Forum: Hudud should apply to royalty too

Group Films Muslims Dumping Trash on Temple Mount

Muslims claim to consider the Temple Mount a holy site – but they have been caught doing some very unholy things there. From soccer games to picnics to vandalism, Muslims have historically shown little respect for the site.

But a Jewish group that ascended the Mount in recent days observed what may be the most egregious example of Temple Mount desecration yet – the dumping of trash right on the mount, just meters from the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which Muslims claim as their third-holiest site.

The group observed a dump truck about to release its contents, and called police over to intervene. Instead of stopping the truck driver, police filmed the Jewish group, and demanded that they identify themselves. The Jewish group demanded to know the identity of the dumpers, who they said were committing a crime – but to no avail.

Tensions rose and shouting ensued between the police and the Jewish group, while Arabs stood by and observed. Police made no move to stop the Arabs, but began pushing members of the Jewish group off the Mount. Police also refused to identify themselves. Eventually, police detained members of the Jewish group and ushered them off the Mount.

The Temple Mount is Judaism's holiest site. It is the location of the two Holy Temples of Jerusalem - the latter of which was destroyed by the Romans in 70CE - and according to some Jewish traditions it is the point from which the creation of the world began.

In a recent Knesset debate, MK Moshe Feiglin demanded that Israel act more aggressively to prevent the destruction of Jewish artifacts on the site by the Jordanian Waqf (Islamic trust) on the Mount. "If you will go up with me to the Mount, I'll show you how the remnants of Solomon's Temple and the Temple of the Jews who returned from Babylon are wallowing in ashes," said Feiglin in the debate.

Feiglin called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to immediately apply Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount, and to halt the destruction of antiquities at the site by the Waqf.

"I call on the government of Israel to stop the discrimination and embarrassment of Jews in entering the Mount and on the site," declared Feiglin. He further called on the government "to allow free access to all Jews to the Temple Mount from every gate, and prayer on the Mount, as required by it being part of the state of Israel, the Jewish state," which stipulates freedom of worship.

90% of abducted Nigerian schoolgirls are Christians; jihadists released Muslim girls

“Muhammad is the apostle of Allah. Those who follow him are merciful to one another, but harsh to the unbelievers” (Qur’an 48:29). The sharp dichotomy between Muslims and non-Muslims runs through all of Islamic doctrine. In Islamic law, non-Muslims are to be denied basic rights; indeed, they simply have no rights that Muslims are bound to respect.

“Chibok Affair: The Emerging And Uncomfortable Facts,” by Fani-Kayode, Vanguard, May 10, 2014 (thanks to Izuchukwu):


Now that the operational leadership and visible face of Boko Haram, in the person of the filth called Mr. Abubakar Shekau (aka Darul Tawheed), has finally admitted that they were responsible for the abduction of hundreds of our school girls and that they intend to ‘’sell them in the market like slaves’’, it is pertinent and necessary for us to consider some of the emerging, though uncomfortable, facts.

This will enable us to understand the nature of who and what we are dealing with and allow us to consider what the appropriate response ought to be if we really want to solve the problem. Permit me to share the following facts that have been brought to my attention:

1. That the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has told us that 90 per cent of the girls that were abducted from their school at Chibok were Christians.

2. That President Goodluck Jonathan himself alluded to this during his last media chat when he said that ‘’the majority’’ of girls that were abducted were Christians.

3. That the majority of the girls that either ‘’escaped’’ or were released by their abductors were Muslims.

4. That the Governor of Borno State refused to accept the counsel and abide by the directives of WAEC that the exams should not take place in Chibok due to the precarious security situation and instead he insisted that the exams should take place there and that he would guarantee the security of the children.

5. That the Christian Association of Nigeria has formally accused the Governor of Borno State of ‘’conspiracy and collusion’’ and they have urged him to tell us exactly where the girls are and what he knows about the whole incident.

6. That the girls that have been kidnapped are being raped up to 15 times a day by their captors and that those amongst them that have refused to convert to Islam are having their throats cut (read the testimony of one of the girls that ‘’escaped’’ on page 8 of the Vanguard Newspaper, 5th April, 2014).

7. That there was not a single adult in the school grounds watching over the 278 girls that entire night apart from one security man and that there was no electricity, no generator, no principal, no matron, no house master and no house mistress in the grounds with them.

8. That the children were all alone in their dormitories that night in the blistering heat and deepest darkness before the Haramites arrived to burn their school and carried them away into captivity.

9. That the soldiers that were guarding the school in Chibok were redeployed a few hours before Boko Haram launched their attack and abducted the children.

10. That up till now pictures of the abducted girls have not been produced or released by the school authorities or the state government.

11. That this was a predominantly christian School and that Chibok is a predominantly Christian community.
In my view, these facts are relevant and instructive. When one considers them, the picture of what really happened at Chibok on that tragic night, what the real intentions of the abductors and their secret sponsors were and what is really going on now is getting clearer by the day.

Ordinarily, whether the children are Christians, Muslims, pagans or atheists really should not matter because, regardless of their faith, we want them all back and we must fight for them all to be returned to their homes and loved ones.

Frightening dimension
However, the fact that 90 per cent of them are Christian adds a sinister and frightening dimension to the whole horrific episode and it is glaring evidence of the fact that Christian girls are now being targetted by the Islamists and that those girls are being ‘’sold in the market’’, being forced to convert to Islam and being turned into sex slaves.

Protest against the abduction of the Chibok female students spread to Ogun and Ondo states from Lagos and Abuja, yesterday. Above: Protesters marching to the office of the Lagos State Governor in Lagos. Below left: Protesters in Abeokuta, Ogun State. Below right: Protests in Ondo. Photos: Bunmi Azeez.

Let me put it on record that I am one of those that believe that the Federal Government has failed woefully in their primary duty to protect the Nigerian people and I have enunciated that position more than anyone else in this nation in numerous essays and contributions over the last three years. However, I honestly believe that, today, the problem has become so serious and pronounced and that the conflict has reached such a critical stage that criticising and lambasting the government alone will not help. The truth is that such an approach has, certainly, not achieved much in the last three years because nothing has changed.

