Isnin, 28 Oktober 2013

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St Thomas More, Rule of Law, and the Allah controversy

Posted: 28 Oct 2013 09:52 AM PDT

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Hans_Holbein%2C_the_Younger_-_Sir_Thomas_More_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/220px-Hans_Holbein%2C_the_Younger_-_Sir_Thomas_More_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg 

Law is inevitably informed by morality, but it is not the same thing as morality. When we forget this, when we insist that what is wrong must be unlawful, or that it must be lawful to punish every wrong, we undermine the rule of law.
 
Catholic of the Parish of St Thomas More, Subang Jaya
 
Sir Thomas More, known to Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was a lawyer, philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He was a councillor at the court of King Henry VIII and Lord Chancellor of his court for 4 years (1592 - 1532).
 
Thomas More vigorously opposed the "Reformation" especially the teachings of Martin Luther and William Tyndale whose books he burned and whose followers he persecuted. He also wrote "Utopia", in 1516, about the political system of an ideal and imaginary island nation. 
 
Thomas More later bitterly opposed the King's separation from the Catholic church and refused to accept him as Supreme Head of the Church of England because it disparaged papal authority and Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
 
Thomas More lost his head (literally) because of this opposition to the King.
 
Pope Pius XI declared him as St Thomas More in 1935. Pope John Paul II in 2000 declared More the "Patron of Statesmen and Politicians".
 
What has this St Thomas More got to do with the Allah controversy? I believe that we as Catholics in this country should abide by the "rule of law".
 
Law is inevitably informed by morality, but it is not the same thing as morality. When we forget this, when we insist that what is wrong must be unlawful, or that it must be lawful to punish every wrong, we undermine the rule of law.
 
Is there a "law" that says Catholics or otherwise refer to God as "Allah"? if we don't than are we running foul of the laws of our religious beliefs? Why is the Catholic church taking this "fight" to the courts knowing that the courts simply can't base their judgement on "pure evidence" in this case? 
 
If we really look at the issue, it is not really for the courts to decide but really for the duly appointed Home Minister, who is duty bound and charged to ensure the preservation of law and order in this country as best as he knows how, and in this case he "felt" rightly or wrongly that the continual use of the word by The Herald may lead to "confusion" and eventual mayhem (that was his decision and the "law" provides for him to make such a decision).
 
It was an "immoral" decision that infringes on a basic right to use the word to refer to God, but the Home Minister had the lawfully given right to impose this ban and the law gives him that right and we as a nation based on the rule of law are bound by this.
 
Thomas More was a man deeply committed to the "rule of law", he would even give the devil himself the benefit of doubt, if he had not broken the "rule of law". Yes, it is "morally" wrong to ban the use of the word in The Herald, but was the law of the land broken? In this instance?
 
Morality tells us what is wrong. Law tells us what is wrong according to the laws of this country. And everyone's safety depends on our remembering this distinction and not insisting, going beyond the law, that every wrong - moral or otherwise - must be punished. To do so is to liberate power from the restraints of law.
 
For Thomas More, nations can arrive at anarchy by two very different paths. A decent public order can be as easily destroyed by either of two opposed, but equally incorrect, dispositions: A cynical indifference to the moral law fosters chaos, but so too does the moralistic manipulation of law.
 
President Obama claims that the Assad regime must be punished, by military force if necessary, for allegedly using chemical weapons in Syria's civil war. Such an action was surely an atrocity, but was it a crime?
 
As several commentators have observed, and as even the president has admitted in his public remarks, Syria is not a signatory of the chemical weapons ban. Since international law is a product of treaties, the prohibition was not legally binding on Syria. To adapt Thomas More's language, Assad may have played the "Devil" but he did not "break the law" by using chemical weapons.
 
So how do we Catholics deal with this immoral issue? We are morally in the right to continue to use the word, in our publications and speech, but we "break the law of the land" or so to speak if we do so. 

I still strongly believe that "dialogue" and taking time to see another person's point of view can resolve this issue amicably. Maybe we should take a different approach; the courts are surely not the way. Maybe we should withdraw and let God take care of this, maybe we should just let go. Time heals, thinking matures, and governments can be changed. 

Malaysia’s Mahathir Attacks Another Successor

Posted: 28 Oct 2013 09:28 AM PDT

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/mahathir1-300x208.jpg 

(Asia Sentinel) - Former Premier accuses Najib's allies of buying votes in October intraparty polls

 

Former Malaysian Premier Mahathir Mohamad today appears to have fired the first volley of a widely anticipated attack on Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, saying the premier's allies in recent United Malays National Organization intraparty polls preserved their positions in the UMNO hierarchy by buying votes.

"We are told that they've eliminated corruption during the recent UMNO election, I am not convinced," Mahathir told a conference at the country's administrative capital of Putra Jaya. Although he didn't mention Najib by name, he said: "I think there was a lot of money involved, going into the millions, and loads of people who should not be getting votes were getting votes because of the money they spent."

It's uncertain how much clout the 88-year-old former prime minister still has within the party. He ruled as prime minister for 22 years until handing the position on to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as his anointed successor in 2003. However, the implications are that the party, Malaysia's biggest, may face a period of instability as the factions slug it out.

The next showdown, if there is one, could occur when UMNO holds its annual general assembly on Dec. 2-7 although a source in the Mahathir wing of the party said: "It could be, but there isn't going to be a big bang. Gradual fireworks."

A recent poll named Mahathir the most popular figure in UMNO, with a 75 percent approval rating, although that didn't translate into votes for his allies in the UMNO intraparty elections.

Najib emerged from the May 5 national elections appearing badly weakened after the Barisan Nasional lost the popular vote for the first time since 1969 although it preserved a diminished parliamentary majority thanks to gerrymandering. Mahathir and Daim Zainuddin, the former finance minister, blamed Najib for reaching out too much to the country's Chinese and Indian minorities at the cost of votes from UMNO's ethnic Malay base.

After the election, Mahathir damned Najib with faint praise in a speech in Tokyo, saying the prime minister would stay in office because there wasn't anybody at the time to replace him. Bloggers aligned with Mahathir have been staging attacks on the prime minister since the May polls, with one describing him as a "bug on the windshield."

But Najib, a wily strategist, appears to have made common cause with forces aligned with former PM Badawi, whom Mahathir drove from office in 2008, in an effort to protect his flanks from Mahathir's attacks. In particular, Najib has enlisted Badawi's son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, who was previously reviled within the party. After Khairy was named Youth and Sports Minister, he became head of the youth wing of the party.

Also returned to power was Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, who was appointed head of the women's wing of the party by Badawi. Shahrizat was forced to step down last year as a senator amid allegations that members of her family had looted the National Feedlot Corporation, a publicly funded project to rear cattle by halal, or Islamic religious methods.

Nonetheless, if Mahathir's vendetta against Badawi is any indication, he can do considerable damage. Mahathir blamed Badawi for leading the ruling coalition into the loss of its two-thirds majority in Parliament for the first time since 1957. A months-long intraparty feud ensued before Badawi was driven from office and replaced with Najib.

Read more at: http://www.asiasentinel.com/politics/malaysia-mahathir-attacks-successor/ 

Of Allah and the state of Malaysia

Posted: 28 Oct 2013 09:15 AM PDT

http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/images/2013/10/27//201310271401886580_20.jpg 

(Al Jazeera) - Ruling on use of word 'Allah' shows a worrying state of affairs that, left unchecked, may be disastrous for Malaysia.

Earlier this month, the Malaysian Court of Appeal upheld an administrative direction by the government prohibiting the Catholic Church of Malaysia from using the word "Allah" to denote "God" in the Malay version of the Church's newsletter, The Herald.

The government asserts that the direction, along with a condition that the newsletter was only to be circulated among members of the Catholic Church, is aimed at preserving public order. The unimpeded use of the word "Allah" by the church, it explains, will result in confusion among Muslims.

