| Rakyat mahu Anwar beri penjelasan Posted: 15 Nov 2013 12:08 PM PST 
(Sinar Harian) - Pertubuhan Martabat Jalinan Muhibbah Malaysia (MJMM) mendesak penjelasan daripada Ketua Pembangkang, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim berhubung kenyataan 'Tuhan kita sembah semua sama' dalam ucapan pada tahun 2010 berhubung isu kalimah ALLAH yang kini dimuat naik semula di internet menerusi laman-laman sosial. Presidennya, Abdul Rani Kulup Abdullah berkata, kenyataan itu ternyata mengelirukan kerana sebagai seorang Islam, ALLAH tidak sama dengan tuhan yang bukan Islam dan begitu juga yang sebaliknya.
Menurutnya, beliau tidak faham tujuan ayat itu dinyatakan dan ditujukan kepada siapa kerana ia mampu mengundang pelbagai persepsi.
"Dalam sedutan rakaman yang dimuat naik oleh blogger seperti mana yang saya tonton melalui Facebook, Anwar berucap di mana orang-orang sekelilingnya terdiri daripada pelbagai bangsa.
"Sebagai orang Islam, tuhan kita hanya ALLAH SWT, mengapa disamakan dengan tuhan yang lain. Jadi kami amat terkejut dan sedih dengan kenyataan itu," katanya.
Beliau berkata, perkara itu perlu diambil perhatian oleh pihak berkuasa agar tidak menimbulkan kekeliruan kerana video berkenaan boleh ditonton oleh generasi akan datang selagi ia wujud di internet.
Katanya, hal berkaitan agama tidak sepatutnya digunakan untuk kepentingan peribadi.
"Ini boleh disifatkan sebagai menyekutukan ALLAH SWT kerana menyamakan dengan yang lain,
"Jadi saya harap pihak jabatan agama Islam, Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (SKMM) dan pihak berkuasa dapat menyiasat perkara ini," katanya.
Laporan polis dibuat di Balai Polis Daerah (IPD) Dang Wangi bersama kira-kira 15 ahli MJMM. |
| Umno sokong PAS laksana Hudud di Kelantan Posted: 15 Nov 2013 11:50 AM PST 
Md Izwan, TMI Pemimpin Umno yang juga Ahli Majlis Tertinggi Umno, Tan Sri Annuar Musa (gambar) menyokong cadangan pelaksanaan hukum Hudud di negeri Kelantan. Bekas Pengerusi Badan Perhubungan Umno negeri Kelantan itu berkata, pengumuman tersebut adalah sesuatu yang dinantikan dan sesuai pada masanya, malah Brunei juga sudah mengambil pendekatan sama dengan melaksanakannya. "Urusan agama terletak di bawah bidang kuasa negeri sepenuhnya, jadi kita kena bersatu bagi mendaulatkan hukum Allah di negeri ini," kata Ahli Parlimen Ketereh itu seperti dilaporkan Sinar Harian hari ini. Rabu lalu, Ketua Hakim Syarie Kelantan, Datuk Daud Muhammad, berkata Mahkamah Syariah Kelantan bersedia melaksanakan hukum Hudud lantaran daripada prasarana yang mencukupi bagi membolehkan hukuman tersebut dilaksanakan. Daud bagaimanapun berkata, barisan hakim khas perlu dilantik, menepati dengan tuntutan hukum Hudud sendiri dan perlu mendapat kelulusan kerajaan negeri sebelum hukum Hudud ataupun Kanun Jenayah Syariah II Kelantan 1993 boleh dilaksanakan. Sejurus pengumuman tersebut, Timbalan Menteri Besar Kelantan, Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah menyahutnya dengan baik dan berkata, kerajaan negeri Kelantan sudah menubuhkan Jawatankuasa Teknikal itu bagi mengkaji pelaksanaan hukum Islam yang terkandung di dalam Al-Quran itu di negeri yang diperintah PAS sejak lebih 20 tahun. Beliau bagaimanapun tidak menjelaskan fungsi jawatankuasa yang dimaksudkan dengan lebih terperinci. Mohd Amar, yang juga Timbalan Pesuruhjaya Pas II Kelantan turut berharap kerajaan pusat tidak menghalang kerajaan negeri Kelantan daripada melaksanakan hukum Hudud di negeri itu nanti. "Betul, memang dulu kerajaan pusat halang (daripada melaksanakan hukum Hudud). Kita harap kali ini kerajaan pusat beri kerjasama dan perkara lalu tidak akan berulang," katanya. READ MORE HERE |
| Sarawak churches to hold more ‘Allah’ forums for rural folks Posted: 15 Nov 2013 11:27 AM PST 
(MM) - More forums on the "Allah" issue will be held to educate those living in Sarawak's rural areas, the state's churches have said as a debate on the non-Muslims' right to use the Arabic word continues unabated. Rev Datuk Bolly Lapok, the chairman of Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS), confirmed this when asked of the group's future plans after it organised a forum titled "Standing together for religious freedom" in Kuching on Wednesday morning. "We shall continue to organise it to [inform] our rural folks," Lapok replied in a text message to The Malay Mail Online. Lapok said leaders across the political divide in Sarawak had expressed "deep dismay" over the Court of Appeal's recent decision, where the appellate court ruled against the Catholic Church's use of the word "Allah" in the latter's weekly paper Herald. The forum was then organised by ACS "to ensure that our outrage was justified and was based on what is lawful and just", he said, saying that over 1,000 people attended it. When contacted, ACS secretary Ambrose Linang explained that the forum was meant to "inform and educate members of society that we are all Malaysians, that we want to live together as brothers and sisters". "It was non-political," the church elder said of the forum, which he said was also attended by those from other faiths, including the Sikhs, Buddhists and Hindus. The speakers for the forum were researcher Dr Ng Kam Weng, lawyer Lim Heng Seng, and academic Prof Dr Jayum A. Jawan. Ng, whose presentation was titled "Theology versus Ideology", said he had spoken on the historical, theological and linguistics aspects of the Christians' use of the word "Allah". He told The Malay Mail Online that he shared about the Christians' long-standing tradition of using the word and their continued use based on "grounds of history and grounds of language". "Because at the end of the day, our decision is based on theology and linguistics, whereas the people want us to abandon the use, ignoring the theological and linguistics aspect and they are going on ideological aspect," the Kairos Research Centre's research director said on Thursday. Read more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/sarawak-churches-to-hold-more-allah-forums-for-rural-folks |
| Censoring the internet for the interests of the few Posted: 15 Nov 2013 11:24 AM PST 
