UMNO lambatkan bina sekolah Tamil

Kulai, Jan 14- Kelewatan dalam pembinaan bangunan baru untuk Sekolah Tamil Kulai Besar boleh menyebabkan peratusan kecemerlangan akademik terjejas berkata K.Munusamy guru besar sekolah tersebut. (Makkal Osai, 14 Jan di muka surat 2)

Sekolah Tamil Kulai Besar telah mendapat tempat pertama peratusan kecemerlangan akademik di peringkat kebangsaan dalam pencapaian peperiksaan UPSR pada tahun lepas. Kini para murid serta guru- guru di sekolah ini sedang menghadapi masalah kekurangan tempat dan kekangan ini boleh menyebabkan penurunan peratusan kecemerlangan akademik sekolah ini. “Walaupun tender untuk pembinaan sekolah ini telah dimohon sebanyak dua kali tetapi kerja permulaan pembinaan masih dilengahkan lagi menghairankan serta membimbangkan” kata Sri Tharan Ketua PIBG sekolah tersebut. Tanah bagi pembinaan sekolah ini sedia ada dan peruntukkan wang sudah disediakan oleh kerajaan namun kerja pembinaan harus dipercepatkan bagi mengatasi masalah kekurangan bilik darjah untuk kelas tambahan bagi pelajar yang bakal menduduki peperiksaan.

Pihak kerajaan harus mengambil tindakan segera bagi menyelesaikan masalah yang dihadapi sekolah ini demi menjamin kecemerlangan akademik murid india di sekolah.

Editor.

Cops use truncheon and injure Hindraf peaceful assemblers on 25/11/2007 ( The Star 15/1/2010 at page N 10)

Kelas bahasa Tamil dinafikan di sekolah Menengah.

SETIAWAN, 13 Januari - Pelajar yang menduduki peperiksaan UPSR dan melangkah ke Tingkatan Satu di SMK Ahmad Boestamam kecewa kerana diberitahu mereka tidak disediakan kelas Bahasa Tamil semasa waktu persekolahan. Kenyataan ini dibantah oleh ibu bapa murid india yang belajar di sekolah tersebut. Malah menurut pelajar yang belajar di sekolah itu, bermula dari tahun ini kelas Bahasa Tamil akan mula dimansuhkan di setiap tingkatan. Para ibu bapa sedang menghadapi kesusahan sebab terpaksa memindahkan anak-anak mereka ke sekolah lain yang menyediakan kelas Bahasa Tamil kerana sekolah ini tidak membuat sebarang pengumuman awal tentang pemansuhan kelas Bahasa Tamil sebelum permulaan sesi persekolahan. Adakah wajar tindakan yang diambil oleh pengetua sekolah yang tidak memberitahu tentang pemansuhan kelas Bahasa Tamil dari awal lagi? (Nanban Jan 13)

HRP: Lima belas tahun dahulu Perdana Menteri Dr.Mahathir telah berjanji akan mengadakan kelas- kelas bahasa Tamil semasa waktu persekolahan di semua sekolah – sekolah kebangsaan dan sekarang ia sudah di tukar oleh Perdana Menteri Badawi dan sekarang Najib Razak pun perkara ini tidak mahu diselesaikan oleh UMNO. Tetapi bahasa Arab diajar semasa waktu persekolahan walaupun tidak ada orang arab di negara ini.

UMNO: Minimum wage still being looked into after 52 long years of independence (NST 15/1/2010 at page 11).

The poor and working class Indians suffer the most as they are the most vulnerable targets. So UMNO ignores this problem which is a basic standard achieved by neighboring Singapore same thirty years ago.

HRP demands that Malaysia implements a minimum wage policy so that it benefits all regardless of race.

P. Uthayakumar

RMC: 30% non Malays for RMC but what about MRSM, UITM, MCKK, Matriculation Aminuddin Baki etc

Prime Minister Najib Razak announces 30% intake of non Malays into the Royal Malay College (RMC). As usual this will remain a political rhetoric vand will never be implemented as most other such policy announcements in over the last 52 years.

UMNOs’ usual excuse is either the non Malays are not interested or the policy was good but the implementation was bad.

Prime Minister Najib must also open up Maktab Rendah Sains Mara, UITM, Malay College Kuala Kangsar, Matriculation Colleges, Institute Aminuddin Baki etc also to all deserving Malaysians and not almost exclusively for malay muslims.

One Malay-sia?

P. Uthayakumar

Indonesian and Cambodian Maids but no local House Managers

The Indian poor further disadvantaged by Indonesian and Cambodian maids (refer Malay Mail 13/1/10 at page 7). 1,500 to 3,000 Cambodian maids are brought in every month. Thousands of Indonesian are allowed by UMNO to come in legally or illegally.

What ever happened to the Women and Family Development Ministry’s plan to train create house managers. It never took off because hundreds of thousands of Indian maids would benefit and halt UMNO companies millions lifeline in the business of importing and managing this legal and illegal maids.

P. Uthayakumar

Malaysian youth held for threatening to vandalise Hindu shrine

The Times of India, Jan 15 2010

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police have nabbed a youth who posted on a website that he was ready to vandalise a Hindu shrine at Batu Caves near here.

The youth, who claimed to have prepared crude bombs that were hurled at some churches last week, was held and his "seditious" postings removed after he said he was only "playing around".

The police acted after a complaint from Putera Malaysian Indian Congress, the MIC's youth wing.

The incident comes close on the heels of arson at eight churches across the country following a high court verdict on the use of the word "Allah" on the masthead of a magazine published by the Catholic church.

There has been an outcry among sections of majority Malay Muslims who say the word cannot be used by non-Muslims.
The government has condemned the attacks. It, however, says the use of the word 'Allah' was exclusive to Muslims in Malaysia.

Batu Caves have ancient Hindu shrines that are visited by the community that forms a bulk of the nearly two million population of ethnic Indian settled in Malaysia.

The youth, who was not identified, boasted about having supplied the home-made bombs to arsonists and being on the spot but not participating in the arson.

The 25-year-old student from Johor was picked up by police earlier this week after his posting on the churches surfaced. He was released on bail after he had his statement recorded.

It was learnt that the student had since posted a public apology on his Facebook account and had also removed his earlier posting, New Straits Times said Friday.

Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin said that the student had to take responsibility for his actions although he claimed to be only "playing around".

The minister urged police to bring the student to court, adding that this matter could not be taken lightly.
"Just because he is a student, it does not mean he is special or has immunity from the law," he was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, in Johor state, vandals threw bags of red paint into the compound of St Elizabeth Church in Jalan Kota Kechil.

Two empty paint containers were found near the gate. It is believed the paint was poured into plastic bags before they were thrown at the church premises. The bags landed near a statue, the church door, the side entrance and next to the gate.

Church chairman John Lee said the incident was discovered about 8 a.m. "I will hold a meeting of the church committee about the incident," he said.

District police chief Superintendent Osman Sebot said police found seven bags of red paint at the scene.
In a related incident, two lawyers acting for the Catholic newspaper found their office ransacked.

Lawyer Derek Fernandez said the burglars took a laptop, some cash and clients' documents from his office, adding that he found it strange that other valuables were not taken.

Fernandez said the incident could be related to the current issue involving the use of the word "Allah" in the Herald.

"The burglars sprayed black paint on the security television camera on the first floor," he added.

Tenth church hit, attack in Seremban

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid - The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 — The Grace Global Prayer church in Rasah, Seremban, became the 10th attacked in a week, after its windows were found broken yesterday evening, in the latest incident believed to be linked to the controversial “Allah” ruling.

Police are investigating the incident.

It is the latest Christian church of several now hit by firebombs, arson attempts or vandalism.

Seremban OCPD ACP Saiful Azly Kamaruddin told The Malaysian Insider that a blunt object had been hurled through the side window of the church.

He said church workers discovered the damage at 7.30pm and immediately lodged a police report.

“We are investigating and will step up security around the church,” he said.

Before this, nine other churches and a convent school in Selangor, Perak, Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Johor and Sarawak had been hit so far in the attacks following the Dec 31, 2009 High Court decision allowing the Catholic Church’s Herald to use the word “Allah.”

On Tuesday, a glass sliding door to the entrance of a Sikh Temple in Sentul here was found cracked from a barrage of stones, making it the first non-Christian house of worship hit.

