Muhammad Ali in hospital with pneumonia, his spokesman says

(CNN) -- Famed boxer Muhammad Ali was admitted to an undisclosed hospital Saturday with pneumonia, his spokesman Bob Gunnell said.

Ali's treatment prognosis is good, he said.

"Ali, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, is being treated by his team of doctors and is in stable condition," Gunnell said in a statement.

The illness was caught early, and Ali, 72, is not expected to be in the hospital long.

"At this time, the Muhammad Ali family respectfully requests privacy," the statement said.

Ali was born Cassius Clay and won an Olympic gold medal as a light-heavyweight at age 18.

In 1964, he became world heavyweight champion in an upset victory against then champion Sonny Liston, according to Ali's official website.

Shortly thereafter changed his name to Muhammad Ali to reflect his conversion to Islam.

The boxer was also known for his protest against the Vietnam War and refusal to be drafted into service out of religious conviction.

He retired from boxing in 1981 and announced his diagnosis with Parkinson's Disease three years later.

Indonesia: Muslim group warns President not to say “Merry Christmas”

If he does, they say he will become an apostate from Islam, since Islam forbids Muslims to give good wishes to Christians on the occasion of their feasts. And if he is an apostate from Islam, then according to Muhammad’s command and Islamic law, he can lawfully be killed.

“FPI Calls on President Not to Wish Merry Christmas,” Tempo.co, December 19, 2014 (thanks to Phillip):

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Micbachul Anama, the chairman of the Islamic Defenders Front’s (FPI) consultative council, has asked President Joko Widodo not to wish the country’s Christians a merry Christmas. Micbachul said the president would be deemed an apostate should he opt to do so.

“It is haram (forbidden for Muslims) to wish a merry Christmas, including for President Jokowi,” he told Tempo on Thursday, December 18, 2014.

Micbach claimed wishing a merry Christmas to Christians would make a Muslim an apostate for acknowledging the existence of another religion. He explained, according to the Great Dictionary of Indonesian Language (KBBI), Christmas is defined as the birth of Jesus Christ.

“So when there’s a Muslim who says a marry Christmas, it means he congratulates (Christians) on the birth of Jesus,” he said.

In that context, he went on, wishing a merry Christmas to Christians had a serious impact on the faith of Muslims. “Whereas it is stated clearly in Islam that God is lam yalid wa lam yulad. God was not born and does not give birth to,” he said.

The country’s largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), meanwhile, said in contrast that wishing Christians a merry Christmas was an act of tolerance and would not affect one’s principles and religious identities….

3 brothers kill sister for going out with fiancé

Sentenced to 15 years in jail

Emirates247

Three Jordanian brothers stabbed their sister many times before one of them slit her throat for going out with her fiancé in the Arab country.

Newspapers said the three brothers phoned their sister and asked her to come home so they will all go to her fiancé’s family and finalise marriage arrangements.

When she came home, they forced her into their room, locked the door and stabbed her many times before one of them grabbed her neck and slit her throat.

A criminal court in the capital Amman sentenced the brother who slit her throat to death but reduced it later to 15 years in prison after the girl’s parents dropped the case. The other two brothers were also sentenced to15 years in jail.

Jordan has one of the highest rates of honour crimes in the Arab World, with an average 25 such crimes taking place in the kingdom.

'Perkasa man wrong to rip Christmas banner'

Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has criticised the actions of a Perkasa protestor who recently tore down a banner wishing people 'Merry Christmas and Happy New Year' in front of the Perak DAP headquarters, according to The Star.

On Friday, Perkasa staged a protest in front of Perak DAP over Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's remarks that non-Muslims in Penang could use the word 'Allah'.

During the protest, an individual tore down the banner and even tried to pull Tebing Tinggi assemblyperson Ong Boon Piow (left) by the arm.

“We should respect other faiths. I have been consistent in my view that if we want our religion to be respected, we must also respect others,” the paper quoted Zahid as saying in Ipoh.