The irony of Jakim's Friday sermon is that Malaysia had launched the Multimedia Super Corridor, which includes a guarantee of no censorship on the Internet. (TMI) - Censoring the internet will only reveal the lack of intelligence to argue in a marketplace of ideas. Of late, the calls for internet censorship in Malaysia has gone louder and the latest is from the Federal Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) which urged Putrajaya yesterday to consider taking such action to stop attacks against Islam. Four years ago, Putrajaya was looking into an internet filtering system akin to the Green Dam that China was mulling, ostensibly to control pornography but it is actually the start of the slippery slope towards censorship. The irony is, of course, Malaysia had launched the Multimedia Super Corridor in 1990s with great fanfare and a 10-point Bill of Guarantees that include the guarantee of no censorship. But now, talk of censoring the internet is common place. It comes at the heels of insisting that only Muslims can use the word Allah to describe God in Malaysia and restrictions on other Arabic terms, for fear that it will confuse and weaken the faith of Muslims in the Muslim-majority nation. This pre-supposes that most Muslim Malaysians are brittle in their faith and are sheep that can easily be confused by any Arabic word used by anyone else apart from Muslim scholars. In any other setting, this would be an insult to the intelligence of the average Muslim. But in Malaysia, this is taken as status quo without a whimper from Muslims that they are smarter than what the Islamic authorities think they are. In many ways, the latest call by Jakim is reminiscent of what happened in Germany 80 years ago when the Nazis encouraged German students to burn some 25,000 volumes of "un-German" books, such as Jewish or American novels, presaging an era of state censorship and control of culture. According to a Wikipedia stub on the issue, on the night of May 10, 1933, in most university towns, nationalist students marched in torchlight parades "against the un-German spirit". "The scripted rituals called for high Nazi officials, professors, rectors, and student leaders to address the participants and spectators. At the meeting places, students threw the pillaged and unwanted books into the bonfires with great joyous ceremony, band-playing, songs, "fire oaths", and incantations. "In Berlin, some 40,000 people gathered in the Opernplatz to hear Joseph Goebbels deliver a fiery address: 'No to decadence and moral corruption!' Goebbels enjoined the crowd. 'Yes to decency and morality in family and state! I consign to the flames the writings of Heinrich Mann, Ernst Gläser, Erich Kästner," said the Wikipedia posting. Just like in Germany, and now in Malaysia, curbing the flow of information and alternative thought is the refuge of crooks and scoundrels. Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/censoring-the-internet-for-the-interests-of-the-few |
| NST Apology: How the Mighty has Fallen Posted: 15 Nov 2013 11:20 AM PST 
Everyone could see that it was payback time for SUARAM having complained to the French courts to investigate the suspected commissions hidden in the more than RM7 billion Scorpene submarine deal. Dr Kua Kia Soong, Director of SUARAM The French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre once quipped: "Better a good journalist than a poor assassin." The unprecedented abject apology by the NST shows it has indeed been a poor assassin. The apology acknowledges the NST's shockingly low standard of journalism, which has deteriorated far below that of the colonial times when it used to command a certain degree of credibility despite being an Establishment paper. Today it has sunk to a level of being the ruling party's media assassin. And a poor assassin at that! The NST's patently gauche assassination attempt was launched on 21 September 2012 when it carried a front page story with the banner headline: "Ploy to destabilize govt". A few other NGOs were also implicated, namely Bersih 2.0., CIJ and Merdeka Centre but clearly SUARAM bore the brunt of that assault. This story followed the BN government's vindictive campaign against SUARAM at a time when no less than six government agencies had been ordered to organize a posse against SUARAM. Everyone could see that it was payback time for SUARAM having complained to the French courts to investigate the suspected commissions hidden in the more than RM7 billion Scorpene submarine deal. After many months of relentless harassment of SUARAM – orders for documents and calls for interrogation of SUARAM personnel both past and present including one deceased (ie. Fan Yew Teng) – the six government agencies, including CCM, PERKESO and BANK NEGARA were forced to admit that their allegations didn't have a leg to stand on. In other words, we were found to be squeaky clean! But despite the more than a hundred documents uncovered by the police investigations into the Scorpene scandal in Paris, no government agency appeared to be investigating all the reports about Perimekar and Terasasi and the suspected selling of national defence secrets and commissions paid in the Scorpene deal. The order for Bank Negara to investigate SUARAM for money laundering had its ironic moment when money launderers with funds for Sabah UMNO were actually caught in the act with RM40 million by the Hong Kong police. We haven't heard any more about the investigations into this. The BN government's "foreign plot" allegation has also blown up in their faces. The subsequent exposes of Dr. Mahathir and Prime Minister Najib's recent close encounters with George Soros certainly embarrassed the media assassins. Furthermore, by allowing nuclear-armed US warships to visit Port Klang soon after, the BN government has exposed their duplicitous foreign policy and raised the question of who the real US foreign agents are! More recently, the Snowden expose has revealed that two CIA agents have been working in the government administration. So how did two foreign agents manage to infiltrate our government and shouldn't heads roll for such indiscretion? After such an ignominious day for one of Malaysia's oldest newspapers, one can understand what Thomas Jefferson meant when he once said: "The most truthful part of a newspaper is the advertisements…" |
| Penang Lang, get to know your state better Posted: 15 Nov 2013 11:17 AM PST 
You cannot find much news about the state progress on the internet and worst is the total silence from the MSM. Those online news portals are more interested in reporting political oriented news, especially when they got winds of political fights within internal parties from both sides or rumors of PR wrong doings spread by the other side. Richard Loh The questions often asked nowadays by your friends and relatives from other states when you met them are;
Is Penang really performing better than the pre 308 government?