Sikhs also use the term “Allah” to describe God in Punjabi and had unsuccessfully sought to be part of the Roman Catholic Church’s legal suit to use the name, a move that has sparked anger among some Muslims in Malaysia who claim it is exclusive to them.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the acts of violence and the authorities have urged the public not to speculate over the attacks.

The worst hit church so far has been the Metro Tabernacle church here, which had its ground floor gutted last week.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s administration has attempted to control the damage from the incidents, with his ministers trying to engage Muslim and Christian groups in dialogue to calm fears.

But pressure remains as attacks continue.

The police are also under pressure to make arrests. So far, the authorities say they only have evidence of the “physical attributes” of the possible culprits behind the firebombing of the Metro Tabernacle church.

In addition, a 25-year-old student was charged at the Sessions Court here today with threatening public safety in relation to a comment he posted on Facebook about the recent spate of attacks on churches.

The Barisan Nasional government is also finding it difficult to strike a compromise on the “Allah” issue.

In a turn of events, the government today said that it will allow the use of the word “Allah” by East Malaysian Christians when referring to God in the Malay language.

The apparent concession is seen as a damage control move as Christians in the states of Sabah and Sarawak primarily conduct church services in the Malay language.

In an interview with a Kuching-based daily, The Borneo Post, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz said the word has been used traditionally in the two states and that the local Muslims are used to the practice.

But without providing details, he said “Allah” would still be prohibited for churches in the peninsular.

However, conservative Muslims are still continuing to pressure the government on the issue.

Friday sermons in Selangor mosques today reminded Muslims to unite over the “Allah” controversy, and described the use of the word by Christians as an attempt to undermine the position of Islam in the country.

According to the text of the sermon — prepared by the Selangor Islamic Department (Jais) — allowing Christians to use the word “Allah” would create religious tensions.

Uthayakumar’s application for police shootout killings data allowed

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — The Sessions Court here allowed lawyer P. Uthayakumar’s application for police to reveal the number of suspected criminals killed during police shootouts from year 2000 up to the mass rally organised by Hindraf on Nov 25, 2007.

Judge Sabariah Othman also allowed his application for police to disclose details such as their names, age and race at the next hearing on Feb 22.

Uthayakumar made the verbal application yesterday after Bukit Aman CID deputy director Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, told the court that police had compiled statistics of people killed during police shootouts.

Uthayakumar submitted today that he needed the statistics for his defence, adding that his comment posted on the “Police Watch Malaysia” website was not mere allegation.

“I have been compiling statistics on these incidents (shootouts) since 2000 based on newspaper reports, but I would rather rely on official figures from police in arguing my case on this issue,” said Uthayakumar who was representing himself.

Deputy public prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin objected to the application on the ground of relevancy to the charge faced by the lawyer, since the burden on the prosecution was to prove whether the article on the website was seditious and not the accuracy of figures stated in the said article.

On Dec 11, 2007, Uthayakumar, 47, pleaded not guilty in the same court to publishing a seditious letter on the “Police Watch Malaysia” website.

The charge under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948 carries a fine of not exceeding RM5,000 or imprisonment of up to three years, or both, upon conviction.

Two days later, Uthayakumar was detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) following his involvement in street demonstrations here on Nov 25 and for allegedly making seditious remarks against the government.

Acryl Sani, the first prosecution witness when cross-examined for the third day, told the court that police only received a single report on an injured demonstrator.

He said the man was identified as B. Arumugam, 27, who was injured when hit on his nose by a spent tear gas canister fired by police.

However, Acryl Sani disagreed with Uthayakumar that more than 100 demonstrators were injured and they did not lodge police reports since it was very rare for police personnel to be charged for their actions.

However, he agreed with the lawyer that the Special Branch might have some intelligence on the injuries.

Sabariah rejected Uthayakumar’s application for the court to compel Acryl Sani to tender the report to the court.

Uthayakumar was also represented by counsel N. Surendran and Charles Hector. — Bernama

Musa Hassan is a liar!

“This involves an assessment of the credibility of the witness called by the prosecution. His evidence is unreliable and is to be disregarded and whatever he says in court lends to his discredit. I am in total agreement with the case for the defence that this lack of support of the evidence of PW75 (IGP Musa Hassan) on this point lends to his discredit. In this regard I should mention that PW75 in his evidence gave an interpretation that is contrariwise to the testimonies of PW17, PW19, PW57 and PW73. I found however that the evidence of PW75 on this to be unreliable and to be disregarded.”

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

“This involves an assessment of the credibility of the witness called by the prosecution. His evidence is unreliable and is to be disregarded and whatever he says in court lends to his discredit. I am in total agreement with the case for the defence that this lack of support of the evidence of PW75 (IGP Musa Hassan) on this point lends to his discredit. In this regard I should mention that PW75 in his evidence gave an interpretation that is contrariwise to the testimonies of PW17, PW19, PW57 and PW73. I found however that the evidence of PW75 on this to be unreliable and to be disregarded,” was the opinion of the court.

These are not my words. These are the words of Judge Supang Lian of the Kota Kinabalau Sessions Court in a 90-page Grounds of Decision about the lack of credibility and unreliability of Malaysia’s IGP, Musa Hassan, on why Dato’ Ramli Yusuff deserved to be acquitted of what Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak would classify as a frivolous charge. (See pages 1664, 1665, 1686, 1698, 1740, 1744 and 1745 of the MACC’s Appeal Record below).

As what has been revealed many times before this in numerous articles and special reports, IGP Musa Hassan wanted to get rid of Ramli Yusuff. One reason was to eliminate all suitable successors so that he could stay on as IGP beyond his retirement in August 2007. The second is because Ramli had uncovered the IGP’s links with the Chinese underworld prostitution, illegal gambling, loan sharking and drugs syndicate. Before this, Malaysia Today had in fact published more than a dozen Statutory Declarations signed by underworld figures as well as police officers, which included his own ADC.

The Unholy Trinity of the IGP, the AG and the MACC fabricated several charges against Ramli -- including the frivolous charge that Ramli took a ‘joyride’ in a police Cessna -- with an aim to bring him down.

Extracts of the Judgment below show that Ramli was actually on official duty that day and not ‘on a frolic of his own’, as the legal fraternity would say. Ramli was in fact surveying the porous Sabah coastline. And quite rightly so considering that yesterday the US government issued a travel advisory to its citizens to be wary of travelling to Sabah where they expect tourists to suffer acts of terrorism (See here: US warns of trouble in Sabah)

And just like in Anwar Ibrahim’s case, they amended the charge against Ramli because the evidence of the pilots, which were presented very late (PW69 and PW73), showed that Ramli was doing a security survey over Police PGA Post Den Haven and its coastline and was nowhere near the land they accused him of having an interest in.

In desperation, DPP Kevin Anthony Morais amended the charge from “using an aircraft to survey the land” to “diverting an aircraft to fly in the VICINITY of the land”. Only Kevin Morais will know what that actually means. And as if this case was more serious than even a murder case, Kevin presented 75 witnesses just to prove that Ramli took that unauthorised joyride.

IGP Musa Hassan (PW75) was the MACC’s so-called ‘Star Witness’. Yes, no less than the top dog himself testified during Ramli’s trial, an ‘honour’ indeed for Ramli. But Musa Hassan was so badly discredited by the Sessions Court Judge because of his twist-and-turn testimony. Despite this damning judgment, Kevin Morais has filed an appeal against Ramli’s acquittal when he should have instead admitted defeat and just crawl home with his tail between his legs to go lick his wounds like a good little faggot.

The MACC Advisory Panel should look into this lest the MACC gets further discredited and be made to look more the fool than it already is.

Obviously, Kevin Morais has not learned his lesson. He now sits in the witness box as the ‘Star Witness’ in the ongoing trial of lawyer Rosli Dahlan where he was torn to pieces and stripped naked for all and sundry to see. The court in fact burst out laughing, the Judge included, to see Kevin being cornered like a mangy dog -- my apologies to animal lovers the world over.

Kevin should by now have been impeached and cited for perjury.

Is that why Kevin has asked for a long break -- so that he can ‘rearrange’ his story after his lie about the cheque butts or whatever butts that turns him on?

