Monday 9 February 2015
Syrian Woman: I Married ISIS Fighter to Save My Father's Life
"Every little girl dreams of that white dress, of her wedding night," says Hanan, her voice starting to waver. "I have been deprived of that."
Hanan is not the woman's real name. Though now in Turkey, not her native Syria, the 26-year-old is still so terrified and traumatized that she has not left her relatives' house once since she arrived three weeks ago.
Hanan says she was forced to marry an ISIS fighter in exchange for her father's freedom.
Her large, dark brown eyes, all that is visible under her niqab, wet with tears. A sob betrays a depth of pain that even the suffocating black fabric of her veil cannot mask.
"I am sorry, but when I remember ... ," she says. Her voice fades as she slightly lifts the veil to wipe her face.
When ISIS militants swept through her city in eastern Syria, Hanan says, they indiscriminately detained anyone suspected of fighting them.
Hanan's brother had been killed in previous clashes. Her father had kept his son's AK-47 assault rifle in memory of him.
"When ISIS came in, someone told them that my father had a weapon, so they detained him," Hanan says.
"We had no one. It was just me, my two sisters and my mother left. So we went to the Sharia police headquarters, where they keep the detainees."
'I had to accept'
The Sharia police mercilessly patrol the streets, handing out punishment and detaining individuals accused of breaking their interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic, law. Women are not supposed to travel unaccompanied by a male relative.
"When we went, it was just me and my mother," Hanan recalls. "The Sharia police stopped and harassed us numerous times, saying, 'Where is your male guardian?' We said we only have one and we are going to see him at the headquarters."
Hanan and her mother pleaded for his release.
"After a bit my mother came and said to me, they will release him if you marry the head of the Sharia police. His name is Abu Mohammed al-Iraqi. My father's life for his hand in marriage. We have no one but him; I had to accept."
Abu Mohammed al-Iraqi was the ISIS fighter's pseudonym. Hanan never even knew his real name.
She describes him as tall, thin, dark-skinned, with hair grown out to his shoulders and a long beard.
She speaks haltingly of their first night together when she says he forced himself on her. She initially tried to struggle, she says, but then submitted to her fate.
"There was no emotion. I did not feel that he had any emotions. I felt like he just wanted to take what was his right, like he had to."
'He slept with a gun next to his head'
Hanan says he locked her inside in the house and only allowed her to use his phone, in his presence, to call her parents. He did the shopping. The two barely spoke beyond the customary greetings.
She was his prisoner, his maid, and his sex slave.
She also says he seemed consumed with paranoia.
"He never felt safe. He slept with a gun next to his head. If someone knocked on the door, he only answered with his gun in his hand and his face covered. He didn't trust anyone."
Al-Iraqi was in charge of enforcing Sharia law, which also bans smoking. Yet, she says, he kept a stash of cigarettes in his house.
At times, he would disappear for days, leaving her trapped. Then, a month after they were married, he was killed.
Hanan was sent back home to her parents.
"I felt like a child that returned to her mother's embrace. But something in me was lost, something I can't get back," she says softly. "My mother had only tears to express her emotions. My father the same. Because I sacrificed for him."
Threat of another marriage
But Hanan still was not safe, nor was she free. She received news that the ISIS emir, or local leader, wanted to see her.
"I said I can't go, I can't meet anyone. So they sent me the women," she says.
She describes the female envoys as non-Syrian. One she says was from Tunisia; the other spoke a foreign language she did not understand, possibly a European one.
She says they were authoritative, abrupt and unsympathetic, and seemed to have no qualms about the role they were playing. The meeting lasted 10 minutes.
"They wanted me to marry another fighter. They said I can't stay without a husband."
It was too much.
Hanan's parents fled to an area controlled by the Syrian regime. Hanan, using routes she won't disclose for security reasons, managed to get to relatives in Turkey.
"I don't know how many like me he had, I don't know how many like me there are," she says of the husband forced on her. "They take whatever they want. They marry and divorce at will."
An activist group named Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently has documented hundreds of cases of women being forced into marriage with ISIS fighters. About a third of them are under the age of 18.
Hanan says that once a girl turns 13, she will rarely leave the house. She remains imprisoned by fear of becoming the next bride, the next slave, the next prize claimed by ISIS under the guise of "marriage."
