Minister: Re-open probe on Ibrahim Ali's Bible remark

Gov't passes buck on interfaith child custody

Fatwa haramkan SIS: Izzah saran beri ruang dengar keluhan

France: Several large-scale jihad mass murder attacks foiled

“Reports of the foiled attacks come after Islamic extremists from Isis called on followers to launch attacks on French soil…” If the planned jihad murders were a response to that call, they once again show the appeal of the concept of the caliphate, which makes the Islamic State immediately more influential among many Muslims in the West than other jihad terror groups have been. But government and mainstream media analysts cannot acknowledge that appeal, much less study it, for to do so would be to admit that the Islamic State has something to do with Islam.

“Several ‘planned terrorist attacks’ foiled in France,” The Local, November 3, 2014:

Several terrorist plots against France have been foiled in recent months including one planned to target the famous Nice Carnival, French security services revealed on Monday. The news comes as France remains on high alert for attacks from extremists.

Details were revealed on Monday of three alleged terror plots on France that were thwarted by the country’s anti-terror police….

Nice:

According to reports, this was the most developed plot and was designed to target the annual Nice Carnival. Police arrested a man in February on the French Riviera and found him to be in possession of the explosive TATP, which can be manufactured at home and was used in previous terrorist attacks including the Marrakech bombings in 2011.

The explosives were found in three drinks cans, one of which had screws and nails taped around it. The arrested man had just returned from Syria and was allegedly plotting an attack similar to the one carried out at the Boston Marathon in April 2013.

Ile-de-France:

According to separate reports in Le Parisien newspaper on Monday, a young Frenchman was arrested in Creteil in the Paris region. He had reportedly been researching possible targets for an attack using the internet and trying to raise money so he could buy arms.

He was arrested in the summer and charged with “criminal association with a links to a terrorist organisation” before being jailed but he has denied the allegations against him.

Lille:

A man named Lyes Darani was arrested in the northern French city a year ago with a manual explaining how to make a bomb and a letter containing a religious pledge to commit a suicide attack, RTL radio reported.

“He had just returned from Syria through Lebanon, where he had prepared an attack against Shiites and was inquiring about targets in France for a suicide attack,” RTL reported.

Reports of the foiled attacks come after Islamic extremists from Isis called on followers to launch attacks on French soil, prompting the government to increase security at transport hubs and large shopping centres.

MH370, MH17 Tragedies Were Caused Due to Un-Islamic Behaviours like 'Serving Alcohol and Exposing Flesh': Malaysian Official

IBTIMES

A senior lecturer of the National Defence University recognised as Ridhuan Tee, has offered a theological contention as the main reasons behind the tragedies of MH370 and MH17, implying that if the Malaysian airlines had adhered to Islamic behaviours or customs, the accidents would never have happened.

In his column titled "Buka Minda" (Open your mind) written for Malaysian publication, Sinar Harian on Monday, Tee said that Malaysian airlines MH370 went missing and MH17 was shot down earlier in the year simply because Malaysians are increasingly refusing to be more 'Islamic'.

He latched on the idea that more Islamic culture should be observed on board Malaysian flights, by narrating his own experience while flying a Royal Brunei Airlines fight recently.

"The flight began with a beautiful reciting of prayers and well wishes," that made him feel that "Allah was with us," he said in a quote translated by Free Malaysia Today.

"Aren't the lessons of MH17 and MH370 not enough?" Tee asked adding that these days the in-flight crew do not bother to dress in a more Islamic manner and that they serve alcohol – something that is prohibited in Islam.

Noting that the tourists "are practically bathing in alcohol in their own countries", the official concluded by offering an advice to Malaysian airlines in order to avoid accidents in future:

"My advice: observe a more Islamic way of life before Allah unleashes his wrath on you."

"Forget those who are not interested in entering heaven. They are but products of the West bent on destroying Muslims in our country."

This is the first time a relatively renowned senior official has provided a theological explanation on why the two flights met their fate earlier in the year.

ISIS 'to set up Islamic Caliphate in Sinai'

(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, NOVEMBER 3 - The Islamic State (ISIS) has issued a statement saying that an Islamic Caliphate will be established in the Sinai, calling it the ''first step towards the invasion of Jerusalem''. The statement threatens Egyptian security forces, which were suffered an attack on October 24. ISIS urged jihadists in the region to ''destroy police checkpoints and stations, launch RPGs at their gatherings and show the world that the Rule of God must be imposed''.

