Police 'assure safety' of The Herald editor

Following intimidation from Muslim groups intending to stage a protest outside a church in Klang, police have given the editor of the Catholic weekly the Herald, Father Lawrence Andrew, “an assurance of safety”.

Contacted by Malaysiakini, Father Lawrence said he was called up by a Special Branch officer at 9.40am today and subsequently he went to police district headquarters in Klang.

“Three officers were there... We had a little chat for about 30 minutes and they gave me an assurance of my safety,” he said.

Father Lawrence (right) said the officers were calm and friendly during the short meeting.

The Klang District Muslim Solidarity Secretariat is reported to have said that its members will march to the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Klang on Sunday to deliver a protest note should Lawrence fail to withdraw his statement over the continuous usage of the word 'Allah' by Christians in the country.

Father Lawrence in his Dec 27 statement had said churches in Selangor will continue to use the word Allah, despite the intention of the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) to send the churches a reminder against its use by non-Muslims.

The Klang District Muslim Solidarity Secretariat also urged him to apologise to Muslims and Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah on Sunday, as demanded by several other Muslim groups as well.

No probe by the police

Father Lawrence urged churchgoers to remain calm and attend the weekend service on Sunday as usual.

He also refuted claims that the police were investigating his statement on the use of the word ‘Allah’ in churches in Selangor.

“There is nothing to be investigated. I was just stating what the Federal Constitution states,” he stressed.

Father Lawrence was quoted as saying that the word ‘Allah’ would be used in Catholic churches in the state in its weekend services in Bahasa Malaysia, as Article 11(3) (A) of the constitution prescribes that every religious group has its right to manage its own religious affairs.

To this, Selangor police chief Mohd Shukri Dahlan, too, denied that the police were calling Father Lawrence to record statement.

“I told them (reporters) that police will investigate every report lodged, and the relevant people related to the cases will be called for investigation.

“But I did not say that we are looking for Father Lawrence,” Shukri said.

Churches lodge reports against Umno, NGOs

In a related development, about 20 churches in the Klang Valley have lodged numerous police reports against Umno and several Muslim non-governmental organisations that have threatened to hold protests outside the churches on Sunday.

A spokesperson for the churches and lawyer Annou Xavier said the purpose of lodging the reports was to ensure the safety of those attending the Sunday service.

“We want to ensure the safety of the parishioners and those who attend the Sunday service.”

“The church is also concerned over a possible repeat of churches being targeted for arson attacks, as what happened to the Metro Tabernacle Church on Jan 8, 2010. We also want to avoid any similar untoward incident from taking place,” Annou told Malaysiakini.

The arson attacks on the churches and other places of worship followed a decision made by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Dec 31, 2009, in declaring the Home Ministry's ban on the use of ‘Allah’ in Catholic weekly the Herald as wrong and unconstitutional.

It was reported that several Umno members and NGOs have lodged police reports against the Herald editor Lawrence Andrew over his statement that the Catholic Church in Selangor will continue to use the word ‘Allah’ in the Bahasa Malaysia service.

They gave Father Lawrence until tomorrow or the groups will protest outside the churches on Sunday.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has also criticised Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin for allegedly supporting the protest by Selangor Umno.

Annou also advised Christians and churchgoers to remain calm and not to engage with the protesters.

“The Christians are urged to welcome these protesters with an open heart and perhaps even invite them for morning tea as these people are ignorant and considered lost ‘sheep’,” he said.

Meanwhile, Utusan Malaysia quoted Shukri as saying police have recorded statements from ten individuals over Lawrence's call for the continued use of ‘Allah’ by Christians in the state.

However, he added that Lawrence was not among the ten.

'PM jetting around in new luxury aircraft?'

 

Amid austerity measures, pro-Umno bloggers are questioning whether Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is now jetting across the country in a new luxury aircraft.

In blog postings by, among others, Big Dog and RockyBru, they pointed to an Airbus ACJ320 with tail number 9H-AWK using the call number, "Perdana 2" or "NR2" - which incidentally are similar to Najib's initials.

The aircraft is registered in Malta and leased from aviation group Comlux.

According to aviation news website Aviation Week, Jet Premier One (M) Sdn Bhd, the company which manages flights for VVIPs in Malaysia, including Najib, had indeed leased the Airbus ACJ320 from Comlux.

The lease was supposed to be a temporary replacement for the regular aircraft Najib uses, an Airbus ACJ319, being refurbished by Comlux Aviation Services.

The Airbus ACJ319 with tail number 9M-NAA operated under the call name “NR1” or “Perdana 1” and is the official aircraft for the prime minister, similar to that of the US president’s Air Force One.

It first came under the spotlight in 2011 when Najib flew on the Airbus ACJ319 to Perth, Australia, apparently on holiday.

In a press release by Comlux May last year, the company had announced it had won a contract to rework the VIP area of the Airbus ACJ319 as well as handle scheduled maintenance works for six years.

The company did not specify the value of the project.

In the interim, Comlux leased an Airbus ACJ320 with tail number 9H-AWK to Jet Premier One.

It took over the call name of  “NR1” and "Perdana 1" and was spotted taking off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Oct 6 to Denpasar Internatonal Airport, Bali, according to flight enthuasist site Jet Photos.

Najib left for Bali on Oct 6 for the Asia Pacific Economic Conference (Apec) Summit.

'RM27k an hour operate'

The aircraft comes with a lounge, a private room equipped with personal bathroom and has wifi and phone access while in the air.

Comlux did not reveal how much the plane was leased for but according to the company's brochure, the approximate operating cost for its Airbus ACJ320 flight is US$8,350.31 (RM27,501.75) per hour.

In another press statement in October last year, Comlux announced that it has completed refurbishing the “head of state of Malaysia aircraft” Airbus ACJ319 after working on it since its arrival at its US base in June that year.

Despite the return of the plane, the lease for the Airbus ACJ320 appears to be still active and has been spotted jetting around in Malaysia.

The Airbus ACJ320 changed its call name to "NR2" or "Perdana 2" while the ACJ319 took back its call name "NR1" or "Perdana 1".

According to air traffic tracker website Flight Radar 24, the Airbus ACJ320 with tail number 9H-AWK last took off from KLIA under the call name "NR2" on Dec 31.

The site also recorded the Airbus ACJ319 with tail number 9M-NAA taking off from KLIA on Dec 26 under the call name "NR1".

In a parliamentary reply on Nov 7 last year, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim revealed that the government spent RM14.95 million for fuel and RM160.08 million in maintenance for VVIP flights in 2012.

The government aircraft include a Falcon, Global Express, Boeing Business Jet, Blackhawk, two Augustas and a Fokker F28.

However, that reply did not mention either the Airbus AC319 or Airbus ACJ320.

‘PMO says aircraft lease over’

In an immediate response, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said the lease of the Airbus ACJ320, which started on Feb 1, 2013, ended on Dec 31 that year.

The PMO added that the lease of the Airbus ACJ320 was necessary due to a shortage of government aircraft.

Prior to this, it said the government had five aircraft, namely the ACJ319, BBJ, Fokker F28, Global Express and Falcon 900.

“In August 2012, the Fokker F28 aircraft was decommissioned as it was over 30 years old and was not replaced.

“Last year, the BBJ and ACJ319 were scheduled for compulsory maintenance. The BBJ went through maintenance between January to July 2013 while the ACJ319 went through maintenance between June 15 to Oct 8, 2013.

“As such, the PMO which is responsible for special government aircraft took the decision to lease the ACJ320 to overcome the shortage of aircraft,” it said.

The PMO added that the aircraft were not exclusively for Najib but is also used by the Agong, sultans, yang di-pertuas, ministers, deputy ministers, foreign guests to the federal government, senior government officials and VIPs.

It added that the aircraft allowed these individuals to move in and out of the country safely and helps with their busy schedule.

Jais ‘forgot’ to inform state govt

No consultation was made with the state exco and the Menteri Besar prior to the raid yesterday.

PETALING JAYA: Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) forgot to inform the state exco before conducting the raid on Bible Society of Malaysia, said Selangor state exco on Islamic affairs Sallehen Mukhyi.

“They said it slipped their mind and the raid was done as Jais felt that there was a breach of the 1988 enactment on the use of the word ‘Allah’. They did it without consulting the Menteri Besar’s Office and me,” said Sallehen when contacted today.

Sallehen was asked to comment on his meeting today with Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) director Ahmad Zaharin Mohd Saad.

“Ahmad Zaharin would be submitting his report to me. I am expecting it by the end of the day.