I believe that it is time for us to change tactics in order to achieve better results even though we must not relent in demanding that our President and his security and intelligence agencies do their job properly and provide the necessary security for our people. We also need to understand and appreciate the fact that this matter goes way beyond politics. It goes way beyond whether you are for or against President Jonathan.

It goes way beyond whether you are in the APC, PDP, APGA, Labour or UPN. It goes way beyond whether you are a progressive or a conservative. It goes way beyond whether you are a christian or a muslim or whether you are from the north or the south.

The bitter truth is that regardless of wherever you come from, whatever your faith is and whichever side of the political divide you stand, we all have a duty to get to the bottom of this matter, join forces, close ranks, find out what is really going on and bring this nightmare to an end. We must join hands with all men and women of goodwill and, together, we must fight this insidious evil that seeks to envelop our land and overwhelm our people.

To be sure, there is only one thing worse than failing to protect your people and that is when you organise and mobilise some misguided and mentally unstable miscreants to use religion as a political tool and get them to blow up, kill, abduct, rape and maim innocent men, women and children in an attempt to destabilise the country, spark off a religious war, change the status qou, pull down the government, induce a military coup, dismember our country and cow the Nigerian people into submission.

Secret supporters
That is what those who are the secret supporters and sponsors of Boko Haram are doing and attempting to achieve. They are also interested in furthering the sinister and barbaric agenda of the Taliban, the Al Nusra Front, Al Shabab, Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Al Qaeda whose wish is to destroy the secular state and to establish an Islamic fundamentalist state. They wish to establish a radical new caliphate in the west African sub-region where christianity and moderate Islam is banned, where women are treated like sub-human beings and chattel and which is governed by the strictest form of Islamic Sharia law.

To this end, it is interesting to note that the evil is spreading. A glaring testimony to that sad fact is the fact that an army barracks was attacked by Boko Haram in the Camerouns on 5th April and after killing two army officers they freed all their fellow terrorists and Islamists that had been detained there.

What is going on is dangerous, bloody, vicious, heartless, brutal, deep, dark and sinister and it is a conspiracy of monumental proportions. It is a conspiracy which we have all fallen victim to. It is a conspiracy that is fuelled by secrecy and strengthened by the reluctance of those that know better and that know the truth to speak out and expose it.

It is a conspiracy that also receives massive funding and covert support from various governments and royal families in the Middle East whose support for the salfists is well known and whose wahabbi doctrines and philosophy is exceptionally dangerous. These are the type of people that we are dealing with and these are the times that we are living in.

It is good news that the international community are set to play a greater role in this fight and that they are ready to assist us in resisting terror and waging war against what is esentially a relentless and vicious global jihad.

However this is not enough. The fight is still primarily for our President and the Nigerian people to lead.
It is left for the President and his team to rise up to the occasion, tell the Nigerian people the bitter truth about all that is going on behind the scenes, remove the kid gloves, get real and fight the Haramists and their sponsors with all that he has got.

If he refuses to do it or if he is cowered into not doing so by the moderate and dovish voices that appear to be around him, he can be rest assured that sooner than later this country will break up and he will go down in history as the last President of a united Nigeria. Worse still, if he is not careful there may well be a military coup which will not be welcome by any right-thinking person and which everyone dreads. We must assist him as best as we can to ensure that this does not happen.

I have little doubt that the President knows who those that are behind Boko Haram are: it is now time for him to exercise his full powers, expose them and deal with them in a brutal and savage manner.

It is time for him to show strength and to lead us into this war against terror boldly. It is time for him to be a Commander-in Chief that we can all be proud of. It is time for him to use his full power and to detain and interrogate all those that he suspects may be linked to the terrorists.

It is time for him to rise up to the occasion and to crush the evil and the forces of darkness that have challenged our way of life, everything that is dear to us and indeed our very existence.

It is time for him to use every method known to man to vigorously fight the insurgency, including better intelligence gathering and the usage of ‘’black ops’’, ‘’wet boys’’, covert operations and maximum co-operation with various foreign and international intelligence and security agencies.

It is time for him to ruthlessly bomb the notorious and Boko Haram-infested Sambisi forest …and burn it, together with everything and everyone that is in it, to the ground. It is time for him to exercise the right of ‘’hot pursuit’’ and to pursue the Haramites into the Camerouns, Chad, the Niger Republic or anywhere else if and when it is necessary for him to ever do so.

It is time for him to prove to the world that the Nigerian people are not insensitive cowards and that we know how to fight and to protect our own. It is time for him to rise up and to exercise the full powers and authority of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is time for him to do whatever it takes to bring our girls back home and to let us hold our heads up high once again.

*Fani-Kayode is a former Minister of Aviation.

Isma tidak kisah kritikan Dr Mahathir

 

Abdullah Zaik terbuka menerima teguran daripada Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad kerana berasa semua pihak bebas mengemukakan pandangan dan pendapat masing-masing. 

Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) tidak kisah dengan kritikan terkini yang dilemparkan kepadanya oleh bekas perdana menteri yang paling lama berkhidmat, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, yang menyuruh NGO itu tutup mulut berhubung kenyataannya terhadap bukan Islam.

Presiden Isma, Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman berkata, beliau layak bercakap mengenai pendapatnya sama seperti Dr Mahathir yang berhak berbuat demikian.

“Itu adalah pendapat beliau. Dan saya ada pendapat sendiri. Kami (Isma) boleh terima jika pihak lain mempunyai pendapat berbeza dengan kami dan kami menghargainya,” kata Abdullah kepada The Malaysian Insider, hari ini.

Dr Mahathir semalam meminta Isma senyap susulan daripada kenyataannya kaum Cina adalah “penceroboh” dan menyeru hukum Islam hudud dilaksanakan kepada semua rakyat Malaysia, tanpa mengira agama.

"Dia sepatutnya simpan sahaja pandangannya. Mereka tidak memberikan apa-apa kebaikan kepada negara ini. Kita tidak perlukan sesiapa untuk menghasut supaya berlaku rusuhan kaum dan perkara sebegitu," kata Dr Mahathir, semalam.