“I am sure if someone were to do that to us, we will be angry too," he said.

The Perkasa protest was one of two protests held by the Malay rights NGO over the Allah issue, the other being in Penang.

In Penang, protesters had called Lim as "holy pig" while protesting.

MIC chief: Most at HQ fracas there to back me

Despite ugly scenes at the MIC headquarters last Thursday, MIC president G Palanivel said "more than a thousand" who turned up were there to support him.

This despite banners and most of the crowd of hundreds gathering to urge him to resign.

Instead, Palanivel told The Star that all MIC branch and state chairpersons who turned up after the emergency central working committee meeting on the party re-electon backed him.

“Our party is very strong, over 1,000 people turned up to support me, all the MIC branch and state chairmen were there.

“It was this small group that created the hoo-ha, the rowdiness and hooliganism - we must know who they are.

“They were trying to provoke us, and my group wanted to react but they did not, they kept quiet,” Palanivel was quoted as saying in the daily.

Palanivel also went on to describe those who want him to resign from the party as those who are from the "bottom level" of the organisation.

“They are the ones calling for me to resign. How can I resign? This is a small group, but they are not at the top leadership level, they are at the bottom level.

“I didn’t bother about all this. Even when I went into the car, they never came near me. I just drove off,” he added.

He noted that those who lost the elections held last year in Malacca are out to "create problems" for the party.

Palanivel a 'role model'

In the interview, Palanivel also labelled himself a "role model", claiming that he is a different kind of role model to his predecessor, S Samy Vellu.

“No. He is a separate role model, I am a different kind of role model. I work on the ground very carefully, from Johor up to Kedah. I don’t create problems.

“I quietly strengthen the grassroots. I have performed my duties, allocating so much to temples and NGOs - this didn’t happen during those days," he stressed.

Last Thursday, a crowd swarmed, kicked and thumped the car of one CWC member after the meeting, forcing the police's Light Strike Force to intervene.

Palanivel (right) himself was mobbed by angry MIC members while exiting the meeting room and later as he headed towards his car amid shouts of "Resign" and "We want a re-election".

The MIC chief swiftly dismissed this as the work of "gangsters", but  former MIC Youth chief T Mohan rebutted him by saying that the protestors were MIC members who want Palanivel out.

Say sorry or I'll sue, Umno rebel tells colleague

Batu Kawan Umno division deputy chief Khairuddin Abu Hassan today threatened to sue Penang Umno Youth chief Rafizal Abdul Rahim as the rift in Penang Umno widened following the former's criticisms.

Khairuddin, who shot to fame by lodging a police report against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's brainchild 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) recently, had gone on record to criticise the Penang Umno leadership in an interview with Malaysiakini.

This has prompted reactions from Penang Umno, including Rafizal who alleged that Khairuddin does not visit Penang frequently and has never attended state Umno functions.

"This is a huge slander made against me by Rafizal," Khairuddin replied in a statement.

He demanded that Rafizal retract the allegation and issue an apology within seven days.

"I live in Kuala Lumpur, but I return to my division in Penang almost every week.

"I have solved land problems for some people before. But I don't publicise what I do for the people. I am not ambitious in politics, I just want to serve the people," he stressed.

Khairuddin also flayed Rafizal (right) for asking the former to leave Umno and at the same time said that he is ready to face any disciplinary action which might come due to his police report and subsequent statements.

"Does Rafizal think he owns Umno? Who is he to ask me to leave Umno?" Khairuddin asked.

"If I had broken party ethics, then I am willing to face action. I will accept it with an open heart because I am telling the truth," he added.

'Palanivel is godfather who encourages thuggery in MIC'

 

An MIC leader has likened party president G Palanivel as ayahanda (godfather) as he encourages "thuggery and rowdiness" that he claims to abhor.

In a strongly-worded statement given to Malaysiakini, MIC re-election committee member N Muneandy claimed Palanivel rewarded those who had moved to oust former MIC president S Samy Vellu (right) during his tenure.

