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Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Senseless rage over anti-Islam film
- What are they defending?
- Questioning four times within two weeks, police abuse of procedure for harassment?
- Hisham, Rais, must apologise to M’sians for national shame
- I retract and apologise to any Muslim who is offended by my tweet
- Registration of Overseas Voter
- Mayra Nazarbayev released
- Two popular request ignored in the Education Blueprint 2013 - 2025
- Did These Women Sleep Around, Dr?
- Dear Archbishop Murphy Pakiam
| Senseless rage over anti-Islam film Posted: 21 Sep 2012 03:30 PM PDT
Islamic Renaissance Front, The Malaysian Insider The Islamic Renaissance Front views the recent murders and uproar over the film "Innocence of Muslims" with much sadness and bafflement. All available facts suggest that "Innocence of Muslims" is not even a film. What is currently known about it was available in the widely circulated YouTube clip which ran for a total of some 13-odd minutes. What is worse, most critics are in agreement on the film's utterly poor quality — cheap sets, mediocre actors, bad voice-overs and incomprehensible narrative — all of which explains why no one had even heard of the so-called film until Muslims decided to make a fuss about it. Indeed, the added tragedy is not so much that the film is Islamophobic, which it clearly is, but that the unnecessary attention given to it by angry Muslims, eventually gave the film far more publicity than it deserves. Why? The question is why. What is behind the apparent trend of Muslim hypersensitivity? For the protests is just one occurrence out of countless others before, whereby masses of Muslims occupy public space to pressure some form of censure, punishment or banning of some product for insulting Islam. Rather than to reflect, negotiate or dialogue the tenor has often been to confront and suppress. The most well-known case to date was the furore over Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses". More recently there were the Danish cartoons. Even the rather well produced "The Message", directed by Moustafa Akkad in 1976 with Anthony Quinn as the main actor, which did not portray the Prophet at all was deemed by many Muslims to be offensive. A Muslim group staged a siege against the Washington DC chapter of B'nai B'rith, threatening to blow up the building and its inhabitants under the false belief that Quinn portrayed the Prophet. We now witnessed the needless deaths of dozens of innocent civilians as a result of violent protests that only reinforced the distorted image of Islam as a religion of violence and intolerance. It portrays the vicious face of a religion that was supposed to be a religion of peace and compassion. The West? When one observes the discourse closely, one will find that what underlies the narrative is a sense of defeat and insecurity upon being overwhelmed by what is often broadly termed as "the West". This sentiment is an obvious continuation of an earlier resentment against Western colonialism, which almost all Muslim-majority countries today experienced in one form or another. Daily life in the age of globalisation too has seen an increase of presence by Western products as well as political and cultural values. Geopolitically, the presence of Western military forces in Muslim countries is all too apparent and overwhelming. All this has somehow been viewed by Muslims as a sign that Islam is left behind, in one way or another, as a civilisation. That in turn further reinforces the anxiety of powerlessness before fearful imaginations of a monolithic behemoth called "the West". From there, everything Islamic is juxtaposed against it, giving rise to a mood of scepticism against anything and everything that comes from the so-called "West". Towards openness and dialogue But the situation is not that simple. While there has been much decline in science and learning in the Muslim world, which is undeniably tied to a history of colonial exploitation, Muslims must learn to take responsibility for the course of their own progress. Thus, rather than to recoil in defensiveness against everything Western or offensive, there must be instead, an attitude of critical reflection and openness to ideas. Progress requires freedom, for no genuine learning can proceed when power is imposed from without on what can be said and heard. To embrace this is not to embrace or justify Islamophobic or racist sentiments. It is rather to affirm that racist or Islamophobic sentiments are best dealt with through dialogue, learning and empathy rather than brute force or coercion. Hate must be combated. Oppression must end. But Muslims will only fail themselves if they proceed in a stupor of insecurity and anger. Islam is a religion of patience and compassion There is nothing in Islam that says hate must be combated with more hate. Recall, when the Prophet Muhammad was just beginning his mission, a woman placed faeces at his door in hatred of Islam. Muhammad endured the humiliation peacefully, neither choosing to retaliate in anger or violence, to exemplify that ethos of calm and compassion that defined the eventual success of Islam in Mecca. Conservative Muslims tend to regard such instances as inevitable given that Muslims did not get in power until Medina, but they forget the historical fact that it was Muhammad's exemplary character as a clear-headed leader in Mecca that compelled the Medinans to turn to him as an arbiter and leader for their fragmented city in the first place. Calm and compassion needed in Malaysia too Yesterday, thousands gathered outside Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru and the US Embassy to protest the "Innocence of Muslims". Interestingly this saw members of the Islamist party (PAS) and the main ruling Malay party (Umno) marching for a similar cause for once, even prompting the Umno Youth chief to invite PAS to join the ruling coalition. It is too early to say if this will lead to anything but it does reveal again an age-old fact about Malay politics, namely in how the vagueness of "Malay and Muslim unity" is used as a pretext to overlook other more concerned issues, such as socio-economic justice and multiracial solidarity. Emotions and passions reign ahead of clear-headed rationale and human values. The Islamic Renaissance Front once again calls for all Muslims to focus on the central agenda of Islam and that is the end of oppression and the establishment of a just society whereby all citizens irrespective of race and creed are treated equally. Enough lives, time and effort have been wasted over this film. It is time to move on and wake up. * This Islamic Renaissance Front statement carries the names of Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa, Ahmad Fuad Rahmad, Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, Rizqi Mukhriz and Ehsan Shahwahid.