The ruling was handed down in a controversial appeal brought by the government against a lauded 2009 decision of the first court striking down the prohibition as unreasonable for, among other things, it not being reconcilable with the long history of the use of the word by Christians in Malaya (later Malaysia), and the constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion, expression and association. It was also, in the mind of the court, irrational in light of the word "Allah" being freely used to denote God in the Malay translation of the Bible.

One Malaysia? Not so much

That the government felt it necessary to appeal the ruling in the first place was questionable. The government, led by Prime Minister Najib Razak, had spent much time, effort and money in a branding exercise, centred on the use of the slogan "1Malaysia", to showcase itself as a moderate and inclusive government. "1Malaysia", in Najib's view, was the blueprint for a participatory democracy that would be the envy of others. Justifiably, questions arose as to why it was necessary to pursue an appeal against a decision that did nothing more than state the obvious.

It would seem that the appeal was not prompted by concerns about the state of public order, Malaysia has, after all, shown itself more than capable of dealing with actual threats in the past. The fact that the government has in the wake of the decision of the Court of Appeal clarified that the prohibition only applies to The Herald and not to other publications, including the Malay version of the Bible, undermines any assertion that the national security of the country would be threatened by the unimpeded use of the word.

The initial ruling, and other hard-won decisions on various aspects of religious freedom, would not have been welcomed as landmark decisions if that were the case.

Rather, the decision of the government appears to have been a strategic appeal to the ethnocentric sentiments of a Malay, and as such Muslim, majority voter base in a move that Malaysians have come to recognise as a leaf out of the playbook of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the political party which Najib heads and which has led the coalition government that has ruled since independence.

Read more at: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/10/2013102844433318666.html

Maybank2U and Maybank2E Graded as 'F' by HTTPS Security Test, Lowest Among Eight Local Online ...

Posted: 28 Oct 2013 09:10 AM PDT

http://cdn.lowyat.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/131028ssltestm2u.jpg 

(Lowyat.net) - A local VPN service provider, BolehVPN earlier today have posted a rather interesting blog post regarding a test that they have recently done to nine online banking services that are operated by Malaysian-based banks. Using an automated test by Qualys SSL Labs, the good news is that majority of the test subjects are graded as A by the test which runs deep analysis on the configurations of a SSL-equipped web server.

That being said, Maybank2U – which is arguably the most popular among all the test subjects – is not of part of this group. Instead, Maybank2U is graded as F in the test due to its support for SSL 2.0 which is said to be obsolete and insecure. Additionally, the test results further stated that Maybank2U also supports a number of weak ciphers and is no equipped with forward secrecy feature.

While Maybank might have implemented additional security measurements around the service, this news is rather alarming given the popularity of Maybank2U among users. Similarly, the service's enterprise counterpart - Maybank2E - is also rated F by the test although the reasons are much more worrying which include the support for insecure renegotiation and higher vulnerability to denial-of-service attack.

Read more at: http://www.lowyat.net/2013/10/28/14502/maybank2u-and-maybank2e-f-grade-ssl-labs/ 

Why 'God' loved Isaac more than Ishmael

Posted: 27 Oct 2013 08:51 PM PDT

KTemoc Konsiders

I refer to some parts of RPK's Much ado about nothing (part 2), wakakaka those which states:

According to Genesis, Abraham had a wife named Sarah who was barren and could not give him any children. Sarah had an Egyptian slave named Hagar, so Sarah told Abraham to use Hagar as a surrogate mother since she (Sarah) could not give Abraham any children.

Hagar soon became pregnant and not long after that Sarah, too, became pregnant. So now both of them were pregnant. Hagar's son was named Ishmael while Sarah's son was named Isaac. But Ishmael was elder to Isaac since he was born first.

Sarah soon became jealous and told Abraham to get rid of Hagar and Hagar's son, Ishmael. So Abraham dumped both of them in the desert and left them there. God, who called Himself, El Shaddai, then appeared and told Sarah that she will become the mother of all nations.

Now, there are two things to note here. First of all, God acknowledged Isaac (the younger brother) and not Ishmael (the elder brother) as the true successor and heir to Abraham.

and

Oh, by the way, Jews practice circumcision, an Egyptian practice at that time -- and Hagar was Egyptian while Sarah was not. Does this mean the Jews follow Hagar and not Sarah? 

Let me comment on the last part first, that of circumcision.

Gulp, I don't like the look of what appears to be a pair of pliers (on right)
what's that tool on the left?

RPK is correct that circumcision was then an Egyptian practice. The Egyptians were probably the first people to conduct circumcision, but then only among the royals and nobility.

Please note that when we refer to the biblical Egyptians we're NOT talking about today's Egyptian who are and have been mainly Arabs, and of course mainly Muslims since Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) introduced Islam to the Middle-Eastern world.

The biblical Egyptians were a different race, no, not even the people of Ptolemy's and Cleopatra's who came later and were mainly Macedonians and Greeks, remnants of Alexander's army. The original Egyptians were in a race of a much earlier era, and have since long gone; no one other than perhaps historians of ancient Egypt or Egyptologists know where they are now - perhaps in Padang and Negeri Sembilan wakakaka.

In a post earlier this year titled B-D,the new G-D of 'Truth' I had written about the same thing.

Strangely, for the Hebrews, a people who despised the Egyptians for their pagan beliefs, yet they adopted many Egyptian practices, including that of circumcision – see my post B-D, the new G-D of'Truth'. Of course the Hebrews would claim that Abraham circumcised himself to show his covenant with YVWH.

OK then, we might as well begin our discussion with Abraham who the Bible told us came from Ur of the Chaldees, as in Genesis 11:27-31, which say:

27 Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.

29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.

30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.

31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.

Abraham was born around 2000 BC according to those who also believed that Adam and Eve and their Fall happened around 4000 BC). But archaeologists said that Chaldeans (of the Chaldees) didn't even exist until around the sixth to fifth century BC, nearly 1500 years after Abraham's time.

Thus the claim that Abram (before he became Abraham) came from Ur of the Chaldees was likely a latter day invention (or writeup) at a time (around 530 BC) coincidentally when the Judeans were incarcerated as slaves in Babylon and first wrote down the oral tradition of Abraham's story while compiling the written Hebrew Bible Tanakh).


Now, just note Genesis 17:17 which says Abraham became hilarious when God told him he would have a son:

Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? And shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

This tells us that the age gap between Abraham and Sarah was 10 years.

OK, flashing back to earlier, specifically 25 years earlier, to Genesis 12:4, we have (before he changed his name to Abraham):

So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him: and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

Abraham was already 75 years old when he was instructed by God to leave Haran after his father died. Therefore Sarah was sixty-five years old. It also tells us that there was a gap of at least 25 years between entering Egypt and having their son Isaac.

In Genesis 12:14-15 we have:

And it came to pass, that, when Abrams was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.

The princes also of Pharaoh also saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.

When entering Egypt, Abraham wanted Sarah to pretend she was his sister. The biblical reason was that he was afraid of being killed if it was known she was his wife, for he anticipated Sarah would attract lustful attention. And he was right. Pharaoh was told of her beauty, took her into his Palace and rewarded her 'brother' generously.

Here, some questions begged to be asked.


(1) What did Egyptians see in a 65 year old Hebrew woman that made them acclaim she was fair, and recommend the beauty to the Pharaoh, and why would a Pharaoh, who could have any woman in the land, want an old crone as his lover?

(2) Did the Pharaoh have his naughty ways with Sarah after taking her into the Palace?

(3) What was a pastoralist (shepherd) like Abraham doing in a cosmopolitan city like Ur (remembering Ur existed only 1500 years later)? One would expect him to live in a tent in a rural area, but we are told he came from Ur of the Chaldees.

(4) Then, what would be the likelihood of a foreign commoner, a mere pastoralist, even allowing for his beautiful 65-year old wife, coming into contact with the royal house of Egypt, namely the princes and the Pharaoh? (Genesis 12:15) Can a great empire like Egypt be so small that a mere foreigner, on entering its border, would come into contact with or to the knowledge of its princes?

