Afghan Asylum Seeker Allegedly Beaten to Death in Indonesia Detention Center

A 28-year-old Afghan asylum seeker was allegedly beaten to death by guards in an Indonesian detention center Monday night.

The man, identified in various news reports as Taqi Naroye, reportedly escaped from the Pontianak detention center in West Kalimantan on Sunday.

He was caught by local residents and returned to the detention center the next evening. In total, six men had escaped from the center.

According to West Kalimantan’s immigration chief, Ahmad Hasaf, Taqi was returned to the center in good health.

But that night, the 28 year old was allegedly savagely beaten by guards, according to local police reports.

A local resident told reporters that he could hear Taqi screaming in pain until 2 a.m. Tuesday. His heavily battered body was dropped off at Soedarso hospital on Tuesday morning. He was pronounced dead on arrival.

The guards previously told investigators that Taqi was beaten by an angry mob. But police disagree.

“It was not caused by a mob attack but the guards who abused the victim until he died,” Comr. Puji Prayitno, Pontianak crime unit chief told the local news portal Harian Equator on Wednesday.

Indonesian police have determined the cause of death as blunt force trauma, ABC News reported.

Two of the four guards working the night shift during Taqi’s beating have been taken in for questioning by local investigators.

Police have not named a suspect.

The Kalimantan center was recently renovated with funds from the International Organization for Migration.

The UN refugee agency was “deeply saddened” by the death and issued a press release Friday urging Indonesian authorities to investigate the killing.

“We call on the Indonesian authorities to conduct a swift and thorough investigation that will shed light on this incident,” the statement read.

PM must curb violence or be seen as complicit, say groups

Christians mark 400 years of Malay Bible as ‘Allah’ case drags on

KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — The opportunity to use the word “Allah” in a non-Muslim context remains a struggle for Christian Malaysians as they mark 400 years since the Bible was first published in the Malay language.
Christian scholars are huddling at a seminary in Seremban today, on the 400th anniversary of the Alkitab, in a conference that could shore up the Catholic Church’s case after it won, in 2009, the right to use the Arabic word to refer to God in its newspaper, The Herald.

The Malay version of the Bible embossed with the words ‘Christian Publication’ and a cross appeared from 2005 following a Home Ministry agreement with local distributors. — Picture by Choo Choy May

While Putrajaya has allowed churches nationwide to import the Malay-language Bible — first translated in 1612 — government lawyers refuse to withdraw their appeal against the Catholic Church’s suit. Organised by the Seminari Theoloji Malaysia (STM) and the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM), the two-day conference kicked off this morning at 10 with an examination of the historical and theological perspectives on the translation of the Alkitab as well as the legal aspects concerning its print and distribution here.
The day-long closed-door conference will see speakers representing, among others, the BSM, local Christian think-tank Kairos Research Centre and the United Bible Societies, the world’s biggest Bible translator, publisher and distributor organisation with 146 members across 200 countries and territories.
Among the highlights of the conference is an exhibition of the Alkitab, first published in 1612 with the Malay translation of the Gospel of Matthew.
A similar public discussion will take place at the Trinity Methodist Church in Petaling Jaya tomorrow, STM spokesman Reverend Lim Kar Yong told The Malaysian Insider when contacted.
However, he stressed that the event was strictly for Christians.
Despite the Catholic Church winning a High Court decision on December 31, 2009 to publish the word “Allah”, its weekly paper The Herald has been blocked from doing so the past three years pending the Home Ministry’s appeal.
The case has been languishing in the Court of Appeal since.
But the controversy spilled over into the rights of Malaysia’s Christian population at large as shipments of Malay-language bibles catering to the Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Bumiputera Christians were also blocked or confiscated last year.
It was turned into election fodder in the run-up to last year’s Sarawak polls as Christians there make up nearly half of the state’s total population.
And despite Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s historic meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome last July to establish diplomatic relations between Muslim-majority Malaysia and the Vatican, there has been little progress in resolving the “Allah” dispute.
Christians form 9.2 per cent of Malaysia’s 28.3 million-strong population.
The Christian and Muslim religious communities have been engaged in a tug-of-war over the word “Allah”, with the latter group arguing that its use should be exclusive to them on the grounds that Islam is monotheistic and the word “Allah” denotes the Muslim God.
Christians, however, have argued that “Allah” is an Arabic word that has been used by those of other religious beliefs, including the Jews, in reference to God in many other parts of the world, notably in Arab nations and Indonesia.