Rosli Dahlan’s trial will resume on 31 May 2010. Expect Kevin to again get his knickers all twisted into knots when the lawyers seek his impeachment and ask that he get sent to jail for perjury. But I suppose a few years in jail and getting sexually molested by the other prisoners would be a great pleasure for someone like Kevin

Musa Hassan’s failing fishing expedition

You assume I left Malaysia illegally or on a false or foreign passport. You do not know. You assume I entered another country using a false or foreign passport. You do not know. In fact, you do not even know whether I am still in the country since you can’t trace any evidence that I am not.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Musa Hassan, Malaysia’s IGP, is embarking on a fishing expedition. He has told his officers to explore all avenues on how to get me. The trouble is: many of his own police officers report to me rather than to him. So I know what he did this morning and what he is doing right now even as you read this.

Musa Hassan thinks he has police officers monitoring my movements. Actually, none of his officers really know where I am and instead I have police officers monitoring his movements and reporting to me every day about what is happening on the top floors of the police headquarters in Bukit Aman.

Initially, they thought they could get me through my son. They beat up my son to get him to plead guilty to various criminal charges. But when the case went to court my son revealed that he had been beaten up and he changed his plea to not guilty.

So they had no choice but to allow the trial to go on and it was revealed during the trial that the allegations against my son were not quite true after all.

They then adjourned the trial and sent my son back to the Sungai Buloh Prison where they beat him up again. Then my son went berserk and they had to admit him into the psychiatric ward. Later, they transferred him to solitary confinement because he was still considered a mental case and too dangerous to be allowed to mix with the other prisoners.

Yes, as much as they thought they could keep this hidden from me I managed to find out. And the message I sent the police was they can go ahead and kill my son in prison for all I care. As much as I hate to say so, my son is collateral damage. We are all collateral damage. Sometimes, in a struggle, people must die, even if it is your own son.

Did we not read about the time of the Islamic Empire in Medina when a mother was told that her last son had died in the war? She cried when told she has lost all her sons. But she cried because she had no more sons to offer the cause.

That is what we have been raised to believe in. The cause is more important than all else. So what do they think they can achieve by beating up my son? They think that will soften me? On the contrary, it will harden me even further as this is now more than just about the cause. This is also about seeing that a debt is paid, blood for blood.

And Musa Hassan thinks that just because he is the top dog of the police force that means he is also the smartest police officer in Malaysia. He probably could not find his dick in the dark if his sex life depended on it.

You want to know what good police work is? Let me teach you good police work. Do you know what the Chief Prosecutor of the MACC, Kevin Morais, did for Christmas? I bet you don’t. Do you know he spent Christmas right through New Year with his English boyfriend many years his senior in Bromley, Kent, UK? I bet you didn’t know that.

And I also know you are threatening the police officers who signed Statutory Declarations alleging your links with the Chinese underworld to change their statements and declare that what they first signed were all lies.

It is a bit too late now. Those Statutory Declarations are two years old. You should have made these police officers sign their second Statutory Declarations the very next day like what you made PI Bala do

Do you wish to deny this? Do you wish to say that RPK and Malaysia Today are lying? Let’s hear you say this and then I will publish copies of all these documents just to prove that you are the one lying. Even the Sabah High Court has called you a liar and in a short while I shall publish this evidence in another article.

The powers-that-be is trying to convince you to retire and to take up a position as an Ambassador. Maybe that is the best thing to do seeing that you are no good as a policeman anyway. But why Ambassador? Why do they always send undesirables such as bottom-pinchers to become Ambassadors?

I can suggest two countries they can send you as an Ambassador. Haiti or Mongolia. I am sure the Mongolians would welcome the man who destroyed evidence of Altantuya’s murder to allow the real murderers to get off scot-free.

So what do you plan to do now, Musa Hassan? Offer ‘evidence’ that I published false Statutory Declarations by police officers so that you can charge me under the Multimedia Act? Why did you not do that with my own Statutory Declaration? Why investigate me for signing a false Statutory Declaration but instead charge me for Criminal Defamation where the truth of the matter is not material to the charge? Are you scared of charging me for signing a false Statutory Declaration lest the truth surface in court?

You assume I left Malaysia illegally or on a false or foreign passport. You do not know. You assume I entered another country using a false or foreign passport. You do not know. In fact, you do not even know whether I am still in the country since you can’t trace any evidence that I am not.

What kind of ‘top cop’ are you? You are outraged because I am making a fool of you when actually you are making a fool of yourself. Your entire game plan is based on assumptions and you do not even know whether your assumptions are right in the first place.

I know more about what you are doing than you know about what I am doing. More of your police officers report to me than to you. You are just guessing as to where I am and what I am up to whereas I know your every move. I even know that your chief henchman, Kevin Morais, was frolicking in bed with another man while you thought you had Dato’ Ramli Yusuff’s and Rosli Dahlan’s balls in your grip.

You think you can outsmart me, Musa Hassan? I know you charged one Indian police officer for Kugan’s murder when it was three police officers that beat him to death in the Subang Jaya Police Station. Why charge just the one Indian police officer? Why not charge the other two Malay police officers as well? Is it because you are scared it may turn into a racial issue if the world finds out that two Malay police officers also beat Kugan to death? So if one Indian police officer murders another Indian then the government is ‘safe’? You think we have forgotten that initially 11 police officers were ‘suspended’ and given a desk job for Kugan’s murder?

Musa Hassan, you are not of my league. You are not even of the league of an IO. And I have met many of your IOs in the course of the last eleven years so I know what I am talking about. You should accept the offer of retirement in exchange for an Ambassadorship to Haiti or Mongolia and put the entire Malaysian Police Force out of its misery. The Malaysian police will hold a 30-day Mardi Gras the day they see you sent out to pasture. Trust me, your police officers report to me, so I know.

Goodnight, Musa Hassan, wherever you are. In the meantime, watch the video below and take special note of the lyrics.



SEE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE HERE

US warns of trouble in Sabah (UPDATED)

(Bernama) - The police have given an assurance that security patrols in the coastal areas and islands of Sabah will be intensified as a precautionary measure following a travel advisory that terrorists plan to attack tourists in the area.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said tight security would always be maintained to ensure that the country was free of all types of threats that could jeopardise national security.

"I have directed the state police chief to intensify patrols along the coast and islands around Sabah especially Semporna, Mabul and Sipadan."

"We will always monitor the situation and take appropriate action, thus the people and tourists are asked to be calm and not to be worried because we are always on alert," he told Bernama when contacted.

He was commenting on a travel advisory issued by the United States Embassy, here, warning that criminal and terrorist groups were planning attacks against foreigners in the islands of Sabah.

The notice posted on the embassy's website and dated Friday, said resorts located in isolated areas of eastern Sabah posed a concern.

It urged "extreme caution" in connection with any travel in isolated areas of eastern Sabah, including Semporna and the islands of Mabul and Sipadan.

The advisory noted that the Abu Sayaf militant group, an al Qaeda-linked militant group based in the southern Philippines, which is a short boat ride from Sabah, have kidnapped foreigners from Sabah's secluded resort areas in the past.

God as politics in Malaysia

Some analysts predict that the violence could coax certain constituencies, particularly Christians in Sabah and Sarawak, away from UMNO and towards the PR opposition, potentially paving the way for the parliamentary defections Anwar has long sought to topple the government. Others believe UMNO's poor handling of the violence could sway more voters against the party at the next election, which already promised to be hotly contested.

By Fabio Scarpello, Asia Times

DENPASAR, Indonesia - The escalating Allah controversy that has resulted in the bombing of Christian churches across Malaysia has called into question the country's moderate Muslim credentials and could have major repercussions for political alliances that underpin the United Malays Nasional Organization (UMNO)-led coalition government.

Both main political blocs - UMNO and the Anwar Ibrahim-led Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition coalition - have bid to capitalize on the violence, which has devolved from an obscure freedom of expression issue into a volatile matter of internal security that could potentially determine the government's political survival.

UMNO has so far come out the worse for wear with its credibility shaken and reputation bruised by perceptions it has tacitly condoned the violence targeting Christians. Political analysts believe those perceptions, fanned by online media and blogs, could alienate UMNO's moderate Muslim base and perhaps more importantly constituencies in the swing states of Sabah and Sarawak, whose parliamentarians help to maintain UMNO's parliamentary majority.