Dr Mahathir, yang juga penaung kepada sebuah lagi NGO pendesak Melayu, Perkasa yang turut dituduh bersifat perkauman dan taksub terhadap agama, berkata kenyataan Isma tidak membantu untuk mengekalkan keamanan dalam negara.

Bagaimanapun, Abdullah menepis kenyataan Dr Mahathir dan berkata, rakyat mampu membuat keputusan sendiri mengenai pandangan mereka terhadap kumpulan itu.

“Saya rasa rakyat boleh menghakimi sendiri sama ada kami konstruktif atau tidak, sama ada kami memulakan masalah perkauman atau tidak.

“Kenyataan kami juga tidak berniat untuk memecahkan kaum. Itu tidak betul,” katanya.

Abdullah pada awal minggu ini berkata, pendatang Cina yang dibawa masuk ke Tanah Melayu oleh British adalah “penceroboh” dan mempersoalkan kerakyatan serta kekayaan yang diberikan kepada mereka.

Pada Selasa, Abdullah bertanya di laman web Isma: “Siapa beri mereka (kaum Cina) kerakyatan dan kekayaan sehingga kesan pencerobohan mereka dilindungi sehingga hari ini?
“Ini adalah perbuatan British yang bersekongkol dengan Cina untuk menekan dan membuli orang Melayu.”

Kenyataannya itu menerima kritikan daripada kumpulan bukan Islam, akhbar berbahasa Cina menggelar Isma sebagai “kumpulan berhaluan kanan yang ekstrem seperti Perkasa, berasaskan perkauman dan pandangan agama yang sempit”.

Semalam, pada sidang media Abdullah berkata, pembabitan bukan Islam dalam politik patut “dihadkan dalam rangka kerja Perlembagaan”.

“Mereka melampaui batas dan mencampuri hal ehwal Melayu dan Islam. Ini sudah keterlaluan,” katanya, merujuk kepada bantahan terhadap undang-undang hudud.

Beliau juga menyeru supaya hukum hudud dikenakan kepada orang Islam dan bukan Islam walaupun menerima bantahan.

Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar sebelum ini berkata, Abdullah Zaik disiasat mengikut Akta Hasutan berhubung kenyataannya itu susulan beberapa laporan polis yang dibuat terhadap presiden Isma itu.

Abdullah, bagaimanapun hari ini berkata, beliau tidak takut dan menggesa minda orang Melayu tidak patut dikawal lagi oleh rasa takut serta mendesak mereka bercakap untuk menangkis hinaan dan penindasan yang diterima.

“Mereka perlu ada keberanian dan kekuatan untuk bangkit dan tidak bersembunyi lagi,” katanya.

'Even sultans must face hudud law'

Hudud law must apply to everyone including the country's monarchs, Umno Youth exco member Fathul Bari Mat Jahya says.

 

"I am saying this in my personal capacity because I do not know Umno's stance, but by right it (hudud law) should apply to everyone regardless whether they are from upper class, lower class or the raja (Malay rulers).

 

"That is how it should be," he told a forum entitled "Hudud in Malaysia: Can we? Should we?" organised by the MCA Youth legal bureau at the party's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur this evening.

 

He was responding to a query by social activist Wong Chin Huat who asked if PAS and Umno would push for an amendment to Article 182 of the federal constitution to include hudud law for the Special Courts that deal with wrongdoing by the Malay rulers.

 

Also speaking at the forum, which was moderated by social activist Marina Mahathir, were Sepang MP Hanipa Maidin, PAS research centre director Dzulkefly Ahmad, Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) director Ahmad Farouk Musa and family equality group Musawah director Zainah Anwar.

 

Wong had posed the same question to PAS' Hanipa, who appeared to shrug off the question.

 

Hanipa blamed the constitution which in its current form deals with offences for common citizens and the Malay rulers in separate courts.

 

'PAS coy on hudud for rulers law'

 

"You ask why hudud doesn't apply to the Agong but you should not blame PAS for such a law, the problem is in the constitution.

 

"Until and unless you are ready to amend the constitution, then we are okay, let us implement it," he said.

 

When pressed further by Wong for PAS' stance on hudud law for the Malay rulers, Hanipa (right) replied: "The problem is, even when we want to implement hudud law, you make noise, (so) imagine amending Article 182."

 

IRF's Farouk took aim at PAS for the party's eagerness in sending a delegation to Brunei after the country recently implemented hudud law.

 

He zoomed in on the country's hudud law which does not affect the sultan.

 

"The Article provided that his majesty the sultan can do no wrong (tidak pandai berbuat salah) in either his personal or any official capacity.

 

"... That means the sultan is above the law, no wonder he wants to implement hudud law. He doesn't care, its not for him, it's for his subjects.

 

"(Yet) we are so passionate to go to Brunei and say: 'Sultan, sultan, tell us about your hudud'," he said, snidely.

 

'Hudud has no bail'

 

Meanwhile, Dzulkefly stressed that the burden of proof under Hudud law is very high, resulting in no hudud conviction in Pakistan between 1979 and 2006.

Instead, he said, the convictions were under takzir, a different section of the Islamic criminal code.

 

However, Musawah's Zainah said despite the stringent requirements, many had their lives destroyed by the hudud.

 

This is because it has no provision for bail, leaving many behind bars for years before finally being freed by highest level of the Syariah court, she said.

 

"The cases went to the Federal Syariah appeal court and the cases were dismissed, but in the meantime (the accused) languished in jail for years because hudud law is not bailable.

 

"The punishments were not executed and they were finally were released after the appeal process, but lives have been destroyed," she said.

 

The forum was an initiative to promote dialogue amid collaboration between Umno and PAS which are ironing out details on the implementation of hudud law.

El Nino: Fear for food, water and forest

In Borneo the impending El Nino is real and both Sabah Wildlife Department and the World Wildlife Fund is working on counter measures.

KOTA KINABALU: Drought, forest fires, floods and death loom ahead pending the expected arrival of the one of the biggest El Nino weather patterns in the second half of the year.

Southeast Asia, is expected to feel the impact last experienced in 1997 and 1998. El Nino left 20,000 dead and US$97 billion in damages.