Arutchelvan, student activist hauled up by police

PSM sec-gen Arutchelvan and Mohd Khalid are being investigated under the Sedition Act for speeches made at an ABU ceramah on Jan 23.

KAJANG: PSM secretary general S Arutchelvan and second year UiTM law student cum activist Mohd Khalid Ismath were called up by the police and questioned for about 40 minutes today over speeches they made at an Anything But Umno (ABU) ceramah on Jan 23 in Beranang.

According to the police, they are being investigated under section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948. Both gave their statements at the Kajang district police headquarters today.

“They recorded the entire ceramah on Jan 23. If there was something seditious, they could have handed the clip to the prosecution and charge us,” said Arutchelvan.

Arutchelvan, who is also Kajang municipal councillor, added that he had not uttered anything that can be deemed as seditious and the whole excercise “was a waste of time.”.

“I didn’t touch on race, religion or the royalty. Maybe it is seditious for those in power because I called for Umno to be ousted,” he added.


He also revealed that the report against them was made by the police and when he requested for a copy, they refused.

Khalid, 22, was accompanied by his lawyer Farhana Abdul Halim when he reported to the district police headquarters.

“I spoke on issues relating to students’ problems, the burden of young people and the stiffling of academic freedom,” said Khalid.
ABU co-founder Haris Ibrahim, who was at the police station today, criticised the use of the Sedition Act against Arutchelvan and Khalid.

“Even if one speaks the truth, it is no defence in sedition. In other countries there are no sedition laws because they allow people to freedom to express.
Asked whether this would hamper the ABU campaign, Haris said: “We will continue with our ceramahs. People cannot be challenged,” said Haris.

Bkt Gasing temple committee to defy stop work order

Kapar MP S Manikavasagam hits out at state exco member Jeyakumar for issuing a stop work order on the temple after initially giving the go-ahead last year.

PETALING JAYA: A PKR leader expressed disappointment with Selangor state exco Dr Xavier Jeyakumar for his contradictory stand on Bukit Gasing Sivan temple land issue.

Kapar MP S Manikavasagam said Jeyakumar- also from PKR – must act in the interest of the public instead of indulging to the whims of a few individuals.

Jeyakumar, in a letter dated Jan 31, directed the temple committee to stop demolition work on the temple, contradicting his earlier stand that the committee may proceed with it. The temple committee wants to demolish the temple’s old building to build a new structure.

The reason given in the letter was that work must be stopped because of a court case pending between the new temple committee and its former trustees.

The temple was closed for three years when the Petaling Jaya Town Council (MBPJ) declared that land on which it was located was unsafe due unstable soil structure.

Last year, the state government gazetted the land to the temple committee and allowed them to retain the temple at its current site on condition a single storey structure is built to replace the current two-storey temple building.

“Jeyakumar is singing a different tune after he met Indrani Samy Vellu, the chairperson of the former trustees’ committee,” said Manikavagam.

“As a state exco, he should have heard views from all sides, including the public before coming to a decision to issue the stop work order,” he added.

“Can the former trustees of the temple be trusted? Do not forget that they were the ones who kept mum when the temple was ordered to be closed by MBPJ four years ago,” he said.

Manikavasagam said that he will lodge with report in Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) against the old trustees.

Meanwhile, the temple’s current committee member M Maharathan said the demolition work will continue inspite of the directive from Jeyakumar to cease operations.

“We will not adjourn our work in the interest of the public.”

He revealed that he was the one who filed a case against the former trustees to get them to return all properties belonging to temple.

“However, the case pending in court has nothing to do with temple building. It is weird for Jeyakumar to use it as an excuse to issue the stop work order,” he said.

“I do not care about politicians or about politics. I just do not want to be deprived of my right to attend religious functions. No one has the right to shut down temples,” he added.