Hanan says her experience has shredded her soul and stripped her of her dignity.
"Even now I cannot grasp what I have been through, that I went through this. I am destroyed."
The town that went to jihad: Fanatics in sleepy French neighbourhood are fighting alongside Islamic State in Syria then coming BACK to radicalise youngsters
 |
| Sleepy town: At least 17 men from the town of Lunel in southern France have reportedly travelled to fight in Syria |
- 17 men from town of Lunel have joined Al-Qaeda or Islamic State in Syria
- The town's would-be jihadists allegedly attend a Mosque in the suburbs
- Five arrested in anti-terror raids on Abrivado neighbourhood last month
- The area has become notorious for producing fanatics heading to Syria
At least 17 men from a small town in southern France have reportedly joined Al-Qaeda or Islamic State to fight in Syria.
Three of the men from Lunel, which has a population of just 27,500, have even taken their wives or girlfriends with them. One of them even gave birth in the war zone.
Six men from the town have died, which accounts for 10 per cent of the French jihadists killed in the conflict, Adam Sage wrote in the Times.
Five people were arrested during anti-terror raids in the Abrivado neighbourhood only last month, according to France 24.
The French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the people arrested - aged between 26 and 44 - were 'suspected of active involvement in a jihadist network'.
He also claimed the network's members 'were recruited and indoctrinated, and who also indoctrinated and recruited several other French youngsters from Lunel'.
The town's mayor Claude Arnaud had previously doubted the existence of such a network and suspected the men were 'self-radicalised' by online propaganda.
Herault regional police office estimated as many as 50 young people had travelled to Iraq and Syria from the Languedoc-Roussillon in which Lunel lies.
Local officials including Mayor Arnaud are struggling to understand why their quiet town has become a source of radicalisation.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2943792/The-town-went-jihad-Fanatics-sleepy-French-neighbourhood-fighting-alongside-Islamic-State-Syria-coming-radicalise-youngsters.html
In blog post, Saiful reminds Malaysians he is a victim too
With two days to go before the final verdict on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy II trial is known, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan expressed dismay over public treatment of him as the “victim” of sexual assault.The 30-year-old former political aide to Anwar said the political implications of the case had often drowned his cry for justice.
“There is so little just treatment and concern about me, so much so that I am seen as irrelevant although I am the victim, while Anwar is the accused.
“In all frankness, I'd like to express how very sad and disappointed I am. How I've been treated and any concern towards me as the victim is often overlooked and even regarded as unimportant or irrelevant,” he wrote in a blog post today.
Saiful said he was disappointed with the way politicians from both the ruling Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat, political analysts and public were more concerned about the effect the case would have on the country and its political landscape.
“Whatever it is, I am well aware. Who am I?
“I am just a little person of no importance. Anwar, on the other hand, is a VVIP politician of great importance,” he lamented in his post.
Saiful had accused Anwar of sodomising him in 2008 but the High Court acquitted the Permatang Pauh MP in 2012.
The Court of Appeal then overturned the decision last year and Anwar has appealed against his conviction in the Federal Court and the court is set to announce its verdict on Tuesday.
However, despite his lament, Saiful said he was prepared to accept the Federal Court’s verdict even if it was favourable to Anwar.
Saiful took a swipe at Pakatan Rakyat supporters and those who wanted a clean and independent judiciary.
“I find it odd and repulsive when Anwar and his supporters want the government and prime minister to intervene to free Anwar. Isn’t that hypocrisy of the highest order?” Saiful wrote. – February 8, 2015.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/in-blog-post-saiful-reminds-malaysians-he-is-a-victim-too#sthash.YCybBoon.dpuf
Pakatan shows united front but defers hot issues
After several months being unable to convene a
meeting, Pakatan Rakyat top leaders finally met each other today but
decided to postpone addressing disagreements until after Opposition
Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy II judgment on Tuesday.
Anwar, flanked by over 20 leaders from all three Pakatan parties, reiterated the coalition would make its decisions based on consensus but at the same time "celebrated" differences between them.
"The
(leadership council) meeting has agreed to discuss and draft a solution
to the Syariah Criminal Code (II) Enactment - or more widely known as
the hudud law - and local council elections in a special meeting," he
told a press conference at the PAS headquarters this afternoon.