Has Penang really change in every aspect of governance under Pakatan Rakyat?
Some can give their answers straight away while some will have to ponder a while or could not know really how to answer.
Those who can answer will most probably have daily involvement directly or indirectly in the state, i.e being part and parcel of the working force (private or civil servants), moving and seeing the actual transformation going on.
For those who could not answer are most probably those staying at home, not mixing or less interacting with others etc. Even for me who is well connected online seldom realised what is actually happening to the state.
You cannot find much news about the state progress on the internet and worst is the total silence from the MSM. Those online news portals are more interested in reporting political oriented news, especially when they got winds of political fights within internal parties from both sides or rumors of PR wrong doings spread by the other side.
So how are you to know what is Pakatan Rakyat state government being doing all these years? READ the BULETIN MUTIARA that is delivered to your house every now and then by the state government. You will be surprised to read and see so much ongoing and the progress that have been implemented by the PR state government inside the BULETIN MUTIARA
BULETIN MUTIARA is the state government news bulletin providing information about the state progress and NOT a political newspaper as some people might think. Some may question that since it is a PR state government bulletin surely they will only print all the good side of them. This is a good question indeed. Let me try to answer it this way. Read more at: http://ousel.blogspot.com/2013/11/penang-lang-get-to-know-your-state.html |
| Mural mural on the wall Posted: 15 Nov 2013 11:12 AM PST 
But perhaps predictably, they went into denial mode, blaming the messenger instead of heeding the message. Can art as the medium of the message ever tarnish the image of a city? If the message is false, it would have been discredited by the public itself without the need for the mayor or politicians to opine. But if the message is true, then we should all accept it and deal with the issue at hand - crime. Thomas Fann In the same week that Super Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Philippines, a different kind of storm came upon the southern city of Johor Bahru. It was a most innocuous beginning, a series of wall murals by an internationally-recognised Lithuanian-born street artist known as Ernest Zacharevic or simply Zachas. When it was first unveiled in early November it created a buzz among the local community. Many have long admired Zachas' works for Penang and was delighted that he has finally brought it to JB, a city not known for its appreciation of the arts. With news spreading of the existence of four murals around Taman Molek and Johor Jaya area, people began seeking out these works of art and to have their photos taken with them. My family and I joined in the search and snap trail. It was most amusing to find people snapping away at these murals in dirty back lanes of non-descript shophouses and treating them like treasures. Perhaps to a city that is like an art desert, it was a breath of arty fresh air that has finally blown in. Tarnished Image But not everyone was amused, least of all the city's mayor, Ismail Karim and the State EXCO in charge of tourism, Tee Siew Keong. They found these murals offensive, in particular, one that shows a Lego figure as an armed robber lying in wait to rob from another Lego figure of a woman carrying a Chanel handbag. They claimed that it tarnishes the image of our good city and proceeded to paint over it. They are threatening to white-wash the remaining three as well. The controversial mural of the Lego-styled figurines struck a chord with the locals and is easily the most popular of the four because it brought together two things that Johor is known for - Legoland and its crime rate. To many, it captures perfectly the disconnect between the fantasy theme park which is Legoland and the reality of life in this city. Johoreans are proud to have a world-class theme park in our midst but wish that our daily lives can be a little more safe and that the authorities would put as much effort into combating crimes as they do promoting the Iskandar region as some kind of playground for the rich or wannabe rich of the world. Local official crime statistics are hard to come by and when one is given, they are often disbelieved as it does not bear up to the experience of local residences, many of whom are directly or indirectly, victims of crime. Gated and secured communities flourish as residents take measures to secure themselves. We have to give thought to where is safe to go to and always looking over our shoulders for snatch thieves on motorbikes. Even in our cars we have to make sure that our valuables are kept out of sight in case robbers smash our windows and grab valuables. We live in constant fear of criminals. Seizing the opportunity The mural in question by Zachas should have been celebrated, not just for its artistic value but also for the social message it so accurately articulated, as the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words" and this one spoke volumes. The authorities could have seized this opportunity to engage the community to fight crime and promote the art scene at the same time. But perhaps predictably, they went into denial mode, blaming the messenger instead of heeding the message. Can art as the medium of the message ever tarnish the image of a city? If the message is false, it would have been discredited by the public itself without the need for the mayor or politicians to opine. But if the message is true, then we should all accept it and deal with the issue at hand - crime. Truth cannot tarnish the image of our city. Crime and lack of cleanliness do. Our reputation has already been tarnished by these long before Zachas arrived on the scene. You just need to ask any Singaporean or people from outside JB and they would have told you so. In fact, according to Numbeo, the world's largest database of user contributed data about cities and countries worldwide, Johor Bahru ranked No.4 for its Crime Index globally, just below Johannesburg. A truly world-class ranking! Cleanliness and crime I want to talk about cleanliness of this city which is the responsibility of the city council MBJB with the Mayor as its head. In my humble opinion, Johor Bahru is filthy. I am not talking about the places where tourists or investors are shown but the places where the locals reside. One just has to walk around the housing estates and their back lanes to see and smell the filth. Loan sharks act with impunity, pasting their stickers and hanging their banners over road signs and properties. So what has cleanliness of the city to do with crime? It is a known and proven fact that there is a direct correlation between the two. A criminological theory called Broken Windows proposes that untended disorder and minor offenses give rise to serious crimes and urban decay. It suggests that local authorities and the community must attend to every minor infractions, every potential disorder, paint over every grafitti and yes, fix every "broken window". Not attending to such minor offenses such as littering or pasting of illegal stickers sends a very clear message to would-be criminals that no one really cares about the city and that they are likely to get away with whatever criminal activities they embark upon. Learning from New York One big case study where the (No) Broken Window Theory was successfully implemented was New York City some twenty years ago. Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Police Commissioner William Bratton were largely credited with dramatically bringing down the crime figures of one of the most dangerous cities in the world twenty years ago. But it was the joint effort of many authorities and civil society groups that transformed New York City to what it is today, one of the safest big cities in the US. Tackling crime in a city like JB is not just the job of the police but the combined efforts of all stakeholders of this city. The city council has a huge role to play to keep the city clean and orderly. Other government departments are needed to maintain the roads, the drainage system, landscaping, street lighting, garbage collection, sewage and sanitation and road transport department, all need to do their part and take a zero tolerance attitude to any violations or failings. The police who have long been unfairly held solely responsible for failure to reduce crime does have a key role to play. Instead of focusing on crime-solving, more needed to be done for crime prevention or deterrence. New York's Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly credited proactive policing for the city's dramatic drop in crime rate and perhaps it is something our police force can learn from. Conclusion Finally, a major stakeholder for a safer city has to be the residents themselves who are the victims of an unsafe environment. Many local residents have probably given up hope that anything can be done to combat crimes and have instead focused on improving personal security instead. But without the involvement of the community, crime fighting would be an uphill task. Citizens must adopt a zero tolerance attitude, not just towards crime but also to sub-standard services by the local authorities. We need to pick up the phone if garbage is not collected, if illegal stickers or banners appear in our neighbourhood, if we observe suspicious activities or characters and persevere until our complaints are attended to. Zachas has inadvertently struck a raw nerve in our city with the two Lego-styled characters of a robber and his victim. People here are sick and tired of living in fear and haplessness as criminal elements, both minor and major terrorise us and we have to put up with poor delivery of public services. As of the time of this writing, citizens have reacted to the council's action by putting up paste-on replicas of the Lego pair all over town. It is a form of protest over the drastic action of the council in removing the original mural and also seizing the opportunity afforded by this affair to bring awareness to the real issue of crime. It is my hope that the Mayor, the police, politicians, government agencies, civil society groups and the public would take this renewed focus on crime to start working together to come out with concrete action plans to make our city a safer place. Denying the problem won't make it go away, it will keep reappearing, just like the replicas would. ____________________________________________________________________________________
Thomas Fann is the Chairman of ENGAGE, a non-governmental organisation whose mission is to nurture a community of informed, engaged citizens and make their shared concerns and interests part of the national agenda. |
| Catholics protest Pope's interfaith program Posted: 15 Nov 2013 12:16 AM PST 
"A Mass isn't celebrated in a synagogue, nor in a mosque. The Muslims don't accept it. In the same way, we who are Catholics cannot accept the presence of another faith in our church." BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Ultra-traditionalist Catholics have openly challenged Pope Francis by disrupting one of his favorite events, a ceremony that he and Jewish leaders led in the Metropolitan Cathedral each year to promote religious harmony on the anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust. The annual ceremony brings together Catholics, Jews and Protestants to mark Kristallnacht, the Nazi-led mob violence in 1938 when about 1,000 Jewish synagogues were burned and thousands of Jews were forced into concentration camps, launching the genocide that killed 6 million Jews. A small group disrupted Tuesday night's ceremony by shouting the rosary and the "Our Father" prayer, and spreading pamphlets saying "followers of false gods must be kept out of the sacred temple." Buenos Aires Archbishop Mario Poli, named by Francis to replace him as Argentina's top church official, appealed for calm as others in the audience rose up to repudiate them, and the protesters were soon escorted out by police. "Let there be peace. Shalom," Poli then said, urging everyone to take their seats for a ceremony that was also led by Rabbi Abraham Skorka, a close friend of the pope who co-wrote a book of dialogue seeking common ground between Judaism and Catholicism. "Dear Jewish brothers, please feel at home, because that's the way Christians want it, despite these signs of intolerance," Poli said. "Your presence here doesn't desecrate a temple of God. We will continue in peace this encounter that Pope Francis always promoted, valued and appreciated so much." The Rev. Christian Bouchacourt, the South America leader of the Society of Saint Pius X, said Wednesday that the protesters belong to his organization and that they have a right to feel outraged when rabbis preside over a ceremony in a cathedral. "I recognize the authority of the pope, but he is not infallible and in this case, does things we cannot accept," Bouchacourt said in an interview with Radio La Red. "This wasn't a desire to make a rebellion, but to show our love to the Catholic Church, which was made for the Catholic faith," Bouchacourt added. "A Mass isn't celebrated in a synagogue, nor in a mosque. The Muslims don't accept it. In the same way, we who are Catholics cannot accept the presence of another faith in our church." The Vatican spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment emailed by The Associated Press.