Some analysts predict that the violence could coax certain constituencies, particularly Christians in Sabah and Sarawak, away from UMNO and towards the PR opposition, potentially paving the way for the parliamentary defections Anwar has long sought to topple the government. Others believe UMNO's poor handling of the violence could sway more voters against the party at the next election, which already promised to be hotly contested.

UMNO's politicization of ethnicity and religion has a long history. Many feel those tactics have paved the way for the recent senseless attacks against at least nine churches in the wake last month's High Court ruling in favor of Catholic weekly newspaper, the Herald, that allowed the publication to use the word "Allah" in reference to the Christian God.

Lim Teck Ghee, director for the Kuala Lumpur-based Center for Policy Initiatives, said that hot-headed Muslims would not have felt emboldened enough to throw firebombs at churches had former prime minister Mahathir Mohammad not "shifted the political goal posts in 2001 by pronouncing Malaysia as an Islamic state".

Another wedge driven between local religions, Gee says, was former premier Abdullah Badawi's neglect of inter-faith dialogue in favor of what he characterizes as the former premier's "empty Islamic Hadhari rhetoric". He also pinned the blame on academics, a partisan media and the attorney general "for having failed to draw attention to the rise of political party-related religious and right-wing extremism".

The approach of current UMNO leader and Prime Minister Najib Razak to the controversy has apparently been influenced by the March 2008 election results, which saw the heretofore invincible Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition lose power in five of the federation's 13 states and yield its long-held two-thirds majority in parliament.

A series of by-elections since have underlined the shift in voter-sentiment away from UMNO and indicated that its past politicking in favor of Malay Muslims over minority groups is no longer the rock-solid strategy it previously was. Minorities, including ethnic Chinese and Indians, constitute 40% of the Malaysian electorate.

The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) and the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), the respective ethnic Indian and Chinese parties of the BN coalition, were virtually wiped off the political map at the last election. Meanwhile, UMNO simultaneously lost substantial support among its traditional Malay Muslim constituency.

The BN currently controls 137 of 220 parliamentary seats; PR, on the other hand, holds sway over 82 seats, while three members of parliament are independent of either coalition. Anwar recently told this correspondent that several BN parliamentarians had long been ready to cross over, but were held back "by fear of repression".

Those claims are difficult to substantiate, but the Allah controversy has confirmed to many political observers that UMNO has given up trying to revive the political fortunes of the MCA or MIC and is now deliberately moving to withdraw into its conservative, nationalist past.

The earlier decision to ban The Herald from using the word "Allah", as well as the vociferous reaction to the court verdict last month that reinstated the paper's right to use the word in its publications was to many observers a thinly veiled attempt to reunite a splintered ethnic Malay vote - which combined represents some 60% of the country's 26 million people.

That strategy was apparently based on the assumption that the controversy would not alienate the large Christian constituencies in Sabah and Sarawak. Non-Muslims form the majority in the two states and Christians form the single biggest constituency by faith, accounting for 47% of the two Borneo-based states' combined population.

The Allah controversy's ripple effect, many agree, has been to discredit UMNO's claim to ethnic Malay supremacy and emboldened the PR's clarion call for multiracial harmony. Instead of driving more Muslims intro the UMNO fold, the church attacks seem to have renewed momentum towards an ethnic-blind country and political system.

UMNO's religious bluff - that the Allah issue represented a threat to Islam and was part of a larger pro-Christian plot to convert Muslims - has been refuted by the opposition-led Parti Islam-se Malaysia (PAS), viewed widely as Malaysia's most traditional Islamic party. PAS has so far largely stood by The Herald, underscoring the notion that the controversy is not a religious issue, but rather a political one.

As a consequence, PAS could lose appeal with its past core traditional Islamic constituency, but could in the process pick up more moderate Muslims that desert UMNO over the controversy. The opposition party could also benefit from emerging grass roots campaigns that have pinned the blame for the violence squarely on UMNO.

A group consisting of 121 non-governmental organizations and other religious and professional organizations has since the bombings promoted solidarity between religions while at the same time condemned UMNO. Farouk Musa, a leader of the umbrella group, said that such violence against places of worship "is as much an affront to Islam and to all religions as it is to Christians".

The opposition is bidding to piggyback on those campaigns. "The UMNO-led government's appeal is waning, not only with the non-Malays but also with the vast majority of Malays who realize that the ruling party has lost its way," said Anwar in an interview with this correspondent. "UMNO's ability to hold onto enough seats in parliament will be questioned by many if it continues down this reckless path."

That promises in the weeks ahead to turn the political focus on Sabah and Sarawak. In those two states, people's identity is tied mostly to tribe rather than religion or political affiliation, marking a different political culture than other areas of the country. Elections, especially in Sarawak, have historically been dominated by money politics, which UMNO has been able to influence with its access to state coffers.

Sarawak's 31 seats account for 13% of parliament's seats, while Sabah's is slightly less with a tally of 25. All parliamentarians except for two from Sarawak and Sabah are currently aligned with the BN. But a sudden swing in favor of the opposition would mathematically be enough to topple the BN and bring Anwar and the PR to power.

Notably political leaders in the two states have remained muted as the Allah controversy has spiraled. But there are unmistakable signs of grassroots discontent. Some Borneo-based religious leaders, activists and academics have expressed anger over what they perceive as UMNO's contempt for the collective political weight of Christian voters. Those rising sentiments accentuate what was already a growing sense of alienation in the two states vis-a-vis the wealthier peninsula.

The two states joined Malaya in 1963 on the basis of the so-called 20-point agreement for Sabah and the 18-point agreement for Sarawak. The agreements were written for the purpose of safeguarding the interests, rights and the autonomy of the people of the two states on the formation of the federation. It was originally envisaged that the two states would be two of four entities in the federation, the others being Malaya and Singapore.

Over time, Sabah and Sarawak's political weight has diminished as two of 13 states in a wider federation, which also comprises three federal territories: Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya. Aside from nominally separate immigration controls, there is little evidence that the two states have maintained any degree of autonomy, including over natural resource exploitation.

In recent years, Sabah in particular has accused Kuala Lumpur of exploiting its resources; some estimate as much as 95% of the profits from Sabah's natural resources is taken by the federal government. UMNO has arguably been remiss in addressing Sabah's and Sarawak's demands for more equitable revenue sharing, opening the way for Anwar's opposition to make inroads through promises of a better economic deal.

Anwar's coalition has actively bid to win over local politicians, saying that the coalition "is ready to show strong commitments to at least some of the East Malaysia's (Sabah and Sarawak ) demands." At last December's opposition coalition convention, PR leaders made strong references to Sabah and Sarawak and promised to resolve contested issues on oil royalties and problems facing different local ethnic groups who are among the poorest and least educated in the country.

Whether those promises and growing disenchantment over the church bombings will be enough to win wholesale defections in Sabah and Sarawak is yet to be seen. PR has not yet fully mobilized its election machinery in the two insular states and some doubt that Anwar has done enough yet to win over local hearts and minds. But even if the church bombings motivate a split of the two state's votes, it could be enough to swing the electoral balance in Anwar's and the PR's favor.

Instead of firebombing, dialogue Universal God

In a country with a Centre for Civilisational Dialogue in Universiti Malaya, and in a country wanting to be known as a "moderate country with a Muslim majority", we are seeing contradictions. It’ll get uglier if we fail to reflect upon the means and methods of religious dialogue.

A REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE

Azly Rahman

http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/

Must religious dialogue be painful? Must it be greeted with hostility? Or is it a moot question - that the answer lies in our education system’s failure, decades ago?

I have faith that we will one day be ready to appreciate interfaith dialogue. Same too for philosophical discussions and scientific debates. My experience conducting interfaith dialogues every semester in American classrooms gives me the assurance that we will be ready.

It would be good to know that eventually our corridors of academia are filled with passionate discussions on the self, the universe, God, and fate of humanity.

The core of each religious foundation is there for us to explore and to learn from. We need to escape from being trapped in the particular and liberate ourselves into explorers of the universal.

Of course this will take time given the nature of class and caste system we are in; developments that have impacted upon our consciousness. But evolve we must, if we are to see a progressive country emerging out of these ruins of communal politics, immorality of modern capitalism, and persistent religious misunderstandings. Ignorance is the greatest enemy of knowledge, as the sage Socrates once said.

What is interfaith dialogue?