However, Anwar did not provide a specific date on when the special meeting will be convened.
Anwar added that Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah was also present at the meeting today, and had given a brief explanation on the state's hudud plan.
The statement was signed by Anwar, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.
PAS and DAP have been at loggerheads over their respective push for hudud in Kelantan and local council elections.
Pakatan to meet again in two days' time
PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali later told journalists that there is still a month's time to decide on when the special meeting will be convened, before the Parliament sitting in March.
All top leaders were present at the press conference except Abdul Hadi.
However,
Anwar stressed that Abdul Hadi was present throughout the Pakatan
leadership council meeting and was only absent from the press
conference.
Journalists were later informed by PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub (right) that Abdul Hadi had to rush for another programme in Shah Alam.
On top of the planned meeting, Anwar said Pakatan will also reconvene in two days' time, on the day of his Sodomy II judgment where he faces the possibility of jail.
He said Pakatan leaders will discuss the coalition's next move depending on the outcome of the Federal Court's decision.
Anwar also announced that a Pakatan convention will be held on May 10 to "reinvigorate" its support base.
Anwar, flanked by over 20 leaders from all three Pakatan parties, reiterated the coalition would make its decisions based on consensus but at the same time "celebrated" differences between them.
"The
(leadership council) meeting has agreed to discuss and draft a solution
to the Syariah Criminal Code (II) Enactment - or more widely known as
the hudud law - and local council elections in a special meeting," he
told a press conference at the PAS headquarters this afternoon.Anwar added that Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah was also present at the meeting today, and had given a brief explanation on the state's hudud plan.
The statement was signed by Anwar, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.
PAS and DAP have been at loggerheads over their respective push for hudud in Kelantan and local council elections.
Pakatan to meet again in two days' time
PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali later told journalists that there is still a month's time to decide on when the special meeting will be convened, before the Parliament sitting in March.
All top leaders were present at the press conference except Abdul Hadi.
However,
Anwar stressed that Abdul Hadi was present throughout the Pakatan
leadership council meeting and was only absent from the press
conference.Journalists were later informed by PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub (right) that Abdul Hadi had to rush for another programme in Shah Alam.
On top of the planned meeting, Anwar said Pakatan will also reconvene in two days' time, on the day of his Sodomy II judgment where he faces the possibility of jail.
He said Pakatan leaders will discuss the coalition's next move depending on the outcome of the Federal Court's decision.
Anwar also announced that a Pakatan convention will be held on May 10 to "reinvigorate" its support base.
Orang Asli face birth cert issue after adat marriages
The Orang Asli, a community 178,000 population,
has long been marginalized to the extent that their marriage rituals
given due recognition, Pahang Orang Asli representative Fatimah Bahsen
said.
"Malaysia has signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) twice, the rights of Orang Asli is however still being ignored," she told Malaysiakini in a Orang Asli's women empowerment workshop in Petaling Jaya.
The workshop, organized by woman rights group Empower, also played a 17-minutes video, tittled "We Orang Asli woman, hear our voice", highlighting the reality Orang Asli women facing.
She said that Orang Asli marriages according to their customs are not recognized for the sake of a marriage certificate, she said.
And because of it, they will face difficulties when it comes to pregnancy, giving birth, and even divorce, she said.
"Even if we go (to make police report), for sure they will ask 'where is the marriage certificate?', and we, the Orang Asli marry without a marriage certificate. This is the problem we are facing.
"Without a marriage certificate, we are unable to apply for birth certificates for our children and so on...this creates all sort of problems," she said.
Therefore, Fatimah urged the government to acknowledge the Orang Asli's adat which will give protection to Orang Asli women and children.
Single mothers' rights denied
Apart from adat not being acknowledged, the community's single mothers are also largely denied their rights.
Even though the government has implemented policies to help single mothers, the Orang Asli can hardly get the assistance, she said.
"When we apply, the officers give us forms to fill and we do. But after they take it and we won't know where it is kept. We ask the officers but they gave all kind of reasons," she said.
All these problems make the Orang Asli feel like they are not “asli” (native) to the land, but are treated like aliens in their own space.
"The government must acknowledge our community as Orang Asli. Until this being realized, we will be seen as the pendatang in our own land," she said.