Yesterday Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) raided the Bible Society of Malaysia and confiscated 300 Malay and Iban language Bibles.

The society’s president Lee Min Choon and general secretary Simon Wong was arrested by the police and released yesterday.

The bibles were confiscated in accordance with the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.

Today Lee and Wong had meetings with officials from the Prime Minister’s Department.

On the confiscated Al-Kitab and Bup Kudus, Sallehen said he was unsure whether the Bibles would be returned.

“I am not sure since a police case has been filed.”

On proposals to amend the state amendment, he said: “It is a big sensitive issue. It would be best if the proposals by DAP lawmakers are discussed in the Pakatan Rakyat presidential council.”

He said this in response to proposals from three DAP state assemblymen to amend the enactment so that it also protects the interests of the non-Muslims.

The trio are Yeo Bee Yin (Damansara Utama) Rajiv Rishyakaran (Bukit Gasing) and Lau Weng San (Kampung Tunku).

Tags: Sallehen Mukhyi, Jais, raid, Bible, Bible Society of Malaysia, DAP, Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.

Differing views on Jais’ authority to raid

While one legal expert says it is not empowered to conduct a search with or without a warrant, another says anyone can be arrested when it is an offence under the 1988 enactment.

PETALING JAYA: Legal experts were mixed in their opinions on whether the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Jais) had the right to conduct a raid against the Bible Society of Malaysia.

Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee chairman Firdaus Husni said the Selangor’s administration of the religion of Islam only applies to offences committed by Muslims.

“In fact, the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988 does not at all empower Jais to conduct a search with or without warrant.

“Unless expressly provided, we should not read more than what is provided under the enactment,” she told FMT.

Jais yesterday raided the Bible Society and confiscated 16 boxes containing 320 Malay Bibles (Al-Kitab) and Iban language Bibles (Bup Kudus) which were largely purchased from Indonesia Subsequently Bible Society president Lee Min Choon, general-secretary Simon Wong and office manager Sinclair Wong were taken to the Damansara Utama police station to have statements recorded.

Lee claimed that Jais officials were harsh and had conducted the raid without a warrant.

Constitutional law expert Syahredzan Johan, on the other hand, cited Section 11 of the 1988 Enactment, where offences under the enactment were classified as seizable offences.

“As such, a person connected with the commission of such an offence may be arrested without a warrant,” said Syahredzan.

‘It’s a criminal act’

When asked on the position of a person who did not breach the enactment, he said: “Jais will just argue that there is reasonable suspicion to justify the arrest.”

Meanwhile, Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) adviser Latheefa Koya said Jais did not even have the right to get a warrant in the first place.

“It’s impossible for them to get a warrant. On what basis will they get a warrant? The only way is when they are looking for a Muslim who has breached the enactment.

“As far as we are concerned, it was a criminal act. The Bible Society should lodge a police report and Jais should be pressed for charges,” said Latheefa.

She stressed that such incidents have to be put to a halt since they will only create more tension between religions.

“The raid is a manifestation of a bigger problem. I think it was part of a sinister agenda in the making,” she said.

She also called on the Selangor state government to define the power it wields over Jais.

“There is confusion if Jais falls under the jurisdiction of the federal or state government. Although it is technically under the Selangor government, it does not come under its directive,” she said.

Selangor exco Sallehan Mukhyi who holds the religious affairs portfolio told The Malay Mail Online that he was not informed of the raid and could not confirm if it was ordered by the Sultan or otherwise.

Kampung Hakka village head arrested

The village head and the PSM co-ordinator's intention was to make a police statement but it ended up with both being arrested.

PETALING JAYA: Kampung Hakka village head Chong Tze Yaw and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) co-ordinator R Gandhi were arrested at the Mantin police station, this morning, when they went to give a statement following a protest that took place in November.

The protest by residents of Kampung Hakka,Mantin, was held in front of the developer, Mega 9 Housing Sdn Bhd’s office to show their unhappiness over the demolition of their houses in Oct. Both men were arrested under section 506, act of criminal intimidation.

PSM secretary general S Arutchelvan told FMT over the telephone, that according to the Mantin police station officers, a report had been lodged against Chong on Dec 30 by the developer.

The next day eight police officers went to Chong’s house in the middle of the night but Chong was not at home.

“When asked, the police informed us that it was just to take a statement from Chong.

“ So, today Chong accompanied by Gandhi went to the Mantin police station, whereby both of them were arrested and taken to Lengeng and Proga police station respectively.

“The police are misusing their powers, yet again,” he said.

Arulchelvan went on to say that if they had been informed earlier, by the police, regarding Chong’s impending arrest then they would have ensured that a lawyer was present.

“Now the villagers are making a counter report against the developer.”

He said that they were not sure as to the basis of the arrest as they have yet to meet the investigation officer.

In Oct, Arul claimed Mantin police officers arrested 12 villagers and hurt others in a brutal way when the villagers were trying to stop the demolition of their houses by the developer.

Pemilihan PKR: Rafizi tanding Naib Presiden?

Dalam analisis ini, saya buat andaian siapa yang layak jadi Naib Presiden PKR yang kini disandang ahli parlimen Lembah Pantai, Nurul Izzah Anwar; ahli parlimen Batu, Tian Chua dan ahli parlimen Kuantan, Fuziah Salleh.
ANALYSIS

PETALING JAYA: Pada tahun lepas Umno, MCA, MIC, Gerakan, PAS, DAP , PBS, Upko sudah mengadakan pemilihan baru para pemimpinnya untuk menghadapi pilihanraya umum yang ke 14. Kini tiba pula giliran PKR mengadakan pemilihannya pada hujung bulan ini.

Tumpuan tertarik kepada pemilihan pemimpin utama. Adakah Ketua Pembangkang, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim akan mengambil alih jawatan Presiden PKR dari tangan isterinya, Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail? Apakah Menteri Besar Selangor, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim akan menentang ahli parlimen Gombak, Azmin Ali bagi jawatan Timbalan Presiden PKR?

Dalam analisis ini, saya buat andaian siapa yang layak jadi Naib Presiden PKR yang kini disandang ahli parlimen Lembah Pantai, Nurul Izzah Anwar; ahli parlimen Batu, Tian Chua dan ahli parlimen Kuantan, Fuziah Salleh.

Tiga orang Naib Presiden ini dipilih oleh perwakilan manakala ada juga Naib Presiden yang dilantik seperti Dr Mansor Othman, Datuk Seri Chua Jui Meng dan N. Surendran.

Adakah Dr Mansor, Chua dan Surendan berminat merebut kerusi Naib Presiden PKR? Takkan mereka berpuas hati sebagai Naib Presiden yang dilantik sahaja? Dr Mansor bekas setiausaha politik Anwar Ibrahim ketika beliau menjadi Timbalan Perdana Menteri.

Tidak dapat dipastikan sejauh mana kekuatan Dr Mansor jika beliau bertanding kerusi Naib Presiden PKR kerana sepanjang beliau menjafi Timbalan Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang, beliau tidak menonjol. Malah di parlimen pun sebagai ahli parlimen Nibong Tebal beliau tidak hebat seperti Rafizi Ramli atau lain-lain ahli parlimen PKR.

Chua pula bekas Menteri Kesihatan yang kalah di Segamat di tangan Datuk Dr S. Subramanima. Jadi kalau perwakilan PKR memilih beliau sebagai Naib Presiden, beliau tidak dapat bersuara di parlimen. Manakala N Surendan ahli parlimen Padang Serai amat aktif di parlimen sehingga diarah keluar dari Dewan oleh Yang Dipertua Dewan Rakyat, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia.

N. Surendan mampu menang Naib Presiden PKR jika beliau ambil keputusan mempertahankan jawatan itu melalui pertandingan. Tiga penyandang jawatan dijangka mempertahankan kerusi masing-masing.

Nurul Izzah dilihat sebagai pengganti Anwar Ibrahim apabila beliau bersara dari politik. Dua kali memenangi kerusi parlimen Lembah Pantai, Nurul Izzah dilihat bakal Presiden PKR di masa akan datang. Soalnya adakah rakyat Malaysia bersedia menerima wanita sebagai Perdana Menteri.

Inilah kelebihan PKR kerana memiliki dua orang wanita sebagai Naib Presiden manakala Umno belum bersedia memilih wanita sebagai Naib Presiden. Jika Pakatan Rakyat memerintah Malaysia 10 tahun lagi, adakah PAS bersedia menerima Nurul Izzah sebagai Perdana Menteri Malaysia?