"Palanivel had rewarded them with positions and this is a clear indication of his support for those who practice thuggery and rowdiness," the Ampang Jaya branch member said.

Palanivel had blamed the fracas during the emergency MIC meet on Thursday on "thuggery and rowdiness" of members who were urging him to resign.

The meeting was to discuss the re-election ordered by the Registrar of Societies (ROS) following complaints of irregularities.

"It can be said that Palanivel is the ayahanda as he is the one who had encouraged thuggery and rowdiness in the party," he noted.

Muneandy said that Palanivel is the one who should shoulder the blame for the mass gathering that took place outside the MIC headquarters on Thursday, urging for the latter's resignation.

"Palanivel should take the blame for the mass gathering as his reluctance (to meet detractors) was the main reason people had gathered there," he stressed.

He further said that the 65-year-old appeared to be in a "different world", under the "illusion that everything is okay".

"He does not know the realities on the ground where the party's influence has been greatly reduced," Muneandy added.

'Allegations baseless'

Amongst others, the member also called Palanivel a "very confused" man, and the "laughing stock of the Indian community".

Meanwhile, a source close to the MIC president dismissed the allegations as baseless.

"The statement looks like it was made out of vengeance and to smear the president's name. It is a desperate statement to escape from their own rowdy behaviour," he told Malaysiakini.

He said most of the people who came to MIC headquarters on Thursday were branch and division chairpersons.

"They came to show their support for the president because they heard that there were plans to disrupt the CWC meeting.

"They were not the ones who were blocking the entrance and making noise," he added.

Time for Mahathir to name his choice for PM

Lokman Mustafa, The Ant Daily

Shahbudin Husin, whose column ‘Sudut Kiri’ appears every weekend on Semut Harian, is one of the more popular Malay political commentators around.

In one of his recent postings on shahbudindotcom.blogspot.com, the blogger stated it was high time for former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to come clean as to whom he really supports as Malaysia’s prime minister.

In the article titled “Sudah sampai masa Dr Mahathir berterus-terang calon PM pilihannya” (It’s time for Dr Mahathir to name his choice for the post of PM), Shahbudin said it appears as though the fourth prime minister wanted the present premier as well as Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak to be removed.

In an interview which was recently published in Malay daily Sinar Harian (Dec 8), Mahathir said there were other qualified candidates who could replace Najib, if Umno allowed their president to be challenged.

Nevertheless, the present batch of senior Umno leaders have been preventing young Malays from joining the party in a bid to safeguard their dominance.

Mahathir also took a swipe at the government’s decision to appoint Christoph R Mueller as the new Malaysia Airlines CEO as it was tantamount to an admission the Malays were “stupid”.

“I fear that due to our distrust in ourselves, one day we will appoint a white man to become PM as they are more brilliant than us,” he said.

Shahbudin believed Mahathir was criticising Najib, possibly in an attempt to convince Umno members to oust the latter as party president.

Previously, during Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s five-year tenure as Umno president, Mahathir was his loudest critic and the latter's efforts paid off when Umno decided to replace the Kepala Batas leader with Najib in 2009 following Barisan Nasional’s inability to win its customary two-thirds majority in parliament.

Shahbudin opined that Mahathir seems bent on doing the same thing to Najib today though the question remains who his preferred candidate to helm Umno is.

“Is Mahathir rooting for Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi, or Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein?” Shahbudin asked.

If the Kedah-born Umno veteran fails to name his choice, attempts to undermine Najib in the eyes of his own party men will definitely come to naught.

Hence, Shahbudin argued that Pakatan Rakyat has a better chance to woo voters in the next general election if their sole candidate for the post of prime minister is still Anwar Ibrahim.

“Mahathir will definitely try to avoid that from happening, but if he hates both Najib and Anwar, then who does he want to lead the country?” asked Shahbudin.

Will Mahathir lend his support to Umno deputy president, or either one of the three vice presidents?