"Malaysia has signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) twice, the rights of Orang Asli is however still being ignored," she told Malaysiakini in a Orang Asli's women empowerment workshop in Petaling Jaya.
The workshop, organized by woman rights group Empower, also played a 17-minutes video, tittled "We Orang Asli woman, hear our voice", highlighting the reality Orang Asli women facing.
She said that Orang Asli marriages according to their customs are not recognized for the sake of a marriage certificate, she said.
And because of it, they will face difficulties when it comes to pregnancy, giving birth, and even divorce, she said.
"Even if we go (to make police report), for sure they will ask 'where is the marriage certificate?', and we, the Orang Asli marry without a marriage certificate. This is the problem we are facing.
"Without a marriage certificate, we are unable to apply for birth certificates for our children and so on...this creates all sort of problems," she said.
Therefore, Fatimah urged the government to acknowledge the Orang Asli's adat which will give protection to Orang Asli women and children.
Single mothers' rights denied
Apart from adat not being acknowledged, the community's single mothers are also largely denied their rights.
Even though the government has implemented policies to help single mothers, the Orang Asli can hardly get the assistance, she said.
"When we apply, the officers give us forms to fill and we do. But after they take it and we won't know where it is kept. We ask the officers but they gave all kind of reasons," she said.
All these problems make the Orang Asli feel like they are not “asli” (native) to the land, but are treated like aliens in their own space.
"The government must acknowledge our community as Orang Asli. Until this being realized, we will be seen as the pendatang in our own land," she said.
Fears after Jeddah-bound AirAsia flight turns back
With heightened sensitivities after multiple aviation disasters in the past year, Twitter users swiftly jumped onto the case with the hashtag #D7172 only to be later told to keep calm and carry on.
"There is no emergency on flight D7172. They just needed to get weight down to make a safe landing.
"A limited number of aircrafts are able to dump fuel. If you can’t dump fuel, you have to burn it to reduce weight. More fuel equals longer burning," Flightradar24 explained on Twitter.
There is no emergency on flight #D7172. They just needed to get weight down to make a safe landing http://t.co/8su11KHZmu
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 8, 2015
Confirming this, AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes told Bernama that the Jeddah-bound flight has returned to Kuala Lumpur International Airport and there is "nothing out of normal".
The plane landed at KLIA at 5.40pm.
"It could have continued (its journey) to Jeddah, but we felt it was better for it to return, nothing out of the normal," he said.
He later told AFP that there was a problem with one auto-thrust but maintained the plane for fit for flight.
Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said there was a technical glitch.
"I was informed D7172 with technical problem circling over Straits of Malacca. The plane has safely landed in KLIA2” he said on Twitter.
I was informed #D7172 with tech prob circling over Straits of Malacca. The plane has safely landed in klia #AirAsia
— Liow Tiong Lai (@liowtionglai) February 8, 2015
In a statement later, Air Asia X said the turn back was due to a glitch after take off and was merely safety precaution.
The flight took off for Jeddah with a different plane at 7.23pm, it said.
AirAsia is still reeling from the crash of Surabaya-Singapore flight QZ8501 which killed all 162 on board.
The death toll for Taiwanese TransAsia's GE235 crash last week is now 40.
Govt orders Mara to lift religious ban
Shafie Apdal: It's not right, no government policy to restrict religion in Mara colleges.
FMT
KUCHING: Mara will be ordered to lift a religious ban at its colleges and university campus in Sabah and Sarawak, the federal minister in charge, Shafie Apdal, announced today after protests by native non-Muslim parents whose children are enrolled in Mara institutions.
There is no federal government policy to restrict religious practices among Mara students, Shafie Apdal said at a hastily-convened press conference this morning, the Malaysian Insider reported.
He said if there were any such restrictions, “they were not right”. He added: “If there is a rule, we will withdraw it.”
Shafie, as minister for regional and rural development, has oversight over Mara, set up as a bumiputera trust agency, which also runs residential science junior colleges and the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).
The press conference was called after Sarawak chief minister Adenan Satem met Shafie last night, over concerns of Dayak parents that their children were not being allowed to practice their faiths while enrolled at Mara colleges.
Adenan is reported to have told Shafie that such rules went against the Sarawak government’s policy on the freedom of religion, according to Malaysian Insider.