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| Posted: 21 Sep 2012 12:22 PM PDT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo9JiGp0pGk&feature=share I watched the above video with a very heavy heart, for I pity these pathetic human beings for doing what they are doing. Although I dislike the provocative video that seemingly belittled Islam, I find that I had to agree with Mr. Ngeh that time is wasted on this. ViewAct http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLKk00OYKhU I have a group of Christian friends that shared this video once, and when inquired, they said that it's just a joke. True Christian know who Jesus is and will never be offended by untrue illustrations of Him. Only those who are not so faithful would scream and shout, for they fear the "holy" image of their "God" or "religious leader" gets scattered. Well, They were people of history and will never have the chance to do the things depicted in the videos. What is there to shout about? As a follower of a "holy" religion, I am amazed how these people in the first video could shout vulgarities and at the same time claim that they are defending a "holy" religion. Do they mean that to defend their "dignity", they can resort to all sorts of "wrongdoings"? Instead of leading by example, they resort to threatening and venting of hate? What are they defending then? "Holiness" or "gangsterism"? I'm sure true followers of Islam don't do that. Screaming at the top of their lungs, they claim that DAP is meddling into the matters of Islam. Is "advising them not to waste time in unnecessary lingering into a mindless video" an act of stepping into the matters of Islam? Is the video so seriously important that a comment of such would cause such important "change" or "influence" into the matters of Islam? If so, I would have no choice but to be amazed by the director's ability to create such impact over a mindless, non-depth research. Another question to these groups. What had DAP enforced over Islam that they have been "tolerating" all this while? Has DAP changed Islam? Made any policies that sidelined Islam? Re-written the Laws of Islam? Or have them stopped or disrupted any religious activities of Muslims? However, I am very glad that there are only a handfull of participants in that mindless "demonstration". For it showed that the majority of Muslims are not in the same state as these people are. Well, for a defender of Islam like what Perkasa is claiming they are, they should be condemning such vulgarities among their people instead. You can and should correct a non-muslim for making mindless statements as they do not know and it is your responsibility to tell them. But what you should really be concerned with are Muslims who go against the teachings of Islam. For one who know the religion so well as to claim to protect it, such acts are surely unbecoming. Imagine if these people are picked to be religious leaders and teachers one day (since they are so protective of the holy religion). What would they teach to the next generation? Well, enough about this. I hope everyone can put this behind. Instead of screaming and shouting vulgarities over it, wouldn't it be more productive to teach the right teachings to clear the doubts of people over it? Wouldn't this make people respect Islam and Muslims more? By resorting to violence, what image would that give? Good and respectable? Or fearful and lowly? Now what face of Islam are they showing? Or should I say... Is this any way Islamic at all? | |||||||||||||
| Questioning four times within two weeks, police abuse of procedure for harassment? Posted: 21 Sep 2012 12:08 PM PDT
Instead of sending medical personnel to help the patients, or the ketua kampung to console, the police was sent to interrogate. Pahang Raub Ban Cyanide in Gold Mining Action Committee (BCAC) BCAC chairman Mr Wong Kin Hoong was summoned for questioning by the police on 11am on 18th September, which was his third time within 14 days following the Himpunan Hijau Raub 902. This time, he was summoned together with another BCAC leader Mr Alec Hue and one of the members, Mr Rajoo. The police mainly questioned on the press conference held on 20th June at KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH). According to police, five people lodged police reports regarding the press conference and BCAC were summoned to assist the investigation. The two-hour-long interrogation centered on the health survey report which was released on 20th June's press conference. The police refused to disclose the details of the 5 people who made the police report, and BCAC also failed to acquire a copy of the police report mentioned. May this year, BCAC conducted a questionnaire health survey in the residential areas adjacent to the gold mine in Bukit Koman, Raub, a total of 383 villagers responded. After one month of careful analysis and data verification, a press conference was held on 20th June 2012 at KLSCAH to release the report, which revealed that 50% of respondents faced a variety of skin problems, including itchy skin and rashes, and caught a national attention. Unexpectedly, the Raub police turned up at the door of one of the patients