Malay unity at its best

Yes, it is not easy to turn the Malays against the Chinese any longer, not like in 1969. It is easier to turn the Chinese against the Malays. By doing so the Malays would merajuk (sulk). They may not take up arms like they did in 1969. That may be too much to expect from present day Malays. But the Malays suffer from an illness called cepat kecik hati (feel hurt too easily).
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin

It was soon after the March 2008 general election. Umno was holding a meeting in Subang Jaya to discuss the election ‘disaster’. All the key Umno ‘activists’ were going to be there, many veterans or children of veterans of May 13.
I invited half a dozen of my Chinese and Indian friends to follow me to the meeting. ‘Why the hell would we want to attend an Umno meeting?” they asked me. “To learn, of course, to learn.”
Speaker after speaker took the rostrum. The crowd was stirred. “What happened in the March general election was exactly like what happened in May 1969,” said one renowned Umno activist, son of one of the architects of May 13. “Therefore, what happened in March 2008 also needs the May 13 solution.”
You do not need to be a standard six student to understand what that meant. However, considering that many of you who post comments in Malaysia Today do not get what is being said even when it is sticking up your arse, maybe I should spell it out lest you start huffing and puffing off tangent.
On 11 May 1969, the opposition almost toppled the ruling party and grabbed or checkmate a few states. Two days later, the ruling party counter-checkmated the opposition by triggering race riots.
On 8 March 2008, it was history being repeated, déjà vu. Hence, the same ‘solution’ will be required to ‘solve’ the 8 March 2008 disaster.
Unknown to most Malaysians, a few attempts were made to arouse the sentiments of the Malays like what they successfully did in 1969. But this time around the Malays were not aroused like in 1969 so the effort failed.
An example would be like what happened in Penang when some Indian-looking Malays held an anti-Chinese demonstration against Lim Guan Eng in front of Komtar in Penang and the white skullcap wearing Malays faced them and dared them to cross the line.
The 500 Indian-looking Malays did not dare take on the 1,000 white skullcap wearing Malays. There were no Chinese in sight. It was Indian-looking Malays versus white skullcap wearing Malays. And the white skullcap wearing Malays were there in defence of Lim Guan Eng, a Chinese.
So it looks like the race card no longer works in this day and age like it did back in 1969. A new strategy would be required. Instead of trying to turn the Malays against the Chinese, which will not work, why not let the Chinese whack the Malays? If we try to tell the Malays that the Chinese are the enemy, the Malays will not buy that. But if the Chinese whack the Malays then in time the Malays will get sick and tired and turn their back on the opposition.
The Chinese are more aggressive than the Malays. Even Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad thinks so when he lamented that the Malays are too passive and should be more aggressive like the Chinese. So, instead of trying to work up the Malays against the Chinese, why not work up the Chinese against the Malays?
When provoked, the Chinese react very strongly with foul language and all. Malays, being more feudalistic (another thing about the Malays which Dr Mahathir is pissed about) have been ‘trained’ since when they were toddlers to kowtow to authority. Even the Friday prayer kutbah (sermons) keep reminding the Malays that they must kowtow to authority. So the Malays are not as militant as the Chinese who kicked out their feudal lords a long time ago.
The Malays are also more forgiving. They can whack you for ten years but once you turun padang and go visit them at home, they become very honoured and immediately become your strong support. You also need to just hold the chief for the rest to follow -- again, the herd mentality, as Dr Mahathir said. Even Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia’s First Prime Minister, agrees with this. ‘Pegang kepala cukup. Yang lain akan ikut,” said the Tunku.
But Malays have two idiosyncrasies. One is ‘Melayu pantang di cabar’ (it is taboo to provoke a Malay). The other is the amuk syndrome. Is not the English word amok taken from the Malay word mengamuk? That’s because Malays appear to be the only race that has a penchant for doing this (the result of the legend of Hang Jebat, a Malay hero).
Malays also have a proverb that goes: biar mati anak, jangan mati adat. Malay culture and traditions must be upheld even if the child needs to be sacrificed.
And what else does the Malay hold dear and will kill or die for? What else? Islam of course! If the Malays can be made to feel that Islam is being compromised, challenged, insulted, etc., then they will rise in anger as they do even if they are not Malays like in Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc. A challenge against Islam is a challenge against God and hence you must die or else I will die trying to kill you. That is my duty as a Muslim.
Take all these ingredients and mix them into a bowl and what do you get? What you get would be a fruitcake. And we need fruitcake Malays if we want to turn the Malays against the Chinese.
Yes, it is not easy to turn the Malays against the Chinese any longer, not like in 1969. It is easier to turn the Chinese against the Malays. By doing so the Malays would merajuk (sulk). They may not take up arms like they did in 1969. That may be too much to expect from present day Malays. But the Malays suffer from an illness called cepat kecik hati (feel hurt too easily).
Hey, I can believe that. I am only part Bugis, part Orang Asli and part Welsh and even I get kecik hati with many readers of Malaysia Today when I read the comments they post. Even I, who can claim to be not pure Malay, have many times considered just closing down Malaysia Today and tell the lot of you to go to hell or go screw yourselves. What more the Malays from the kampongs?
Today, PKR, PAS and Umno are united on the Erykah Badu ban. They are also united on the view that apostasy needs to be combated. So the Malays can, if they want to, set aside their political differences and unite under a common cause. You just need to find that cause. And there are enough causes out there to latch on to. The rest would be clever engineering.
And this is something the Chinese do not understand. The Chinese are prepared to compromise. They can accept a bad government in the interest of cari makan (rice bowl). They can accept ABU even if we replace a bigger devil with a smaller devil and even if both are devils but merely differ in degree. They can accept the lesser of the two evils as long as the lesser evil is to their interest.
The Malays, as Tun Dr Mahathir lamented, are too passionate, sentimental and emotional (which makes them better lovers, of course -- and am I not passionate, sentimental and emotional in the way I write?). The Malays, according to Tun Dr Mahathir, are not pragmatic like the Chinese. And this is why the Malays fail while the Chinese succeed, argued Tun Dr Mahathir.
Sun Tzu said: to win the war you need to know your enemies. Raja Petra Kamarudin wants to add to what Sun Tzu said: to win the war you also need to know your friends.
The question is: which one is your friend and which one is your enemy? Your enemy is not the 51% Malay voters who voted Barisan Nasional in March 2008. Your enemy is certainly not the 49% Malay voters who voted Pakatan Rakyat in March 2008. Your enemy are those who walk in the corridors of power in Putrajaya and the 2,500 Umno delegates who attend the Umno general assembly to elect their party President who then becomes the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Today, many Malays already feel kecik hati. If Raja Petra can become kecik hati what more the other Malays? And this can only mean one thing: Umno is succeeding. Umno did not succeed in turning the Malays against the Chinese. Umno succeeded in making the Malays become kecik hati because they feel the Chinese have now demonstrated that they are not real friends of the Malays.
That, my friends, is called realpolitik. And would Umno be able to rule Malaysia for 55 years if they did not understand realpolitik? Can those of you who entered the scene only in 2007 be better than those who have been playing this game since 1957? I fear not, my friend.