Baru Bian of Parti Keadilan Rakyat had said earlier today that he would consider legal action against Mara as the ban on non-Islamic activities was unconstitutional and against the constitutional guarantee to practice religious faiths.
Three Mara colleges are reported to have banned all non-Islamic religious activities within the campus; forbidden the use of non-Islamic religious symbols; and students forbidden from non-Islamic religious activities outside campus on weekends except with college permission.
Dayak parents have also said their children were forbidden to bring their Bibles or home-cooked food, and banned from using college transport to attend church services.
Shafie said a “misinterpretation” of the rules might have cropped up because the rules were first drawn up in 1972 when Mara colleges were first established in the peninsula, where all bumiputera students were Malays and Muslims.
Parents have said the restrictions amounted to religious discrimination and would breed intolerance and lack of respect. One parent refused to send his daughter to college and posted online a copy of additional rules for non-Muslim students.
Shafie denied there had been any discrimination. “There has been no prohibition on non-Muslim students to practise their faith. On weekends, we provide transport for Christians to attend church very much like we do for Muslims students to attend Friday prayers.
“They can take their Bible to campus and if there is anyone who tries to stop them, report them to us and we’ll act,” Shafie said.
Sarawak second minister of resource planning and environment Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said the rules for all Mara colleges in Sarawak should be rewritten.
State land development minister James Masing has said the restrictions were constitutionally and morally wrong. State DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen had appealed to the Sarawak government to reject the rules.
FMT
KUCHING: Mara will be ordered to lift a religious ban at its colleges and university campus in Sabah and Sarawak, the federal minister in charge, Shafie Apdal, announced today after protests by native non-Muslim parents whose children are enrolled in Mara institutions.
There is no federal government policy to restrict religious practices among Mara students, Shafie Apdal said at a hastily-convened press conference this morning, the Malaysian Insider reported.
He said if there were any such restrictions, “they were not right”. He added: “If there is a rule, we will withdraw it.”
Shafie, as minister for regional and rural development, has oversight over Mara, set up as a bumiputera trust agency, which also runs residential science junior colleges and the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).
The press conference was called after Sarawak chief minister Adenan Satem met Shafie last night, over concerns of Dayak parents that their children were not being allowed to practice their faiths while enrolled at Mara colleges.
Adenan is reported to have told Shafie that such rules went against the Sarawak government’s policy on the freedom of religion, according to Malaysian Insider.
Baru Bian of Parti Keadilan Rakyat had said earlier today that he would consider legal action against Mara as the ban on non-Islamic activities was unconstitutional and against the constitutional guarantee to practice religious faiths.
Three Mara colleges are reported to have banned all non-Islamic religious activities within the campus; forbidden the use of non-Islamic religious symbols; and students forbidden from non-Islamic religious activities outside campus on weekends except with college permission.
Dayak parents have also said their children were forbidden to bring their Bibles or home-cooked food, and banned from using college transport to attend church services.
Shafie said a “misinterpretation” of the rules might have cropped up because the rules were first drawn up in 1972 when Mara colleges were first established in the peninsula, where all bumiputera students were Malays and Muslims.
Parents have said the restrictions amounted to religious discrimination and would breed intolerance and lack of respect. One parent refused to send his daughter to college and posted online a copy of additional rules for non-Muslim students.
Shafie denied there had been any discrimination. “There has been no prohibition on non-Muslim students to practise their faith. On weekends, we provide transport for Christians to attend church very much like we do for Muslims students to attend Friday prayers.
“They can take their Bible to campus and if there is anyone who tries to stop them, report them to us and we’ll act,” Shafie said.
Sarawak second minister of resource planning and environment Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said the rules for all Mara colleges in Sarawak should be rewritten.
State land development minister James Masing has said the restrictions were constitutionally and morally wrong. State DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen had appealed to the Sarawak government to reject the rules.
Orang Asli girls sex victims of Camerons migrants
Many complaints but no one takes it seriously, says local activist
FMT
TANAH RATAH: Orang Asli girls in the Cameron Highlands have become sex victims of illegal immigrants and migrant workers, who have also been blamed for illegal land clearing.
R. Ramakrishnan, head of the Cameron Highlands activist group Reach said many complaints had been made about it, but little action in the way of enforcement had been carried out.