Bibles belong to the Christians, Azmin tells Selangor sultan

The Malay- and Iban-language Bibles seized by the state religious authority in January do not belong to the Muslims and must be returned to the Christians, Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali said yesterday.

Azmin told some 1,000 DAP supporters at the party’s fund-raising dinner that he informed the Selangor palace of this, with the hope that the prolonged issue will finally be resolved.

“I have brought this matter to the Sultan... how the Alkitab does not belong to the Muslims. They belong to the Christians, whom we must respect,” Azmin said in his speech at the MBPJ Civic Hall in Petaling Jaya.

“Islam has never asked its followers to disrupt the harmony of other faiths. It is our duty to respect the practise of the other religions in the country. This is a multi-religious society. This is not Saudi Arabia or Sudan. This is Malaysia. This is Selangor.

“This is why we are working on a formula, and I am confident that if they understand the true Islam, then the Bibles must be returned back to the Christians.”

He said that as the new menteri besar, he took his position seriously and would look after all Selangor folks, regardless of their background.

He added that Muslims must respect the other faiths in Malaysia, and that the rights of non-Muslims to practise their religion was guaranteed in the Federal Constitution.

“I don’t care what (Perkasa chief Datuk) Ibrahim Ali says… As the menteri besar, I have to defend the people of Selangor, irrespective of race and religion.”

Azmin’s predecessor, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, was widely panned by DAP and even his own party, PKR, for not taking a firmer stance over the Bible issue, which had dragged on for months with no resolution in sight.

But, Azmin, who was sworn in as the 15th menteri besar on September 23, told reporters yesterday he had met with the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) and the Selangor Islamic Affaris Council (Mais) and that the outcome would be made known soon.

Jais seized the 321 Bibles during a raid at The Bible Society of Malaysia’s (BSM) office in January.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail ordered the Bibles to be returned to BSM, after the Selangor government under, Khalid, referred the matter to him.

Although Gani concluded that the Bible distributor had done nothing wrong, Mais insisted there were grounds to prosecute it under the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation among Muslims) Enactment 1988.

Khalid referred the matter to the Sultan of Selangor who ordered Jais to refer it to the state public prosecutor.

Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah's private secretary Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani said that the sultan's order was in line with the minutes issued by the A-G's Chambers that "Jais has to act in accordance to the law on the issue of the seized Bibles".

"Jais should promptly refer it to the state public prosecutor for it to be brought to court for final determination," the sultan said in the statement.

He also said the issue should not be politicised by any quarter resulting in confusion by proposing solutions which were not based on the law.

But the ruler did not state which court the authorities should refer the matter to, civil or shariah. – November 4, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/bibles-belong-to-the-christians-azmin-tells-selangor-sultan#sthash.eiP72LVP.dpuf

Sarawak’s Masing remains outspoken, says good for Malaysians

Sarawak minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing has vowed to continue speaking up against injustices in the country even if it means going up against his Barisan Nasional (BN) colleagues and leaders, all for the good of the people.

The outspoken Land Development Minister, who is also a fierce critic of Putrajaya, said he will never change despite receiving brickbats from BN leaders, who have accused him of being the opposition tool to destroy the ruling coalition.

"I did lose some friends. But I am breaking ranks for the good of the community. People who do not understand this are not my friends anyway," he told The Malaysian Insider.

This, he said, was the legacy he wanted to leave for his children and the young people of Sarawak. A legacy of fighting for the victimised and for justice.

"I am not a rich man. I can only leave who I am during my lifetime. I want people to remember me as Masing's son, the one who fought for the people," the 65-year-old added.

Masing, who is the president of a BN component party in Sarawak – PRS, said that it has been ingrained in him from his undergraduate days in New Zealand, to "fight for what is right".

"It was put in me that there must be a sense of fairness in everything one does. So when I find something is not right, I am there to correct it.

"I don't care who it is, if I think they are not being fair, I will go after them. I really cannot stand it when I see others being victimised," he said.

Masing revealed that he had shared similar sentiments with former Umno leader Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, who is now the chief executive officer of the Global Movement of Moderates, who is also known as a moderate who is vocal in his views even if they differed from those of his party.