Seperti kata Azmin Ali, jika Anwar bersara dari politik, PKR tetap hidup kerana sokongan rakyat kepada PKR bukan kerana Anwar tetapi kerana isu yang menyentuh hati rakyat yang dibawa oleh PKR.

Fuziah Salleh sebagai ahli parlimen Kuantan agak menonjol di parlimen. Mampukah beliau mengekalkan kerusi Naib Presiden? Usul tergempar mengenai banjir yang dibawanya di Dewan Rakyat tetapi ditolak oleh Yang Dipertua Dewan Rakyat melonjakkan nama Fuziah.

Tian Chua juga tokoh kontroversi PKR. Beliau sudah pasti mempertahankan kerusi Naib Presiden PKR.

Siapa lagi yang layak bertanding kerusi Naib Presiden? Bagi saya, ahli parlimen Pandan, Rafizi Ramli yang paling layak bertanding kerusi Naib Presiden PKR. Beliau selaku Pengarah Strategi PKR banyak membawa isu. Salah satunya isu PTPTN yang mahu menyenaraihitamkan peminjam PTPTN. Bantahan Rafizi disambut Ketua Pemuda Umno, Khairy Jamaluddin yang akhirnya kabinet mendengar suara Khairy di atas desakan Rafizi.

Rafizi dilihat sebagai pemimpin PKR di masa hadapan. Oleh itu jika beliau bertanding kerusi Naib Presiden, beliau ada peluang untuk menang. Alangkah ruginya kalau perwakilan PKR tidak memilih orang sebijak Rafizi sebagai Naib Presiden.

Sekurang-kurangnya lima orang dijangka bertanding kerusi Naib Presiden PKR pada hujung bulan ini iaitu Nurul Izzah, Tian Chua, Fuziah Salleh, N Surendran dan Rafizi Ramli. Terulanglah kepada perwakilan PKR untuk membuat keputusan.

Let's see some nation-first leadership

ONE thing you learn from driving school is to plan your journey before you set off.

This good advice holds for any journey really, including Malaysia's route to 2020 – the year it aims to be a developed and high-income nation. Not only is proper, comprehensive and goal-oriented planning needed, but some precise navigation is required as well. And bipartisan consensus, which is what Parliament – if it works properly – is meant to secure for the country.

What is the best route to take to get there from here? What are the hindrances?

The fact is that Malaysians are still fighting over where it is they are actually going. Is the country working towards the creation of a "Bangsa Malaysia" or an Islamic state? Towards a Malay-first polity that must lean towards religion in global orientation or a pluralistic society easily adaptive of the region's ethnic diversity? Towards becoming a bright example of multicultural vigour or being held hostage by racial populism?

Nation building, I am sure most people would agree, is about developing a rational and practical discourse alongside economic policies that deliver common goods to citizens. It is also about creating a strong sense of national togetherness and common purpose as well as inculcating an understanding of the country's effective place in the world at large.

Malaysia's economy is, and has always been, global in orientation, yet its domestic politics has not only been introverted but also advertently divisive. This irony may have had limited consequence in the days of the Cold War when the whole world was also aggressively divided into two. Malaysia benefited politically from this much larger global split, and economically from the fact that communist countries in the region were in no position to compete with it.

Those days are gone and the game has changed. Malaysia must now deal with numerous countries for foreign direct investments now, and the dissonance between internal politics and external economics now reverberates very loudly. The country had been developing, no doubt, but it now finds itself caught in the middle-income trap. But one cannot remain there indefinitely – the mobility of capital and human resources is simply too easy now.

What Malaysia needs on the last stretch towards 2020 is a strong consensus on what the goals for the country are, and how to get there. It boils down to the government taking serious steps to minimise social tensions, closing the income gap, improving governance, and enhancing economic growth – and doing these all at once.

Fifty years after Malaysia was founded, it is a time for nation builders to take the lead again. The demagogues need to be relegated into a corner.

Since the Cold War ended, Malaysia has been caught in a pendulum swing between broad developmental goals and partisan politics, and with every swing, some momentum is lost. A day of reckoning draws near.

In 1991, then premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad came up with a commendable and elaborate list of goals towards which the country was to work over the coming three decades. These were, however, forgotten after the 1997/98 financial crisis hit the region and the country.

Five years after that, Tun Abdullah Badawi, who took over as premier, profiled himself as a reformer and even propounded an approach to Islamic thinking that would minimise tensions between religious dogmatism and democratic governance.

This proved a big hit and he won a landslide victory in the 2004 general election. Soon after that, however, the pendulum started swinging back, and already in 2005, both his ambitious reforms and his advocacy of Islam Hadhari were being silenced by a sharp rise in Malay ethnocentrism within his own party.

Voters reacted strongly to this change and Barisan Nasional suffered bad results in the election in March 2008, and Abdullah forfeited the leadership of his party the following year.

Reading the ground correctly, his successor Datuk Seri Najib Razak took on Abdullah's original mantel and also styled himself a reformist prime minister. "1 Malaysia" was his all-encompassing slogan.

Over the next four years, he had a hard time trying to force the pendulum to go his way. Try as he would with slogans and transformation programmes, his lack of consistency was too glaring for him to steer the political direction the country was heading in. Bipartisanism had become total. Grounds for consensus across the coalitional divide no longer existed, as was seen in the 2013 election, which split the electorate into two equal halves.

The year 2020 is now only six years away. What are the milestones to mull over? Only one federal election need to be called before that, and that is not before 2018. The wider context to note is that Malaysia will be Asean chair in 2016, in face, the morning after Asean officially becomes an integrated economic community.

The global balance of power will continue to shift in the meantime. China and India will continue to grow in influence. The US will revert to a white president which will, in all probability, lessen the institutional trauma and paralysis that the country's democracy seems to have been suffering from since Barack Obama, against all odds, became president in 2008.

Regional powers like Japan and South Korea will be manoeuvring their way in between the bigger powers, and Indonesia's economy will expand substantially before it hits expected limits.

Malaysia has one last shot at realising the potential most people have always thought it had. What it needs now is the kind of old-school consensus-seeking, eye-to-the-ball, nation-first leadership exhibited by the country's first generation of leaders.


Ooi Kee Beng is deputy director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. His latest book is Done Making Do (Genta & ISEAS, 2013). This article was published in The Edge Malaysia Dec 30-Jan 5 issue.

Read more: http://www.fz.com/content/lets-see-some-nation-first-leadership#ixzz2pNbE8vpd

Of mad mullahs and mangled muftis

When will we ever see people respecting each other for what they believe in and to pray by whichever way they feel safe, at peace, and connected as what 'religion' derived from the Latin 'religio' means, i.e. connectedness (to a higher and greater consciousness)?

Why can't the Shiites and Sunnis stop fighting? Why can't we focus on larger issues such as the future of our children through the fixing of our education system, or to make sure that our streets are safe, to bring back local elections so that our democracy will be stronger, or to ensure that our leaders are doing what they are supposed to be doing since they are servants to the people they begged votes from?

But what do we still have? Pathos, thanatos, and the loss of eros. Of hubris and hamartia. Of poetic injustices year after year. That's what we have. Another year of diabolical doings left undone.

Malaysians are ushering into a new year not with renewed hope to make things better for intercultural, inter-religious relations, nor to make it a time of reflection and reconciliation but to read more of the ridiculousness of ethnocentrism and religious bigotry renewed with bigger dose of insanity, threatening to make 2014 another Malaysian year of living dangerously.

Why do we see Christians being persecuted more and more these days, in regard to the recent threats to arrest those who give their sermons using the word 'Allah' to refer to the Almighty those of the monotheistic faith share in reverie?

Why must we read about the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) threatening to raid churches that still want to use the word 'Allah' in the prayers they had been using even before the country gained independence?

And why must we read about the raid in the Bible Society of Malaysia and the confiscation of the holy books that will help Malaysians too become less and less violent, corrupt, and living a life of immorality, having 'Allah' too as a guide to the "siratul mustaqim" or the path of righteousness of the followers of the teachings of Isa/Jesus?

Utterly ridiculous raid is it not? Or because it is Malaysia, that anything ridiculous can happen in this half-baked modernised society?

Is there a secret plan to drive the Christians underground so that they may then pray to the same god only in secret? I hope there is none - because there will still be sane Muslims who will protect the rights of the Christians from being trampled by insane Muslims.

Why must we read about Umno Youth's plan to protest in all churches that are suspected of using the holy word to designate God; words used by Christians in the Arab land, even before Muhammad declared Islam as a renew religion and use the word 'Allah' too, to unify the Muslims and to craft a campaign of empire-building the world over?

