Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Rally in support of MyOverseasVote and Bersih
- Anti-apostasy law – the legal dynamics
- More Big Boobs By Taib! – Expose
- War of words show Umno is badly in disarray
| Rally in support of MyOverseasVote and Bersih Posted: 21 Nov 2011 05:24 PM PST Six Malaysians, who are all based in Britain, have applied to the KL High Court to compel the EC to amend its regulations to allow Malaysians overseas to register as Absent voters. As the EC regulations stand, only Civil Servants and students who are overseas are allowed to vote with a Postal ballot. All other Malaysian citizens who wish to vote have to return to Malaysia to cast their ballot. The lawsuit aims to put an end to this discriminatory and arbitrary rule. Permission for Judicial Review was granted by Judge Rohana Yusuff on the 14th November. Constitutional Lawyers Edmund Bon and Edward Saw appeared for the Applicants. The campaign is supported by the MyOverseasVote campaign. Independent Lawyers from the Bar Council, MyOverseasVote and the Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism & Human Rights were present to hold a watching brief. The Substantive hearing is fixed for January 3rd, 2012.
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| Anti-apostasy law – the legal dynamics Posted: 21 Nov 2011 03:40 PM PST First of all, article 11 of the Federal Constitution guarantees the right of every person to profess and practise his religion. Freedom of religion, as this article guarantees, is deemed to be so important and universal so much so that the Federal Constitution guarantees it for every person in Malaysia as opposed to just her citizens. By contrast, freedom of speech and expression, the right to assemble and the right to form associations are only guaranteed for Malaysian citizens. Such is the universality and fundamentality of freedom of religion that every person within Malaysia is guaranteed of that right. The right to practise a religion is absolute. That right is not limited to the right to choose a religion but also the right to practise the religion of choice in accordance to the person's belief and faith. In other word, under our Federal Constitution, one can not only choose a religion of his or her choice, but also to practise his or her religion freely, without any mullahs, monks, priests or prophets, real or otherwise, telling him how to do this and that. Being so, anti-apostasy laws would run foul of article 11 as soon as it is passed. It is a non-starter. In legal jargon, it is void ab initio. There are only two very narrow restraints which the Federal Constitution allows in so far as freedom of religion is concerned. Firstly, laws may be passed to control or restrict the propagation of any religious doctrine or belief among Muslims. This means, a law may be passed for example, to prohibit anybody or group from propagating Christianity to Muslims. This provision however, does not allow any law to be passed to prevent a Muslim from leaving Islam or to punish Muslims for doing so. Secondly, any person is not allowed to practise his or her religion in any way which may be contrary to any general law relating to public order, public health or morality. This simply means that if your religion requires you to slaughter five pigs at Dataran Merdeka every Friday at precisely 12.30pm, you cannot do so even though article 11 says you are free to practise your religion. Similarly, if your religion requires you to have sex with your daughter and your wife at the same time, you are not allowed to do so, although of course, it is open to you to argue that you may do so spiritually and not physically. (excuse me, I have to laugh…hahaha). So, that's about it. Quite how the proponents of anti-apostasy laws are planning to overcome this Constitutional hurdle to their beloved anti-apostasy laws is beyond me. I suppose, they would also seek to amend the Federal Constitution along with the anti-apostasy laws. Assuming the Constitutionality issue is overcome, then comes the jurisdiction clanger. This is what I normally refer to as the judicial ping-pong or pass-the-bucket. You see, in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia or anywhere else in the civilised world, every arm of the country's administration would defend it's jurisdiction and powers so fervently. Of course here in Malaysia, our judiciary, in the form of the highest Court of the land, ie the Federal Court, have always done it's darndest best to disclaim its jurisdiction and powers. It's almost funny really. Whenever cases involving Islam come to our Federal Court, it will, without fail hold that it does not have the jurisdiction or power to hear such cases because they involve matters concerning Islam. Never mind the fact that the matter also involves serious and multiple Constitutional issues which have far-reaching consequences and ramifications on our society and nations. As long as the word Islam appears of the Court papers, the Federal Court will tremble in its pants and disclaim jurisdiction. Sometimes, the Federal Court will cling to some technicalities in order to refuse hearing such hot potatoes of a case. See Shamala and the skirt of technicalities, as an illustration of this. The oft-relied Constitutional provision for this disclaimer of jurisdiction is of course article 121 (1A), which says that our Courts shall have no jurisdiction in respect of any matter within the jurisdiction of the Syariah Courts. So, assuming anti-apostasy laws are passed and a man is going to be charged for being an apostate. The first question is, in which Court is he supposed to be charged? He cannot be charged in our civil Courts. Because quite simply, our civil Courts will say whether or not that man is an apostate would depend on whether he has really left Islam and that would be a matter for the Syariah Court to deal with. So, our civil Court will gladly disclaim jurisdiction. And so, our guy would then have to be put in the black maria and driven to the Syariah Court. Okay, hold on to your seat guys, this is going to be one hell of a ride. He is then produced before a Kadhi/Syariah Judge and charged. The charge might read as follows: "Bahawa kamu, Jakim bin Jais, telah didapati tidak sembahyang Jumaat sebanyak tiga kali berturut-turut dan telah dengan itu keluar dari agama Islam dan dengan itu telah melakukan kesalahan di bawah seksyen 3 Akta Anti-Apostasi." ("That you, Jakim bin Jais, has been found not to perform the Friday prayer for three consecutive times and accordingly you have left the religion of Islam and accordingly has committed an offence under section 3 of the Anti-Apostasy Act.") So far so good.