"I had a chat with him once and told him not to be worried about breaking ranks (with BN) for the good of the people. I told him not to be scared of doing the right thing," he said.

"Malaysia cannot afford not to have a moderate society because we are multicultural. If you are not a moderate, you have no place in this society."

Masing was commenting on the criticisms he had received from BN leaders, including from former information minister Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin, who had accused him of unknowingly becoming a tool for Pakatan Rakyat while causing much confusion with his comments.

The Sarawak minister had earlier likened the Customs Department’s seizure of Christian materials containing the word Allah on October 25 to growing religious extremism in the country.

He had also previously slammed former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, whom he had worked closely with while the latter was BN chairman, for defending Perkasa's Datuk Ibrahim Ali over the Bible-burning issue.

Masing had said that he had lost all respect for the man he had once held in high esteem, adding that the former prime minister seemed to advocate that there was only one religion in Malaysia.

"I used to have the highest respect for Tun Mahathir. Now I have second thoughts on his wisdom.

“In the name of Islam, and in defence of the sanctity of Islam, anything goes now,” Masing had said, referring to Dr Mahathir's comments in defending Malay rights group Perkasa and its call for Malay-language Bibles to be burned.

He had also hit out at Putrajaya for going on a sedition blitz against a number of politicians, academics, lawyers, a journalist, activists and a preacher.

When commenting on the sedition investigation against Edmund Bon, he had said that should the activist-lawyer be charged with sedition for stating legal facts, then the government “is a bit way out of line”.

Besides that, the Sarawak minister flayed Putrajaya for threatening to throw pro-secession activists behind bars without listening to them.

He had said that even though their dissatisfaction with Malaysia was currently all talk, it would still be unwise of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to treat their unhappiness lightly.

“We must look at the complaints and do our best to remedy them if indeed they are justifiable,” Masing had said.

Earlier in the year, Masing had also lambasted federal BN leaders whom, he said, were "gutless" for tip-toeing around the Allah issue with an unsound policy apparently aiming “to appease everyone”.

“Leaders (in the federal cabinet) must be brave enough to take the bull by the horns and decide once and for all which set of religious laws Malaysians must abide by."

He was exceptionally critical of the policy where Christians in the peninsula are banned from using the word Allah in their Bibles and religious publications in line with the Court of Appeal's ruling last October. The policy, however, exempted Christians in Sarawak and Sabah from the ban under a 10-point solution agreed to by the Federal Cabinet in 2011.

Today, Masing reiterated that this was proof that the element of religious extremism was beginning to creep in to Malaysia, and Sarawak was no exception.

"We don't have this problem here (Sarawak). We do not distinguish people according to their races. We look at a person as a friend.

"And we are a bit worried in Sarawak. That people from the West will start importing their rubbish here," he added.

He once again took a swipe at his BN colleagues, saying that they have stopped being self-critical and have grown to look at criticism as dissent while becoming increasingly arrogant.

"You must learn to be self-criticial in order to grow. We make mistakes all the time. But we can improve if people point it out to us.

"A lot of BN people cannot accept criticism. They become ministers and then they think they are Gods and are above any reproach. That is the first downfall," he warned.

He attributed his love for BN as a reason behind his outspokenness on certain issues, saying that he wanted to turn BN from a coalition that was losing its relevance to one that would last another 50 years in power.

"I love BN. I want to make it better. Those who criticised me do not realise we are on the same boat. If the boat is leaking, I must say something, otherwise I would sink with them," he said.

He told The Malaysian Insider that this was how he was using his position as a minister in the state government constructively.

"If I was not in this position, who will care to listen to me? They will brush it off as the rantings of an old man.

"But because I am a minister, at least people stop and listen. At least, people bother to read my statements. And now I use it (ministerial position) to tell the world what Malaysia must do," he said. – November 4, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/sarawaks-masing-remains-outspoken-says-good-for-malaysians#sthash.MCqZEhjl.dpuf

Shafee: DNA presence proves penetration

The prosecution for Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy II appeal said today Anwar's DNA has been found in four areas on alleged victim Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, and this is ample evidence to prove there was penetration.

This is despite Pusrawi doctor Dr Mohd Osman Abdul Hamid and the three Hospital Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) doctors having said in their reports that in their initial examination of Saiful, there was no sign of penetration.