Indian NGO lodge police report against Anwar over racist remark

Malaysian Digest) - A police report was lodged today against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in relation to the dissemination of a video on YouTube that showing him insulting the Indians.

The report was lodged a non-governmental organizations (NGO) called Alternative Action Team (AAT).

Its president Kalaivanar (pic) said the opposition leader had insulted the Indians in one of his talk during the Bagan Pinang by-election in 2009.

“Indians in this country are very offended by his remarks. So, today we ask the police to take stern action against him,” said Kalaivanar when met by reporters at the Dang Wangi police station.

“His speech was so racist and could threaten the multiracial harmony in the country. I want the police to record his speech and bring him in court in accordance with existing laws,” he added.

Time to Hartal the mainstream media

By Haris Ibrahim,

Reading Steadyaku47′s ‘The Chinese must stop blaming the Malays’ and RPK’s ‘Malay unity at its best’  day before yesterday left me greatly troubled.

Chinese blaming the Malays for everything that’s gone wrong in the country?

Malays ‘kecik hati’ because they feel the Chinese are not real friends of the Malays?

I do spend time on the ground and I have to say I don’t get this sense.

If anything, most people, and this necessarily includes the Chinese, are now more aware than ever before that it is the elite Malays in UMNO, their cronies and their cohorts in BN who have enriched themselves and in the process singularly left this nation in near ruins.