The current issue over the use of the word to denote Universal God and aborted Bar Council forum some time ago are good examples how we will continue to approach inter-faith dialogue. There is vision in chaos, creation in destruction, and opportunities in threats. Educators of peace and social justice must not give up.

In a country with a Centre for Civilisational Dialogue in Universiti Malaya, and in a country wanting to be known as a "moderate country with a Muslim majority", we are seeing contradictions. It’ll get uglier if we fail to reflect upon the means and methods of religious dialogue.

We do not know much what each one of us believes in and what are the rituals and practices of our neighbours. We do not know what scripture they read, let alone the meaning of the prayers, the doa, zikir, the pujas, and the mantras. We lack the knowledge of the fundamentals. This is understandable - fear governs our consciousness and directs our actions and ultimately reproduces itself inter-generationally. Religion is a "sensitive" issue, they say - which needs desensitisation, I would contend.

Back to the current linguistic-theological issue and the Bar Council forum protests. It is a misrepresentation of what Muslims are and a reflection of how we have approached not only dialogue on religion but also on other "sensitive issues" as well. In this environment and in this regime where exploitation of issues are orchestrated by opportunists at the expense of peaceful dialogue, we will always be at the losing end of education for critical consciousness and for peace.

Humanism and rationalism

We must go back to the drawing board of our approach to teaching religion in terms of curricular design and how to juxtapose or even infuse it with core ideas of humanism and rationalism. This will take another few decades given the complexity of our society and its present evolution of “half-bakedness” of hypermodernity.

Here in the United States, I have just finished teaching two summer classes on 'Religions of the World' and 'Introduction to Religion' in a college where I have also been asked, for the last three years, to teach 'Islamic Scriptures'.

I find it liberating to conduct classes after classes in which my students not only are American and foreign-born Muslims but also Jews, Christians, Catholic, Buddhists, Hindus, Atheists, Agnostics, and even Pagans. At the end of each semester, they have a different perception of each other - more in-depth understanding of what could have remained antagonistic. We read the Quran and the Hadiths and look at the scriptures from a hermeneutic perspective - situate it in the present and projecting it into the future.

Most often, our discussions on jihad evolved into a reflection on the struggles for the human self to explore suffering, violence, and liberation in all religious traditions. It includes passionate discussions on media representation of the concept.

I often wonder if what I am doing is possible in Malaysia but I certainly have the confidence and hope that given the most peaceful way to approach it, a lot can be gained. Essentially religious dialogue need not be painful.

It ought to help foster deep understanding and dispel misconception of ANY religion. It ought to make us become deeply religious and to learn to explore what others believe, to respect them, to learn from the universal themes of spirituality, and ultimately to contemplate our existence within the context of the struggle between Good and Evil and to evolve as more ethical and rational beings - so that we may participate better as political and social beings..

Major scriptures

I believe we need to revamp undergraduate foundation courses in our public and private to include one that teaches the classics of the thoughts of the Eastern and Western tradition and the scriptures of the major religions.

But then again, our university students are not even allowed to be involved in politics and to engage freely in public forum on political matters – how might this be possible with interfaith dialogue then?

We have a long walk to mental freedom and to a philosophical understanding of Islam and other religions. Unfortunately we are now known as people who are good at disrupting dialogues. I hope this perception will change.

But then again, education is about hope, peace, empathy, intelligence, and liberation - these we must use as a basis for a new design once we see major restructuring efforts under way undertaken by perhaps a new political, social, and educational arrangement.

Let us look at possibilities in interfaith dialogue. Let education for peace and justice do t

Ladies & gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts, observe the ‘No smoking’ sign and, if you’re Christian, please make sure to leave Allah behind

by Haris Ibrahim,

This will soon be the standard announcement by the lead flight attendant on all domestic flights leaving Sabah or Sarawak for West Malaysia.

Malaysiakini reports today that the federal govenrment has relented and agreed that “Christians in the two Malaysian Borneo states can continue to use the term ‘Allah’ for God in Malay print as they have done for the last 300 years” but East Malaysians residing in West Malaysia will have to abide by the “Allah for Muslims only” prohibition.

Minister Nazri explained this latest mind-blogging stance of the federal government.

“Christians in Sabah and Sarawak need not worry over this issue because it is a common tradition there. I have been to an Iban church service and I heard ‘Allah’ used there,”, Nazri explained.

The government’s chief court jester then proceeded into his usual habit of placing both of his feet into his mouth.

On why the different positions for East and West Malaysia, this clown proffered that “the situation in the Peninsula is different as ‘Allah’ was only introduced into Christian worship and publication a few years ago”.

“Muslims in Peninsular Malaysia cannot accept it as ‘Allah’ was never used in Christian preaching until recently and they questioned the motive behind the substitution of Tuhan for ‘Allah’.”, was his explanation.

On this explanation, can it then be taken that the Sikhs in West Malaysia are free to continue to use ‘Allah’ which has been in their liturgy, so I’m told, for as long as the faith has been practised?

And if so, why can’t the Christians here do likewise?

This

wannabe stand up comic then proceeds to claw himself into this deep inextricable abyss and spews the rubbish that we have grown accustomed to hear from him.

Christians should recognise that using ‘Allah’ in their worship and publications is sensitive to Muslims, he says.

Therefore, he says, the government has a duty to stop acts of disrespect and provocation that inflame religious and racial feelings in the nation even if there was no law that stated that these acts were wrong.

Acts of worship where Allah is called upon is disrespectful amd provocative?

The next statement seems to fortify suspicions that if you shine a beam of light through this imbecile’s left ear, it travels unimpeded and exits through the right.

Nazri cites as an example the cow head case in Shah Alam where, he says, although there was no law to criminalise cow-head stomping, the government moved to act against those perpetrators. The logic being that, if it was not criminal to put one’s foot on a cow head, yet the government has taken action against the cow-head stompers of Shah Alam, surely we can understand that even though there is no law criminalising the use of “Allah” by adherents of other faiths besides Islam, the government can and must take action.

In case this dodo of a minister thinks we do not know, those stompers were his own party members, who were probably acting on the instructions of party higher-ups. Certainly, we know that Home Minister Hishamuddin made a valiant attempt to defend their actions via a televised press conference. We all know about that one, don’t we?

Was the cow-head stomping an act of worship by the perpetrators, that this duffo should equate it with the mention of Allah by Christians in their worship?

If so, can someone please lodge a report against these stompers for deviant practises with the Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor.

This government bright spark insists that it was not the government that took this matter to court, thus leading to the crisis we now face in the country. He blames the Catholic Archibishop.

He has forgotten that had the Home Minsitry not gotten mischievous and issued its ban order, none of this would have happened.

This next statement takes the cake.

“Banning the use of ‘Allah’ by Christians was a pre-emptive move to stop outbreaks of religious violence in the nation,”.

This fool of a minister, with reference to the finding by Justice Lau Bee Lan that “there was no evidence to show that the use of ‘Allah’ (by non-Muslims) could incite violence”, alludes to the attacks on the churches last week as proving that the government was right in its pre-emptive strike.

I had tea with some UMNO people early this week. They confirmed that UMNO was behind the initial church attacks.

Another Malaysiakini report today has it that a cabinet reshuffle may be underway.

Would it be too much to hope that we might all be put out of a misery of having to endure this fool anymore?

THE HEDGE FUNDS

1. One commenter on my blog does not think the hedge funds are doing anything wrong. That depends on what one considers to be wrong.

2. Hedge funds works on borrowed money. That is quite normal and acceptable. But they borrow anything up to thirty times the funds held by them. Ordinary investors cannot do this.

3. Investors therefore have to invest in hedge funds in order to take advantage of the borrowing capacity of the funds.

4. If an investor invests 1 million dollars, the hedge fund can borrow 30 million dollars. With this 30 million the hedge funds can invest in a variety of shares etc.

5. Obviously when the shares yield returns they will be 30 times the return on the 1 million invested with the funds.

6. After paying interest on the loans and subtracting the commission due to the managers of the funds there would still be a lot of profits left to pay to the original 1 million dollar investor. Paying this investor a 20% - 30% return on his 1 million investments would be well within the amount earned from the 30 million investments.

7. I am simplifying the example a little but essentially this is what happens. The savvy fund managers, very knowledgeable about the market can also guarantee the return on the 30 million and certainly the high return on the 1 million.