Government-appointed prosecutor Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said Anwar's DNA was found in the perianal swab, two high rectum swabs and one low rectum swab taken from the complainant.

“There is only one prevalent DNA in those swabs, that is of the accused/appellant (Anwar), who has been identified as 'Male Y', besides Saiful's,” he said during his submission today as the appeal went into its fifth day.

Showing the chart the prosecution prepared, Shafee said the perianal swab from Saiful showed the DNA of Anwar and Saiful were present from "top to bottom".

He adds that Anwar’s DNA was also found on the high rectal non-sperm extract.

"It is on every locus," he said.

During the initial trial, Saiful had testified that Anwar had ejaculated inside his rectum as he had done on previous occasions, and the complainant had kept that region unwashed for two days before going to the Pusrawi Hospital and HKL on June 28, 2008, for his medical examination.

As for the DNA of another unidentified 'Male Y' that was also found in the DNA analysis, Shafee explained that it could have been the result of Saiful "sitting on a toilet seat".

Shafee later told the Federal Court panel that the 18 allele of the unidentified male should not be taken into consideration, as chemist Dr Seah Lay Hong had testified it is to be considered a "dropout".

Shafee added the HKL doctors had been careful when examining Saiful as they had used a sterilised proctoscope, and the possibility of contamination was much lower.

"The doctors could not say there was penetration (on initial examination). After they looked at the samples taken four centimetres deep into Saiful's anal region (and compared it with the swab readings) they then found there is penetration,” the senior lawyer said.

'Accept lockup evidence'

In his submission Shafee also argued on the acceptability of items - a toothbrush, mineral water bottle and white towel - retrieved from Anwar's lock-up cell, as evidence.

Shafee said the items should be considered as valid evidence despite defence counsel Sangeet Kaur Deo arguing they had been obtained through trickery and deception.

The Umno-linked lawyer provided a Singapore case law where such evidence was accepted, and argued that here in Malaysia, such evidence should also be accepted under the Evidence Act.

The prosecutor said that while the defence questioned the manner in which the arrest was made, which it claimed is unlawful, Shafee said the fact was that the charge was read to Anwar during his arrest on July 16, 2008, and the warrant was shown to him at the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters.

“Furthermore, for an offence under Section 377, there is no need for a warrant of arrest to be issued.

“The defence is saying the arrest is unlawful, which I say it is not.

"But even if the arrest is unlawful, the evidence gained from Anwar’s cell can be accepted as evidence as this is the accepted law in Singapore, Malaysia, and I understand, in the Commonwealth,” Shafee said.

The samples were analysed by a separate chemist, Nor Aidora Saedon, and the prosecution used the finding of DNA samples of 'Male Y' from the toothbrush and mineral water bottle to draw a link to the DNA found by Seah in Saiful's samples to link to Anwar as the alleged perpetrator.

Shafee further persuaded the court to accept the alleged past incidences of sodomy as claimed by Saiful as this was backed by the complainant's testimony.

The senior lawyer also questioned what happened to Anwar's alibi as the politician had initially claimed to have 13 witnesses for his alibi, but none of them had been called or have come forward to testify that he was in the other condo unit and not the one where the alleged act was said to have taken place.

The hearing continues tomorrow in the Federal Court before a five-member bench led by Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria, with Shafee is expected to wind up his submission, after which the defence will proceed with its reply.

MP: SPM model paper has racial conflict posers

 

A DAP lawmaker today expressed concern over a "model paper" published in a SPM reference book with essay topics on racial conflicts between Chinese and Malays, and even portraying the Chinese community in a bad light.

In the book published by Info Didik this year, a Bahasa Malaysia essay topic asks students to write about "Chinese willing to even kill Malays" and vice-versa, among a host of other racial innuendos.

Sibu MP Oscar Ling said he was unsure if this was an actual past year question that was being published in the book or if merely a model paper.

He demanded that the Education Ministry investigates the matter.

The book, titled 'Kertas Model Sebenar SPM Bahasa Malaysia', is authored by Khairudiin Ayip and Yusanizan Shafie.

However, Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told the Dewan Rakyat the ministry is powerless to rectify the problem if the publication is private and did not come from the ministry.