Already Philippine,s fearing severe drought, has begun cloud seeding, Indonesia has announced it is securing food stocks and has set aside US$173 million to this end.

Scientists have warned that the 2014 El Nino could be one of the strongest in nearly two decades.

Whether or not Malaysia and Malaysians are truly ready for the onslaught of El Nino is debatable.

In Borneo, forests and rivers are an important El Nino issue meriting serious consideration.

According to a combined study from scientists at the Duke University, droughts as a result of warmer temperatures in the Indian Ocean and “higher frequency” of El Niño events will make it more difficult for Borneo’s rainforest inhabitants including its tree species to survive.

“As El Nino events become more frequent in the future in response to warming in the tropical oceans, even the species of trees that can adapt to drought conditions will be at increased risk of dying off.

“The small number of species (flora and fauna) that cannot adapt well to drought conditions will be at an even greater risk of dying off,” noted the study.

Borneo, the third largest island in the world, is home to more than 210 mammal species including 10 varieties of primates, 420 types of birds and 150 reptiles and amphibians versions.

Hereto are at least 10,000 plant species of which 5,000 are endemic are found nowhere else in the world.

Warming temperatures, changes in precipitation and the flowering and seasonality of forest plants and trees will affect the food chain here somwhat and invariably reproductivity.

Looking out for hotspots

The world’s largest palm oil factory is also sited here. Combined Malaysia and Indonesia producers 87% of the world’s palm oil.

El Nino is expected to be crippling to the oil plam industry which has seen the conversion of thousands of hectares of the Borneo rainforest and the displacement of wildlife.

According to Stephan Wulffraat, a member of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in charge of monitoring and evaluating the forests under the Heart of Borneo (HoB) project – involving Malaysia, Bruneia nd Kalimantan – the prevention and early warning of forest fires will be the highest priority in the event of El Nino.

“Real-time hotspot data will be utilised from satellite images to monitor the situation. In the event that a fire is detected, forestry teams will be ready to extinguish them.”

“Local communities in the area have also been made aware of fire risks when opening fields,” he said.

Sarawak experienced the worst haze in the 1997 El Nino when the federal government was forced to declare a state of environment emergency for 10 days after the Air Pollutant Index (API) level recorded a reading of over 900.

This time round WWF forest watchers are on high alert for fires and droughts.

On a regular day, fires are caused by among others the illegal land clearance (such as incursions into protected areas) noted WWF’s latest report on the ecological health of HoB.

The report also noted with concern the Bornean elephants that meanders between Sabah and Kalimantan.

Elephants need water and a lot of it, noted Sabah Wildlife Department deputy director II Jumirah Abd Shukor.

She said the El Nino would further trigger change in the hydrology.

Borneo’s elephants, orangutans

She said even before the El Nino impact, the current drought spell had taken a toll on its Borneo Elephant Sanctuary (BES) at Lot 8, Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary.

“The only problem we’re facing right now is that the elephants are not getting enough water. It’s our biggest worry.

“We have plans to use water from rivers and wells…hopefully this water issue will be solved within a few months,” she said, weighing-in concerns of the impending dry weather.

Elephants can ingest over 100 litres of water at one time and would usually drink up to 225 litres a day, said Jumirah adding that water is “extremely important” to an elephant.

Elephants are not the only concern, Sabah, Sarawak and Kalimantan are also home to the world famous orangutan.

Concerns are rife over the effects of rising temperatures, even without the impending El Nino.

Borneo and Indonesia at large is one of the country’s most adversely affected by it.

In the 1997 and 1998 incident, forest fires were exacerbated by drought conditions. It is believed that thousands of orangutans died as the forests burned.

A survey in 2003 showed the wild life population in Central Kalimantan had decreased by 49%.

Isma just wants cheap publicity, says BSM

The Bible Society of Malaysia says calling non-Malays 'pendatang' is just a ploy to get attention.

PETALING JAYA: Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia’s (Isma) move to term non-Muslims as ‘pendatang‘ is just to get attention and cheap publicity, newly elected Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) chairman Rev Ng Moon Hing said.

“The best way to be known, is to say something extreme. That is what Isma has done in a racial context,” Ng told a press conference after being elected as the new chairman of the society here last night.

Isma president Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman had on Tuesday said that the Chinese came to the country with the British as intruders and were given citizenship and enjoyed the wealth of the country.

Ng said Isma was an opportunist for issuing such a statement.

“When you do or say something racial, publicly, your agenda is to stir up problems and disrupt the harmony of the people living in Malaysia. Isma is an opportunist, as they are trying to tear the fabric of the nation,” he added.

According to Ng, the government needs to take a stand on the issue to ensure religious extremists like Isma do not succeed in tearing the nation apart.

“The government must take a strong stand to make sure Isma and other religious extremist groups do not pollute the harmonious ground on which our country is built upon,” he said.

He also said that Isma’s agenda is to create animosity among the races in Malaysia.

PAS tangguh bentang hudud

Pelaksanaan hukum hudud di Kelantan bergantung kepada cadangan dari Jawatankuasa Teknikal di antara kerajaan persekutuan dan kerajaan negeri Kelantan.
UPDATED

KUALA LUMPUR: PAS menangguhkan cadangan untuk membentangkan Rang Undang-Undang Persendirian (private bill) berkenaan pelaksanaan Kanun Jenayah Syariah II 1993 Kelantan dalam sesi parlimen akan datang.

Membaca kenyataan media bagi pihak Presiden PAS Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, Timbalan Presiden PAS Mohamad Sabu berkata PAS akan bekerjasama dengan kerajaan pusat untuk meniliti semula pelaksanaan hukum hudud di Kelantan

“PAS pusat bersetuju dengan cadangan penubuhan satu Jawatankuasa Teknikal antara kerajaan pusat dan dan kerajaan negeri Kelantan untuk meniliti semula pelaksanaan Kanun Jenayah Syariah II 1993 Kelantan.

“Oleh kerana itu cadangan membawa Rang Undang-Undang Persendirian di Dewan Rakyat pada persidangan bulan Jun ini tidak akan diteruskan. Ini bagi memberi ruang kepada Jawatankuasa Teknikal untuk merumuskan cadangan dan tindakan selanjutnya,” katanya dalam satu sidang media di Ibu Pejabat Pusat PAS disini hari ini.