The Society of St. Pius X has no legal standing in the Catholic Church. It's a schismatic group of traditionalist Catholics who are attached to Latin Mass and follow the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who founded the Swiss-based society in 1969 in opposition to the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The Vatican II meetings made a point of reaching out to Jews and people of other faiths. Pope Benedict made reconciling with the society a priority, but Pope Francis has made clear he has little or no interest in courting the traditionalists. Francis has disparaged "restorationist" groups as being out of touch with today's Catholic Church, and his decades-long friendships with Argentine Jews is a testament that he is fully a pope of the Vatican II church. The same society was in the news in October when one of its Italian priests offered to celebrate the funeral of Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke after the Rome archdiocese refused to allow him a church funeral. The society's funeral service was later called off at the last minute because protesters and Priebke's supporters clashed outside. Priebke had lived in Argentina, unnoticed, for nearly 50 years after the war until he was exposed as being a Nazi SS captain by an American TV station. He was deported to Italy in 1995 to stand trial for one of the worst atrocities of the German occupation, the massacre of 335 civilians outside Rome, and was serving a life sentence under house arrest when he died in Rome at age 100. |
| Where the fuck is Anwar Ibrahim’s statement? Posted: 14 Nov 2013 09:05 PM PST 
Anyway, the royal decree in question was issued by His Highness the Sultan of Selangor. And the Monarchs are heads of religion (meaning Islam) in their respective states. And Selangor is a Pakatan Rakyat-run state, not a state run by Umno or Barisan Nasional. So this has just become a Selangor issue (from originally a federal issue) that involves the Pakatan Rakyat state government. THE CORRIDORS OF POWER Raja Petra Kamarudin Article 3 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia (1) Islam is the religion of the Federation; but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation. (2) In every State other than States not having a Ruler the position of the Ruler as the Head of the religion of Islam in his State in the manner and to the extent acknowledged and declared by the Constitution, all rights, privileges, prerogatives and powers enjoyed by him as Head of that religion, are unaffected and unimpaired; but in any acts, observance or ceremonies with respect to which the Conference of Rulers has agreed that they should extend to the Federation as a whole each of the other Rulers shall in his capacity of Head of the religion of Islam authorize the Yang di-pertuan Agong to represent him. (3) The Constitution of the States of Malacca, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak shall each make provision for conferring on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall be Head of the religion of Islam in that State. (4) Nothing in this Article derogates from any other provision of this Constitution. (5) Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall be the Head of the religion of Islam in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan; and for this purpose Parliament may by law make provisions for regulating Islamic religious affairs and for constituting a Council to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in matters relating to the religion of Islam. ********************************************* First read and understand Article 3 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia (above). And if you cannot understand what it says then let me know and I will help explain what it means. Now read these news items (click the links): Allah issue: Wee disagrees with sultan Church leaders steer clear of sultan's decree Finally, what is Pakatan Rakyat's common stand on this matter? Can we hear from Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim regarding Pakatan Rakyat's common stand? And don't give me that crap about "get Pakatan Rakyat into power first and after they form the federal government we can fight over this matter later". We do not want Pakatan Rakyat to fight over this matter later, once they are already in power. We want to know now, before we decide whether to put them into power, what their common stand is. This is because the three coalition members of Pakatan Rakyat are so divided on this issue it would be dangerous to sweep the matter under the carpet and sort it out later once they get into power. Pakatan Rakyat will never be able to agree on this matter once they get into power if they cannot agree on it before they get into power. And this matter is so crucial it threatens to tear the country apart if not resolved. Anyway, the royal decree in question was issued by His Highness the Sultan of Selangor. And the Monarchs are heads of religion (meaning Islam) in their respective states. And Selangor is a Pakatan Rakyat-run state, not a state run by Umno or Barisan Nasional. So this has just become a Selangor issue (from originally a federal issue) that involves the Pakatan Rakyat state government. MCA disagrees with His Highness the Sultan. And MCA is a coalition member of Barisan Nasional, the ruling party. Does Umno agree with MCA or does Umno agree with His Highness the Sultan? And do DAP, PAS and PKR agree with His Highness the Sultan or agree with MCA? DAP, PAS and PKR have been sidestepping many sensitive and divisive issues for far too long. PAS is adamant on implementing the Islamic Sharia criminal laws of Hudud. DAP is adamant that it is not going to happen. And PKR is adamant that they will agree to disagree and agree not to talk about the matter in public. So what about His Highness the Sultan of Selangor's royal decree regarding the Allah word in the Pakatan Rakyat-run state of Selangor? Are we also agreeing to disagree? And are we agreeing to disagree with His Highness the Sultan or agreeing to disagree with MCA? Enough of this bullshit! The truth please! And call this the democratic right of the voters to ask this question. |
| Church leaders steer clear of sultan’s decree Posted: 14 Nov 2013 08:11 PM PST  Deeming it a sensitive matter, Church and Sikh leaders say they would leave it to the Federal Court to decide on the use of the word 'Allah'. Vignesh Kumar, FMT In the wake of a royal decree banning non-Muslims from using the word 'Allah', Christian and Sikh religious leaders refused to be drawn into commenting on the matter. Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM) secretary Rev Hermen Shastri said he does not want to make a comment regarding the Allah issue as it was a sensitive matter. "For now I have nothing much to say," said Council of Churches Malaysia(CCM) secretary Rev Hermen Shastri. Yesterday, the Sultan of Selangor, Sharafuddin Idris Shah, decreed that the word 'Allah' is exclusive to Muslims and non-Muslims should refrain from using it. He said this was to avoid confusion among Muslims over the use of the word when used by other religions. As such, he called on the Selangor people to respect and abide by the decision of the Selangor Fatwa Council on the matter. READ MORE HERE |