“We hope this did not come from the ministry. If it is from a private publisher, it is beyond the scope of the ministry,” Muhyiddin said.

Ling described Muhyiddin’s statement as irresponsible.

“Any SPM reference book, even if it is a private publisher, must be supervised by the Education Department,” he said.

In the topic for the modern essay, the author states that vernacular schools breed a racial divide from a young age, and asks students to write about communities that are “enemies”.

Perkasa: Kurup's anti-Ibrahim call 'seditious'

Malay right NGO Perkasa has condemned Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Joseph Kurup for urging the Attorney-General’s Chambers to relook the case involving Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali’s threat to burn bibles.

Perkasa’s Islamic affairs bureau chief Shamsuddin Moner said that Kurup is "playing up religious issues and stirring hatred towards Perkasa among Christians", Kurup could cause a "riot".

"He is purposely raising the ire of Perkasa members, and this is clearly seditious. As such, we urge the police to call Kurup to give a statement to back his ill-assumptions against the Perkasa chief," he said in a statement.

"As a minister, Kurup should not be a Christian extremist."

He said that the minister was "unwise" to make the open call as he can share his views behind closed doors in cabinet meetings.

He also urged Kurup (left) to "appreciate the concept and principles of wasatiyah (moderation)" stressed by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Kurup in winding up debates in Parliament Monday suggested that the Attorney-General’s Chambers relook the case against Ibrahim, as it would help ease tensions.

However, he reiterated that this was only a suggestion as the government cannot meddle in the AGC’s decision.

The AGC said it will not prosecute Ibrahim for the remark made in Penang last year as he did not intend to cause disharmony and was only protecting the sanctity of Islam.

Absolutely ignorant

Meanwhile, Shamsuddin said that Kurup is "absolutely ignorant" of what Ibrahim had meant when he made the call following claims that bibles were distributed to Muslim school children in Penang.

He said that Ibrahim had only referred to the bibles which were translated to Bahasa Malaysia and used the word 'Allah' to refer to God.

"This is as the original Bible is not in Bahasa and never used the word 'Allah' to refer to God. It is clear that Ibrahim never meant to influence anyone to torch the holy book of the Christians," he said.

No future in political Islam, academic says

(Malay Mail Online) – Islam-based parties have no future in the current political arena as they set themselves apart in exclusive bubbles rather than participating in the global society, International Islamic University Malaysia professor Dr Maszlee Malik told a forum today.

The outspoken speaker also warned Islamist parties against taking democracy for a temporary ride like a “taxi” to come into power, stressing that parties must decide whether they wish to be political or religious missionary movements.

“The future is not with political Islam. The future is not going to be with Islamists, the future is not going to be with Islamic political parties in Muslim countries. That is a fact,” Maszlee told the World Forum for Muslim Democrats here.

“The future is with the open society. Political Islam, or democrat Islamists, should not live in exclusivity.”

In Malaysia, Islamist PAS is the most influential and successful Islam-based party, a member of the federal opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

In the 13th General Elections last year, PAS won 21 parliamentary seats out of the 89 won by PR, down 2 seats from the last polls in 2008.

Maszlee said Islamists cannot continue to deride anything from jahiliyyah civilisations as ”bad”, using the Arabic term for “ignorant” that refers to non-believers.

“You want to play with democracy you have to toe the rule of the game. You have to submit and really believe in it. You cannot use it as taxi,” said Maszlee, referring to democracy as the global zeitgeist.

Maszlee also pointed out to the recent fate of Tunisian Islamist party Ennahda, which lost to secular party Nida Tunis in an election last week, despite being the first Islamist movement to secure power after the 2011 Arab spring revolts.

“You want to be a political party, [but] you want to maintain your Islamic dakwah (preaching) orientation mentality, it never works such a way,” he added.

Fellow panelist Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad from PAS, subsequently defended the Islamist party by saying that it sees democracy as the way forward for Muslims as it provides a space for check and balance.

“It is not about rhetorics, no longer about saying ‘Islam is the solution’ … It is for us to provide convincing, compelling solutions that needs to be proposed,” Dzulkefly said, referring to policies on good governance, tackling poverty, discrimination, and unemployment.

In an environment that focuses on contestation of ideas, Dzulkefly said the challenge for PAS now is to convince voters of what it offers, rather than coerce them using divine authority.