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| More Big Boobs By Taib! – Expose Posted: 21 Nov 2011 02:34 PM PST Explaining the significance of the praises lavished on Sarawak and Malaysia by the Oxford Busines Group, the Chief Minister's own website claimed that the publication "provides in-depth detail on Sarawak's current economic outlook and what the future holds for the state". However, the Editorial Director of these reports is none other than a former Editor of the UK's most ridiculed porn rag, the Daily Sport, which closed earlier this year. Peter Grimsditch was sacked 4 years after having launched the Sport for the UK 'Porn King', David Sullivan in 1988. He was also sacked as Editor of another low-brow red top, the Daily Star, and is now based in the Middle East.
Another 'boob' by Taib? The revelation raises question marks over the economic focus and expertise of the publication that are not satisfactorily answered by the qualifications of its predominantly youthful staff: "They are mostly in their 20′s and they get posted for a couple of months to do the business", explained one senior executive of a respected economic publication in the Middle East, where OBG have also started operating. "It is basically what one calls an 'Advertorial'. They write sympathetic positive stuff about the subject matter. The purpose is obvious, which is to give the best possible spin and encourage investment. The State will then quote the report". Oxford Business Group Report was launched with fanfare by Taib
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| War of words show Umno is badly in disarray Posted: 21 Nov 2011 05:37 AM PST And one can bet the Umno assembly will be of torrid interest to all Malaysians, especially for the majority who are without physical access to the meeting. For the past 54 years, it is the Umno delegates attending the assembly who get to decide who will be the prime minister of Malaysia – with impunity. By convention, the Umno president also becomes the prime minister of Malaysia and this is why the party has so fiercely fought off a two-party system, trying all ways and means to kill off the Pakatan Rakyat led by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim. However, now that the opposition is already well ensconced in the Malaysian psyche, perhaps for the first time the Umno president will not be the prime minister of Malaysia any more. Why? Because the Umno-led BN coalition faces a real risk of losing power in the coming GE-13, which is why there is so much interest in this Umno assembly, where the mindset of the party chieftains and grassroots will play a large part in determining the immediate future of the country. When the 'minority rules' Umno's past stranglehold on power has always been a case of the minority super-ceding the majority, and contradictory to the stance of "majority rules", which ironically is always touted by ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad when justifying his Malay Supremacy politicking. It is against such a setting that the latest comments by Mahathir Mohamad has caused such a stir. Not so much as to what was said but rather, that this is the truth that UMNO has refused to accept or address through the years since the 2008 elections. UMNO has chosen to surround itself within an imperialist bubble that has isolated its leaders from the reality on the ground. This bubble is evident in the various policy decisions that have been announced, only to incite public outcry and then quickly retracted. Thus, to be told that UMNO is weak goes against the very nature of this imperialist bubble. This is why Mahathir's words hit home squarely and painfully. "Umno became badly damaged when Tun Abdullah Badawi took over. Because he prioritised his family and there were so many corruption allegations. And everyone knew about his son-in-law's involvement," Tun Mahathir said, referring to Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin. "This damaged Umno has been inherited by Datuk Seri Najib Razak for him to fix. Umno needs time before it can become stronger. "But Najib is busy and does not have enough time." PM in absentia Indeed, Najib Razak has been busy. At a time when the nation needed its leader to address its woes and to provide a measure of understanding; he has been absent – relegating his duties to his underlings who have provided conflicting statements that have not done much good for the citizens of Malaysia. So it was that instead of addressing Mahathir's comments head on, Najib left it to his cousin and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to rebut the grand old man of Umno, rather than take on the task himself and speak up for his own administration. Hisham, also an Umno vice president, told reporters "this is not something unique to Umno. I do not deny that this will hamper our process… but we are going through a revision and transformation." The Home Minister tried to put a good face on it by saying it was not unusual for Mahathir to throw out challenges and ideas for the party ahead of a general assembly, and that members would need to rise to the occasion. Hisham also unwitting revealed one of the grouses Mahathir has with Najib – his cowardice in getting a mandate of his own rather than rely on the power he inherited after ousting predecessor Abdullah Badawi. "This will answer a part of Tun (Mahathir's) concerns," said Hisham, insisting that Najib was already in the process of getting the party ready for the upcoming general election. Najib has failed to arrest the slide in Umno But Hishammuddin's reply was as usual weak and in fact does not refute Mahathir's comments. It merely confirms the latter's assessment of Umno. The revision and transformation of Umno had been promised since the days of Abdullah Badawi, and further emphasized when Najib Razak assumed the premiership of Umno. Yet, three years down the road, Umno has not improved. Instead, it has regressed into a state of exclusiveness – branding itself as more ultra-Malay and no longer a progressive and moderate political party. Factions and infighting within the party divisions contributed to Umno's failure in the 2008 elections and it looks like more of the same in the coming GE-13. Mahathir was right in his assessment, Umno is in disarray and Umno has not acknowledged this.
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