‘What a way to start the new year’

And more ridiculous, as recent as yesterday, why are we reading yet another reiteration of a fatwa by this mufti from Perak who has nothing better to do than vomit nonsensical declaration that those who protested against the ridiculous price hikes can be called traitors and should be waged war against in the form of 'jihad fisabilillah' (holy war in the name of Allah).

The protesters were not armed with bombs strapped on their waist, were they? The protesters weren't running around amuck-latah carrying machetes, parang panjang, kapak siam or machine guns, were they?

Weren't they armed with anything dangerous except the call for the government not to further trample them with more hardships so that few in power can enjoy celebrating New Year with more champagne worth thousands of dollars to blow just that one night?

Isn't jihad supposed to be about speaking truth to power and wishing for a peaceful change through such a peaceful and legal gathering as what was demonstrated on the night the rakyat came down - to 'turun and turn' so that everything, prices and people intoxicated with power will bow down to the will of the rakyat?

Isn't that what Islam and all religions promoting the peaceful middle path call for?

What a mufti Perak has and what a way to force him to resign before he does any damage to Muslims too. But what will it take to force him to do that?
                              
What a way to start the new year!

As in a play in a French absurd theatre ala Oriflamme' and Metamorphosis, looks like another Kafka-esque year of sweeping dead corpses under the national carpet and shoving more skeletons in the closet of a sinking ship as we see more and more filth being revealed in the way the leaders-elected-on-a-minority-mandate try to hide their massive secrets of corrupt practices, conspicuous consumption, idiotic pride, nauseating arrogance, and sub-intelligence at a time when the rakyat is getting more and more impatient with everything they see, read, hear and feel about the way the country is governed.

Instead of Auld Lang Syne, at the stroke of midnight, we Malaysians should have chanted these verses in Dataran Merdeka:

Tahun Baru Gila

Tahun Kegilaan Baru

Crazy New Year!

Renewed Crazy Year!

Let us remain hopeful though and in our own way, work towards peaceful change. We must continue to light the candle and not curse the darkness.

---

DR AZLY RAHMAN, born in Singapore and grew up in Johor Baru, holds a Columbia University (New York City) doctorate in International Education Development and Masters degrees in four areas: Education, International Affairs, Peace Studies and Communication. He has taught more than 40 courses in six different departments and has written more than 350 analyses on Malaysia.

Leaders appeal for calm

Malay Mail 
by FAIZAL NOR IZHAM

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 — Political leaders from both sides of the divide urged the public to remain calm following yesterday’s raid by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) at the Bible Society of Malaysia’s (BSM) premises here.

Copies of both the Malay-language and Iban Bibles that contained the word ʻAllah’ were seized during the raid.

The society’s chairman, Lee Min Choon, and office manager, Sinclair Wong, were taken to a police station for questioning, then released on bail.

 

MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said enforcement groups should not take action without valid reasons as they could create an uproar.

“We still do not know the reasoning behind this and so I urge the relevant authorities to investigate. I’m concerned about this and will look into it myself,” he said.

Former Temerloh MP Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah also asked the people to keep calm while the matter was being handled.

“Malaysians are generally sensible people but when such actions are taken, people become unhappy,” he said.

“We are still getting information as to why Jais has conducted the raid.”

He said two ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department — Tan Sri Joseph Kurup and the minister in charge of Islamic affairs Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom — were in contact with each other over the issue. 

“Also, the National Unity Consultation Council, launched in November, will have its first meeting on Monday. As a member, I will bring up this matter.”

PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli asked the people to remain calm. 

“This is a delicate issue and it is important to look at it with the facts in hand,” he said.

Local churches also appealed for intervention from the federal and Selangor governments following the raid.

In a statement, the Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM) said the governments should step in and prevent a repeat of such actions.

“The CCM also calls on the prime minister, the menteri besar of Selangor and all Christian lawmakers to act immediately to stop such actions and future raids,” the statement, signed by the council’s secretary-general, Rev Dr Hermen Shastri, said.

It also noted that the raid had taken place “right at the beginning of the new year” and that it believed “Islamic bodies lack the powers to inspect non-Muslim places”.

“The CCM believes that Islamic authorities do not have the authority in law to enter the premises of non-Muslim religious establishments for inspection,” it said.

It also pointed to the guarantee of freedom to practise and regulate one’s own faith, a right enshrined in the  Federal Constitution.

“The Federal Constitution guarantees by Article 11 (3) the right of religious communities in Malaysia to establish and maintain institutions and premises to freely profess and administer their affairs,” it said.

“The CCM further calls upon the churches in the country to stay calm, and pray that the proper authorities will act with wisdom and sensitivity and protect religious rights as provided under the Federal Constitution.”

Health Minister and MIC deputy president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam hoped the matter could be resolved amicably. 

“Religion is a sensitive and emotional issue. The nation has been built on the basis of understanding, tolerance and mutual respect. I hope all parties will exercise restrain and remain calm,” he said.

“I believe the present situation can be resolved in the spirit of national unity.”

Government Will Continue To Provide Best Public Transport System - Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the government will continue to provide the best public transport system for the people.

"We will continue to strive to provide the best public transport system," the Prime Minister said in his Tweet tonight.

He was commenting on the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) annual report that public transport usage in the Klang Valley continues to rise.

The report said the number of trips during morning peak hours rose 9 per cent to 5.7 million trips in 2013 compared to 5.3 million trips in 2012.

According to SPAD, the number of passengers during the morning peak hours daily rose to 827,000 in 2013 compared to 635,000 in 2012.

The report also found that city rail passengers surpassed bus passengers as rail accounted for 52 per cent of public transport users.

Mufti Perak: Peserta demo 'bughah', halal darah mereka

Islamic ‘No-entry for outsiders’ signboards in Rameswaram villages removed by Police.

Special correspondent | Ramanathapuram (Tamil Nadu) | Jan 01, 2014:: Following a report published by The Pioneer first and propagated by Hindu Existence, Haindavakeralam and Hindu Janjagruti Samiti about the billboards put up by local Jamaat Councils in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu that ‘outsiders were not allowed into the villages’, police last week removed all the signboards displayed prominently at entrances to the villages.

Hindu Existence propagated the issue under the headline “Fatwa challenges Rule of the land in Rameshwram villages in Tamil Nadu. Hindus are prohibited in some parts of India.” and commented “Islamic Fatwa violates Indian Sovereignty in Rameshwram villages in Tamil Nadu. Non Muslims are not allowed in the outskirts of Hindu Shrine place, even not allowed to purchase lands. State and Central Govt.s are sleeping. Oh Hindus! Retaliate wherever possible. Don’t give entry of Muslims and Christians in Hindu Villages and don’t sell a piece of land even. It’s our existential question in Bharat. Anti-Hindu forces are too active to cease our rights in the traditional land of Hindus.”

Immediate after publication of the report, the Hindu Existence Forum sent all the clippings of the news and pictures to various authorities (Administrative and Police) in Tamil Nadu and forwarded the same to all possible corner of the globe including the international media.

The high offices of President of India and the Prime Minister of India have also been alerted for such a repression over Hindus around Rameswaram villages.

The endeavour of all concerned and the main reporter of the specific news, Kumar Chellappan of The Pioneer has been reached to a fruitful end at last.

Yesterday, Ramanathapuram Superintendent of Police NM Mayilvahananan has been quoted by a local daily that he ordered the removal of the boards since they had the word ‘Warning’. “Only the police can use the word ‘Warning’ in public places,” he told the reporter of a local daily.

Though the local daily report quotes a Baskaran (that too a changed name), as telling that the boards were never a bone of contention as it was collective decision to put them up, The Pioneer had carried comments from persons with original names and are known to everybody in the district.

Though MH Jawahirullah, the Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (an Islamist outfit) MLA representing the Ramanathapuram constituency said no fatwa has been issued anywhere in the district and the report about hoisting of national tricolour with chappals was false, he has conceded that a group of boys were fined by the police for hoisting chappals. What he left unsaid was the presence of national tricolour along with the chappals.

The report also quotes that the presence of the bill boards were of no concern earlier. “It is out of fear that nobody lodges a complaint,” said D Kuppu Ramu, an advocate and VHP leader who was once brutally attacked by Islamic terrorists.

Elsewhere in the Ramanathapuram district, there are instances of the Hindus living in perpetual fear because of the sheer strength of numbers of the Musilm community which is getting radicalised by the day.

The present case of initiating Shariat laws in a Muslim majority area issuing fatwa or the tendencies of expelling the Hindu minorities from Muslim areas , have the right answer through instant and joint protest in many ways to restore Indian Constitution and law of the lad over Islamic hegemony and dangerous Shariat.