Analysts told Malay Mail Online in September that PAS is already losing ground among middle Malaysia as the Islamist party grows more religiously conservative but it can reverse the decline if its leaders correct its course.

PAS emerged out of its annual congress, or muktamar, this year as an apparently divisive party, with the party’s once all-powerful clergy class fighting hard to keep PAS true to its Islamic roots.

The two-day forum was jointly-organised by Japan’s Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Indonesia’s Habibie Center, Turkey’s Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research, and Malaysia’s Institut Kajian Dasar.

Give finance post to someone better, PM told

PAS' Raja Bahrin says the job needs to be handled full time by someone with the right experience.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: MPs from PAS are generally not known to be as aggressive as their counterparts in DAP or even PKR in articulating economic issues or attacking the Prime Minister. One of the few exceptions is newbie Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah of Kuala Terengganu. He did both today.

Raja Bahrin, an acclaimed architect, called for Najib Razak’s resignation from his post as Finance Minister, telling him to hand over the portfolio to somebody experienced in economics and finance and who could handle the job full time.

Speaking to reporters covering Parliament, he accused the Prime Minister of concentrating power in his hands.

“We see the same problem in the audit report every year,” he said, adding that scant attention was given to ensure that government contracts were given out properly.

He said Najib, as Prime Minister, should concentrate on tackling the numerous other problems the country was facing, such as communal strife and high crime rates.

He gave his support to a letter that Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah distributed to MPs last week, in which the Gua Musang MP made a detailed criticism of the government’s handling of the national economy.

He praised the six-page letter for its erudite arguments.

Raja Bahrin also accused the government of neglecting the agriculture industry and criticised its alleged over dependence on oil revenue.

“Next year, oil revenue is expected to drop further,” he said. “How will the government look for other sources of revenue? Even our rice is imported, and that too is monopolised.”

Hindraf: FT Minister must make a stand on Ashram

Waytha tells Tengku Adnan to act in the public interest instead of acting powerless.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: Hindraf Chairman P Waytha Moorthy expressed his shock at the Federal Territory Minister’s blatant ignorance regarding the laws and his responsibility to protect and save Malaysia’s heritage.

He said in a statement that Tengku Adnan’s claims that the government has no power to stop the private development and can only “advise” the land owner to retain the Vivekananda Ashram building in Brickfields “clearly shows the minister is ignorant on the laws available” and demonstrates “his shallow attitude towards our national heritage.”

Waytha pointed out that it was widely known that the National Heritage Department had gazetted the Ashram earlier in 2008 & 2009.

He said the argument put forward by the FT minister and KL mayor that the board of trustees could go ahead with the development plans while maintaining the heritage site was “utter rubbish”.

“It does not take a rocket scientist to tell that the planned development would cause permanent destruction to the heritage building,” said Waytha.

He was disappointed with Tengku Adnan’s lackadaisical attitude towards the fight to save the Ashram and accused him of making a mockery of Malaysia’s status as a committee member of the World Heritage Committee.
“The minister seems to have conveniently ignored and failed to consult the heritage department on the buffer zone requirement, and whether a prior study existed following the guidelines set by the relevant authorities.

“As a Minister, he should not open his mouth if he is not aware of the facts, the laws and the need to protect our national heritage,” said Waytha who felt that the public would not be so foolish as to accept his “passing the buck” statement.

He told Tengku Adnan to invoke his powers to suspend the development plan and to do what is best to serve the public interest.

Malaysian Courts on Trial: The case of Anwar Ibrahim

I have been a trial observer in Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trials since 1999. In fact, I have only missed to observe his trial once -that was when the Malaysian Court of Appeals overturned the High Court’s previous decision acquitting him from all charges.

I made it a point hence to observe oral arguments in Ibrahim’s case before the Malaysian Supreme Court. Similar to ours, the Malaysian Supreme Court sits in many divisions. The proceedings I had the chance to observe had five justices on it.

Unfortunately, my commitments at home did not allow me to observe for more than two days of oral arguments. I thought that the two days would be enough because in our own Supreme Court, very seldom will the Court hear a matter for more than two sittings.