Or will he support Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir or maybe Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who are both younger in age compared to the present batch of party leaders?

Is it possible that Mahathir is secretly supporting Anwar whom he had groomed since the early eighties until they fell out in 1998?

Perhaps Mahathir doesn’t fancy anyone for the post, for the seasoned politician might think the one person who could shape the nation had announced his retirement in 2003, some 17 years before Malaysia’s grand vision could be fulfilled.

Umno is the cause of Malay weakness, says Zaid

He says Umno thinks Malays can be stronger by pulling away from non-Malays, not realising it would lead to an insular, paranoid community.

FMT

PETALING JAYA: Umno is weakening the Malay community through its insistence on excluding non-Malays from the national agenda, says former law minister Zaid Ibrahim in a blog posting on Sunday.

“Superficially, the Malays may be seen as the ones in control but the reality is far different. The decision-makers who frame national policies may be Malays but they do not have the financial and economic tools to empower other Malays to succeed on their own,” said Zaid, the lawyer-politician and businessman who left Umno for PKR before falling out with the party’s leaders.

In his blog posting, he pointed out that it was only Umno’s own idea that Malays could be stronger by detaching themselves from non-Malays, and contended that this was only the way to an insular and paranoid community. There was no evidence that people could be united and strong just by being on their own – but many examples of communities growing stronger through diversity and a common purpose, he wrote.

Zaid’s observations were made in a reflection on discussions with Indonesian intellectuals on Friday about the different paths taken by Indonesia and Malaysia towards democracy, and of the differences in religious practices and the role of Islam in both societies.

He said one participant was very critical of Malaysia’s future and questioned if Malaysia could become a democratic country, given the Barisan Nasional’s strong racial bias and the use of Islam as a tool of political control to exaggerate differences among the people.

Zaid wrote that Malaysia’s progress towards democracy would depend on the political choice of the Malays. “If they can make that quantum leap” and reject “the defender of race and religion”, if they were willing to abandon the comfort of their own race or religious-based political party, “that will mark a new beginning for us all”.

He said a nation’s progress would stem from united purpose, and through the collective strength of the people, pointing out that the Malays could only succeed in the future, by collaborating and remaining united with the rest of the Malaysian community, if future economic conditions required Chinese money and human capital for growth to be sustainable.

MCA, Gerakan and MIC the real beggars, says Teresa

She says Mahathir knows Umno’s arrogance has made beggars of its component parties and that Malays will always be politically dominant.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP National Vice Chairperson Teresa Kok has said former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad might have suffered a lapse in memory as the late Lim Keng Yaik had already pointed out years ago that it was MCA, Gerakan and MIC who were the real beggars, not Umno or Malays.

The MP for Seputeh said, “In May 2008, the then Gerakan advisor (Lim Keng Yaik) gave an interview to Sin Chew Daily and had likened MCA, Gerakan and MIC to ‘beggars’ in the Barisan Nasional as the coalition did not treat its component parties equitably.”

She explained that Keng Yaik has also said the “arrogance” of Umno had caused all its component parties to fare badly in elections even when candidates stood in non-Malay-majority constituencies.

Saying that Mahathir himself knew better than to believe that Umno, PKR, and PAS had to beg for DAP’s support to win the general election, Teresa brushed this off as Mahathir’s usual “doomsday scare tactic” to rally Malays into supporting Umno.

Teresa explained Mahathir had tried this tactic as recently as last year when DAP leader Lim Kit Siang contested against former Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani in Gelang Patah.

Warning Malays that “Lim’s victory would trigger racial clashes that would replace the existing cooperation between the Malay majority and Chinese community”, Teresa said Mahathir was proven wrong because Lim did win there and no such racial clashes erupted.

She also said this was proof that “Malays have changed and the political landscape in the country has changed, yet Mahathir has not changed.”

She said the same of Umno, drawing attention to the many fear- and hate-filled speeches its leaders made at the party’s recent general assembly.