And that the majority of Malays, like most of the nation, are the victims of, first, 22 years of misrule by Mahathir and now, more plunder under Najib.

This is the sense I get, both from the rural and urban Chinese that I get to speak with.
Chinese blaming the Malays?

No.
Melayu kecik hati with the Chinese?

I read RPK’s piece again yesterday morning to see if I had missed anything.
Umno succeeded in making the Malays become kecik hati because they feel the Chinese have now demonstrated that they are not real friends of the Malays.

RPK’s exact words.
Not that the Chinese are not real friends of the Malays, but that UMNO has succeeded in making the Malays feel that way.

The two, in my view, are not the same.

I tried calling RPK yesterday evening but could not get through.

So I called a senior journalist, asked if he had read RPK’s piece and what he made of it.
He said RPK had hit the nail on the head, but had perhaps stated it rather clumsily.

According to him, the UMNO-controlled media might be sowing concerns amongst its Malay readers and viewers with its spin on how DAP, which is painted as a Chinese party, will be the principle benefactor if Pakatan comes to power.

How PAS, to keep DAP and the Chinese in Selangor happy, sacked the defender of Islam, Hassan Ali.
And on and on and on.
The message in the spin is subtle.
But, it seems, effective.
We need to counter this.
And fast.

Anwar Ibrahim visits Kerala mosque

Anwar Ibrahim

Anwar Ibrahim, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia and Opposition leader of that country, paid obeisance at the majestic Malik Dinar Juma Masjid here on Thursday.

Mr. Ibrahim visited the historic shrine at Thalangara locality around 3.30 p.m. and was accorded a warm reception by K. Mahmood Haji, president of the Juma Masjid, along with other prominent personalities from the town.

Dattu Abdul Aziz, former Cabinet Secretary of Malaysia, and other leading personalities from that country accompanied Mr. Ibrahim.

Mr. Ibrahim, who was on maiden visit to the town, said he had visited Kozhikode and Malappuram during his previous visits to Kerala.

Parti pemerintah guna kekuatan samseng, parti alternatif guna kekuatan pemikiran

By Aspan Alias -The Malaysian Insider

2 MAC — Budaya samseng pula yang mula menular dengan cepat didalam Umno sekarang. Kejadian mengganggu majlis-majlis anjuran Pakatan Rakyat kini selalu diganggu dan dicemari dengan kekacauan yang dilakukan oleh kumpulan samseng upahan untuk menggagalkan majlis anjuran Pakatan Rakyat. Dunia dan negara sekarang sudah masuk ke alaf baru dan manusia kini menuju kemajuan dengan etika dan cara kehidupan yang bertamaddun.

Seorang yang dididik dengan baik dari keluarga yang baik dia akan menjadi lebih berhemah jika bersalah-salahan pendapat dan pandangan dan akan sentiasa menghormati orang lain seperti yang dituntut oleh agama dan budaya, apatah lagi kita orang Melayu yang beragama Islam ini. Seseorang yang beriman dan halus jiwanya akan memujuk hati dan nafsunya sendiri untuk tidak berbuat apa yang tidak baik dan ditegah oleh adat dan agamanya.

Sebaliknya sebahagian dari kita orang-orang Melayu khususnya orang-orang kuat Umno (OKU), bertindak diluar adat dan adab bangsanya serta agama mereka dengan membina budaya samseng dan budaya ini adalah budaya orang-orang zaman batu dahulu. Ini bertambah berluas-luasa akhir-akhir ini dengan mengganggu majlis-majlis yang dianjurkan oleh pihak Pakatan Rakyat.

OKU-OKU tempatan akan menggunakan cara yang amat biadab dengan mengganggu dan memukul orang lain semata-mata kerana tidak bersetuju dengan majlis yang dianjurkan oleh pihak yang kian hari kian mendapat sokongan ramai itu. Ada kalanya kumpulan OKU ini akan menyerbu didalam majlis ceramah anjuran PR dan mereka akan terus beramai-ramai kehadapan pentas untuk mengganggu majlis PR itu.