8. But supposing the investments by the fund result in a loss, the amount lost would also be 30 times more than the losses to be sustained by 1 million investment.

9. Assuming that the loss is 5%. On 30 million it would amount to 1.5 million. The loss cannot be met by the original 1 million investment. If the interest and other charges on the 30 million is added, there is no way for the hedge fund managers to cover the losses. That is when the 1 million investment would be lost. Orange County in California was bankrupted in this way by the investment in the hedge funds.

10. The operation by this hedge fund is legitimate. It can result in huge returns for the investors. It can also result in the investor becoming bankrupt. In America it has contributed to the financial crisis plaguing it today.

11. Whether we consider the investment through the hedge fund is good or bad depends on us. If we don't mind the collapse of the financial institutions then it is good. But most people regard the current financial meltdown as bad.

Malaysia's Disastrous Capital Flight

Money leaves the country on an unprecedented scale

Churches are not the only thing to have been going up in flames in Malaysia. Take a look at the nation's foreign exchange reserves. They fell by close to 25 percent during 2009 according to investment bank UBS even though the country continued to run a huge surplus on the current account of its balance of payments.

Says UBS: "Question: which Asian country had the biggest FX losses in 2009?" The answer is Malaysia and by a very large margin; we estimate that official reserves fell by well more than one quarter on a valuation-adjusted basis". It describes the situation as "bizarre" and contrasts Malaysia with other countries with large current account surpluses – Thailand, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong – which have seen their reserves increase – as should be expected.

In short there has been an exodus of money from Malaysia on a scale which surpasses that which occurred during the Asian crisis. Nor is this just a mirage. The decline is also reflected in a sudden decline in base money supply – even while, thanks to Bank Negara, broader M2 has continued to grow modestly.

Who is responsible for this massive outflow? And where has it gone? The questions cannot be answered from the data and probably will not be by a government that knows its own state-controlled enterprises, headed by Petronas, may probably be responsible for part of it. The more certain reason however is the outflow of local private capital has been taking place on an unprecedented scale in response to political instability, massive official corruption and discrimination against non-Malays.

This capital bloodletting has as yet attracted little attention because Malaysia's foreign debt levels had declined dramatically since the Asian crisis and its reserves reached very healthy levels. So the outflow has not disturbed the financial markets, and Bank Negara has easily been able to keep interest rates low and the currency strong.

But unlike 1998, when the exodus of hot foreign money was a major contributor to the crisis, foreigners cannot be blamed. There is little speculative interest in the ringgit and the Malaysian bourse has rather fallen off the map as far as foreign institutional money is concerned. The BRICs, India, China, Russia, Brazil have taken the merging market lead once dominated by Southeast Asia.

Nor is there much evidence that the Middle East money which was supposed to be flowing into Muslim Malaysia, into holiday apartments or Johor's massive Iskandar development zone, has been much in evidence. Malaysia's one recent success, the development of its sukuk (Islamic bond) market may have caused more capital outflow than inflow. At any rate any overall net inflow of foreign capital whether into bonds, equities, factories or real estate has been dwarfed by the exodus of Malaysian money.

The latter is reflected in the weakness of private sector investment, which now trails public investment. Indeed it explains why the economy remains weak despite very healthy prices for most of Malaysia's commodity exports. The nation has been running a current account surplus of more than 10 percent of gross domestic product for the past decade and hit about 17 percent of GDP in the year just ended. Initially this surplus was needed to pay down debt accumulated during the mid-1990s Mahathir boom years and to rebuild foreign exchange reserves to healthy levels.

But subsequently it became simply a consequence of the weakness of private investment. Domestic investors were discouraged by the corrupt and warped system and foreigners moved to China and elsewhere. GDP growth has become ever reliant on government stimulus – again racially biased in its allocation -- financed by a persistently large budget deficit.

Meanwhile, publicly controlled capital has been rushing overseas. Petronas has been spending its billions in profits around the world as it attempts to become a major global player – at the expense of Malaysian citizenry in general and the oil and gas producing states in particular. Other government-controlled entities such as Malayan Banking Bhd have been bidding top dollar for foreign assets – such as Bank Internasional Indonesia.

Often with the exodus of money goes an exodus of talent as highly skilled persons disadvantaged by race or, as in the case of some Malays, disgusted by local corruption or primitive religious authorities, take themselves and their capital to Australia, Canada, India, China, etc.

The 2009 reserves loss may have had some specific cause which will not be repeated. But it has merely served to underline a dismal trend which has been in evidence for the best part of a decade. Malaysia has so far been saved from itself by the commodity price gains of the past five years – with even the late 2008 collapse now largely reversed. Oil and palm oil may be off their peaks but both are now double their prices of five years ago.

It is better not to imagine what will happen to Malaysia if prices collapse to 2004 levels and stay there. Better now to address the real reasons behind capital outflow and lack of private investment. - Asia Sentinel

Allah’ By Any Other Name

The Wall Street Journal
The government’s censorship has only compounded Malaysia’s troubles.

By PAUL MARSHALL

Religious violence is rare in Malaysia, and so its people are rightly alarmed at the current spate of attacks on churches, which can conjure up memories of the 1969 race riots. The government has strongly condemned the attacks, but its policy of trying to coddle its Muslim population undermines its stated goal of an open Islam and stokes the very religious tension that it wants desperately to avoid.

The violence is the latest consequence of attempts to ban the use of the word “Allah” by Christians. In 1986, the Interior Security Ministry barred the word from non-Islamic publications on the grounds that it could confuse Muslims, but the ordinance was usually not enforced. However in December 2007, the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association and the Islamic religious councils of seven states invoked it in a lawsuit against the Malay language weekly, the Catholic Herald. The government sided with the councils, saying that Christians’ use of the term “could increase tension and create confusion among Muslims.” Authorities also asked the Herald to put on its front page the word terhad, “restricted,” meaning solely for distribution to Christians.

Christians and others responded that “Allah” has been used by Christians for centuries to refer to God, including in Malaysia. No other country has such a ban; even the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) says it opposes one. “Allah,” the Arabic word for God, is used by Christians in Egypt and Syria, and, of course, neighboring Indonesia. On Dec. 31, 2009, the High Court ruled that Christians had a constitutional right to use “Allah.” The government called for calm, but quickly said it would appeal and, on January 6, the judge suspended her ruling pending an appeals court decision. Subsequently, nine churches have been attacked, most of them firebombed. There have also been attacks on the Catholic Herald’s legal team, whose offices were vandalized yesterday.

This is not the only federal government attempt to repress anything that could be perceived as deviating from the state-sanctioned version of Islam. In 2005, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi proposed that Malay-language bibles have “Not for Muslims” on the front. In 2003, the government banned publication of a Bible in Iban, an indigenous language, although the ban was later lifted. In March 2009, customs officials seized Christian books and other materials containing “Allah,” and now some 15,000 volumes have been impounded. Since Indonesian Christian books in Bahasa contain the word “Allah” they cannot be imported. The government has also rebuffed calls for a state interfaith advisory council.

The censorship is not restricted to non-Muslim material. Using guidelines issued by the Islamic Development Department and with the consent of the Shariah courts, the federal government has prohibited over 50 “deviant” interpretations of Islam, including Shiism, the faith of over 10% of the world’s Muslims. In 2007, the Internal Security Ministry banned 37 books, mostly by Muslims, after the Publications and Quranic Texts Control Division said they “twisted facts and true Islamic teachings.” In 2008, other books were banned, including “Muslim Women and the Challenge of Islamic Extremism” by Norani Othman, published by the Malaysian Muslim women’s organization Sisters in Islam, and Amina Wadud’s “Quran and Women: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective.”

The attempted ban on “Allah” is part of a larger government program to shield Malay Muslims from anything contrary to state Islam or that might upset or confuse them. One reason for this effort seems to be political maneuvering by the ruling party to shore up its Islamic credentials and hold onto Malay votes. But there is also genuine concern to prevent adverse Muslim reaction to different views.

However, religious tensions are increasing in Malaysia, and not only because of ethnic divides and electoral calculation. Much is tied to ongoing restrictions on conversion from Islam coupled with the writing bans themselves. These bans stoke expectations that Muslims should, or even can, be shielded from anything that might challenge their beliefs. In a global world and a modern Malaysia, this is impossible, and the resulting dashed expectations feed frustration and tension.