He said some Orang Asli girls have become pregnant as a result of being preyed upon by the illegal migrants. Some have resorted to abortions for fear of shame.
“There are fewer illegal immigrants to be seen in town since the authorities began operations against them, but they have switched to the Orang Asli settlements and brought many social problems there,” Ramakrishnan said, according to Utusan Malaysia.
“At Post Terisu, the migrant workers have paid Orang Asli girls for sex, treating them like prostitutes. It’s becoming more common, but no one seems to take complaints seriously,” he said after a press conference when accompanying anti-corruption commission official Mustafar Ali to visit illegal logging and land clearing in Kuala Terla and Brinchang.
TANAH RATAH: Orang Asli girls in the Cameron Highlands have become sex victims of illegal immigrants and migrant workers, who have also been blamed for illegal land clearing.
R. Ramakrishnan, head of the Cameron Highlands activist group Reach said many complaints had been made about it, but little action in the way of enforcement had been carried out.
He said some Orang Asli girls have become pregnant as a result of being preyed upon by the illegal migrants. Some have resorted to abortions for fear of shame.
“There are fewer illegal immigrants to be seen in town since the authorities began operations against them, but they have switched to the Orang Asli settlements and brought many social problems there,” Ramakrishnan said, according to Utusan Malaysia.
“At Post Terisu, the migrant workers have paid Orang Asli girls for sex, treating them like prostitutes. It’s becoming more common, but no one seems to take complaints seriously,” he said after a press conference when accompanying anti-corruption commission official Mustafar Ali to visit illegal logging and land clearing in Kuala Terla and Brinchang.
Cabinet must sack Ismail Sabri, says Kit Siang
DAP elder: Minister betrayed his oath to serve all the people
FMT
KUALA LUMPUR: Agriculture minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob should be dismissed from the Cabinet if he does not withdraw his recent remark about a consumer boycott of Chinese-owned businesses, DAP elder Lim Kit Siang said today.
He said Ismail Sabri had betrayed his ministerial oath of office to serve all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region.
Kit Siang questioned prime minister Najib Razak for seeming to sanction Ismail Sabri’s statement and said it showed up Najib as the weakest of Malaysia’s six prime ministers. No other prime minister before him would have stood by such a statement, he said.
He noted that even Mahathir Mohamad had disapproved by pointing out that prices had nothing to do with ethnicity.
Lim said the rest of the 34 ministers in the Cabinet had also betrayed their oaths of office by “defending the indefensible”.
He said Ismail Sabri should be sacked, either by the prime minister or by the rest of the ministers adopting a Cabinet resolution.
FMT
KUALA LUMPUR: Agriculture minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob should be dismissed from the Cabinet if he does not withdraw his recent remark about a consumer boycott of Chinese-owned businesses, DAP elder Lim Kit Siang said today.
He said Ismail Sabri had betrayed his ministerial oath of office to serve all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region.
Kit Siang questioned prime minister Najib Razak for seeming to sanction Ismail Sabri’s statement and said it showed up Najib as the weakest of Malaysia’s six prime ministers. No other prime minister before him would have stood by such a statement, he said.
He noted that even Mahathir Mohamad had disapproved by pointing out that prices had nothing to do with ethnicity.
Lim said the rest of the 34 ministers in the Cabinet had also betrayed their oaths of office by “defending the indefensible”.
He said Ismail Sabri should be sacked, either by the prime minister or by the rest of the ministers adopting a Cabinet resolution.
Why is Najib the only one of six Prime Ministers to sanction, condone and defend the totally indefensible rabid racist statement of one of his Ministers?
By Lim Kit Siang Blog The rabid racist statement by the Minister for Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob calling on Malay consumers to boycott Chinese businesses has snowballed from the aberration of one errant Minister to a crisis of an entire errant Cabinet of 35 Ministers because of the extraordinary and outrageous decision by the Cabinet to sanction, condone and defend Ismail’s racist fulminations.
Today is the first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman’s 112th birthday anniversary. I have no doubt that if the Ismail Sabry episode had happened in Tunku’s time as Prime Minister, Ismail would have been made to apologise for his racist fulminations and even been sacked from Tunku’s Cabinet.