Cadangan penubuhan Jawatankuasa Teknikal ini dilontarkan oleh Timbalan Perdana Menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin April lalu.

Mohamad turut menegaskan yang parti Islam itu serius dalam usaha mereka untuk melaksanakan hudud di Kelantan di mana perbincangan berlaku antara kerajaan negeri dan kerajaan pusat.

“Ini terserah kepada Jawatankuasa Teknikal yang akan berbincang antara kerajaan negeri Kelantan dan kerajaan pusat. Jawatankuasa Teknikal ini (di antara) kerajaan dan kerajaan, jadi seriuslah,” jelasnya.

Mohamad, yang lebih dikenali sebagai Mat Sabu turut mengakui bahawa parti komponen Pakatan Rakyat (PR) yang lain belum mengetahui keputusan yang diambil oleh parti tersebut.

“Mereka belum tahu. Ini baru dibincangkan dalam mesyuarat kita sebentar tadi. Mereka akan mengetahuinya dari laporan adil media hari ini,” katanya lagi.

Mengulas mengenai Pilihan Raya Kecil (PRK) kerusi parlimen Bukit Gelugor, di mana terdapat seorang lelaki yang mengaku merupakan ahli PAS yang mahu turut bertanding, Mohamad berkata PAS belum menyiasat sama ada lelaki tersebut merupakan ahli PAS atau tidak.

“Kita tak bincangkan mengenai dia dalam mesyuarat tadi. PAS kemukakan calon, calon PAS ialah Ramkarpal Singh yang bersimbolkan ‘roket’,” tambahnya.

Kerajaan negeri Kelantan sebelum ini berkata mereka akan membawa satu rang undang-undang persendirian (private bill) berkaitan isu Enakmen Kanun Jenayah Syariah (2) 1993 ke Parlimen dalam persidangan akan datang yang akan dibentangkan oleh Ahli Parlimen PAS dari negeri tersebut.

The Muslim Dilemma – HUDUD and the chopping of hands

While we Muslims are busy debating about cutting of hands, non-Muslims are busy discussing cutting edge technology. So who do you think will rule the world?

While Muslim doctors are asked to perform the act of severing hands, non-Muslim doctors are encouraged to find ways to reattached them. Who do you think will win people’s minds?

While Muslim leaders debate about chopping of hands, leaders of the other faiths are busy giving a helping hand to those in need in all corners of the world, including to needy Muslims. So who do you think will win their hearts?

My dear Muslim brothers and sisters, we need to re-look at our priorities. In Malaysia, we Muslims are yet to be discipline at work, we do not read enough and our kids are not the best at their studies. We still need the government’s help and we are far behind in so many aspects. And we think Hudud is crucial at solving all these?

As I suggested above, doctors around the world are busy finding ways to reattached severed limbs. One day when technology reached the level that reattaching limbs is as easy as ABC, perhaps finally we will realized that the Quran is not literal in its hidayah.

“Say: Are those who know equal with those who know not? But only men of understanding will pay heed.” Quran 39:9

“Allah will exalt those who believe among you, and those who have knowledge, to high ranks. Allah is informed of what ye do.” Quran 58:11

“High above all is Allah, the King, the Truth! Be not in haste with the Qur'an before its revelation to thee is completed, but say, "O my Lord! Advance me in knowledge." Quran 20:114

“And by the Mercy of Allah, you dealt with them gently. And had you been severe and harsh-hearted, they would have broken away from about you; so pass over (their faults), and ask (Allah's) Forgiveness for them; and consult them in the affairs. Then when you have taken a decision, put your trust in Allah, certainly, Allah loves those who put their trust (in Him).” Quran 3:159

Peace.

Anas Zubedy
Kuala Lumpur

Are we in multicultural Malaysia or in Malaynistan?

Mariam Mokhtar, The Ant Daily

Malaysia is at a crossroads and if we make the wrong turn, we may never recover. As our leaders wrangle with one another about implementing hudud, the rakyat are aware that the implications of hudud are serious. Our quarrel is not with Islam, but if hudud is implemented in Kelantan, it will not be long before life in multicultural Malaysia, as we know it, will be a thing of the past. If hudud was to be implemented, the emergent Islamicised country might as well be called Malaynistan.

It is not true that non-Malays will be spared from hudud. It is also not true that all Malays agree with the implementation of hudud. It would be wrong to think that the Malays who oppose hudud are non-religious or are liberal or western in outlook. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If our leaders have failed to inspire us, then let us attempt to guide them. Instead of thinking in terms of Malay, Chinese, Indian, or Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and so on, why won’t our leaders be more principled and lead us based on what is right for the nation as a whole?

Datuk Seri Najib Razak refuses to state that hudud is unacceptable. This is Najib’s philosophy of making hay while the sun shines. He knows that many Malays are opposed to hudud and he presumably hopes to entice these Malays into the welcoming arms of his party, Umno Baru.

If hudud was a vote winner, wouldn’t Umno Baru have included it in its campaigns during the last general election? Najib is aware of miscarriages of justice in countries with hudud. He knows that many of these countries are economically backward, struggle to attract foreign investment and the women of all of these countries are repressed.

Karpal Singh was right when he said that we should refer to and uphold the constitution. Malaysia has its foundations in a secular state where religion is kept separate from politics. We are a constitutional democracy. Having hudud will mean we become a theocracy.

Our first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman was a patron of traditional Malay culture, Asian football and local horseracing. In 1975, his friends offered him a share in their racehorse, Think Big, which was racing in Australia. The horse won the Melbourne Cup and when he received the winner’s trophy, Tunku swopped his top hat for a black songkok and as the cup was placed in his hands, said: “I thank God for our victory.” He repeated this phrase later that night at the Victory Cup Ball.

Was Tunku a lesser Muslim just because he had a passion for racing? If hudud was to be implemented, what would happen to all the Malays and Muslims who are currently employed in trades which involve gambling or liquor? These range from manufacturing to transport, from hotels to the airline industry. Will the government provide welfare assistance for those who are out of work? Will it be a non-Malay employees market?