Indian Court rules conversion for marriage invalid

The Court said that the conversion of a person, “without any real belief in the religion to which he/she is converting, was null and void”.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: Ruling that their conversions were not valid because it was done with “the sole purpose of marriage”, the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday refused to grant any relief to five couples who had got married after the girls who were Hindu converted to Islam, according to a report by the Indian Express which has gone viral on social media.

The couples had approached the Court seeking relief against alleged harassment by relatives and police.

A single-judge bench of Justice Surya Prakash Kesarwani passed the order after clubbing together five petitions from couples hailing from Siddhartha Nagar, Deoria, Kanpur, Sambhal, Pratapgarh and Mau in Uttar Pradesh.

The Court said that the conversion of a person, “without any real belief in the religion to which he/she is converting, was null and void”.

Such a marriage was against the tenets of the Quran and also the rulings of the Supreme Court on the issue, it added.

While dismissing the couples’ pleas, the Court said: “The alleged conversion of petitioner No. 1 (girl) in each of the writ petitions cannot be said to be bona fide or valid. The religion of the petitioner was converted at the instance of petitioner No. 2 (boy) to marry the girl. The petitioner girls have stated that they do not know about Islam.”

In the writ petitions, as well as in the statements on oaths made before this Court, “the petitioner girls have not stated that they have any real faith and belief in the unity of God and Mohammed to be prophet. They all stated that the boy got their religion converted with the sole purpose of marrying her.”

Concluding that these marriages were “against the mandate of… the Holy Quran”, the Court said: “Thus conversion of religion to Islam in the presence of the facts by these girls, without their faith and belief in Islam and at the instance of the boys, solely for the purpose of marriage, cannot be said to be a valid conversion to the Islam religion.”

The petitioners (girls), most of whom were aged around 18 or 19, had earlier submitted before the Court that they “did not know anything about Islam; they were not in the room when their religion was converted; and that they converted only because the boys wanted them to.”

The boys had also submitted before the Court that they were not aware of the paperwork regarding conversion.

But they did admit that they had got the women converted for the sake of marriage.

It was not immediately clear whether the marriages, which the parents and relatives of the girls and apparently police were against, were valid. The Court did not seem to have ruled on the validity of the marriages.

The hardest word -Mariam Mokhtar

By Mariam Mokhtar

The day Malaysia makes history will be the day our leaders apologise for their shortcomings, say 'sorry' for the failures of their staff, and express regret for the abuses of power by their children. Malaysians have much to learn from South Korea, and our leaders should learn the lesson from the 'Nut Rage' scandal.

Cho Hyun-ah, daughter of the chairman of Korean Air, apologised for losing her temper with a First-Class air steward at New York’s John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport on Dec 5. Cho, who was a senior vice-president and head of cabin service for Korean Air, had been served nuts in a bag and not on a plate. The plane had been waiting to take off when she ordered the captain to return and drop off the offending cabin crew member.

The contrast in her behaviour, a few days later, could not have been more stark. Cho was brought back down to earth with a bump. Her arrogance, that of someone with the power to overrule the pilot, was gone. In a faint, trembling voice, Cho issued her grovelling public an apology. Dressed in black from head to toe, with her hair shielding her face from the cameras and onlookers, she avoided eye contact and bowed her head in shame.

Hours earlier, her father Cho Yang-ho, also the chairman of Korean Air, had apologised and bowed before journalists at the airline’s head office. He expressed regret for his daughter’s actions and said, “It’s my fault. As chairman and father, I ask for the public’s generous forgiveness.”

News agencies like Reuters and Associated Press had reported that the South Koreans had been outraged by the behaviour of the children and grandchildren of the founders of big business empires. Cho was dubbed a “princess” for shaming the nation.

Malaysia has many such princes and princesses, most of whom are the sons and daughters of powerful Umno-Baru cronies, although some are the offspring of politicians. Many are crass and spoilt; they behave as if they own Malaysia.