| Allah issue: Wee disagrees with sultan Posted: 14 Nov 2013 08:07 PM PST 
MCA Youth chief says Christians should be allowed to use the word 'Allah' in their worship and that the ruling was 'against national reconciliation'. Leven Woon, FMT MCA Youth chief Wee Ka Siong has voiced his objection to the Sultan of Selangor's decree barring the non-Muslims in the state to use the word 'Allah' to refer to God. "I think it is okay, we should allow the Christians (in Peninsular) to use the word. Why? We have given you a two-page explanations," he said without elaborating today. Wee said for the Sabah and Sarawak people, the government should continue to honour the 10-point solution made in 2011. Under the solution, it was agreed that bibles in all languages, including Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia, can be imported into the country and printed anywhere in the country. Yesterday, Sultan Sharafuddin of Selangor ordered the Malay version of Bible and The Herald to cease using the word Allah, specifically in Selangor. The sultan directed the people in the state to abide by the Selangor Fatwa Council decision banning the use of the term. He said this is to "avoid the confusion" among Muslims. The Allah controversy resurfaced following the Court of Appeal's ruling last month barring Catholic weekly The Herald from using the word Allah in its Bahasa Malaysia publication. MCA vice-president Gan Peng Sieu has described the court ruling as "ignorant of national interests" and "against the principle of national reconciliation". "There is terrible ill-will and bad faith generated over the Allah issue. For generations the natives in Sabah and Sarawak have been using 'Allah' in their worship. "The Home Ministry's ban of its usage is tantamount to criminalising a long-accepted practice," he said. MCA central committee member Loh Seng Kok also said Allah is "not a monopoly" of any race or religion, because Christians in Middle East and Arab countries have used it for generations. READ MORE HERE |
| Interesting, is it not? Posted: 14 Nov 2013 04:57 PM PST 
I once related a story (I think it was eight or nine years ago) about one of Anwar Ibrahim's old classmates in MCKK, a retired army colonel, who went to do his Friday prayers at the KLCC mosque. The imam was going on and on about utter nonsense and this 'Old Boy Budak Kolet' stood up and shouted at the imam to shut up and sit down. NO HOLDS BARRED Raja Petra Kamarudin 
Islam's holiest day Friday is where Muslims perform a weekly communal prayer and listen to sermons to guide their life. But for the past two weeks, national laureate A. Samad Said has been attending the Friday prayers in KL's Masjid India where the sermon is preached in Tamil. Fondly known as Pak Samad, the octogenarian told The Malaysian Insider yesterday that he does not understand Tamil but that does not bother him one bit. In fact, he is relieved. Relieved because he prefers not to understand what the message is as the sermons have turned too political for his liking. Samad used to fulfill his Friday religious obligation at the As-Syakirin mosque in KLCC but there was one Friday where the imam called on the people not to demonstrate, but right after prayers, the congregation demonstrated. That made him feel uncomfortable and so he moved to the National Mosque. But it wasn't any different. He stopped doing so two weeks ago because the "preacher was reading the sermon and not preaching". He became disillusioned as politics and BN propaganda are being propagated in mosques these days through sermons prepared by the federal Department of Islamic Development (Jakim). (As I see it: http://helpvictor.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/political-sermons-in-malaysian-mosques.html) ***************************************** I once related a story (I think it was eight or nine years ago) about one of Anwar Ibrahim's old classmates in MCKK, a retired army colonel, who went to do his Friday prayers at the KLCC mosque. The imam was going on and on about utter nonsense and this 'Old Boy Budak Kolet' stood up and shouted at the imam to shut up and sit down. The imam was so shocked he actually did shut up and sit down. A few weeks later the imam died and this Old Boy felt so bad because he was not sure whether the imam was so shocked that his heart gave up on him. Invariably, this Old Boy retired colonel is quite a maverick. I suppose that is why he was my friend although he was not from my batch but from Anwar's batch. Now we have another maverick, Pak Samad, who would rather pray in a Tamil-speaking mosque than a Bahasa Malaysia-speaking mosque because he does not want to hear (or rather hear but not understand) what the imam has to say in his kutbah (sermon). So, yes, I am not the only maverick in town. When I was detained under the Internal Security Act in 2008, one of the four 'criminal charges' listed in my Detention Order was my so-called crime of insulting Islam. And this crime was the result of a police report made against me by JAKIM, the authority that is behind all these Friday prayer sermons. It seems JAKIM took offense to my criticism of their kutbah. Hence that is perceived as an insult to Islam. During the two weeks interrogation session, I argued that I did not insult Islam. Instead, I insulted Muslims, in particular Muslims who distort the teachings of Islam and give Islam a bad name. The fact that I wrote 'Muslims are the real enemy of Islam' shows that it is Muslims and not Islam that I insulted. However, that 'defence' I put up did not stop them from packing me off to Kamunting two weeks later. And in Kamunting I was ordered to attend religious rehabilitation classes. I also remember writing some years back about how one day I was so disgusted with the kutbah of the imam of the Sungai Buloh mosque that halfway through I stood up and walked out of the mosque. I did not wait for the prayers to begin and never went back to that mosque again. When I criticise JAKIM's kutbah that is perceived as an insult to Islam. How would JAKIM perceive Pak Samad's boycott of the kutbah by going to pray in a mosque that he does not understand what the kutbah says? Interesting, is it not? |
| Rights that are not right! Posted: 14 Nov 2013 04:24 PM PST 
Just Read According to Bar Council member Andrew Khoo (pic), Muslim-majority countries were among those which have asked Malaysia to obey international human rights standards in the United Nations' Universal Periodic Review (UPR) last month. What are the countries? Algeria, Chad and Tunisia?
I wonder if Khoo himself had been to these countries or to other parts of the world to observe the standard of human rights they practice.
You make me laugh, and sick too. Those who made the call, including some Western countries like the US, UK and Canada are the big mouth of human rights but they themselves couldn't care less about honoring it.