The islamization of Sweden: 80,000 sexual crimes, 87,100 reported violent assaults per year

If 17,000 sexual offenses are reported, and the police estimate that only 23% are reported, the actual number of sexual offences is around 80,000:

According to the National Crime Prevention Council (National Council) only about 23 percent of sex crimes in Sweden are reported to the police. Last year police reported over 6,000 rapes and almost 17,000 sexual offenses.

Source: Skanskan

If 87,100 violent assaults are reported, the actual number must be much higher:

"In 2012, about 87 100 assaults were reported in Sweden. The number of reports has increased over a ten year period."

 Source: BRA (Swedish National Statistics)

Mujahid urges Putrajaya to stop religious bodies from damaging interfaith ties

Affairs Department's (Jais) heavy-handed approach against the Christian community in the country over the use of the word Allah is proof that its actions are politically motivated rather than driven by religion, said an opposition lawmaker.

PAS politician Datuk Mujahid Yusof Rawa (pic) said Putrajaya should immediately step in and stop Muslim religious bodies like Jais from conducting raids and attempting to enforce state laws on non-Muslim establishments as this only serves to further damage the already fractured interfaith relations in the country.

Jais today caused an uproar when it raided the Bible Society of Malaysia's premises in Damansara Kim, in Selangor, and carted away more than 300 copies of the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia and Iban language.

Mujahid questioned the grounds for the Jais raid and confiscation of the Bibles.

"The last time, they accused the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) of propagating their religion to Muslims and in the end, there was no proof of any of that.

"Now what are they accusing the Christians of? Shame on Jais," said Mujahid, who has been actively promoting Christian-Muslim dialogue in the country.

He was referring to an incident in August 2011, where Jais officers had barged into a DUMC multi-racial dinner after claiming that the DUMC was proselytising to Malays.

Jais had subsequently denied the allegations that it had “raided” the thanksgiving dinner and said it was merely carrying out an “inspection” following a complaint that Muslims were at the AIDS support group Harapan Komuniti event.

Mujahid called on the government to consult the Cabinet-sanctioned National Unity Consultative Council on the controversy over the Allah issue, adding that the council is scheduled to meet on January 6.

He added that the matter should be on the agenda on Monday.

He also pointed out that another reason why Muslim religious bodies should not act now was because the Allah issue was still pending in court.

"In any case, there has to be a balance between law and tolerance and the legal process over the Allah case is not over," the Parit Buntar MP added.

"As such, the government needs to look at it in a wise and civilised manner," Mujahid said.

He also questioned the government's failure to find an amicable solution to the Allah issue for Christians in Peninsular Malaysia, in the same manner they were willing to allow Christians in Sabah and Sarawak to use the word based on negotiations.

"So, the government needs to halt all action and not allow Jais to act without prior understanding of the sensitivities surrounding the matter.

"I'm not saying Jais does not have the authority, but use it with wisdom taking into account the impact on the greater society," he said.

Christians make up about nine per cent of the population in Malaysia. – January 2, 2014.

Mufti's 'bloodshed' remark draws ridicule

Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria's remark that protesters at Dataran Merdeka on New Year's Eve should be killed has drawn ridicule from several personalities on Twitter.

Activist Marina Mahathir (left), the daughter of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, mockingly called Harussani a "pope" and questioned if he understood the purpose of the rally.

"Did 'Pope' Harussani say it's ok to kill people who complain about high prices? You mean his wives don't complain after marketing?" she wrote.

Harussani was quoted by Berita Harian today stating that the protesters are "bughah" (a terms that describes Muslims who betray their countries) and that it was "halal" to kill them.

Prominent ustaz Wan Ji Wan Husin wrote on Twitter that Harussani had displayed his ignorance of Islam and that he had made Islam look bad.

"Another unwise mufti has spoken. Does he not know the definition of bughah?" he asked.

Meanwhile, human rights lawyers Fadiah Nadwa Fikri and Syahredzan Johan believe that Harussani might have committed an offence by instigating the murder of the protesters.

"I hope the protesters investigate his statement. It is dangerous. 'Halal darah' means (protesters) can be killed," wrote Syahredzan.

Harussani's remarks were published two days after about 10,000 people protested at Dataran Merdeka on New Year's Eve against government policies that has recently led to a sharp increase in the price of essential goods.

Initially, the police claimed that the rally was designed to "topple the government" by adopting methods used in the Arab Spring.

However, most of the protesters dispersed after midnight after achieving their objective of gathering.

Bible Society duo freed on bail after 90mins

Bible Society Malaysia (BSM) chairperson Lee Min Choon and his office manager Sinclair Wong were both released on bail at the Damansara police station today after spending 90 minutes at the station following the seizure of Malay Bible texts from their Damansara office.

Police have told the duo that they would need to report to the Selangor Islamic Department (Jais) on Jan 10 to further assist in investigations, though it remains unclear whether court charges will be brought on them for possessing the Bibles.

They were bailed by the society’s secretary-general Simon Wong, and Lee later said that he was “surprised” at the raid given it was inconsistent with the 10-point solution that the government came up with for Christians in 2011.

Lee and Sinclair are being investigated under the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988, which prohibits non-Muslims from using the word ‘Allah’.

Lee said that the move by Jais and the police to seize the texts was a definite violation of freedom of religion.

"We hope that the spirit of tolerance that we have fostered can be preserved.

"This is adding spark to what is already a volatile situation between Christians and Muslims in the country," he added.

DAP's Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua (left), who was also present at the police station, said that Jais officers have acted in an "overzealous and misguided" manner.

"Now the country's leadership has to put its foot down and stop the circus," he said.

"This could further deteriorate relations between races. This was started by the federal government and it is up to them to stop it," he added.

Pua also said that the government, though, seems "determined to bow" to the interests of extremists in the country, which further risks racial harmony.

Jais raids Bible Society, Malay bibles seized

The Selangor Islamic Religious department officials carted away more than 320 copies of the Alkitab and 10 copies of the Iban language bible.
FULL REPORT

PETALING JAYA: The Selangor Islamic Religious department (Jais) raided the Bible Society of Malaysia at 1.30pm and society chairman Lee Min Choon and general-secretary Simon Wong and office manager Sinclair Wong were taken to the Damansara Utama police station.

The trio are now waiting for the police to confirm the charges against them.
They confiscated 16 boxes of materials containing 320 Malay Bibles (Al-Kitab) and Iban language Bibles (Bup Kudus) which were largely purchased from Indonesia, cantering for Sabah and Sarawak Christians.

The new director of Jais Ahmad Zaharin Mohd Saad said last week it would soon issue letters to all churches in Selangor to remind them to obey a 1988 state enactment banning non-Muslims from using the word “Allah”.

The Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation among Muslims) Enactment 1988, passed by the then Barisan Nasional state government, prohibits non-Muslims in Selangor from using 35 Arabic words and phrases in their faith, including “Allah”, “Nabi” (prophet), “Injil” (gospel) and “Insya’Allah” (God willing). – January 2, 2014.

Bible Society of Malaysia chairman Lee Min Choon claimed that the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) were harsh and conducted a raid without a warrant .

“We are waiting to be bailed out. A total of 16 Jais officers and two police constables came to our office at 1.30pm. They were harsh in their conduct and only showed us their identification cards.

“They did not even produce a warrant,” said Lee who was met at Damansara Police Station this afternoon along with the society’s general secretary Reverand Simon Wong and office manager Sinclair Wong.

Lee told reporters that JAIS officials were looking for materials containing the word ‘Allah’.

Lee said JAIS officials told him that they were acting in accordance with the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation among Muslims) Enactment 1988.

The enactment prohibits non-Muslims in Selangor from using 35 Arabic words and phrases in their faith, including “Allah”, “Nabi” (prophet), “Injil” (gospel) and “Insya’Allah” (God willing).

He also said that JAIS called him to assist them in their investigations next Friday to which he agreed.

Lee and Simon was subsequently released after Sinclair posted an oral bail.

“Whether we are to be charged or not we do not know,” Lee added.

On that note he also called for the “Christian community to be calm and Muslims to be understanding”.

He also admitted that the raid would ignite further “sparks over the Allah controversy”.

DAP representatives also arrived at the Damansara police station, a short while later.

PJ Utara MP Tony Pua told the press that he would be raising the issue in Parliament at its next sitting in March..

“It is a clear trespass against freedom of religion. Every religion has the right to be managed on its own. Jais should apologise for the raid,” he said.