Mr Woon Soon Fatt who appeared in the press conference on 26th July, claiming that the police received a report and was there to investigate! The interrogation went on for one hour. Instead of sending medical personnel to help the patients, or the ketua kampung to console, the police was sent to interrogate; made people wonder what kind of world are we living in? This is the second time the police claimed that they received a report regarding the KLSCAH's press conference. If the police is supposedly carrying out their duty impartially, then does that mean that each time the villagers made a report complaining of the Gold Mine's unidentified gas emissions causing illness and discomfort the police would investigate the management of the gold mine? However, from past experience, instead of recording statements from the gold mine, the police interrogated the villagers who made the police reports! We are wondering why there are difference sets of Standard Operating Procedures? After summoning Mr Wong Kin Hoong, Mr Alec Hue and Mr Rajoo for statements, the police called the BCAC Vice-Chair Ms Sherly Hue for questioning. Subsequently Ms Sherly Hue turned up at the Dang Wangi police station on 7pm on 19th September accompanied by Ms Malar who is an attorney, and was also interrogated by the police for two hours. Reason for investigation given by Police is the same and related to the press conference at KLSCAH on 20th June. However, this time the interrogation centered on the background of BCAC, the anti cyanide movement, the gold mining company. For example: "Why you are against RAGM?" "Is it your ultimate goal to close down RAGM?", "Any doctor can prove that the villagers' sufferings were caused by the cyanide?" Police summoning BCAC to question four times within two weeks is a form of mental torture in disguise. And for the elderly people of more than sixty years old, it is both physically and mentally stressful. BCAC condemns this sort of inhumane and unprofessional conduct. The members of BCAC are just ordinary concerned citizens who are trying to protect their homes, to care for the environment, and to exercise their human rights; they are not criminals! It is the duty and responsibility of the Government to ensure that the people live and work in a safe and healthy environment. Not only did the government fail to fulfill that, now the police is abusing a seemingly legitimate procedure to harass innocent people! | |||||||||||||
| Hisham, Rais, must apologise to M’sians for national shame Posted: 20 Sep 2012 12:29 PM PDT
Datuk Chua Jui Meng BERNAMA's admission that its pictures were doctored has shamed Malaysia globally in the most unethical manner. It is the Barisan Nasional (BN) government's national news agency and therefore the ministers linked to media affairs, namely Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim, must apologise to Malaysians for the national shame. They must start thinking out of the box and not resort to looking for scapegoats to cover up what was committed intentionally. I guess that would be too much for the ministers and the BN to stomach. After 55 years of Merdeka (Independence), Malaysians cannot continue to rely on a government that is unable to think out of the box to do the right thing. BN resorts to cover-ups and sweeping everything under the carpet whenever blunders and scandals erupt. Admitting that its photographs of prime minister Najib Abdul Razak in Pekan, Pahang (an east coast state of the peninsula), were doctored to reflect huge crowds is not enough. Finding a scapegoat to take the rap is also deplorable as it will further shame Malaysia. Very few Malaysians, save for loyal BN supporters who are always giving blind support, believe that the doctoring of pictures was the act of an individual out to sabotage the national news agency. The delayed admission by Bernama that its pictures were doctored raises doubts of sincerity. The admission came only after a series of pictures were posted on the internet that clearly showed the visuals were fakes. Bernama's editor-in-chief Yong Soo Heong was quick to deny the pictures were fake and that the news agency had no time to engage in such unethical work. When more of such pictures were posted in the internet, Bernama buckled under mounting pressure and admitted guilt. Suddenly, Yong says "Bernama has conducted an initial investigation into allegations that one of its recent photographs was manipulated and found the flawed picture was discovered at the source from where it was sent". Do you expect Malaysians to believe Yong who was quick to dismiss the allegations when the picture was clearly doctored and then admitted guilt when pressure for the truth continued to mount. I doubt the doctoring was done by the photographer who would not be so stupid to put his job on the line because such doctoring can be easily detected. But he could have been pressured by his superiors to do so. Whatever, this is going to be another case of going after the ikan bilis (anchovy or small fish) instead of the big fish. | |||||||||||||
| I retract and apologise to any Muslim who is offended by my tweet Posted: 19 Sep 2012 03:47 PM PDT
Ngeh Koo Ham