Malay dancing and the Ronggeng were popular throughout Malaya before the Japanese Occupation of 1942-1945. Tunku wanted to create a centre of Malay culture and revive the heritage of past centuries. With the aid of Malay youths, he helped revive the oldest Malay dance and managed to introduce dance as a means of entertainment-cum-diplomacy.

When he became PM, he would entertain foreign dignitaries and in his biography, “Tunku: His Life and Times” by Mubin Sheppard, these dignitaries would end up dancing the Ronggeng after their official dinners.

Today, Malay dancing is a thing of the past. People who recall the old Malay weddings, which frequently ended with dancing, said that they were fun events and not the sombre, show-off ceremonies which are common-place nowadays.

The Tunku was a religious man, but he did not forget his Malay heritage. Will hudud erase the last vestiges of Malay culture? If dancing, singing and education for girls were eradicated in Afghanistan, might the same happen in Malaysia?

The Tunku was like any other Malaysian. The difference between him and his successors, the current crop of leaders, is that he did not hide behind the veil of hypocrisy.

His “what you see is what you get” attitude endeared him to the public. When he was advised to stop drinking alcohol at one of the earlier Umno meetings, he said: “People must accept me as I am: my bad habits and my virtues. At the age of 48, I cannot change them.”

We have seen the decline in the numbers of non-Malays representing Malaysia in sports and cultural troupes. What will hudud mean for Kelantan and for Malaysia?

Different states have different definitions of the Syariah law, for instance in cases of polygamy. How can a nation thrive if laws are not administered in the same way in every state? Already, one state in the south of the country has deemed that a former sultanah was divorced, nine months after the death of her husband. What other anomalies might hudud throw up?

The constitution states that Islam is protected as the nation’s official religion. Our leaders pretend that they are curbing extremism but they are ineffectual. The establishment simply looks the other way. Religious radicals torment the minority groups of Malaysia by seizing their bibles and banning the use of certain words. Their places of worship will soon be regulated and in the latest move, hotels have been instructed to remove bibles from guests’ rooms. What lies in store next, both for Muslims and non-Muslims?

In Islam, women and men are equal but in Malaysia, there are different tiers of equality; the ordinary rakyat, the rich rakyat, the well-connected cronies, the Umno Baru elite, the ulamas and royalty. As the former sultanah found to her cost, even Syariah law could not protect her.

Moral of the story: In the West, a good lawyer knows the law; in Malaysia, a good lawyer knows the judge.

Mariam Mokhtar is "a Malaysian who dares to speak the truth."

12 pemilihan cabang PKR di Selangor dibatalkan

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) menerima tamparan apabila 12 daripada keseluruhan 22 pemilihan cabang parti itu di Selangor dibatalkan hari ini atas pelbagai sebab termasuk dakwaan wujudnya unsur penipuan dan ketidaktelusan dalam proses pengundian.

Lebih memalukan PKR apabila pemilihan cabang Kuala Selangor, yang merupakan kawasan Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim turut dibatalkan.

Selain Kuala Selangor, pemilihan yang dibatalkan membabitkan cabang Sabak Bernam, Klang, Kota Raja, Shah Alam, Kapar, Sungai Besar, Subang, Hulu Langat, Hulu Selangor, Sepang dan Selayang.

Pembatalan pemilihan cabang Kuala Selangor diumumkan oleh wakil petugas pemilihan cabang itu pada 1.45 tengah hari selepas beberapa anggota parti membuat bantahan berhubung cara ia dikendalikan selain terdapat dakwaan ada wakil calon menandakan kertas undi yang sepatutnya ditanda pengundi sendiri.

Situasi sama turut berlaku di PKR Cabang Kota Raja apabila pemilihannya terpaksa dibatalkan ketika proses pengundian apabila sekumpulan lelaki bertindak merampas peti undi dan melemparkannya ke lantai dewan pusat pengundian di Dewan Kompleks Sukan MPK.

Pembatalan pemilihan cabang itu diumumkan oleh wakil jawatankuasa pemilihan pusat (JPP) parti, Nadarajan K. Raju kira-kira 4.30 petang ini atas alasan peti undi dipecahkan.

Selain itu, pemilihan PKR Cabang Klang juga turut dibatalkan apabila tiga calon jawatan ketua cabang berkenaan iaitu P. Krishnasamy, Zudin Asrmad dan Arahyah Ibrahim sepakat memboikot proses pemilihan itu yang didakwa tidak telus.

Mereka mendakwa wujudnya pihak tidak bertanggungjawab yang cuba mensabotaj proses pemilihan parti itu di cabang Klang dengan menukarkan senarai calon yang diberikan kepada para pengundi.

Ekoran dakwaan itu, ketiga-tiga calon berkenaan menggesa pemilihan cabang itu dibatalkan sebelum ia diumumkan secara rasmi oleh wakil JPP kira-kira 2.30 petang ini.

Selain itu, pemilihan cabang Sabak Bernam dan Sungai Besar turut dibatalkan masing-masing pada 1 tengah hari dan 3 petang tadi berikutan anggota parti cabang itu tidak berpuas hati dengan proses pemilihan yang didakwa tidak telus serta wujud unsur penipuan.

Pada masa sama, pemilihan PKR bagi cabang Subang, Sepang, Selayang, Hulu Selangor, Kapar dan Hulu Langat turut dibatalkan atas alasan yang sama.

Dalam pada itu, pemilihan PKR Cabang Shah Alam dibatalkan kira-kira 6 petang ini atas dakwaan proses pemilihan lemah selain wujud kertas-kertas undi yang dipinda.

Rata-rata penyokong calon yang bertanding serta pengundi menyuarakan rasa tidak puas hati apabila mengetahui ada segelintir pengundi yang mengundi sebanyak dua kali, malah terdapat calon ketua cabang yang berkempen di kawasan larangan.

Sebelum itu, calon Ketua Cabang PKR Shah Alam Rodziah Ismail dilaporkan mencetuskan rasa tidak puas hati para penyokong lawannya, Yaakop Sapari apabila didakwa berkempen di kawasan larangan serta meraih undi ketika proses pemilihan sedang berlangsung.