“This (raid) action was done by a group of overzealous and misguided group of people who failed to respect the rights of the others,” he added.

Stampin MP Julian Tan from Sarawak told the press that Sarawakians were watching over these developments.

“Over forty percent of Sarawakians are Christians and we are observing these developments. It is against (nurturing) harmony among the people,” he said.

Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming admitted having two copies of the Al-Kitab. I hope JAIS won’t raid my home and the houses of other Christians who have an Al-Kitab.

He added reporters that there were 100,000 Al-Kitab users from East Malaysia in Klang Valley and Johor Bahru and another 50,000 in Penang.

Damansara Utama assemblywoman Yeo Bee Yin meanwhile said that there there is a pressing need to remove the exclusivity of the Allah term if Malaysians were to move forward.

Sanjeevan’s friend innocent and freed

MyWatch chairman R Sri Sanjeevan will expose another video clip soon on the cops behind drug syndicates in Negri Sembilan and Malacca.

PETALING JAYA: Anti-crime activist R Sri Sanjeevan’s friend Ramesh who was arrested on July 27 and sent to the Muar detention centre has been released last Tuesday after proving his innocence in front of the Home Ministry’s Consultative Board.

Ramesh, who was with Sanjeevan during his shooting incident in Bahau, Negeri Sembilan, was faslely linked to a drug syndicate and sentenced to two years’ jail under the Drugs Preventive Law1985 and subsequently sent to Muar detention centre.

Sanjeevan also alleged that Ramesh was physically tortured during his 60-day remand at the Police Remand Centre in KL to reveal the identity of the man in the FMT video on July 2, 2013.

In the video an ex-convict revealed a drug syndicate operating in Negeri Sembilan and Malacca with police help.

“The intelligence report states that Ramesh bought drugs from an unknown person ‘A’ but it was proven in front of the consultative board that the person ‘A’ died in 2008.

“No direct link were found between Ramesh and person ‘A’, thus this proves that the evidence was fabricated against Ramesh,” said the MyWatch chairman.

“On July 28, Negeri Sembilan CPO Osman Salleh in a statement stated that Ramesh was on police wanted list since early last year.

“This is a blatant lie because I personally brought along Ramesh to meet the Jempol OCPD Supt Hamzah sometime in May 2013 for meeting, but why was he not arrested then if he was a suspect,” asked Sanjeevan.

“Why are the police paranoid about the revelation made by MyWatch? By right the IGP should investigate the rogue cops and not on the person in the video,” he said.

Sanjeevan said the Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi failed to investigate revelations made MyWatch and also into his shootings.

He said it was high time for Malaysians to have a new Inspector-General of Police, Federal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director and Narcotics director.

He also recalled that on July 6, last year, IGP Khalid Abu Bakar in a press conference stated they will work with MyWatch to investigate on the revelations and take action against the rogue police personnel.

“However, no investigations were carried out despite giving the full information and co-operation to the police,” said Sanjeevan in a press statement.

Sanjeevan cheated death when he was shot by a pillion rider, on July 27, at a traffic light in Bahau, Negeri Sembilan.

One bullet pierced his lung, causing an infection which delayed surgery to remove the bullet.

Sanjeevan claimed to have fed crime and drug-related information directly to the IGP but failed to receive any reply from him.

He said his NGO would make another recorded revelation in near future pertaining to drug syndicates in Negeri Sembilan and Malacca which purportedly involved top cops.

Police to summon Father Lawrence

Selangor police chief Shukri Dahlan, however, says that he will discuss the matter with the Selangor Islamic Religious Council first.

KLANG: The police will record The Herald editor Father Lawrence Andrew’s statement following a report lodged against him for his remarks over the word Allah.

But Selangor Police chief Mohd Shukri Dahlan said they would first discuss the matter with the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) before taking action.

“The police will summon the priest to record his statement but we have yet to determine the date,” he told reporters today.

Mohd Shukri said such a procedure was part of the information-gathering process in any police investigation after a report has been made.

“I haven’t finalised how many police reports have been made, but it is standard operating procedure that for every report we receive, we will investigate, and this includes reports related to the use of the word Allah,” he said.

The police report was lodged after a news portal reported the priest as saying Christians would continue to use the word Allah in all churches in Selangor.

The statement, made on Dec 27, is rude as it is in violation of a court decision as well as the Sultan Selangor’s decree which forbids non-Muslims in the state from using the word ‘Allah’ as stated in Section 9, Part 1 of the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.

Meanwhile, Mohd Shukri expressed disappointment over certain quarters for hurling accusations at the Selangor police force following the arrest of a man who owned a homemade bomb last Tuesday.

“All the information the police released regarding the case of the man arrested with his homemade bomb is true, and no additional information was tacked on,” he said.

After the man’s arrest, the Selangor police’s Facebook page became a target of criticism, with many accusing the police of intentionally provoking the public. Others claimed the bomb had no relation with the planned gathering on the eve of 2014.

Mohd Shukry was attending the appointment of the Klang Selatan district police chief ACP Kamarul Zaman Mamat, replacing ACP Mohamed Mad Yusof who had been appointed Deputy Command of Kuala Lumpur Police Training Centre.

Kamarul Zaman was previously the Assistant Director of Secret Societies, Vice and Gambling Division (D7) Bukit Aman.

-Bernama

Manager and girlfriend charged with murder

The duo were alleged to have abused three year old, Muhammad Aqeef Adam Mohd Imran to death, in an apartment in Bandar Putra, Kulaijaya.

JOHOR BAHRU: A company manager and his girlfriend were charged in the Magistrate’s Court here today for the death of his three-year-old son last month.

Mohd Imran Mohd Ramly, 31, and the woman, Norhidayah Mamid, 27, are alleged to have abused Muhammad Aqeef Adam Mohd Imran, resulting in his death, at an apartment in Bandar Putra, Kulaijaya between midnight on Dec 16 and 6.45pm on Dec 19, 2013.

The charge, under Section 302 of the Penal Code, carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.

Mohd Imran, from Kampung Paya Renggoh, Johol, Negeri Sembilan, and Norhidayah, from Taman Lagenda Putra, Kulaijaya, Johor, nodded their head after the charge was read.

However, no plea was recorded.

Magistrate Salina Omar then set Feb 5 for mention at the Kulai Magistrate’s Court pending the result of the victim’s post mortem and a report from the Chemistry Department.

Prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Dzul Iswari Mohd Jaafar.

Kes tembak pertama di tahun 2014

Tembakan itu mengenai badan mangsa yang berumur 46 tahun dari Taman Jati di sini. Keadaan lelaki itu dilaporkan stabil setelah diberi rawatan di Hospital Kulim.

KULIM:Tahun lepas setiap minggu ada kes tembak di negara kita.Setelah lama kes ini tidak kedengaran, malam tadi di awal Tahun Baru 2014, sudah berlaku kes tembakan pertama di negara ini.

Seorang peniaga perkakasan rumah cedera parah terkena tembakan dengan pistol dari jarak dekat ketika sedang minum di sebuah restoran di Taman Kempas Indah, di sini, malam tadi.

Ketua Polis Daerah Kulim Supt Ghuzlan Salleh berkata kejadian berlaku kira-kira 10.30 malam apabila dua lelaki menaiki sebuah motosikal berhenti di hadapan restoran tersebut dan seorang daripada mereka melepaskan beberapa das tembakan.

“Tembakan itu mengenai badan mangsa yang berumur 46 tahun dari Taman Jati di sini. Keadaan lelaki itu dilaporkan stabil setelah diberi rawatan di Hospital Kulim,” katanya kepada Bernama di sini, hari ini.

Beliau berkata peniaga itu yang menjalankan perniagaan di Taman Kempas sempat lari sejauh 40 meter untuk menyelamatkan diri selepas ditembak sebelum terjatuh manakala penyerangnya memecut motosikal dan melarikan diri.

Peniaga itu bernasib baik orang ramai berhampiran tempat kejadian membantunya dan menghubungi polis untuk dihantar ke Hospital Kulim, kata Ghuzlan.

Katanya polis yang menyiasat kejadian itu menjumpai lima kelongsong peluru pistol di kawasan restoran tersebut. Polis mengesyaki serangan itu bermotifkan dendam.

'More people will be living in poverty’

Cassa president said more people will be living below the poverty line because of the higher cost of living due the price increase of goods and food.

PETALING JAYA: The price increase of goods will affect the health of the poor because they will not have money to buy basic necessities, said Consumers Association of Subang and Shah Alam, Selangor (Cassa) President Jacob George.