(5) Why is there a leitmotiv surrounding Abraham and Sarah of the man and wife pretending to be brother and sister, a King taking (or attempting to take her) the wife, God intervening to return the wife to the husband, and the husband profiting greatly from the separation? The leitmotiv may be discerned in:

READ MORE HERE

 

Accept syariah law, says PAS’ Nasrudin

Posted: 27 Oct 2013 08:36 PM PDT

In defending his call for syariah law, Nasrudin says that non-Muslims can opt to be tried under the laws of their own faith

K Pragalath, FMT

PAS Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi questioned the logic behind accepting laws from foreign countries that were against Islamic principles and human rights when we should indeed implement syariah compliant laws.

"How can one accept a British law that allows detention without trial but have reservations on Islamic law, syariah," said the first term Temerloh MP in reference to the now defunct Internal Security Act that provided detention on the basis of suspicion.

Currently the Special Offences (Special Measures) Act and Prevention of Crime Act also provides for detention without trial.

"I don't see why one should resist Islamic laws since Islam is the official religion and our banking and halal food industry are syariah compliant," he added.

He said this in defending his recent proposal for laws here to be syariah compliant; further adding that the syariah law with hudud punishments is limited to crimes which are related to robberies, murder, rape, adultery and alcohol consumption.

"It is more focused on preventing crime; so we should work to reduce situations that would spur people to commit crime," said Nasrudin.

Last Monday, Nasrudin had called for laws to be syariah compliant while debating on the amendments to the Penal Code (Amendments) Bill 2013 in Parliament.

He had called for Islamic laws to be given a chance as it will not only deter crime but also enrich an individual's soul since it encompasses the concept of sin and reward.

When asked how syariah law can be implemented since there is a significant number of non-Muslims in Malaysia, he said that non-Muslims should be given an option.

"The current laws fail because it lacks spirituality. For non-Muslims, they should be given an option whether they want to abide by civil law or the laws that are governed by their respective faith," stressed Nasrudin.

He also said that syariah law and hudud penalty is not foreign to Malaysia.

READ MORE HERE

 

The new Budget and Perkasa

Posted: 27 Oct 2013 08:34 PM PDT

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae159/Malaysia-Today/Mug%20shots/zaid-ibrahim3-090813_zps2208070d.jpg 

The Government cannot maintain a cavalier attitude towards Perkasa, hoping that its toxic ideas will disappear and have no effect. Europe made the same mistake in the Nazi era and it took a World War to correct it.

Zaid Ibrahim 

The 2014 Budget has been tabled and Malaysians will hear vigorous debates in Parliament on a wide range of economic issues over the next few weeks.

The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to replace the Sale and Service Tax (SST) in 2015 will be the chief topic of these discussions. The Opposition has set itself firmly against the new tax, citing the hardships that will ensue for the poorer sections of our community.

Reading the newspapers, it appears that many people believe that the Government has delivered a good Budget, with the right emphases on infrastructure and the continuation of spending on development. These initiatives are coupled with fiscally-prudent measures to reduce the deficit by cutting subsidies and raising revenue.

Proponents of the GST maintain that, at a rate of six per cent, the new tax will not cause as great a shock as anticipated, particularly if the SST is removed. Also cited is the fact that no income tax is payable by low-income earners, which will go a long way towards cushioning the impact of the GST particularly if, as the Government says, inflation is low. Cash handouts in the form of BR1M payments will also be paid to households earning RM 4,000 or less.

Almost all of this is in dispute. When the Government says that the GST "widens the tax base", it simply means that more people will be taxed—i.e., those who weren't taxed previously will be taxed now. There is no escaping this fact.

Sweeping statements about how the GST will be good or bad are of no use to us without proper arguments. So far, impact analyses have focused on price changes affecting the supply chains of single products and services. This tells only half the story. No one to my knowledge has attempted any comprehensive analysis of the impact of GST on monthly household income, with proper accounting for income levels and urban and rural differences.

Also, the actual rate of inflation has been in dispute for some time. The Government maintains that it remains at a low two to three per cent but anecdotal evidence suggests a much higher rate year-on-year, particularly in urban centres. Likewise, few have called for an examination of the macroeconomic effect of BR1M handouts, especially their effect on inflation and the devaluation of the ringgit.

On Oct 21 Pemandu CEO and Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jala said that the GST will gain extra revenue because "we expect more and more people to become affluent as measures to increase income bite and become reality."

BR1M does not make you affluent. According to the Economic Planning Unit, 55.5 per cent of households earned RM 4,000 or less in 2012. Assuming that this number hasn't changed much this year, the Government therefore deems the majority of the population to be eligible for public financial assistance—and we haven't even introduced GST yet. Will we end up giving people handouts so they can pay it all back to us in the form of tax?

That said, the idea that the Government can continue to sustain itself only on corporate and personal income tax—and with only 1.7 million out of 29 million Malaysians paying the latter—is completely unrealistic.

Many countries that have introduced GST have also set up special bodies to deal with issues surrounding its introduction. Price escalation is not caused by taxes alone, and the Government must reduce inefficiencies in the delivery system. The price of sugar, for example, might be higher because of subsidy removal but it can also be the result of production and logistical costs, as well as monopolistic practices. Telling the people that they will be healthier by consuming less sugar should be left to the doctors. Policymakers should find other ways to make their arguments.

It is also true that the civil service is bloated and the Government must do more to increase its own productivity and efficiency, and reduce its monumental wastage. Slashing the number of civil servants is easier said than done—the civil services of some Opposition states also have high headcounts, so trimming staff can be politically dangerous—but efforts must be made to contain the increasing costs of public expenditure.

The debate in Parliament should also focus on other factors that undermine our economy. There is hardly any separation between economic and social issues today, and GDP growth is closely tied to continued peace and stability. Groups such as Perkasa are a threat to this security. They must not be given more leeway to peddle their lunatic ideas.

READ MORE HERE 

 

DAP: We’ll ignore complaints by rogue members

Posted: 27 Oct 2013 08:31 PM PDT

DAP's leadership to ignore complaints made by members over "unlawful" CEC polls.

Lisa J. Ariffin, FMT

The DAP leadership will ignore complaints made by several members who are dissatisfied with party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and the recent central executive committee (CEC) polls, said national organising secretary Anthony Loke Siew Fook.

Through letters sent to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) this morning, some DAP members said Lim was not the secretary-general due to the invalid Dec 15, 2012 CEC polls and thus did not have the power to call for the re-election.

"We have complied with the ROS and are not afraid because we have followed its directive.

"These are just a few troublemakers who want to disturb the party and keep the issue alive. As far as we are concerned, it is no longer an issue," the Seremban MP told FMT.

Loke said the directive from the ROS stipulated that the new congress must consist of previous CEC leaders.

He explained that Lim was the former secretary-general, therefore "there is no issue with this".

Loke said it was up to DAP's disciplinary committee (DC) to take disciplinary action against the rogue members.

Earlier today, Taman Seri branch assistant secretary Wong Yu Liuh said there were no office bearers in the CEC until a proper re-election was held.

Wong said as such, Lim was not the legal secretary-general and could not sign any documents.

He said Lim had no respect for the Societies Act, ROS and the DAP Constitution by giving only four weeks notice.

READ MORE HERE

 

Retak menanti belah

Posted: 27 Oct 2013 07:58 PM PDT

More problems are looming over the horizon for DAP and it is believed that bigger problems are yet to come for the party that may eventually see Lim Guan Eng ousted from power for the poor handling of this matter. In fact, a very strong anti-Guan Eng group appears to be emerging that may eventually split the party into two.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

DAP sets up two reconciliation committees to fix internal differences

(The Star, 27 Oct 2013) - DAP has set up two reconciliation committees to resolve and reconcile internal party differences. In a statement on Sunday, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the first task would be to look into recent disputes in Kedah, Malacca and Johor. Lim said that the party's central executive had decided in a meeting on Oct 23 to establish the committees to foster party unity and resolve internal differences.