Dalam perkembangan lain, kekecohan berlaku ketika proses pemilihan PKR Cabang Kuala Langat apabila sekumpulan lelaki dipercayai anggota parti berang dan mencetuskan kekecohan berikutan tidak puas hati terhadap proses pengundian pemilihan cabang itu di Dewan Wawasan Batu 9, Telok Panglima Garang, lima minit sebelum pusat pengundian ditutup pada 5 petang ini.

Mereka mendakwa proses pengundian cabang berkenaan tidak telus dan bertindak memecahkan sebahagian daripada tujuh peti undi di pusat pengundian tersebut selain cuba mengasari anggota parlimen Kuala Langat Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid yang juga calon ketua cabang serta beberapa petugas di pusat pengundian.

Bagaimanapun, pemilihan cabang berkenaan tidak dibatalkan sebaliknya kesemua peti undi dihantar ke Ibu Pejabat PKR di Tropicana, Petaling Jaya untuk proses pengiraan. – Bernama

Test out hudud on politicians and royal family first, activist suggests

Zainah Anwar suggests Sultans and members of the Royal Family deserve punishment under Hudud

Hudud law should be first tried on the country’s elites and royals, Muslim activist Zainah Anwar suggested today as a way to prove that the Islamic penal code will be applied fairly before it is introduced to the rest of Malaysia.

The director of Musawah and former Sisters in Islam chief argued the controversial hudud law is vulnerable to abuse, pointing to evidence of injustice in countries where the law is in effect.

“If you really want to implement the hudud laws, let’s do a test run and I think it should only apply to the Cabinet ministers, members of parliament, to the state assemblymen, to the mentri besars, and to the royal families.

“Let’s test on them first because you know they are not going to be prosecuted, you know it’s going to be people like you and I here,” she said at the forum entitled “What is hudud” at the MCA headquarters.

Zainah said the debate on implementing hudud is distracting the society from more important matters such as corruption, urban poverty and the goods and services tax (GST) that will be implemented next year.

She also insisted that hudud law could not be applied in Malaysia, adding that the continued push for its implementation was feeding existing “Islamophobia”.

“There is more to Islam than laws. There is more to Islamic laws than hudud.”

Others who spoke at the forum included PAS MPs Hanipa Maidin and Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, Fathul Bari from Umno Youth, and Islamic Renaissance Front director Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa.

In 1993, the PAS state government passed the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment II, allowing it to impose the strict Islamic penal code in the state, but the laws have not been implemented yet.

PAS is now looking for parliamentary approval to implement hudud. It plans to put forward two private members’ bills in parliament. One seeks approval for punishments including whipping, stoning and amputation while the other seeks to empower Shariah courts to mete out the sentences.

In all previous attempts, PAS had been frustrated by Barisan Nasional (BN) tactics to prevent any vote by employing a “talking out” tactic where BN MPs have been allowed to speak for an extended period of time to prevent such private members’ bills from even being debated.

However, Umno leaders have now said they have no objections to the implementation of hudud and have constantly challenged PAS to try to introduce the law.

Earlier today, PAS announced that it will delay tabling the two bills.

Party president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said the Islamist party was agreeable to Putrajaya’s proposal for a technical committee involving both the federal and state governments to examine and provide suggestions on how best to enforce hudud in Kelantan.

DAP and PAS have not changed their respective stands on hudud, but it is UMNO, MCA and Gerakan which have changed their stand!

Nobody would have thought that MCA go could lower than what it suffered in the 13th General Elections last May, when MCA surrendered three parliamentary seats to UMNO, namely Gelang Patah, Kuantan and Wangsa Maju and received the worst clobbering in Malaysian electoral history when it was reduced to a mosquito “7-11” party.

But everyone was wrong, for MCA has plumbed to a lower depth, when it announced that it was not contesting the Bukit Glugor parliamentary by-election, with the MCA Secretary-General Ong Ka Chuan insulting the intelligence of Malaysians by giving the most nonsensical of reasons: viz:

“MCA will not participate in the poll as the party wants to fully focus on the hudud issue to protect the federal constitution.

“If we contest, some issues might crop up and divert us from our focus, which is to stop the PAS Private Member’s Bill from being tabled in Parliament on June 9.”

The press has reported that the PAS Central Committee at its meeting in Kuala Lumour this morning decided that it will not present a private member’s bill on the implementation of hudud in Parliament in June, referring the matter to the technical committee formed jointly by the Federal Govenment and the Kelantan State governments.

Now that PAS will not be tabling a private member’s bill on hudud implementation in the June meeting of Parliament, will MCA contest in Bukit Gelugor as the very reason for not participating in the by-election has been completely demolished by the PAS Central Committee today.

Of course, this was not the real reason why MCA is not contesting the Bukit Gelugor by-election – which is MCA fear of an even more ignominous defeat in Bukit Gelugor than during the 13GE last May.

If the MCA is to contest in Bukit Gelugor, it faces not the possibility and risk but the certainty of the expose, not only in Penang but throughout Malaysia, of its perfidy and hypocrisy in launching a national sham campaign purportedly to defend the Malaysian Constitution when in fact it had betrayed not only the fundamental constitutional principles but also the sacrifices and memory of the MCA founders like Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Tan Siew Sin on the hudud issue.

This is because DAP and PAS have not changed our respective stands on hudud, but it is UMNO, MCA and Gerakan which have changed their stand on hudud while putting up a great sham and pretence to hide their policy change on hudud.

Firstly, who can forget that when the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad made the unilateral, arbitrary and unconstitutional announcement on Sept. 29, 2001 (“929 Declaration”) that Malaysia is an Islamic State, the first to rush forward to endorse such infringement of the secular Malaysian Constitution were the then MCA and Gerakan Presidents?

The only political voice to reject and repudiate the unconstitutional “929” declaration that Malaysia is an Islamic State was from the DAP.

Secondly, what is little noticed in the recent hudud controversy is the tectonic shift of Barisan Nasional and MCA/Gerakan policy on hudud.