Two years ago, Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz’s son Nedim caused public outrage when he and his bodyguard allegedly assaulted the security guard of a luxury condominium at Mont Kiara in Kuala Lumpur.

Nedim had driven his Porsche into the condominium grounds but had refused to register his details at the guard house. Nedim’s bodyguard claimed that his master was a member of royalty. When the Bangladeshi guard refused to break the strict rules of the management, both Nedim and his minder, a former policeman, punched the security guard.

If you or I had claimed to be a member of royalty, we would have been charged with impersonation or fraudulent misrepresentation. Nedim tarnished not only the reputation of all Malaysian royalty but also that of his family and Malaysians. However, this is not Nedim’s first brush with the law; neither is it the first assault allegation made against him.

In 2004, Nedim was allegedly implicated in the death of a law student from Sheffield University. Despite witness statements from the victim’s girlfriend and other professionals, confirming Nedim’s involvement, the charge of manslaughter was made instead against five innocent Thai immigrant labourers. Cover-ups are the norm in Malaysia.

In April this year, South Korea’s Prime Minister Chung Hong-won offered his resignation for his government’s poor handling of the rescue operations in the Sewol ferry disaster. Over 300 students and teachers had died when their boat capsized.

At an emergency press conference, Chung refused to be a “burden to the administration” and said that he would take responsibility for the tragedy by tendering his resignation. He apologised for being “unable to prevent this accident from happening and unable to properly respond to it afterwards".

He said that many irregularities and malpractices in society had been in existence for many years. He hoped that these would be corrected, to prevent repeats like the Sewol ferry disaster.

Contrast this statement with the intransigence of our ministers, heads of department and CEO of MAS in the aftermath of the MH370 tragedy. The Chief of the Armed Forces defended the incompetence of his radar control operators. To this date, the cargo manifest is missing. The head of the Civil Defence Aviation and his army counterpart appear not to communicate with one another. Attempts were made to blame the pilots of MH370. The Prime Minister, the Transport Minister and the IGP gave conflicting statements.

To this day, none of our leaders has issued an apology for the poor handling of MH370’s Search and Rescue operations. If we look back in time, no apology has been issued for any other national disasters and incursions - tragedies like the Highland Towers disaster, the Memali massacre and the Lahad Datu invasion.

Unlike the South Koreans, our leaders lack accountability and have no sense of remorse. They prefer to blame others and that is why history will be made on the day one of them says “sorry”.

Good Policies Working In Malaysia's Favour - Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 21 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Malaysia's progress depended not just on good policies but also on public support for them.

Najib said this was why he was encouraged by what was said by World Bank's Southeast Asia director Ulrich Zahau in a BBC interview recently.

He alluded to Zahau's remarks which pointed to Malaysia's national policies being effective in reducing income gaps and that the country's economy would continue to grow as long as Malaysians continued to spend.

This was contained in Najib's Facebook entry which was linked to a clip of the interview which saw Zahau speaking to BBC's Jennifer Pak.

During the session, the World Bank official said that Malaysia's 'aspirational' low-income part of population was helping to drive economic growth through consumption.

"I think that the recent history (has shown that), if you will, the Malaysian consumers are unstoppable. I think the lesson here is that this (consumption) has been a driving force of economic growth.

"And we expect that consumption will continue to be an important driver of economic growth (for Malaysia)," Zahau said.

He noted that in terms of overall inequality in Malaysia, the most important factor driving that inequality was income inequality.

"There still are today some gaps, some differences, but these gaps are small today," Zahau said, adding that those gaps had declined precisely because Malaysia had put in place certain policies.

Asked on slumping oil prices and the extent of the impact this would have on Malaysia, he opined that in the short term the impact on the fiscal balance "is actually positive".

"The reason for this is that Malaysia (has) just eliminated the oil subsidy, so that was a cost in the budget (previously)," Zahau said.

"Over the medium term, there may be also a revenue shortfall that would come to the extent that Petronas, for example, may pay lower dividends although that is a policy decision for the government to make," he added.