The first committee, chaired by national publicity chief Tony Pua, would handle Penang, Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, Terengganu, Perak and Pahang. The other committee, which is chaired by national organising secretary Anthony Loke will handle Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Federal Territory and Sabah.

"The Chairman of the respective committees must convene meetings immediately and the conclusions be reported back to both the CEC and me," said Lim in relation to Kedah, Malacca and Johor.

The party has been plagued by infighting in recent times. Malacca DAP chief Goh Leong San, quit as the state opposition leader recently after coming under criticism from state DAP leaders for praising the chief minister while Johor DAP chairman Dr Boo Cheng Hau has been told to step down by his fellow state leaders for outspoken attacks against the party leadership.

The Kedah state committee was suspended and taken over by the CEC while in Sabah, Luyang assemblyman Hiew King Cheu turned independent after his support for Datuk Wilfred Bumburing as state opposition leader was rejected by other DAP assemblymen.

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Actually, DAP's problems are more than just internal problems. It is more serious than that and, as the Malays would say, it is retak menanti belah, or a crack waiting to split the party into two.

See the four complaint letters (below) sent to the ROS by DAP's Chinese members and branch leaders. It seems these are just four of about ten similar letters.

The real issue here is the validity of DAP's December 2012 party elections (which DAP agreed was in question since the party agreed to hold a re-election). Last month (September 2013), DAP held a re-election. The ROS, however, has not yet informed DAP whether this re-election is valid because of the same discrepancies in last month's re-election as in the December 2012 election.

The nine points, based on the complaints the ROS received, that will make last month's re-election invalid are:

1. Inadequate notice period (which should have been 10 weeks, as what Karpal Singh himself admitted).

2. The 851 delegates who were absent or not invited to the re-election when they were eligible to attend and vote at the meeting.

3. The 985 instead of 865 branches that were involved in the re-election.

4. The delegates' list 15th December 2012 was not used, as they should have.

5. The proper notice of the meeting was not issued.

6. The election was not transparent.

7. Suspected elements of fraud.

8. Suspicious election results.

9. Manipulation of votes.

There is a strong possibility that last month's re-election will also be deemed invalid and yet another re-election, or re-re-election, will have to be held. And this time the ROS may have to take over and manage the affairs of the party, in particular matters concerning the re-re-election.

If this were to happen then it would be bad publicity for DAP, which will be seen as incapable of even managing its own affairs and party election in a fair, transparent and democratic manner. DAP will lose the moral high ground and its right to talk about fairness and democracy when it cannot practice what it preaches.

More problems are looming over the horizon for DAP and it is believed that bigger problems are yet to come for the party that may eventually see Lim Guan Eng ousted from power for the poor handling of this matter. In fact, a very strong anti-Guan Eng group appears to be emerging that may eventually split the party into two.

With PKR's and now DAP's party elections being questioned, the legitimacy of Pakatan Rakyat to question the recent general election in May has just taken a beating.

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RE:  NOTICE PERIOD OF 4 WEEKS FOR THE DAP CONGRESS ON 29-9-2013 and NOTICE WAS NOT ISSUED BY THE DAP "PUBLIC OFFICER" AS PROVIDED UNDER SECTION 9 (C) OF THE SOCIETIES ACT

May I refer to the above matter.

I am a member of the DAP (Membership No: 0123614) and the Assistant Secretary of the DAP Taman Seri Branch in Selangor.

The Chairman of DAP, YB Karpal Singh had declared in a press statement that the DAP Congress will be held sometime in October 2013 in compliance with the provision of the DAP Constitution, which provides for 10 weeks notice to be given to all its delegates to attend its Congress.

Lim Guan Eng was not the properly elected Secretary General. He was appointed by the invalid Central Executive Committee (CEC) after the unlawful election of the CEC on 15-12-2012. 

It was in the record of the RoS that several DAP's delegates for the Congress dated 15-12-2012 and members have lodged official complaints to the RoS about the manipulations of votes or election frauds. The RoS had found that there were irregularities or elections frauds during CEC elections on 15-12-2012 and had directed the DAP to hold a fresh election for its CEC.

In view of the said directives of the RoS, it was clear that at the material time Lim Guan Eng was not the secretary General of the DAP and his father, Lim Kit Siang, was not the adviser of the DAP. In simple term, there was no office bearers in the CEC until a proper Congress is held in strict compliance with the DAP's Constitution and Societies Act.

Hence, the only proper and lawful office bearer of the DAP was the "Public Officer" as provided under Section 9 (C) Societies Act. Section 9 (C) provides that "a society may sue or be sued in the name of such one of its members as shall be declared to the Registrar and registered by him as the public officer of the society for that purpose, …".

In the premises, the only lawful person who can act for the DAP after 15-12-2012 was the "Public Officer" as approved by the RoS because RoS has directed a fresh election for CEC members.

Therefore, there was only one conclusion that Lim Guan Eng was not the legally elected secretary general of the DAP and he could not act and/or sign document as the secretary general of the DAP. Lim Guan Eng has the same right as any other DAP members, no more no less.

Unfortunately, Lim Guan Eng and his father, Lim Kit Siang, have treated the DAP as the asset of their family and do as they please.

In view of the above, the recent Congress that was held on 29-9-2013 was unlawful as it was not called by the Public Officer as provided for under the Societies Act and secondly, it was unconstitutional due to the fact that the notice period was only 4 weeks whereas the DAP Constitution provides for 10 weeks. This was a serious violation of the DAP's Constitution. 

As a DAP member, I would like the DAP to be properly managed in accordance with the Societies Act and the provision of the DAP's Constitution, which provides for the notice to call for the Congress is 10 weeks.

It was clear that at the material time Lim Guan Eng had abused his power by unlawfully appointed himself as the secretary general of the DAP, making announcements using the title of the DAP secretary general when the RoS had already found that the CEC elected on 15-12-2012 was invalid.

From the above events, it was clear that Lim Guan Eng has no respect for the Societies Act, RoS and/or the DAP's Constitution by giving only 4 weeks notice for the Congress dated 29-9-2013. The said notice was not signed by the "Public officer" of the DAP as provided for under Section 9 (C) of the Societies Act.

I hope that the RoS will investigate into the outright violation of section 9c of the said Act and the DAP's constitution by Lim Guan Eng and his cronies. It is about time that Lim Guan Eng should be stopped from treating the DAP as his family's asset.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Wong Yu Liuh

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Re: The DAP Congress held on 29-9-2013

I am the DAP's Taman Gembira Branch Secretary and my DAP membership number is 0086604.

I am extremely upset with the way in which Lim Guan Eng has abused his power in the DAP. He runs the DAP as though it is his own company. He ignores everybody else in the Party including Karpal Singh, who is our Chairman but in reality just a puppet.

Firstly, Lim Guan Eng treats the Constitution of the DAP like scrap papers and he waves the Constitution when it favors him and threw it aside when he wants to do things his way. The Constitution clearly stated that the delegates must be given 10 weeks notice to attend the Congress but they were given only 4 weeks. The notice for the Congress held on 29-9-2013 was unconstitutional.

Secondly, when the ROS found that the DAP CEC elections on 15-12-2012 was fraudulent and directed the DAP to hold fresh elections of its CEC. This means that there was no office bearers in the DAP from 15-12-2012 until a proper fresh elections are held and until such time no one has the power to make any decision on behalf of the DAP. However, Lim Guan Eng continued to act as Secretary-General and made all kind of decisions not in the best interests of the DAP but himself.

In December 2012 the only eligible delegates, who were entitled to attend and vote at the DAP Congress, were from 865 branches. In the recent DAP Congress held on 29-9-2013, there was a total of 985 eligible branches. There was a sudden increase of 120 branches comprising of additional 450 phantom delegates. As at 15-12-2012 (the DAP Congress which was manipulated to let Zaril Khir Johari to win to resemble Malay representation) these 120 branches were of "B" Certificate status and the 450 delegates were of observer status with no voting right. 