I retract and apologise to any Muslim who is offended by my tweet as it was never intended to be so. It was 1.43 am 17th September 2012, after seeing world news on CNN, BBC and Al Ajazeera showing violent protests in various parts of the world where lives were lost, many injured properties gutted and unrest ensued in response to the video produced by Sam Bacile, and after reading the news in Malaysiakini.com that YB Khairy Jamaluddin has planned to hold massive protest coming Friday (21st Sept 2012) with regard to the same matter that I tweeted the following words 'Khairy wants muslim protest against Same Bacile. For Islam or for his political gains? Are muslims wasting to much time and energy on this?' In the context of the violent protests round the world and the many demonstrations to be held that I posed the question 'Are muslims wasting too much time and energy on this?' I was wondering if too much time and energy have been spent in response to the 13.5 minutes video produced by a mad man in the name of Sam Bacile. I wanted our society to think deeper with regard to the way we response to any provocation or issue that confronts us. I have been taught and have always emphasized to the young never to react but always to respond. I want to make it very clear my following stands:- 1. I strongly condemn the video and its producer for belittling the faith/religion of another person and reiterate support for the stand that has been taken by DAP on this issue which is contained in the media statement issued by my party's Secretary General on 16/9/2012. 2. I totally support the rights of a person to hold peaceful demonstrations. In my 23 years of active political involvement, I have organized scores of demonstration in Perak. I was arrested by the police in Bersih 2.0 and was there at Bersih 3.0. The abovesaid tweet has now been twisted by UMNO/BN to say I belittle Islam. This is a total lie. However, having explain the context in which my question was posed, any Muslim who is still offended by the question I posed, I apologise as that was never intended. I feel comforted that a leading Muslim cleric Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, head of international union of Muslim Scholars, Encik Fathul Bari Mat Jahaya, the Executive Committee Chairman of Malaysia Young Ulama Assembly and Encik Musa Awang, the President of the Syarie lawyers of Malaysia have also come forward to call for restraint in the response to this video issue. | |||||||||||||
| Registration of Overseas Voter Posted: 19 Sep 2012 12:58 PM PDT
I had contacted the Malaysian Embassy in Singapore and had been informed by Ms Shima from the consular, that only civil servants, full time students and their spouse are allowed to vote abroad. This is a gross conflict from your statements as publish by The Star. Eugene Hooi Dear Tan Sri Dato' Seri Abdul Aziz, | |||||||||||||
| Posted: 19 Sep 2012 12:52 PM PDT
According to several credible sources, her surprising and miraculous release was due to the direct and personal involvement by the Malaysian Prime Minister: during his Hadj to Mecca over this summer, which he made in the company Ms. Nazarbayeva's son and his future son-in-law Daniyar. Daniyar Muratov Early in September, Mayra Nazarbayev, the notorious Kazakhstani fugitive, ex-wife of the Kazakhstan's President's brother, and a would-be mother-in-law to Malaysian Prime Minister's daughter, was released from prison in Dubai, flew to New York and had a court date there on September 4. According to several credible sources, her surprising and miraculous release was due to the direct and personal involvement by the Malaysian Prime Minister: during his Hadj to Mecca over this summer, which he made in the company Ms. Nazarbayeva's son and his future son-in-law Daniyar, Mr. Najib had extensive meetings with officials from the United Arab Emirates and Kazakhstan to convince them to let the detainee go. Within days after the Prime Minister's hadj, Ms. Nazarbayeva was, indeed, released, and allowed to proceed to her place of residence, New York. Following her salvation due to the influence of her powerful future relative, Ms. Nazarbayeva has been hard at work reinventing herself as an opposition figure: she has reportedly attempted to contact several leading Kazakhstani opposition leaders in exile and, in the affidavit she has filed with the New York court, has characterized Kazakhstan's political system as lawless and attacked the Kazakhstani President and his brother, her former husband – this after being a member of the President's clan for many years. Herself a wanted fugitive for financial and outright criminal shenanigans, Ms. Nazarbayeva is now decrying Kazakhtan's "lack of an independent judiciary and due process" and its "widespread corruption." It looks like a substantial portion of the Prime Minister's time and energy is devoted to a family matter involving a fugitive from law – at the expense of all Malaysians. | |||||||||||||