This was why in my statement six days ago on 2nd February, I had said:
“If a past Minister had done what Ismail did under the first three Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn, he would have been sacked on the spot immediately after the expression of such racist sentiments, for it would be conclusive proof of his total unsuitability to continue as a Cabinet Minister in a plural society.
“I think such a Minister would have been sacked by Tun Dr. Mahathir during his 22 years of premiership although Mahathir may now look for excuses to come to Ismail’s defence or rescue.”
Mahathir had proven me wrong, for he had publicly expressed his disapproval for Ismail’s racist fulminations, rightly pointing out that the rising cost of living had nothing to do with ethnicity.
But Mahathir had tried to soften his blow of disapproval by saying: “Maybe he didn’t think (about) what he said. If he thinks carefully, he would not say boycott Chinese goods.”
Mahathir said Malay and Indian businesses were also not reducing their prices and not all traders are Chinese, stressing “This is not about Chinese or Malay, this is about oil prices going down, but goods prices are not going down.”
I do not think under Tun Abdullah’s premiership, there would have been place for such a rank racist in the Cabinet.
Why then is Najib the only one of six Prime Ministers to sanction, condone and defend Ismail’s racist fulminations when the other five Prime Ministers before him would never have done such a thing?
Is this because he is the weakest Prime Minister in the nation’s 58 year history?
All the other 34 Ministers have done a great disservice to their Ministerial offices and their own credibility and reputation in lining up behind Ismail to deny the undeniable, defend the indefensible that the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister had crossed the line of what is permissible for a Minister, in making a rabid racist call on a matter which has nothing to do with ethnicity.
Ismail had in fact betrayed his oath of Ministerial office, to serve all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region!
In sanctioning, condoning and defending Ismail’s racist fulminations, all the other 34 Cabinet Ministers, regardless of their political party of origin, have also betrayed their oath of Ministerial office!
The Cabinet on Wednesday (Feb. 11) should revisit the Ismail Sabri case, and it must be made clear to Ismail that he should unconditionally retract and apologise for this baseless racist fulmination, or he should be sacked from the Cabinet if not as a decision of the Prime Minister, then as a decision of the Cabinet by way of a Cabinet resolution!
Malaysia cannot have a Minister who live in the world of “double think”, “double talk” and “double act”!
Now the country is also in danger of having a Cabinet of “double think”, “double talk” and “double act”.
Wednesday is the last opportunity for the Cabinet to prove that the 34 Ministers have pulled back from the precipice and have not joined the rank of Ismail Sabri to “double think”, “double talk” and “double act”
But rest assured, even if there is a Minister or Cabinet of “double think”, “double talk” and “double act”, the overwhelming majority of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, will not be subdued or cowed into a people of “double think”, “double talk” and “double act” for they will continue to be decent, sensible and moderate human beings who will not allow the rhetoric and politics of hate, intolerance, bigotry and extremism to govern their lives!
Golf Should Be A Sport For All - Najib
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak (left) handed over trophy to Anirban Lahiricha who claim the first Maybank Malaysian Open 2015 (MMO)'s title here today.KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said he wants golf to be not just an elite sports but a sport for the people whereby more Malaysians are able to play.
Therefore, he said the sports should be accessible to all Malaysians at every level and hope with the move more Malaysians will emerge as top golfers in the future.
"(In this regard) I would like to congratulate the Malaysian Golf Association (MGA) for starting a programme to promote golf at the school level where 11 schools are participating in this programme.
"I have given RM2 million to the MGA to promote golf at school level and I am willing to contribute more in the future," he said in his speech during the Maybank Malaysian Open 2015 prize giving ceremony at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club (KLGCC), here Sunday.
India's Anirban Lahiri emerged as the champion of the tournament and took home the trophy and US$500,000 (RM1.75 million) which was presented by Najib on the 18th green of KLGCC golf course.
On the tournament, Najib said it attracted around 450 million viewers around the world who watched a very splendid game which started last Thursday.
Najib also congratulated national golfer Danny Chia who emerged as the best Malaysian player in the tournament and Gavin Kyle Green who also stood out and crowned as the tournament's best amateur player.
"We are getting more and more Malaysian professional players competing in the highest level," he said.
Najib also applauded Maybank for being a very good title sponsor over the last 10 years of the event.
"This year the prize money is bigger and hope the prize will be even bigger in the years to come," he said.
-- BERNAMA
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