Before the DAP Congress held on 29-9-2013 the invalid CEC under the behest of Lim Guan Eng quietly upgraded these 120 branches to "A" Certificate status in order to give the 450 delegates full delegates status with voting rights. It is an open secret that these 120 branches were aligned to Lim Guan Eng and his cronies.    

From the legal standpoint, it was clear that the invalid CEC could not meet and/or make any decision including the upgrading of the 120 branches from "B" Certificate status to "A" Certificate.

I have reason to believe that Lim Guan Eng desperately needed these 450 phantom delegates to shore up his standing in the DAP. It is general knowledge in the DAP that without these 450 phantom delegates votes Lim Guan Eng position in the CEC elections would have been worst than his current 5th position because he would have garnered only 851 votes (1,301 – 450 votes).

Lim Guan Eng is not fit to lead DAP with his deceit and election frauds.

I hope that ROS will conduct a thorough investigations into the abused of power by Lim Guan Eng and give justice to the DAP members in general.

Yours sincerely,

Teh Teong Guan

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RE:  COMPPLAINT ABOUT DAP'S CEC ELECTIONS HELD ON 29-9-2013

I refer to the above matter.

I am a Life Member of DAP and my membership number is 0026873. I belong to the DAP Taman Seri Sungei Pelek Branch.

Many DAP members were happy that Registrar of Societies (ROS) had found that the DAP's CEC elections on 15-12-2012 were tainted with serious manipulations by Lim Guan Eng and his blind cronies and also directed the DAP to hold fresh elections in accordance with the DAP's Constitution.

It was an open secret amongst the DAP membersship that there were massive election frauds in the DAP's CEC elections on 15-12-2012 and other CEC elections. Complaints from the memberships were ignored by Lim Guan Eng and/or his father Lim Kit Siang. After the last 13th GE, Lim Guan Eng really thought that he has been confirmed a "TOKONG" and can do no wrong.

Many members and I thought that Lim Guan Eng would have learnt from his past mistakes and that he will not repeat them after the ROS had discovered the existence of the election frauds. Unfortunately, for the sake of trying to make himself look good and popular in the eyes of the public, Lim Guan Eng held himself out to be the DAP's Secretary-General even after the ROS had declared the CEC elected on 15-12-2012 was invalid and that fresh elections had to be held.

After the findings of the ROS, Lim Guan Eng was not the lawfully elected Secretary-General of the DAP. Under the Societies Act and the Constitution of the DAP he could not act and/or made any announcements in the capacity of Secretary-General from 15-12-2011 until he was elected by the delegates in a lawfully held Congress. The same principles applied to all the other office bearers of the DAP.

If the ROS were to examine the records in the DAP and the DAP's Constitution, it will discover that the DAP Congress held on 29-9-2013 were rushed through by Lim Guan Eng and his cronies in total disregards of the DAP's Constitution so as to ensure that other candidates that were not aligned to him had insufficient time to campaign. 

Despite Lim Guan Eng being just an ordinary member like us, he just assumed the power of the Secretary-General to chart the course of the elections with the predominant objective of gaining unfair advantage over other candidates and to also ensure that his cronies were elected within the first 20.

As usual, Lim Guan Eng always thought that he is above the DAP's Constitution and the Societies Act, he and he chose to violate the DAP's constitution by given a mere 4 weeks notice for the Congress held on 29-9-2013 so as to deprive other candidates the mandatory 10 weeks for campaign period. This was a serious violation of the DAP's Constitution which has no doubt rendered the whole election process of the CEC on 29-9-2013 unconstitutional. 

Further, 851 delegates were absent from the Congress. I have heard from some of the 851 delegates that they have not received the 4 weeks notice that has been issued by Lim Guan Eng and/or his cronies. 

It was so clear that the CEC elections on 29-9-2013 was filled with election frauds as the last CEC elections held on 15-12-2012.

Many members were also upset with the arrogance of Karpal Singh who chose to threaten to take actions against the ROS when there were glaring violations of the DAP's Constitution and Societies Act by Lim Guan Eng. Under the circumstances, the ROS cannot be seen to succumb to such threats of those who had acted unlawfully and against his Party's Constitution. The ROS is duty bound to protect the DAP membership as a whole and ensure everyone in the Party, including Lim Guan Eng and Karpal Singh, strictly followed its Constituion.

I know that any complaint lodged with the Party will be swept under the carpet. As an ordinary member of the Party, there is only one avenue left for us that is to call upon the ROS to investigate into the above two serious violations of the DAP's Constitution by Lim Guan Eng for not following the mandatory 10 weeks notice period and failure to send out the notice for the Congress to all the remaining 851 delegates, who are eligible to attend and vote at the Congress.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully, 

Goh Swee Huat

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COMPLAINTS  REGARDING FRADULENT CEC ELECTIONS IN THE DAP CPONGRESS ON 29-9-2013

I am the Chairman of the DAP Kota Tanah Branch. My DAP membership number is 0129487.

There were gross election frauds in the last CEC Elections held on 29-9-2013. The magnitude of the election frauds were much worst than the one held on 15-12-2013 where ROS had already discovered election frauds.

Aside from the Societies Act, the Constitution of any political parties is supreme. Therefore, YB Lim Guan Eng and/or YB Karpal Singh have no lawful authority to go against any part of the Constitution of the DAP. The moment any person including YB Lim Guan Eng and/or YB Karpal Singh for that matter went against any part of the Constitution, the acts will be rendered unconstitutional. It will follow that whatever decisions made by the Congress will also be INVALID from the very outset.

Despite being warned that the notice period of the DAP Congress had to be 10 weeks, Lim Guan Eng proceeded to steam roll it with 4 weeks notice. This was a clear unconstitutional act perpetrated by none other than Lim Guan Eng and encouraged by his Lim Kit Siang who is his father. The father and son regime cannot be allowed to treat the DAP as their family property.

It was also condoned by Karpal Singh who have made a public statement in August 2013 that the DAP Congress will be held in October 2013 in conformity with the 10 weeks notice period. Subsequently, YB Lim Guan Eng totally ignored YB Karpal Singh's statement and proceeded with the 4 weeks notice dperiod. Of course, YB Karpal Singh as the Chairman of the DAP couldn't do anything as he is just a "Anak Patong" in the DAP without holding any post in a branch leader throughout his political career.

There was no transparency in the CEC Elections on 29-9-2013. The DAP membership had been short changed by this tyrant YB Lim Guan Eng, who has been protected by his father. The silent majority had been made to put up with the Lim Family's dictatorship for far too long and the election process has been designed to keep them in power at the expense of the membership. 

The last Congress was clearly manipulated by YB Lim Guan Eng with the help of his cronies to stay in control of the DAP. The discrepancies in the number of delegates and branches for the Congress on 15-12-2012 and 29-9-2013 were in the records of the DAP as well as ROS. 

It must be noted that the CEC Elections on 29-9-2013 must be based on the numbers of delegates and branches that were used on CEC Elections on 15-12-2012. This was another election fraud perpetrated by YB Lim Guan Eng to prop up his false image and to put ensure his cronies to stay in power to protect him. 

We want justice for the ordinary members of the DAP. YB Lim Guan Eng cannot be allowed to act unconstitutionally and against the existing law governing political parties. We cannot allow one person like YB Lim Guan Eng to ruin the DAP, which was built up by the membership throughout the years. YB Lim Guan Eng and his father have been making used of the DAP to achieve their personal political agenda at the expense of the community.

If the ROS does not take any actions to put right the unconstitutional acts of YB Lim Guan Eng, then the membership may be compelled to seek redress from the Court of Law to compel ROS to act. More importantly, ROS must act immediately in the light of the clear unconstitutional acts of YB Lim Guan Eng to protect the interests of the members of the DAP in upholding the DAP's Constitution, which has been approved by the ROS.

I hope that ROS will treat my complaint seriously.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Tan Kim Seng

 

A Daniel come to judgment!

Posted: 27 Oct 2013 07:15 PM PDT

The danger with this is you have just handed the matter over to a 'middleman' to settle. And you never know what decision the middleman is going to take. The middleman might agree with you. On the other hand, the middleman might disagree with you. But whatever decision the middleman makes you are bound by it because you have agreed that you will hand the matter to the middleman to decide.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel!