| Two popular request ignored in the Education Blueprint 2013 - 2025 Posted: 18 Sep 2012 09:34 AM PDT Toh Boo Huat The just released Education Blueprint was touted to be very comprehensive as it took into account the views and desires of Malaysians who were given opportunities to provide input during dialogues held in major towns across the country. In my humble opinion, the blueprint ought to address the desire of many ordinary folks who would like their children to learn Science and Mathematics in its lingua franca i.e. English while fully supporting maintaining MBMMBI policy for those who want it. Interestingly, the rich who can afford to attend International schools and those Mara sponsored students are enjoying this privilege that is gradually being denied to those attending national schools. It is an accepted fact that the English language proficiency among our students and workforce is low. The government has rightly, in this blueprint, seeked to tackle this issue by improving the teaching methods, getting better qualified teachers and allocating more teaching hours to it. These is a good starting base to work from but let us be also frank and accept that learning any language in isolation is tough. Learning English will be very much easier and can be picked up faster when used frequently and applied appropriately. Realistically, studying both Science and Mathematics in English will provide our pupils, especially those from rural areas with a great platform to do so, much like a twin turbo-charger needed to help elevate our standard of English. I am also of the opinion that the plan to introduce English Literature is premature and contradict the reasons why PPSMI was left out. The authorities have constantly highlighted that some of our pupils struggled with PPSMI and that we do not have enough capable English teachers for PPSMI, what more English Literature which is a much more difficult subject by itself. In fact, days before the launch, the DPM said "We have done studies repeatedly and we have found that there is a lack of English teachers" and that "when students did not understand, the teachers reverted to using Bahasa Malaysia to teach the subjects". (NST 9-Sep-2012 - Improving quality in all areas of education) Walk before attempting to run. Our immediate and urgent target is students and a mass workforce with a higher proficiency in English, not flooding the country with Shakespeareans! We should only consider introducing English Literature in future when the standard of English amongst our pupils is elevated, thus reducing any likelihood of failing, leading to abandoning yet another overly ambitious policy. The other loud call was for a professional and highly experienced academician to be the Education Minister and this popular request received among the loudest applause during those dialogues. It is obvious that the rakyat do not want any more politicians in that post. Many (including our former DPM, Tun Musa Hitam) are alarmed and have enough of seeing our education standard deteriorate continuously over the years with no end in sight, not to mention numerous "politically inclined" policy decisions made. The people have spoken and the message was indeed conveyed up. An attendee of two Round Table discussions on education revealed in his blog that "there was an almost unanimous agreement that English should be made the medium of instruction for at least Mathematics and Science". How then and why were these two well-supported requests left out of the blueprint? Whoever made this decision to do so have betrayed the people! As parents and primary stakeholders, we demand that the final blueprint include these two issues to truly reflect and honor the desires of the people. | |||||||||||||
| Did These Women Sleep Around, Dr? Posted: 18 Sep 2012 09:26 AM PDT
It is believed that the child was still alive when thrown but died due to injuries in the head due to the fall Presumably, their mothers cannot light a candle to our Malaysian women of virtue Ice Cream Seller Lets get straight to the point.
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| Posted: 18 Sep 2012 09:18 AM PDT
Your directive does not augur well for our catholic religion in this country, if I do go for the service and receive communion despite being forbidden to do so by you does that mean I have committed a mortal sin and can lose my soul? Because ultimately why I still remain a catholic is because I believe I can go to heaven if I die. Pakirisamy Your Grace,
Your Grace, if your faith is just faith it's a dead faith if your directives are purely to preserve the sanctity of the the Real presence in the Eucharist. I dont think I or anyone else would go to hell if he went for the christian service at Taman Melawati Stadium and received the communnion offered there. The FMM sisters had gone to great lengths to collect massive donations from the public, got govt grants, and built a catholic hospital for the poor and underpriviledged and called it the Assunta Catholic Hospital, (today the catholic has been removed). Even you and Peter Mooney had attended a fund raising dinner to raise funds for the hospital. Today, sad to say the hospital charges RM8,000+ for a simple appendix surgery, which you can get done in the govt hospital for less than RM450/- and the Jabatan Kebajikan pays for you if you can't afford to pay
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