as the defence sector where the rationale for large budgets is not sustainable and reduce the cost of doing business due to rent seeking, patronage and opaque government procurement, it can generate tens of billions annually," he said.

While it woud be great to have blanket tertiary education, economists argue that it is not a civic obligation to provide free tertiary education for all, neither is it economically-wise in the long run.

Wan Saiful pointed out that we already have a deficit budget and blanket free tertiary education will increase the deficit.

"I must add at this point that making tertiary, or any other level of education free, is not a good move in the long term. It may not have a disastrous adverse impact now, but in the longer term the country will not be able to afford it.

"The deficit spending incurred by the Najib administration will be a burden on society long after Datuk Sri Najib (Abdul Razak) and his ministers have left us," he argued.

On civic-responsibility, he said education is ultimately the responsibility of parents and individuals.

"It is immoral to pass that responsibility to others through the machinery of government and taxation. If we want society to help each other, than we must encourage voluntary help, not coerce people through taxation.

"Our society today has become overly reliant on government so that voluntary help is diminishing," he said.

Dr Lim does not favour blanket tertiary education as he said not everyone cannot afford university fees.

"Students from rich families can afford to pay a portion of the tuition fees and they should be made to do so," he said.

Along with easing tertiary education fees, Lim also suggested reform of the higher education sector.

He noted that 10% of government expenditure is presently allocated to higher education. "We have to ask if we are getting value for our tax money being spent on higher education," he said.

He highlighted large numbers of unemployable graduates, the low academic standards, and the poor quality of research especially in public colleges.

Instead of free tertiary education for all, funds can be used to enhance the quality of public tertiary education system.

"Free tertiary education should be for those whose parents earn a low income," said Khoo Kay Peng, who is also a political commentator.

He highlighted that the government allocates RM200 million annually to retrain unemployed graduates.

"It speaks volumes of a need to revamp the tertiary education system if an undergraduate has to be retrained after just spending four years on his education," he said.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Jumaat, 25 Januari 2013

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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