George said low-income earners were already hard pressed for money and with the increase in the price of goods they would be living below the poverty line.

Jacob said there was no way the low-income group could cut their expenses because their income was too low compared with the cost of living.

He said the poor were already struggling to make a living and many send their schooling children to work in coffeeshops to remain afloat.

“I believe more people will live in poverty now. There is some people earning less than RM1,000 and they cannot survive with the current cost of living.

The Federation of Malaysian Consumer Association (Fomca) secretary-general Paul Selvarajo said it was going to be tough for the consumers and they must to be smart in their expenditure.

Selvarajo said the consumers had to give priority to their needs and avoid unnecessary spending.

“They have to compare the price of goods before buying to get the best deal,” he said.

Selvarajo said they also had to cooking at home and avoid eating out.

He said the government must educate the consumers on how to spend wisely.

Indian president signs historic anti-graft law

(NST) – India’s president took the final step to create a powerful anti-graft watchdog on Wednesday, signing it into law two years after a mass anti-corruption movement swept the country and galvanised politicians into action.

Parliament saw rare unity last month when the ruling Congress and main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) approved the bill creating a corruption ombudsman with sweeping powers to prosecute all politicians and civil servants.

President Pranab Mukherjee’s final approval of the law comes as the world’s largest democracy gears up for general elections due by May.

Voters have become increasingly incensed by a string of corruption scandals that have engulfed the nation.

Anti-graft hero Arvind Kejriwal, now Delhi chief minister, and his upstart Aam Aadmi (“Common Man”) party, whose mission is to clean up pervasive corruption and create a “bribe-free India”, trounced the Congress party in Delhi state polls last month.

Kejriwal, 45, was a key member of the grass-roots anti-corruption movement launched by 76-year-old social crusader Anna Hazare who demanded the tough law back in 2011. Legislation was stalled by political bickering and debate about the extent of the bill’s scope.

The Congress-led national government has been hit by a series of multi-billion-dollar graft scandals, from allegations of illegal distribution of cut-price telecom licences to the 2010 corruption-tainted Commonwealth Games. AFP

Umno veterans to Herald editor: Embrace Islam to use ‘Allah’

(MM) - Umno veterans have asked a senior Christian priest to convert to Islam if he insists on using “Allah”, saying this would allow him to comply with a Selangor ban on the non-Muslim use of the Arabic word.

Datuk Mustapha Yaakub, the secretary of Umno Veterans Club, also expressed the group’s readiness to hold the ceremony of religious conversion for Father Lawrence Andrew, who is the editor of the Catholic Church’s newspaper the Herald.

“Umno veterans are ready to arrange a ceremony of his conversion to Islam anytime after the priest receives hidayah (guidance) from Allah.

“We will also ensure he becomes an imam (Muslim leader) and pendakwah (preacher) that is successful and respected,” Mustapha was quoted saying in a statement yesterday by Utusan Malaysia.

Mustapha further said that the Catholic priest’s conversion to Islam would be the best way to avoid angering the Muslim community, while also ensuring that the Selangor Sultan’s decree is respected.

Andrew has come under fire from Muslim groups since criticising a Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) plan to compel churches in the state to stop using the Arabic word for God, saying the Catholic Church would not abide by such a directive.

Last week, Jais said it would soon issue letters to all the churches in Selangor to remind them to obey a 1988 state law banning non-Muslims from using the word “Allah”.

The Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988, passed by the then Barisan Nasional state government, prohibits non-Muslims in Selangor from using 35 Arabic words and phrases in their faith, including “Allah”, “Nabi” (prophet), “Injil” (gospel) and “Insya’Allah” (God willing).

Last November, the Sultan of Selangor renewed his decree that non-Muslims in the country’s most developed state should be barred from using the word “Allah”.

The November 14 decree by the Sultan, who is the head of Islam in the state, came after a discussion with the Selangor Royal Council, where it was decided that Selangor citizens should abide by the 1988 enactment, which is enforceable regardless of one’s religion.

But several lawyers later argued that the Sultan’s decree was not legally binding on Selangor residents as the ruler’s powers in Islamic matters were ceremonial.

Lawyers have questioned whether Jais’s actions could test the guarantee of religious freedom in Article 11 of the Federal Constitution, which also provides for the right of all religions to practice and regulate their faith.

Temperatures have risen of late over the so-called “Allah” row that remains unresolved four years after it shocked the nation and led to the worst religious strife in the country’s history.

The ongoing legal dispute between the government and the Catholic Church over its right to print the word “Allah” in the Herald’s Bahasa Malaysia section is still pending before the Federal Court, which is set to hear arguments from both sides on February 24 before deciding on whether it will hear an appeal by the Catholic Church.

India’s Afghan Challenge

The price of involvement

Delhi seeks a perilous wider international role in a war-torn country

On Aug. 3, a Toyota Corolla carrying three suicide bombers and a carload of explosives attempted to ram the Indian Consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, killing nine bystanders, seven of them children. It was the third time jihadis had tried to blow up Indian government structures. In 2008, a car bomb attack on the Indian embassy killed more than 60 people – the second attack on the facility– and in 2010 suicide attacks on two guesthouses killed at least 16 people, including seven Indians.

Those attacks are emblematic of the concerns of the Taliban and probably Pakistani interests over India’s deepening engagement in Afghanistan as NATO troops begin their expected draw down in 2014.Of the countries involved directly or peripherally in the long-running contest for  primacy in Afghanistan, it is India – antipathetic to Pakistan, an ally of  Iran and a rival to China, leaning towards the west – that has some of the most important concerns.

Projecting influence in Afghanistan is a major challenge for New Delhi since it could, if successful,accomplish a cluster of politico-strategic objectives. That is a challenge because in projecting its influence, India has to counterbalance the traditional influence of Pakistan and the expanding Chinese ingress as well.

India is apprehensive of the Taliban’s coming into power after Delhi, than a Soviet ally, backed the Russians through Russia’s 1980s occupation of Afghanistan. However, the events of September 11, 2001, presented opportunities for India with NATO’s ouster of the Pakistan-backed fundamentalist movement. Since the Taliban’s ouster,the Indian government has been working to become Afghanistan’s most important partner for reconstruction.

Not only is India now being construed in terms of potentially replacing the US, but also as a state very much capable of serving other purposes, both for the US and itself, containing the influence of both Pakistan and China and establishing an economic stranglehold for long-term geostrategic and geo-economic purposes.

Since Afghanistan and India did not have good relations before 2001, the first imperative for India was and still is to build a positive image. Therefore, the Indian government has spent at least US$2 billion making use of ‘soft power’ by helping re-build decapitated infrastructures as well as building new ones.

For instance, India has been building the “House of the People”, the Afghan Parliament, since 2008, and which is expected to be ready by next year, presented as a physical manifestation of India’s efforts to help the people of Afghanistan fulfill parliamentary democracy.

Besides its symbolic significance, India’s investment in this project can be called one of Delhi’s most creative foreign-policy moves of the last decade. It can’t be looked at in isolation from the rest of India’s Afghan policy. It is obvious that India is acting in its own long-term interests. With the NATO forces expected to leave Afghanistan in the coming year, Afghanistan is expected to be freer than it has been in the past to deal with its neighboring countries. Since India and Afghanistan do not share a physical border, the only option for India to outmaneuver Pakistan is through large-scale economic investment. Needless to say, India has much more to offer to Afghanistan’s economic reconstruction than Pakistan.

But it would be an exaggeration and an oversimplification to state that Indian objectives are only Pakistan-centric. India’s moves must be understood in terms of her strategy of emerging as a major power with reach beyond the South Asian region. For example, India’s Foreign Minister, Salman Khurshid, speaking at a press conference in Kabul last year, said Afghanistan is on its way to regaining its historical role of “a land bridge between South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Eurasia." Needless to say, India’s presence would allow the war-torn country to expand its trade and influence into the region.

And, as a part of its policy to expand beyond South Asia, India has also acquired the ChaaBhar (Chahbahar) Port on Iran’s southeastern coast, allowing it to further enable it to bypass Pakistan and establish an alternative geography.

Notably, Iran and India share several concerns in Afghanistan. Both despise the Taliban regime and are again joined in their drive to counter Pakistan in “helping” the Taliban re-capture power. Both India and Iran were constrained in their ability to project influence during the Taliban period, but following 9/11, both moved fast, stepping up their coordination. India has undertaken several projects within Iran itself to facilitate operating in and beyond Afghanistan.