O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!

The Merchant of Venice: Act 4, Scene 1

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Britain is currently being hit by the worst storm in ten years. And they are calling this storm 'St Jude', a most apt name to give a storm if you know who St Jude was.

St Jude, one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus chosen to spread the word of the Gospel, is the Patron Saint of Lost Causes. Hence Britain is telling its citizens that any attempt to avoid the storm is a lost cause. Hence, also, you had better just brace yourself for the storm about to hit and pray to God, whatever His name may be, and hope that He hears you.

Yes, just pray to God, whatever His name may be. And that is the storm that hit Malaysia a week or so ago and appears not to be letting up one bit -- the issue of God's name.

And what Dr Chandra Muzaffar said in his piece below is very true. Why in the first place take this matter to court? First of all, the court rules according to the law. And the law is supposed to be guided by the Constitution. But most times the law is interpreted according to one's understanding of what it is supposed to mean. And many times, also, the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law prevails.

Hence it is a great risk taking this matter to court when the court comprises of humans who think like humans and who interpret things the way humans would. Furthermore, humans interpret things with prejudices and biasness and based on how they have been conditioned and brainwashed into thinking.

In other words, Muslim judges would think like Muslims first and lawyers second, even though this may be a great departure from what the Constitution says and, as some constitutional lawyers such as Tommy Thomas have said, is an unconstitutional ruling.

Let me put it another way. Religion is unconstitutional. Religion violates your civil liberties. Religion denies you free choice. Religion has no respect for democracy. Can you, therefore, expect the Constitution to rule in matters such as religion when religion itself breaches your civil rights?

Anyway, back to St Jude, whose feast we are celebrating today -- The Feast of St Jude. St Jude was one of the Apostles or 'trustees' of Jesus entrusted with the job of spreading the word of the Gospel. And when we talk about the Gospel here, we are, of course, talking about the Old Testament, because at the time of the 'appointment' of these 12 Apostles the New Testament had not been written yet.

When we discuss the Gospel we have to refer to Genesis followed by Exodus. Genesis starts with the story of the creation of humankind (the story of Adam and Eve and their descendants) and ends with the story of Yusuf (the Grand Vizier of Egypt). Exodus then continues (after a gap of about 400 years of no story) with the story of Moses (the Father of Judaism) and the creation of the nation of Israel.

Hence, St Jude, whose feast we are celebrating today, was tasked with the job of spreading the word of the Old Testament, not the word of the New Testament.

Okay, now back to my statement of praying to God, whatever His name may be.

In Genesis, it is mentioned 48 times that God's name is 'El Shaddai'. It mentions 250 times that His name is 'El'. And it mentions 2,570 times that His name is 'Elohim', which means 'Shining Ones'.

Exodus starts with the story of Moses and it relates how Moses 'met' God at the 'burning bush'. And at the burning bush God said to Moses, "I am El Shaddai, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

And this is the message that St Jude was asked by Jesus to deliver to us, one of the 12 Apostles whose feast we are celebrating today, the Feast of St Jude.

So, if we were true followers of Jesus, then we would want to call God 'El Shaddai' or 'El' or 'Elohim', as what the Gospel tells us and according to what Jesus told St Jude and the other 11 Apostles to tell us. Jesus never said that God's name is 'Allah' and neither did the Gospel.

So why have we changed the word of the Gospel and the word of Jesus?

Okay, we may argue that the Gospel has been translated into Bahasa Malaysia and is not in Aramaic (the language that Jesus spoke) or Hebrew (the language of the Jews) or Latin (the language of the Roman Christians).

Well, Malays, too, have translated the Quran into Bahasa Malaysia. And while the Quran may have been translated into Bahasa Malaysia from its original language, Arabic, the name of God has been retained in Arabic, which is Allah.

The Christians, however, translate the original Aramaic or Hebrew Gospel into Bahasa Malaysia but instead of using the original Aramaic or Hebrew name of God they want to use the Arabic name.

This is what puzzles me. It is like translating my name, Petra, into English (which would be 'Rock') or into Bahasa Malaysia (which would be 'Batu' -- although they do call me 'kepala batu' or 'stubborn-headed'). My name, in any language, is still 'Petra'.

Anyway, the problem here is the Christians decided to take this matter to court. In other words, the Christians want the court to be the judge or referee in this argument.

Once you have thrown this matter to a judge or referee to decide, this means you have agreed that the judge or referee will make the final decision. And this also means you have agreed to abide by the decision of the judge or referee.

The danger with this is you have just handed the matter over to a 'middleman' to settle. And you never know what decision the middleman is going to take. The middleman might agree with you. On the other hand, the middleman might disagree with you. But whatever decision the middleman makes you are bound by it because you have agreed that you will hand the matter to the middleman to decide.

When I was sued a number of times in the past, I refused to make an appearance in court to defend myself. That was because I refuse to subject myself to the jurisdiction of the court.

No doubt those who sued me 'won in default' since I did not make an appearance to contest the suit. But I did not subject myself to the court so that means I do not accept the court's 'decision in absentia'.

That was the same when I was charged for a criminal offence. Since I was under arrest I had no choice but to appear in court as I was handcuffed anyway. But I refused to enter any plea and the court, at its own discretion, took this 'no plea' as a plea of 'not guilty'.

I shouted at the court that I did not plead 'not guilty'. Instead, I refuse to enter any plea, which means I did not recognise the court. The court, however, insisted that I had pleaded 'not guilty' and insisted that I face trial on a plea of 'not guilty'.

And you know the rest of the story. I then left the country and never made any appearance in court and the court eventually was forced to drop the charges.

So you see, once you accept the court's jurisdiction, you are forced to accept the court's decision. But if you do not accept the court's decision then do not take the matter to court. Boycott the court, like how I did. Then you can defy the government and continue to use 'Allah' as the name of God since you never agreed to hand the matter to a middleman to decide.

Now, I am not saying I do not agree that Christians can use the name of Allah. I am saying you can no longer make that decision since you have forfeited the right to decide by handing it to a third party to decide.

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The Allah controversy: a ten-point solution

By Prof Dr. Chandra Muzaffar

The Controversy over Kalimah Allah should never have gone to Court. An adversarial system of adjudication which pits one side against the other cannot resolve satisfactorily complex disputes that intersect notions of religious and ethnic identity.

In fact, the controversy, which has burdened us for almost three decades, is more about protecting identity than about preserving the sanctity of a hallowed term. It is fear about how identity would be undermined if what is perceived as an exclusive religious symbol is usurped by others that has triggered a strong reaction from the Muslim majority. Christians and others who have taken a position against Muslim sentiment are also motivated to a great extent by the prevailing ethnic divide in the country.

Expectedly, the stances adopted by some politicians, both Muslim and non-Muslim, have exacerbated the situation. Because issues of identity are at the centre of politics and power in our multi-religious, multi-ethnic nation, they are hoping to reap a harvest from the Kalimah Allah controversy. In the process, society is becoming even more polarised along religious lines.

This is why politicians and religious leaders should desist immediately from misconstruing the Court of Appeal decision on the use of Kalimah Allah in the Catholic weekly, The Herald, which has no bearing upon other Christian publications or the Al-Kitab, the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Bible.  It is wrong of them to demand that the ban on the term in the Catholic weekly be extended to Sabah and Sarawak where it has been used in daily prayers in churches for more than a hundred years. Since the Catholic Church is appealing against the decision in the Federal Court, all individuals and groups should allow the judicial process to take its course.

More important, Prime Minister, Dato Sri Mohd Najib should assure everyone that he is determined to uphold the letter and the spirit of the '10-point solution' that he had signed on 11 April 2011 in which he spelt out his commitment to the exercise of the freedom of religion of the Christian minority within the context of the Malaysian Constitution. It is a significant document in the shape of a letter to the Chairperson of the Christian Federation of Malaysia because it provides guarantees to a minority that resonate with the tradition of Muslim Rulers protecting the position of Christian and other minorities that harkens back to the Prophet Muhammad's (may peace be upon him) celebrated treaty with the Christians of Najran.