On April 24, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak publicly announced that the Barisan Nasional Federal Government had never rejected hudud – which was a clear violation of the Merdeka Constitution of 1957 and Malaysian Constitution 1963 and the stand not only of the first three Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein, but also the struggles of the founders of MCA and MIC like Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Tun Tan Siew Sin and Tun V.T. Sambanthan.

What Najib announced on Aprl 24 was not Barisan Nasional and formerly Alliance policy for the past 57 years.

As Barisan Nasional operates on a principle of consensus, the disagreement of one of the 13 component parties in BN would suffice to block such a policy change.

In fact, such a policy change would not have got the approval of the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council as eleven if not twelve of the 13 BN component parties would have rejected such a policy change – even if UMNO is solidly in support of such a policy change.

Why then have the MCA President Liow Tiong Lai and Deputy President Wee Ka Siong given their tacit support for such a major policy change by Barisan Nasional?

Can the Liow/Wee MCA leadership explain why they dare not requisition an emergency meeting of the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council to defend the secular basis of the Malaysian constitution – when there are more than enough votes to reject Najib’s unilateral, arbitrary and unconstitutional announcement of the Barisan Nasional Federal Governemtn on hudud?

Is the reason for the MCA perfidy and hypocrisy on the question of hudud all because of the greed of Liow and Wee for Ministerial appointments when MCA is finally taken back into the Cabinet and Government – with Najib dangling the carrot of three MCA Ministers and five MCA deputy ministers?

If MCA is defending the secular basis of the Malaysian Constitution for real, and not just launching a national sham campaign to mislead and deceive voters, then the first thing Liow and Wee must do is to make it crystal clear to Najib that MCA leaders would reject Ministerial and Deputy Ministerial offers unless Najib retracts the unilateral, arbitrary and unconstitutional announcement that the Barisan Nasional Federal Government never rejected hudud.

(Media Conference in Batu Pahat on Sunday May 11, 2014 at 2.30 pom)

Amid concerns over fairness, Ambiga calls for hate speech laws

Malay Mail
by BOO SU-LYN

KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — Malaysia should consider enacting laws prohibiting hate speech, former Malaysian Bar president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said today amid controversial remarks by Muslim groups attacking the minority Chinese and Christians.

The activist, however, expressed reservations on whether new legislation governing free speech, or the National Harmony Act which is set to replace the Sedition Act, would be implemented fairly.

“Going by the Sedition Act, it’s so obvious — the blatant abuse of the Sedition Act,” Ambiga told The Malay Mail Online today.

DAP leader Teresa Kok was charged with sedition last Tuesday over a satirical video clip that purportedly mocked the education system and the Sulu terrorist intrusion in Lahad Datu.

The late Karpal Singh, then the national chairman of the DAP opposition party, was also convicted with sedition last February for saying that the Perak sultan’s actions in the 2009 state constitutional crisis could be questioned in a court of law.

After Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) sparked public outrage by saying that the influx of Chinese immigrants into Tanah Melayu was a “mistake” that must be “rectified”, the police announced yesterday a sedition probe against the Islamist group.

Ambiga stressed today that free speech should only be made a criminal offence if it incites violence.

“Isma came pretty close to that,” said the lawyer.

Amid controversy over Isma’s remarks, Muslim speakers at a seminar on Christianity in Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) claimed last Tuesday that the Gospels in the New Testament were “fake” and that Jesus Christ was simply a “human slave to Allah”.

The Christian Federation of Malaysia said in response that the seminar amounted to “hate speech” that threatened interfaith harmony in the country.

In January last year, the police also said they would investigate Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali for sedition after the Malay rights group leader called for Malay-language bibles containing the word “Allah” to be burned.

The outcome of the probe has yet to be announced.

The National Harmony Act, which was meant to replace the Sedition Act as announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2012, has yet to be tabled in Parliament, while the 1948 sedition law is still in force.

Then de facto law minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz said in 2012 that the National Harmony Act would allow criticism against the government to protect the constitutional right to freedom of speech.

He was reported by national newswire Bernama as saying, however, that freedom of speech was not absolute, and that the new law would protect racial harmony and the royalty.

Umno Needs To Look At Strengths, Overcome Weaknesses To Remain In Power - Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 (Bernama) -- As a party which wants to continue to be in power, Umno needs to look at its strengths while being aware of its weaknesses which can be overcome, said Umno President Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said Umno as well as it members had to go through a process of constant self-evaluation and be open in the process of improving.

"For instance, in the current political environment, we must see that Umno cannot continue depending solely on the rural areas only, but must give attention to the semi-urban areas and those which are said to be urban villages.

"The existence of housing estates in the urban areas which are without Umno branches must be given attention by all of us," he said at the 68th Umno Day celebration at the Putra World Trade Centre here Sunday.

He said Umno needed to look at efforts to draw the intellectual and scholar groups to join the party and ensure that it does not run dry of intellectual values in its leadership at all levels.

Najib, who is also the Prime Minister, said the ulama (religious) group must also be given attention to be with Umno in determining the future of Islam and Muslims.

He noted that Umno members must realise the speed of social media today and the role that it can play through the Internet in extending influence.

"We must understand that we cannot have a lackadaisical attitude on social media. It is not to say that the group known as bloggers are important but their influence can determine our effectiveness or influence," he said.

He said although Umno needed to change several approaches, the fundamentals and principles of the struggle introduced by previous leaders would not change but would remain intact.

He said if seen from the aspect of championing Islam, Umno was the party which had contributed the most in defending the religion in the country.

Najib said the time had come for a syariah index to be drawn up internationally so that venerated scholars can evaluate Umno's struggles in accordance with Islamic principles.

"I am confident and believe that the syariah index, when formulated by international venerated scholars, will show that Umno has contributed much in upholding and spreading Islam in our country," he said.

At the ceremony, Najib also presented the Outstanding Malay Award to two Malay personalities who had contributed immensely to society.

They were Tan Sri Hassan Azhari who made the call for prayer during the declaration of independence on August 31, 1957 and Tan Sri Dr Salma Ismail who was the first Malay woman doctor in Malaya in 1947.

Earlier, Najib and Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, as well as other senior Umno members had performed at the Dewan Tun Razak 4, PWTC.