Apa semuanya ini? Kemana kah perginya adab dan tatasusila Melayu yang berhemah dan bertamaddun yang selama ini menjadi “attribute” asas orang Melayu itu? Kenapa kah bangsa kita sudah sampai ketahap ini untuk mengekalkan kuasa? Kalaulah dari dulu kita tahu yang Melayu dan rakyat yang bersokongkol dengan pihak yang memerintah tidak dapat menerima demokrasi, kenapa dari dulu kita memulakan negara kita dengan sistem demokrasi.

Kenapakah ada pihak hanya menerima demokrasi jika dapat kemenangan dan memperkayakan budaya samseng apabila dirasakan yang kemenangan yang diperolehi selama ini tidak akan berulang lagi? Jika kuasa itu merupakan perjuangan yang “ultimate” kenapa tidak menjaga mandat dan kepercayaan rakyat selama ini dengan jujur? Kenapa melakukan perkara-perkara yang tidak elok didepan mata rakyat tanpa segan silu? Kenapa begitu tamak dan berkehendakkan kepada semua perkara?

Jika benar Umno dan pimpinan tidak mahu terlepas dari kuasa tentunya ia memerlukan pengorbanan. Pimpinan parti pemerintah ini wajib berkorban nafsu dan itu wajib. Pimpinan wajib melawan segala nafsu yang ada didalam diri masing-masing dan itu pun perjuangan yang perlu yang dituntut oleh agama kita. perjuangan menentang hawa nafsu kita itu merupakan perjuangan sepanjang hayat… dari lahir sehingga ke akhir kalam. Elakkan dari segala kemungkaran politik dan ekonomi serta perjuangan untuk diri sendiri yang keterlaluan.

Obsession Umno untuk berkuasa tidak mengenal batas dan sempadan. Setelah tidak berjaya meyakinkan orang ramai untuk terus menyokongnya, Umno sedang menggunakan tektik samseng dan ia sangat menjijikan orang ramai. Segala usaha dilakukan untuk mendapat sokongan tetapi sokongan tidak juga kembali. Maka menggunakan cara samsenglah yang tinggal untuk memaksa rakyat menyokong mereka.

Jika cara samseng ini masih tidak dapat meyakinkan rakyat untuk bersama Umno lagi, cara apa pula yang akan diambil pula selepas itu? Jawabnya saya rasa, tidak ada lagi selain dari menerima kekalahan dan penolakan rakyat secara menyeluruh.

Kepimpinan yang merelakan budaya samseng ini tidak akan dibenarkan berterusan dilakukan. Rakyat tidak mahu melihat kepimpinan ala Robert Mugabe di Zimbabwe atau secara Idi Amin dari Uganda suatu ketika dahulu. — aspanaliasnet.blogspot.com

Palanivel Says Young Indian Voters Support MIC

KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 (Bernama) -- MIC president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel has expressed confidence that young Indian voters will support the party in the next general election.

"There are many types of young voters, a small group of whom we're not certain whether they support us or not, but the majority of them are with us. I've no doubt about it," he told reporters opening the office of Koperasi Suria Malaysia Bhd in Bangsar, here, today.

Palanivel, who is Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said young Indians must put their trust in the government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

"They can't put their trust elsewhere. We've done a lot and everything that we do is in the right direction for them and their future," he said.

Asked where he would stand in the next general election, Palanivel said he had not made any decision on the matter but stressed that efforts to gain support from the people were more important now.

"I'll decide where to contest at the right moment. A lot of people have invited me to contest in their place but the main objective now is bringing back the Indian votes.

"The overall picture is more important, not mine alone. So, it doesn't matter where I'll stand. The main thing is to bring back the support," he said.

On MIC candidates, Palanivel said: "Some people tell me that they're potential candidates, some people declare they're winnable. Ultimately, I'll make the decisive choice. We still have months to go, the main thing (now) is our preparation."

More rowdy behaviour

Another commotion on 1 March, when three Kajang municipal councillors and several others tried to attend the ground-breaking ceremony of SRJK (C) Bandar Sungai Long, Selangor, minutes before PM Najib arrived. 

Read Ms Batik’s commentary in Aliran.
It used to be that some people were paranoid of yellow. Now lime green is capable of making some people uneasy.