Christians in Malaysia should at the same time see the 10-point solution as an arrangement which expects them also to understand and empathise with the feelings of an extraordinarily accommodative majority community which has genuine concerns about its identity. For these reasons, highlighting the 10-point solution at this juncture would help considerably to reduce the prevailing mistrust and suspicion between the majority and minority communities.

In the ultimate analysis however what really matters is not who uses the term Allah but whether all of us are willing to strive to the utmost to perform those good deeds, which alone demonstrate our love for Allah.

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A call for compassion

By Loshana K. Shagar

A Christian friend said he had always been taught that the Bahasa Malaysia version of God was referred to as 'Tuhan', therefore he questioned The Herald's insistence on using the word 'Allah' when they could easily use the more acceptable term, 'Tuhan'.

Since my childhood years in a Muslim majority area some 50km from Kuala Lumpur, I had been indoctrinated to believe that terms like 'Allah' were exclusive to Muslims, not just here but everywhere else.

Yet, frequent interactions with Muslim friends led me to unwittingly use such terms in conversation, and for the longest time I remained oblivious to the looks I was eliciting.

I vividly remember the first time I hosted the weekly school assembly nearly 10 years ago, where the script included Assalamua­laikum (Peace be upon you).

Thinking nothing of it, I promptly greeted the assembly with the term, leading to the headmistress taking me aside afterwards to 'clarify' that only Muslims were allowed to use the greeting.

Fast forward to 2008 and I was in university, seeking answers to the many questions in my head.

When the 'Allah' issue cropped up, I naturally burrowed into available resources to trace its usage in other places.

Imagine my surprise when I found that the word 'Allah' itself pre-dates the birth of Islam in the sixth century, with non-Islamic Arabs using the term before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.

The word has also been used by Christians and Jews in Arab countries for generations, but it is interesting to note that a Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research poll early this year revealed 83% of Muslims interviewed had agreed that the usage of 'Allah' is their absolute right.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal's common finding was that 'Allah' was not an integral part of the Christian faith and that using it could cause confusion.

The court also said it granted the Government's appeal in the interest of public safety. 

For the record, I am neither Christian nor Muslim.

(READ MORE HERE)

 

Signs of trouble in Selangor?

Posted: 27 Oct 2013 05:15 PM PDT

Cindi Loo, The Ant Daily

Pakatan Rakyat has been in power in Selangor for five years and yet nothing seems to have changed. It is as if the Barisan Nasional was still ruling the state.

So when PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim apparently criticised the state government for the slow pace of development, he was registering his unhappiness over the leadership of Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

The one sore point with Anwar and other critics is that Khalid is not planning to use the state's excess funds of more than RM3 billion for development purposes.

However, Anwar was also quite diplomatic in his approach, saying that the fact that Selangor has excess funds showed the state government had practised good governance and was not riddled with power abuse and corruption.

"Excess funds is okay, but there are still poor people in the state; there are still youths who can't afford to get into university, and there are people who need housing aid," he reportedly said.

But shortly after Anwar's veiled criticism, the Selangor Backbenchers' Club jumped into the ring when it submitted a memorandum to Khalid on Oct 7, claiming that the state planned to slash development expenditure by RM100 million.

The memorandum was signed by representatives of all three Pakatan parties – Kampung Tunku assemblyman Lau Weng San (DAP), Meru assemblyman Abdul Rani Osman (PAS) and Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman Azmin Ali (PKR).

The trio urged Khalid to increase allocations for state development in the 2014 state budget.

"The failure of state government agencies to meet their budget performance targets should be scrutinised. However, the state government should not use it as an excuse to reduce development expenditure as it will burden the rakyat," the memorandum stated.

Political observers have interpreted this sudden move by the Backbenchers' Club as signs that something is wrong with the administration of the state.

Sources said Anwar's criticism of the state's lethargic performance came when Khalid showed no signs of developing Selangor further or turning it into another stellar state like Penang.

"Pakatan has been governing for a full five years and yet there are people who did not know there was a change in state administration, because everything looks and feels the same," the source told theantdaily.

"In the rural areas, they think that Mohamad Khir Toyo is still the menteri besar, and not Khalid," he said.

READ MORE HERE

 

Disgruntled members: DAP re-election ‘unlawful’

Posted: 27 Oct 2013 04:55 PM PDT

Disgruntled members say that the recent CEC election was unlawful as it was called by Lim Guan Eng who was not the secretary-general. 

Alyaa Azhar, FMT

Several disgruntled DAP members have expressed their dissatisfaction against party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and the recent central executive committee (CEC) polls, calling it 'unlawful'.

Through letters sent to the Registrar of Societies (ROS), some DAP members stressed that as Lim was not the properly selected secretary-general due to the invalid December 15 2012 CEC polls, he did not have the power to call for the DAP re-election.

One of the members, DAP Taman Seri branch assistant secretary Wong Yu Liuh said there was no office bearer in the CEC until a proper re-election is held.

"The only proper and lawful office bearer of the DAP was the public officer as provided under Section 9 (C) of the Societies Act.

"The lawful person who can act for the DAP after December 15 was the public officer as approved by the ROS," he said.

Wong added that as such, Lim was not the legally elected secretary-general and could not sign any documents.

"Lim has the same right as any other DAP member, no more no less. (Thus), the recent polls that was held on September 29 was unlawful as it was not called by the public officer," he said.

Wong also argued against the notice period of four weeks given for the DAP re-election.

"It was unconstitutional due to the fact that the notice period was only four weeks whereas the DAP Constitution provides for 10 weeks. This was a serious violation of the DAP Constitution," he said.

DAP chairman Karpal Singh had declared that the party CEC polls would be held sometime in October in compliance with the provision of the DAP constitution, which provides for 10 weeks notice to be given to all its delegates to attend its Congress.

READ MORE HERE

 

‘Khalid yet to address real concerns’

Posted: 27 Oct 2013 04:47 PM PDT

Selangor state assembly deputy speaker Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad notes that the Menteri Besar has yet to tackle major issues in the state.

Anisah Shukry, FMT

Selangor state assembly deputy speaker Nik Nazmi Nik Nazmi has joined the volley of criticism against Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim saying that the state government has yet to address 'real concerns' in Selangor.

"We should not just be focused on reserves – building our reserves when there are still major issues faced by the public such as urban poverty, facilities for housing, affordable housing, basic services.

"People will start to [question] if we keep announcing higher and higher reserves, but these basic things are not addressed," Nik Nazmi, who is also Seri Setia state assemblyman, told FMT in a recent interview.

Abdul Khalid has come under criticisms not only from the Barisan Nasional but also from his own party over his 'stingy' ways. The Menteri Besar often boosts to have managed to increase state coffers but this had become a point in contention.

Among those who had criticised the Menteri Besar include Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Selangor party chiefs Dr Abdul Rani Othman of PAS, Mohamed Azmin Ali of PKR and DAP's Lau Weng Sang also had submitted a joint memorandum on Oct 17 urging the state government to loosen its purse strings, while Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli has demanded an explanation over why the constituency's allocation had been slashed.

Adding fuel to fire, Nik Nazmi, who is also former PKR communications director, noted that the Selangor government had yet to tackle problems faced by the younger generation, who migrate to the country's richest state in droves to study and earn a living.

He acknowledged that affordable housing had become a real bone of contention for young working adults in Selangor, and that the state "could do more" about the issue.

"I think this is one of the biggest challenges for the young generation – my generation. A lot of my friends find that we are being driven further and further away from the city in order to stay and work in Selangor," the 31-year-old said.

"The development of younger generation also needs to be looked at, in terms of sports, youth development," he added.

READ MORE HERE

 

Azmin nafi, mahu jumpa Khalid lagi esok

Posted: 27 Oct 2013 04:44 PM PDT

Memang tidak ada kemelut dan tidak ada usaha menukar Menteri Besar. (Dakwaan) ini bukan benda baru bagi Azmin.