And your agenda, bro Khoo, is actually clear. Its about Islam and the non-Muslims in Malaysia. The allegation about Malaysian non-Muslims are under oppression and do not have the total rights to practice their religion, is the motive behind all these craps!
Bar Council? You and buddy MP Surendran are the same. Just because DBKL demolished a Hindu kuil the other day, both of you drew a conclusion that the government did not observe the rights of non-Muslim to practice their religion, as stipulated under the Federal Constitution.
Have you and your Council ever conducted a survey to find out what is the proportion of mosques, kuil and tokong (temple) to the Malaysian Muslims, Hindu and Buddha? Or you already know the fact but simply did not want to admit it, knowing it will backfire!
Selangor mempunyai penduduk berjumlah 4.8 juta. Daripada jumlah itu orang Melayu mewakili 2.5 juta dengan kapasiti 259 masjid dan 939 surau. orang Cina Buddha berjumlah 1.3 juta mempunyai 1,015 tokong, orang India berjumlah 647,000 dengan 810 kuil berdaftar (bilangan ini belum dicampurkan dengan tokong dan kuil yang tidak berdaftar). Manakala, bilangan gereja Kristian? jumlah 50,000 penganut Kristian (kajian 2009). However, let me tell you that the number of Hindu kuils and temples for the minority Malaysians are three times bigger than that of the mosques and surau while the number of Chinese tokongs too are 'simply too many'. And do you know how many churches are there in KL as compared to the mosques? So, what's the fuss about our government suppressing the minority from practicing their religion? Please apply some of your legal brain to weigh all those fact before opening up your mouth and bringing in Chad, Algeria dna Tunisia into the picture. I have been there, and I have been to most of the countries where human rights record is in question. Even the US was slammed by the United Nations for its bad human rights record, especially in using drones to kill thousands of civilians in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq and Yemen. But of course the US human rights record is perfect to you although the whole world knows how Guantanamo is the axis of evil. READ MORE HERE |
| Hudud won’t stop crime, says PAS chief supporter Posted: 14 Nov 2013 04:11 PM PST 
(MM) - Hudud enforcement in not the solution to crime prevention, PAS's election nominee Hu Pang Chow has weighed in amid strong hints PAS-led Kelantan may soon mete out stiff punishments prescribed under the controversial Islamic penal code. Hu, who has been backing the Islamist party, also said that criminal laws, whether those prescribed under the Islamic justice system or Malaysia's civil justice system, only served to punish lawbreakers without necessarily helping deter more crimes from happening.
"I don't think there is punishment or penalty that can stop all the crime. The most important thing to tackle the matter is to know why people turn into criminals in the first place," the chairman of PAS's non-Muslim Supportes Congress was quoted as saying in an interview with The Star Online published today.
"To me, the important thing is to educate, to explain and to prevent. But the existing system has one purpose, that is to punish you. That's all there is to it."
Hu's comments come after the head of Kelantan's Syariah Court indicated earlier this week that they are ready to implement hudud.
"Insya Allah (God willing), Kelantan is able to implement hudud. The law is already there and if there's a need for more judges, we will add," Syariah chief judge Datuk Daud Muhammad was quoted as saying by Bernama on November 13.
The northern state's religious authorities have voiced support for hudud to be meted out.
Kelantan mufti Datuk Mohamad Shukri Mohamad was today reported to urged Muslims in the state to take cognisance of the pending enforcement and brace themselves for it.
"I support the views of the Kelantan Syariah chief judge and now it is up to the state government. I advise that the people be ready to make a migration of feelings and thoughts.
"The people should be prepared to accept the implementation of hudud laws because this hudud enactment was passed by the state legislative assembly that represents the people," Shukri was quoted saying by Sinar Harian's portal today.
Shukri was likely referring to the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment II that was passed by the state assembly in 1993, which paved the way for the state to use hudud laws.
But two members of the state government's executive council appeared more cautious when commenting on the implementation of hudud in the state that has been ruled by PAS for decades.
Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah said that only the judiciary would know the requirements for the implementation of hudud, such as the number of judges required.
"I don't know what to comment and if he did say that, but he has to explain what he means by already ready.
"Only the court department knows what they need," he told Malay daily Utusan Malaysia today.
Datuk Mohd Nassuruddin Daud said that the Kelantan syariah chief judge's explanation was sufficient and declined to comment further, Sinar Harian reported.
"I think what he explained is sufficient, later after this," said the Kelantan exco for Islamic development, propagation, information and regional relations.
Malaysia has a parallel legal system of civil laws and syariah laws, with the latter applying only to Muslims, the main religious group in the country.
The use of hudud laws in the country have been floated over the years, but opposition have often arisen from political parties that remain wary of the law. |
| Social media a threat to Islam, internet controls a must, Muslims told in Friday sermon Posted: 14 Nov 2013 04:06 PM PST 
(MM) - Putrajaya should rethink its decision against policing the internet as Islam's "enemies" have resorted to launching cyber attacks to challenge the religion of over 60 per cent of Malaysians, the country's foremost Islamic authority said in today's sermon disseminated to Muslims nationwide. The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) alleged that "enemies of Islam" were prowling social media platforms, purportedly to topple the governments of Muslim-majority nations, with a nod to the conflict-riddled Middle East as an example.
"The pulpit would like to state that the abuse and misuse of the internet and telecommunications technology is against religious obligations, laws and community conduct.
"Believe it, using social media to weaken the resolve of Muslims is actually a sly strategy by the enemies of Islam which have been successful in bringing down several Islamic countries in the Middle East," Jakim stated in its sermon, which is also available on its website.