If the government believes, as its actions imply, that many Muslim Malays are ignorant about their faith and so are easily confused, then, rather than trying to restrict non-Muslims or different Muslims, it should call on Islamic teachers to do a better job. After all, Muslim civil servants are already required to take government-approved religion classes, and Islamic religious instruction is mandatory for Muslim children in public schools.

It should also use its persuasive powers to tell its citizens that, as members of a thriving society in a global world, their beliefs will inevitably be questioned and challenged. Malaysia’s talented population is capable of dealing with different thoughts and ideas, and does not need suffocating and self-defeating protection.

As Sisters in Islam, a Malaysian NGO of Muslim women committed to an open interpretation of Islam, says: “Ignorance is never bliss. By narrowing the space for open dialogue among citizens and squashing their quest for information and to read, the government’s 2008 banning of ‘Muslim Women and the Challenge of Islamic Extremism’ can be deemed as ‘promoting Jahiliah’”—the very state of religious conflict and confusion that Islam came to overcome. It would create a “suppressed world where we will blindly follow with no questions asked.”

Mr. Marshall is senior fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom in Washington.

Police Intensify Security Patrols In Sabah

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 (Bernama) -- The police have given an assurance that security patrols in the coastal areas and islands of Sabah will be intensified as a precautionary measure following a "warden notice" issued by the United States' embassy here that foreign tourists might come under attack by irresponsible elements n the area.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said tight security would always be maintained to ensure that the country was free of all types of threats that could jeopardise national security.

"I have directed the state police chief to intensify patrols along the coast and islands around Sabah especially Semporna, Mabul and Sipadan.

"We will always monitor the situation and take appropriate action, thus the people and tourists are asked to be calm and not to be worried because we are always on alert," he told Bernama when contacted.

He was commenting on the notice which warned that criminal and terrorist groups were planning attacks against foreigners in the islands off Sabah.

The notice posted on the embassy's website and dated Friday, said resorts located in isolated areas of eastern Sabah posed a concern.

It urged "extreme caution" in connection with any travel in isolated areas of eastern Sabah, including Semporna and the islands of Mabul and Sipadan.

It noted that the Abu Sayaf militant group, an al Qaeda-linked militant group based in the southern Philippines, which is a short boat ride from Sabah, had previously kidnapped foreigners from Sabah's secluded resort areas in the past.

A "warden notice" is a routine alert issued by embassies all over the world on possible risks to travellers' safety.

It is not a travel alert or a travel warning or travel advisory which are each considered much more far reaching and connotes a more serious and ongoing threat.

Such warnings or alerts are issued only after a discussion/notification to the governments concerned.

Another church in Seremban targeted - Anil Netto

Midnight: Another church in Seremban has been targeted – the Grace Global Prayer Church in Happy Garden, Rasah, Seremban, according to a twitter message from Lim Kit Siang.

It is the twelfth religious site – eleven of which were church properties – and the second in Seremban to be targeted since 8 January.

In the incident that occurred before 8.00pm, the glass of a side window was found broken, said Kit Siang. It is believed that a blunt object was used to break the glass. No stones were found.

He said that the DAP MP for Rasah, Anthony Loke, had sent him a text message from the new two-storey shoplot church, where police and the press had gathered.

Twelve religious sites have been targeted since 8 January 2010:

1. Metro Tabernacle Church (Assembly of God) in Desa Melawati – molotov cocktail damages administrative wing (8 Jan)
2. Assumption Church (Catholic) in Jalan Templar – molotov cocktail hurled on pavement in front of church fails to explode (8 Jan)
3. Life Chapel (evangelical Brethren) in Section 17, PJ – molotov cocktail slightly damages porch (8 Jan)
4. Good Shepherd Church (Lutheran) in PJ old town – firebomb misses window, scorches outer wall, minimal damage (8 Jan)
5. All Saints’ Church (Anglican) in Taiping – two molotov cocktails scorch stair case leading to main entrance and side porch (9 Jan)
6. Convent school (Catholic) in Taiping – molotov cocktail, probably meant for St Louis’ Church (Catholic) next door, breaks guard-house window (9 Jan)
7. Malacca Baptist Church (Baptist) in Durian Daun – smeared with black paint (9 Jan)
8. Good Shepherd Church (Anglican) in Lutong Miri – stones shatter window panes (9 Jan)
9. Sidang Injil Borneo Church (Borneo Evangelical Mission) in Seremban – front doors scorched (10 Jan)
10. Gurdwara Sahib (Sikh) in Sentul – stones flung, mirror at entrance cracked and wall chipped (12 Jan)
11. St Elizabeth’s Church (Catholic) in Kota Kecil, Johor – packets of red paint hurled, splattering the main gate, the grounds inside, a wall and a statue (14 Jan)
12. Grace Global Prayer Church in Rasah, Seremban – sideglass shattered by blunt object (15 Jan)

Putrajaya concedes on Allah for Sabah, S'wak - Malaysiakini

After several months of running verbal battles with the Catholic Church , the Umno/Barisan Nasional Government finally conceded yesterday on the Allah issue for Sabah and Sarawak.

Christians in the two Malaysian Borneo states can continue to use the term 'Allah' for God in Malay print as they have done for the last 300 years.

The Federal Government still sees no reason why Christians in Peninsular Malaysia should use the term 'Allah' for God even in Malay print.

However, East Malaysians resident in the Peninsula have to respect the prohibition.

These pronouncements came from Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz (left) in an exclusive interview yesterday in Kuala Lumpur with five journalists from the Borneo Post, Utusan Borneo and the Oriental Daily.

“Christians in Sabah and Sarawak need not worry over this issue because it is a common tradition there. I have been to an Iban church service and I heard 'Allah' used there,” he said.

Asked why the need for two sets of rules on the usage of the word, he stressed that this is not a unique practice as Malaysia also has two sets of laws on other matters, citing the Syariah Court and the Civil Court as examples.

Nazri went on to say that the situation in the Peninsula is different as 'Allah' was only introduced into Christian worship and publication a few years ago.

Going to court is no solution

“Muslims in Peninsular Malaysia cannot accept it as 'Allah' was never used in Christian preaching until recently and they questioned the motive behind the substitution of Tuhan for 'Allah'”.

Nazri cited the Federal Constitution to point out that no other religion can be propagated to Malay Muslims and this article had been enacted in all states in Malaysia where the Sultan is the Head of State.

“So this excludes the Federal territory, Penang, Malacca, Sarawak and Sabah,” explained Nazri. “In these states, for the ban on the use of 'Allah' to be implemented, the Home Minister can use the Printing Act to enforce it.”

He added that Christians should recognize that using 'Allah' in their worship and publications is sensitive to Muslims and that this issue was not going to be solved by going to court.

“The government has a duty to stop acts of disrespect and provocation that inflame religious and racial feelings in the nation even if there was no law that stated that these acts were wrong,” he said.

Nazri pointed out as an example that there was no law against stepping on a cow's head.

Still, when a group of Malays did that in protest against the relocation of a Hindu temple, “we hauled them up and charged them because that act was disrespectful to Hindus”.

Justification for illegal acts

On the same score, if the usage of 'Allah' by Christians was – it certainly is, he said – sensitive to Muslim, the government has to act even if the courts deem it illegal, according to Nazri.

The minister clarified that it was not the Government that dragged the matter to court.

He pointed the finger of blame at Catholic Archbishop Murphy Pakiam (left), leaving no choice for government but defend itself.

The government, he said, is continuing with the case in court and had applied for a stay of execution “which the other party had agreed to”.

The High Court, in its ruling on Dec 31, had contended that “there was no evidence to show that the use of 'Allah' (by non-Muslims) could incite violence”.

Nazri conceded that such incidents had not happened during the hearing and the government could not, therefore, produce such evidence in court.

The subsequent arson attacks on the churches, continued Nazri, “proved that the government was right” (the 'Allah' ban).

Nation's shield: The ban

He did not touch on allegations that the fire-bombings of churches were stage-managed (to convince the courts).

“Banning the use of 'Allah' by Christians was a pre-emptive move to stop outbreaks of religious violence in the nation,” said Nazri.

Asked how the continuing controversy could be solved, he replied that here had to be a solution soon.