For example, in addition to the port facility, India and Iran have also been constructing a North-South Corridor that will allow movement of Indian goods from its own ports to Chahbahar, and from there to Central Asia and the Caspian region via rail and road links. Iran and Afghanistan both are therefore very critical in India’s calculations to seek access into Central Asia and beyond.

Besides this strategic maneuvering, India has been making huge investments, far outstripping  Pakistan in Afghanistan since 2001, relying on development projects and other forms of humanitarian assistance. According to a report of The Century Foundation, almost immediately after the US attack, then-Prime Minister Vajpayee announced a line of credit of US$100 million to Afghanistan, pledged 1 million tonnes of wheat for displaced Afghans and dispatched a team of doctors and technicians in December 2001 to establish a camp for fixing artificial limbs for amputees.
Since those early measures in 2001, India has committed $750 million and pledged another $450 million. In addition, Delhi is increasingly involved in strate­gic infrastructure projects such as building transmission lines to provide power to Kabul, a hydro-electric project in Herat, as well as the Zaranj-Delaram road that connects the Ring Road in Afghanistan to Chahbahar. In 2008, the Indian government finished work on this 218-km road and opened up landlocked Afghanistan to the sea via Iran.

To facilitate these projects and to collect intelligence, India also now has established consulates in Jalalabad, Kandahar, Herat, and Mazar-e-Sharif, in addition to its embassy in Kabul. Thus its activities are not merely restricted to the North, where it has had traditional ties, but also to the South and the Northeast, adjacent to the Pak-Afghan porous border.

India has also engaged in training Afghan civilian and military person­nel as well as providing Afghan students with scholarships to study in India. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has offered as many as 500 scholarships a year for Afghans. India is keen to have a much larger role in training Afghan National Security Forces.

But while Indian development assistance and efforts to train Afghan civilians is welcomed by the interna­tional community, India’s attempts to expand its contributions to building Afghanistan’s security institutions have received a lukewarm reception—if not rebuke.

However,the effort to train security personnel has a logic of its own, which is providing security, albeit indirectly, to the projects Delhi has been investing in. With the withdrawal of the NATO forces imminent, there is every reason for India to expect attacks on its projects. India is also concerned about the security of the Indians working on these projects.

According to a report in the Kolkata-based Telegraph English-language daily, India has been facing difficulties in completing projects rapidly because of the difficulty in finding local labor and because of the difficulty in cajoling Indian laborers into working in a hostile environment.  As such, in order to thwart these threats, India deployed the Indo-Tibetan Police Force (ITPF) as well as a small number of army commandos to protect personnel.

Some think tanks in India have been advocating the option of placing military troops in Afghanistan. Politically, this is a hard sell on any level. India is loath to operate outside of a UN mandate and it is not clear whether the institutional and political requirement can be fulfilled. Moreover, India’s faces domestic constraints, particularly, its coalition-based political system in which Muslims comprise a low but significant vote bank, which is too crucial to be antagonized. Congress Party, the current ruling coalition leader, has traditionally been at pains not to infuriate the Muslim constituency. It would also infuriate Pakistan and their Taliban clients.

However,notwithstanding this constraint, there is a vocal set of commenta­tors and analysts who believe that India’s preeminent security interests reside in Afghanistan and thus demand serious attention.

Indian policy makers are also not unmindful of the fact that the Taliban’s coming into power, either through negotiations or attack, increasingly appears inevitable. It is perhaps for this reason that India, like the US and other countries, is keeping its options open for negotiations with the Taliban, although it has viewed with particular alarm the trend toward negotiating with “moderate Taliban,” a term it officially refuses to entertain.

It has to be taken into account that there is no guarantee that a future Afghan government would be as open to cooperation with India as the current one. Nor is there any ‘guarantee’ of providing security to India’s projects following the withdrawal of the forces. As such, there are people in India – much like those in the US – who do not believe the potential benefits in Afghanistan are worth the risk. This opinion is again based upon the probability of the Taliban’s coming into power and dominating the Afghan political scene because of their reliance on the Pashtun majority.

To be fair, it seems too early to suggest what would follow the withdrawal. We are yet to witness what shape this withdrawal after all takes and what precedes it. As such, it would be too early to judge whether India's recent investments in Afghanistan's reconstruction will be seen as pragmatic or unrealistic in the long and short term. But till today, India has shown its determination to keep its presence in Afghanistan even after withdrawal and formation of ‘national’ government.

(Salman Rafi Sheikh is a Pakistan-based academic.)

Anti Government Rally Fails To Meet Its Objective

By Kisho Kumari Sucedaram and Nur Aimidiyana Zuher

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 2 (Bernama) -- The gathering on new year's eve to demonstrate against the government due to the rise in the cost of living had failed to meet its objective.

According to several political analysts and religious figures, the organisers who represent the minority had certainly failed to convince the majority on their purported cause.

The majority of peace loving Malaysians did not allow themselves to he made use by those with selfish interest and decried on the crude tactics employed in fulfilling their cause.

A senior lecturer with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's (UKM) Al-Quran and Al-Sunnah Studies Department Dr Fadlan Mohd Othman added that their failure also went on to show that Muslims abhorred any form of gathering that could lead to anarchy.

RALLIES ARE ILLEGAL IF THEY THREATEN PEACE

"The menacing gathering was a cause of concern for many parties and Islam does not condone such gathering especially when it threatens the peace and the people's well-being," he said to Bernama when commenting on gathering on new year's eve.

Dr Fadlan who is also the chairman of the Malaysian Academician Society noted that as for Muslims, the al-Quran and Hadith (traditions of the Prophet) have to be the guide in managing with problems.

This would ensure they were not misguided in their cause.

Meanwhile, political analyst M. Neela Mehan pointed out the anti government rally failed to garner support because the people had enough with the series of futile demonstrations.

In making up their numbers, those who orchestrated the gathering had literally 'hijacked' the revelers at Dataran Merdeka who come every year to welcome the new year.

The protesters disrupted the new year itineraries and created a pandemonium. Police have so far identified four groups behind the rally.

MALAYSIANS ARE PEACE LOVING

"If one is to look into the political implication of the gathering on Barisan Nasional, obviously there is nothing. The fact remains, the majority of Malaysians appreciate the peaceful atmosphere promoted by the ruling government since independence," he said to Bernama.

He said rallies and demonstrations against the government were not going to work as Malaysians know what is good and bad for them.

The Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) lecturer believed that the opposition parties have had a hand on the rally though it is widely attributed to several ngos and the Kumpulan Gerakan Turun Kos Sara Hidup (TURUN).

"I'm confident that the gathering is politically motivated...though holding a gathering is their right and is allowed under the laws, it should never threaten the country's security and peace," he said.

Neela Mehan believed that many of the revelers there accepted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak assurance that the government would minimise the impact from price hikes on the cost of living.

THERE ARE BETTER WAYS TO SETTLE THE PROBLEM

Another of UKM's senior lecturer in Syariah Studies Department (UKM) Dr Mohd Izhar Ariff Mohd Kashim also concurred with Dr Fadlan that such gathering goes against Islam.

"It would have been better if the people reasoned out with the government to spend prudently instead of taking to the streets," he said.

Meanwhile, the director of criminology at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Social Science Studies Centre, Associate Professor Dr P. Sundramoorthy pointed out on the perils from such illegal gatherings, which could get out of hand and threaten the lives of innocent people.

"We have to understand, many were there to revel in the festivities around the city...those innocent also faced terrible risks," he said adding that thankfully nothing untoward happened that night.

TAKE A LEAF FROM OTHERS

A senior lecturer with Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia Dr Jessica Ong Hai Liaw opined that the rally mimicked the demonstration that has been ongoing in a neighbouring country to fulfill the selfish interest of some.

"We have to understand, that the same cannot be applied in Malaysia. That is not our tradition, maybe it had succeeded in another country but Malaysians are peace loving people," she said adding that what is happening in the neighbouring country should serve as a good lesson.

b>BETWEEN THE BIG OR LESSER EVIL

The Rector for Kolej Universiti Islam Perlis (KUIPs) Dr Mohd Mizan Mohammad Aslam noted that the Muslims had to evaluate their actions including participating in rallies to protest over price hike or topple the government.

"Muslims are given the choice to face lesser challenges, for example the rise in prices and in facing this they have they have to change their lifestyle. If the chose the greater challenges like rallying and demonstrating, they could lead to big loses and even death," he said.

Nonetheless, the illegal rally on the eve of 2014 brought negative image for the country and the country started the new year on a negative note.

"Is this rally the first one for 2014? Will there be an ending for these rallies?" he asked and he prayed that the people and the country would not have to go thorough such situation again.