"Therefore, the suggestions that the internet should be censored and controlled must be considered so that this facility does not end up destabilising the public and country."
The people of Egypt, Libya and Syria had joined in the Arab Spring revolution to overthrow authoritarian rulers despite full Internet shutdown by their governments, but social media was said to have played a part in spreading their message to a global audience.
Jakim's suggestion today followed calls by Malaysia's former prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, for the internet to be filtered due to rampant abuse in the distribution of pornography, questionable news and slanders.
Dr Mahathir, who had promised the federal government would never censor the internet when he opened up Malaysia's information superhighway over a decade ago, has been pressing the Najib administration for a policy change, arguing that today's changing situation warranted the introduction of controls to stem the spread of offensive material online as it could threaten national security.
In today's sermon, Jakim accused international powers of an organised ploy to spread teachings such as liberalism and pluralism to the youths through the internet.
"They have launched subtle and organised attacks by spreading news that insult Islam and its adherents whether through symbols, websites, blogs, or social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and so on," the sermon said.
Jakim has been steadfast in its attack on what it perceived as a global conspiracy against Islam, singling out ideas such as liberalism, pluralism, feminism, socialism and even positivism.
In a sermon for the Aidilfitri celebration in August, Jakim had warned Muslims nationwide against a conspiracy by "enemies of Islam", suggested that "colonial" ideas were being used to incite challenges against Islam's position in the Constitution.
Malaysia is already practising internet censorship, with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) announcing last week that it has blocked 2,753 websites for violating the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 and other regulations so far this year.
Of those, 15 websites were blocked for allegedly infringing the Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment, while the bulk of it at 2,611 were phishing sites. |
| PAS tolak Shafee sebagai Peguam Negara Posted: 14 Nov 2013 04:00 PM PST 
Ia juga mahu Peguam Negara sekarang Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail disiasat dan memberi penjelasan umum untuk menjawab dakwaan terhadap dirinya. K Pragalath, FMT PAS membantah dengan keras sebarang rancangan untuk menjadikan peguam terkemuka Datuk Shafee Abdullah sebagai Peguam Negara. Pada masa yang sama, ia turut mendesak agar Peguam Negara Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail disiasat dan memberi penjelasan umum kepada rakyat berhubung dakwaan penyalahgunaan kuasa. Timbalan Pengerusi II Lajnah Undang-Undang dan Hak Asasi Manusia PAS, Ahmad Zamri Asaad Khuzaimi dalam satu kenyataan berkata usaha ini dibuat oleh bekas perdana menteri Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Beliau mengibaratkan Mahathir sebagai jarum yang menyucuk Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak untuk menggantikan Gani dengan Shafee. "Hubungan dan kaitan rapat beliau dengan pemimpin-pemimpin UMNO menjadikan Shafee tidak sesuai untuk menjawat jawatan penting dan strategik seperti Peguam Negara," kata Ahmad. Kenyataan Ahmad timbul ekoran beberapa perkembangan mutakhir. Pada Nov 1, bekas pengarah Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah Komersial menyaman Gani, bekas Ketua Polis Negara Tan Sri Musa Hassan dan 10 orang lain atas alasan bahawa Gani telah menyalahgunakan kuasa dan mendakwa dirinya dengan niat jahat enam tahun lalu. Pada Nov 7, sebuah laman portal berita melaporkan bahawa Mahathir mengadakan pertemuan dengan Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Sri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi ekoran dakwaan bahawa Gani mengupah dua perisik CIA untuk bekerja di Jabatan Peguam Negara. Sebelum itu, Mahathir berjumpa dengan bekas setiausaha politiknya Matthias Chang, bekas pengarah Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim, Shafee dan Ramli untuk membincangkan kes salah guna kuasa Gani. Ini termasuk pemalsuan bukti kes mata lebam (Ketua Pembangkang sekarang) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim pada tahun 1998, pemalsuan gambar dalam kes tuntutan Pulau Batu Putih, dan kes PKFZ membabitkan bekas pemimpin MCA, Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik. READ MORE HERE |
| Malaysia Agreement back in the spotlight Posted: 14 Nov 2013 03:50 PM PST 
In the wake of parliament's refusal to debate the Malaysia Agreement, Amanah has invited Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to talk about the "non-fulfilment" of the terms. Joseph Bingkasan, FMT Parliament's rejection of a motion by Sabah MP to debate the 18/20 points Malaysia Agreement has spurred Angkatan Amanah Merdeka (Amanah) here to organise a public talk and round table discussion on the issue. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah will present a keynote address at a discussion on the 20-Points Malaysia Agreement. Amanah deputy president Wilfred Mojilip Bumburing said the forum follows parliament's rejection of the motion which was brought by Penampang MP Darrel Leiking. "Razaleigh has agreed to come and repeat a speech he gave at a forum held in Kuala Lumpur recently entitled "The Non-Fulfilment of the 20 and 18 Point Agreements with Sabah and Sarawak," the Tamparuli assemblyman told FMT Friday. The organisers are also inviting other personalities to be panelists at the round-table discussion and once confirmed will set the date and venue of the forum, he said. "The result and resolution reached during the round-table discussion will be further extended to the National Supreme Council of Amanah before formally present it to parliament for tabling," Bumburing added. Amanah Sabah, he said, shared Leiking's disappointment at the Deputy Speaker's decision. "It all zeroes-in on whether the federal government has honoured their obligation to protect and honour the safeguard guaranteed to Sabah as part of the condition for Sabah to join in forming Malaysia. "All these are clearly recorded in the Inter Governmental Commigttee (IGC) report and summerised in the 20-points safeguard which was incorporated in the Malaysia Agreements of 1963 and later enacted as Malaysia Bill 1963," he said. READ MORE HERE |
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