In the meantime, he appealed to the people involved to be calm and rational.

The Federal Government's apparent about-turn albeit in Malaysian Borneo, after 11 churches were fire bombed and a Sikh temple stoned , is front-page news in the Borneo Post today.

The Utusan Borneo also has a Kadazandusun section in its Sabah edition.

The concession is seen here as the Federal Government choosing a face-saving exit strategy recently suggested by a group of Sabah Justices of the Peace who used “compromise” as an euphemism.

These JPs were publicly taking issue with their President Clarence Bongkos Malakun for openly advocating that Christians forgo using the word 'Allah' “to pacify the Malays for the sake of peace”.

The Home Ministry is not expected to withdraw its appeal against the Herald, the Catholic weekly, now in the Court of Appeal.

This is against the High Court ruling on Dec 31 that the term 'Allah' is not exclusive to Islam.

Friday sermons urge Muslims to unite over ‘Allah’

Protestors brandish banners during last week’s protest at the Shah Alam state mosque. — file pic

By Adib Zalkapli- The Malaysian insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — Friday sermons in Selangor mosques today reminded Muslims to unite over the “Allah” controversy, and described the use of the word by Christians as an attempt to undermine the position of Islam in the country.

According to the text of the sermon — prepared by the Selangor Islamic Department (Jais) — allowing Christians to use the word “Allah” would create religious tension. It also called on the Muslims to set aside their political allegiance on this matter.

“Although some [of] us may have [a] different ideology, it should not compromise the sanctity of the religion just for the sake of position and power,” according to the sermon, in an apparent reference to Muslim politicians who are deeply divided over the issue.

Earlier this week, the Sultan of Selangor issued a directive to uphold the stance that the word “Allah” may not be used by non-Muslims when referring to God in the Malay language.

“The decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Thursday, Dec 31, allowing the Herald – The Catholic Weekly to use the word ‘Allah’ was shocking to Muslims nationwide,” said the sermon, which was meant for delivery before the start of Friday prayers.

“The use of the word ‘Allah’ by the Christians, especially in writings, must be stopped by the government. According to Islamic principles, the government has the right to take pre-emptive measures to stop [the] expected damage,” it added.

It also reiterated the stand made by Muslim groups opposed to the High Court ruling — that the move would create confusion among Muslims.

“We are worried that all churches will be renamed Baitullah (House of God), the Bible will also be renamed Kitabullah, and more confusion will arise if all religions in the country use the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God.

“Their aim is to equate Islam with other religions in the country. In fact, Islam is the religion accepted by Allah, there is no other religion but Islam. Islam came from Allah, while other religions were man-made,” it added.

The sermon also cited the Cabinet decision in 1986, banning the use of four Arabic words — including “Allah” — by non-Muslim as well as the state enactment which restricts the use of the word. The enactment was meant to prevent the word from being used for propagating other religious views to Muslims.

The first part of the sermon, which discusses the issue, ended with a reminder to Muslims to respect the rule of law, as the authorities are taking action according to the available legal process.

The row over the use of the word “Allah” has been linked to attacks on nine churches, a mission school and one Sikh temple over the last week.

Both the government and the opposition have moved in to defuse tensions, with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announcing financial aid of RM500,000 to the worst hit church, the Metro Tabernacle in Kuala Lumpur. Opposition leaders have also been holding regular meeting with leaders and members of the Christian community.

Meanwhile, the Friday sermon prepared by the federal Islamic Development Department of Malaysia (Jakim) did not touch on the issue. The body prepared two versions of sermon to be chosen by mosques in the Federal Territories today.

One version of the sermon urged the Muslims to control their sugar intake in an attempt to justify the government’s decision to reduce sugar subsidy, while another version discusses the solar eclipse which takes place this afternoon.

Karpal wants MACC lawyer cited for contempt of court

By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani - The Malaysian Insider

SHAH ALAM, Jan 15 — The Teoh Beng Hock inquest took a bizarre twist today, when a hearing on an application to cite a senior MACC officer for contempt turned into an attempt to charge the MACC lawyer instead.

Earlier, counsel representing the Attorney-General’s chambers Tan Hock Chuan told the court that no action would be taken against Thai forensic pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand.

He added that the A-G did not think Dr Pornthip had leaked any information to Suara Keadilan.

Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas then said there was no longer a need to proceed with contempt proceedings against MACC’s Raub Ghani, who had lodged a police report against Dr Pornthip for allegedly leaking the results of the second post-mortem on Teoh Beng Hock.

Lawyer Karpal Singh, representing Teoh’s family, then started to argue that contempt proceedings against Raub should still proceed as the A-G’s opinion seems to suggest the MACC officer had lodged a false police report against Dr Pornthip.

At this point, lawyer for the MACC Datuk Abdul Razak Musa stood up to protest Karpal’s use of the word “murder”, but Karpal asked him to sit down as he had the floor and Razak did not have the right to interrupt.

Karpal (in wheelchair) was insulted for his disability. — Picture by Choo Choy May

Razak then retaliated by saying: “I can sit down but you cannot stand up.”

This angered Karpal’s son and fellow lawyer, Gobind Singh Deo, who immediately protested and ordered Razak to apologise.

After a heated exchange, Razak finally apologised but this did not satisfy Karpal. He argued that insulting a member of the Bar is in contempt of the court.

However, the coroner reasoned that Razak had apologised and it was up to Karpal to accept the apology or not, before adding there was no need to bring contempt charges against Razak and that the lawyer should just be cautioned.

Karpal’s other co-counsel Malik Imtiaz, however, urged the coroner to reconsider his decision because this will lead to a precedence whereby a Bar member can be insulted in court.

The judge agreed and gave Karpal half an hour to provide previous case rulings to support his motion for Razak to be held in contempt of the court.

“Of course, he apologised but in my mind his apology is not sincere and we wanted a more severe punishment against Datuk Razak because we do not want this to become a precedent,” he told reporters outside the court room.

The court will resume after a break.

At DAP meet, Guan Eng to sketch out Pakatan’s Putrajaya goal

By Leslie Lau - The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng (picture) is likely to use his party’s national convention this Sunday to issue a stern warning to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) that it must quickly bring concrete and tangible changes to the states it governs, in order to convince voters that the DAP, PKR and PAS can be trusted to take over the federal government from Barisan Nasional (BN).

The Malaysian Insider understand from DAP sources that the party boss will use the convention as a platform to set clear goals not just for his party but for its partners in the coalition as well, ahead of general elections which many political pundits expect to be called by next year.

Lim’s address to the party faithful will be the first significant acknowledgement that the PR coalition needs to do more to convince ordinary Malaysians it is capable of taking power.

“We cannot just continue to use the excuse that we are new at ruling the states we control.

“We have to bring about substantive reforms,” a party source told The Malaysian Insider.

The DAP, PKR and PAS combined to deny BN its traditional two-thirds parliamentary majority in Election 2008, before coming together to form the PR alliance.

The tripartite alliance initially controlled five states, before losing Perak to BN in a power grab last year.

While BN and Umno are still grappling with the fallout from its disappointing showing at the ballot box in 2008, PR parties have also been hit by their own squabbling.

BN, under Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has also seized some momentum away from PR.

PR officials have privately acknowledged as well that the federal opposition coalition must regain the initiative.

At this weekend’s convention, Lim will put forward his argument that how PR runs the states it still controls will be crucial to whether it can win federal power.

The Malaysian Insider understands that Selangor and Penang are key states in PR’s strategy of showcasing its abilities to the public.

As a measure of the urgency faced by PR, Lim, who is Penang Chief Minister, has been busy travelling abroad in an effort to secure foreign investments for his state.

Selangor, which is led by PKR, has seen the recent appointment of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as state economic advisor. Anwar’s appointment is seen as an effort to boost the state’s economic performance ahead of national polls.

Prime minister Najib is also staking BN’s hold on power on the economy.

It is understood that Najib is hoping to grow the national economy by at least six per cent and bring back a feel-good factor before he considers calling snap polls.

Another important message Lim will deliver to his members this weekend is that PR can no longer hope to be just “not as bad” as BN.

He will tell his party that they must be an attractive choice for voters, in what is an acknowledgement that PR must stop behaving like a perpetual opposition and instead, showcase its abilities at being a ruling party through the states it now governs.