Jamilah Kamarudin, FMT

Timbalan Presiden PKR Azmin Ali menafikan wujud cubaan untuk menjatuhkan Menteri Besar Selangor Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim dan mahu mengambil alih kepimpinan pentadbiran negeri itu.

Beliau turut menafikan kewujudan desakan terbabit dalam memorandum yang ditandatangani pemimpin PAS Selangor Dr Rani Othman dan Pengerusi DAP Selangor Lau Weng San kepada Abdul Khalid minggu lalu.

"Memang tidak ada kemelut dan tidak ada usaha menukar Menteri Besar. (Dakwaan) ini bukan benda baru bagi saya," katanya ketika ditemui di lobi Parlimen hari ini.

Menjawab mengenai memorandum itu, Azmin berkata sudah tiba masanya Abdul Khalid mendengar keluhan dan pandangan Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (Adun) lain demi pembangunan Selangor.

Antara isu kritikal yang dibangkitkan termasuklah tender lesen kutipan sampah, pendidikan, rumah mampu milik, dan masalah banjir yang dibincang secara rundingan meja bulat selama empat jam.

"Peranan ADUN mungkin ada keluhan mereka tak didengari, jadi saya minta pandangan itu didengarlah.

"Ini penggal kedua pentadbiran Pakatan Rakyat di Selangor sudah tentu tanggungjawab kerajaan laksanakan program pembangunan untuk rakyat.

"Kalau penggal pertama kita ambil jalan singkat salahkan kerajaan terdahulu (BN) dan bebankan pentadbiran Umno yang tak telus, saya berpandangan penggal kedua ini kita tak boleh nak salahkan Umno lagi.

"Penggal ini adalah penggal kerja yang harus kita laksanakan," tegasnya.

READ MORE HERE

 

Deaths at NS camps due to undetectable diseases, claims ministry

Posted: 27 Oct 2013 01:34 PM PDT

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/uploads/articlesnational_service_2_2509_600_400_100.jpg 

(MM) - "Since the programme started in 2004, actually there were only 20 deaths, and not 22. 

All 20 deaths at National Service (NS) camps, except for one, were caused by "undetectable" health problems such as leukemia, the Defence Ministry revealed today.

In a reply to Sungai Petani MP Datuk Johari Abdul in Parliament, Deputy Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri said the deaths were "undetectable" as they were due to health problems prior to the trainees' participation at the camps.

"Since the programme started in 2004, actually there were only 20 deaths, and not 22. 

"There were various reasons for the deaths but the majority was caused by the trainees' health problems like leukemia, heart problems, breathing difficulties, which were not detectable, while one death at the Muadzam Shah camp was caused by a serious misunderstanding, resulting in one person being charged in court," he said.

On September 22, 2013, an 18-year-old trainee was bludgeoned to death at the Muadzam Shah, Pahang camp for allegedly cutting queue during breakfast earlier in the day.

However, there has been reports such as death caused by leptospirosis, or commonly known as the "rat fever" in March 2012, at a camp in Perak, a death due to viral infection in June 2005, in Negri Sembilan, another death in Sabah in May during the same year after allegedly being injured during training.

There was also a report on a trainee who died when he was swimming in Sarawak in April 2004.

"There is one rape case on February 24, 2004 when the programme had just started and the case has been tried in court and brought up to the Court of Appeal, the trainer has been punished 12 years jail with three strokes of the cane.

"As for arguments or fights, there are 442 cases misunderstandings in 10 years from 2004 to 2013 and 242 reported to police to be recorded and get counseling from the police while the rest were settled amicably.

"The government is always concerned about these cases and will take the appropriate action based on the law especially cases involving negligence and officers who did not follow the SOP," he said.

Read more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/deaths-at-ns-camps-due-to-undetectable-diseases-claims-ministry 

Malaysia's English language crisis

Posted: 27 Oct 2013 01:30 PM PDT

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/new/2013/10/28/national/images/30218090-01_big.JPG 

(Straits Times) - Govt anxious to counter slump in test results by local students 

IN PERAK on the northern Peninsular Malaysia, an English teacher uses textbooks meant for seven-year-olds to teach her Form One class of students, mostly aged 13.
"When I first taught them, they could not even tell the difference between 'when' and 'what'," the teacher, who wants to be known only as Yee, told The Straits Times recently.

"I had to put my planned lessons aside and start with the basics."

It is the type of story many English teachers in Malaysia share, but are reluctant to speak openly about because they worry about being sanctioned by the education ministry. 

And so, when the ministry recently announced that from 2016 onwards, students in Form Five - the equivalent of a GCE O-level class in Singapore - must pass English before they can obtain their school-leaving certificates, it set tongues wagging.

After all, last year, almost a quarter of 470,000 Form Five students failed English, and only 16 per cent of them scored highly in the language.

"Without the school-leaving certificates, the students cannot further their studies or get jobs," said Lok Yim Pheng, secretary-general of the National Union of the Teaching Profession. "Is their future being killed?"

Part of the problem, educators say, is that there are not enough qualified English teachers. Recently, the education ministry revealed that 70 per cent of the country's 70,000 English teachers failed a competency test to teach the language.

The ministry is now working overtime to re-train thousands of English teachers around the country to try and meet the 2016 deadline.

"It is an ambitious goal, but we cannot tolerate students not being able to communicate in English any more," Dr Habibah Abdul Rahim, head of a new agency within the ministry, told The Straits Times in a recent interview.

"Something needs to be done."

In Malaysia, English is a |compulsory subject from Primary One to Form Five. Despite that, many school-leavers, especially in rural areas, cannot converse or write fluently in English.

It was not always this way.

During the British colonial era, schools used English as the medium of instruction. This continued after independence in 1957 and many English teachers either came from the United Kingdom or were trained there.

"In the 1960s, one of the books read and discussed in English classes by sixteen-year-olds was George Orwell's "Animal Farm", recalled Andrew Yip, 60, a shopkeeper in Ipoh, Perak.

In 1970, the Malaysian government began requiring all state-funded schools to use Malay to teach, to build nationalism; though English remained a compulsory subject. 

Many English teachers were phased out.

Over the years, students' academic performances declined.

In the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment, an international benchmark on students' performance in reading, science and mathematics, Malaysian students were in the bottom third among 74 countries.
 
By contrast, 15-year-old students in Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea appeared to have the equivalent of another three or more years of schooling compared to Malaysian students. 

According to Jobstreet.com Malaysia, a recruitment agency, poor English is among the top complaints that employers have about fresh graduates.

To compensate, middle-class parents are increasingly sending their children for tuition, or to private schools, as they lose confidence in the quality of education in national schools.

Teachers who spoke to The Straits Times on condition of anonymity said it was impossible to meet the ministry's English "must-pass" target in two years.

Habibah said they aim to prove sceptics wrong.

Her agency is named Padu, or the Performance and Delivery Unit. Starting in November last year, some 14,000 teachers have been enrolled on crash courses in English. After school hours, they take lessons online and attend classes taught by teachers from the British Council and English university lecturers.

Upon finishing 480 hours of studies, they are reassessed. Those who fail are redeployed to teach other subjects.

The ministry is also promoting experienced teachers to be coaches. Already, almost 300 such coaches have been sent to district education offices in mostly rural Kedah and Sabah provinces.

But some feel it is not enough.

Former premier Mahathir Mohamad has called for a return to teaching science and mathematics in English, a policy introduced by him in 2003 and scrapped by Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009.

Such flip-flops, said Dr Kua Kia Soong, an educator, have hurt students. "They have affected students' concentration in grasping the language," he said.

A teacher in Sabah, who asked to be identified only as Nurul, is among those preparing the first batch of students aiming to achieve the compulsory English pass. She said they are doing what they can. For example, she advises the weakest students to find and copy sentences that have similar words to the question.

"At least they get some marks and do not hand in a blank exam paper," she said.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

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