But the Malaysian Court is different, Unlike ours, which will only hear issues of law, the Malaysian Court heard arguments point by point on why the Court of Appeals erred in reversing the High Court. I had the privilege of hearing two children of the revered but recently passed barrister Karpal Singh, both of whom argued that the Appellate Court erred in convicting Ibrahim on the basis of dubious DNA evidence.

While DNA as a science is itself accepted, what made the use of DNA evidence dubious in Ibrahim’s case was the fact that while the DNA extracted from a towel, a comb and a tooth brush allegedly used by Ibrahim came from one and the same person, there was nonetheless no direct evidence that they were in fact the DNA of Ibrahim! DNA as a science would itself confirm if DNA found from an object is from a particular person. But in the case of Ibrahim, the Appellate court overturned his conviction on the basis of mere circumstantial evidence that they could only have come form Ibrahim, despite the absence of scientific link to him.

This kind of a conclusion would not have been possible in the Philippine or any other jurisdiction with the semblance of an independent judiciary. The fact that the Malaysian Appellate Court convicted him under this dubious condition could only mean that it abdicated its independence and agreed to be a tool of the ruling party, UMNO, and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, in an effort to stymie Ibrahim and the rest of the country’s opposition into surrender.

But battle tested democrats don’t succumb to threats easily. By highlighting the obvious, Anwar has turned the table on the Malaysian Judiciary. No court in this planet could have convicted him on the basis of DNA evidence with no direct link to him. The questions now is whether the Malaysian Supreme Court will exhibit independence and acquit Ibrahim, or be swayed by the ruling party as did the Court of Appeals. In a way, what I observed was the Malaysian Courts on trial, and not just Anwar Ibrahim’s case.

All freedom loving people of the world eagerly await the outcome of this trial. For with it is also a verdict on the independence and integrity of the Malaysian Courts.

Harry Roque

Roque & Butuyan Law Offices
1904 Antel Corporate Center
121 Valero Street, Salcedo Village
1227 Makati City, Philippines

A brother-sister great debate - Isma vs SIS

 

The current debate between Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) and Sisters In Islam (SIS); the former a masculinist-Islamist-para-jihadist group and the latter a feminist-Islamist study group, seems to present an interesting case-study analysis of Malaysia’s own 16th Century ‘Protestant- Lutheran Reformation’ breakthrough.

Ironically it is a debate  on the word ‘liberalism’, seemingly as confusing a concept as ‘democracy’ and also of ‘Islam’. Here is why, as I see it, the debate is interesting and Malaysians should pay attention to it:

Malaysian Muslims are yet faced with another challenging situation; one which presents an interesting extrapolation of the historical dilemma the Muslims have been facing intellectually.

Coming soon would be a public intellectual crisis that involves the grand and subaltern voices in Islam. Those of the Wahabbi, Salafi, Sunni, Shiite, Sufi, and the ‘denominations derived from traditional and indigenous practices’ (the tariqats primarily) will come out in the open to assert the ‘truth-ness’ of their perspective and practice of Islam.

Essentially now, Islam seems to have many ‘denominations’ based on cultural, geographical, political, economic, and intellectual factors - as a consequence of globalisation. Muslims are all part and products of the various authorships of these ‘denominations’ - thanks to the power/knowledge matrix of the evolution of Islam. These denominations are even mutating, depending on class and consciousness of the adherents.

On a crude psychological plane in Malaysia, here is the situation, stated in simple terms:

The subaltern voices in Islam are clashing with each other. Examples abound.

The Sufis are saying that the Wahabbis are on the wrong path, the Wahabbis claim they are preaching the one and true tauhid and that Sufism is a strange invention, the Shiites in Iran are probably building more powerful weapons against the Sunnis the Mid-East over, the Malaysian government is propagating Hadhari and the halal hub in a haram casino-capitalistic environment, the Malays have produced their own messiahs or Rasul Melayu (Malay prophets) and their variants of Ayah Pins and their Sky Kingdoms, the anti-hadiths are roaming cyberspace declaring themselves Quranic-only Muslims, the liberal Muslims are at loggerheads with the strict ones bent on moral policing, the gangsta-rapper-Busta Rhymes-type Muslims are angry with the soft-spoken Raihan-a capella-type-Muslims, the Sisters in Islam are angry with the Malaysian Brotherhood of Islam called Isma, the Death Metallists are having a field day with all these chaos amongst Muslim ideologues, the Catholics are fighting in court over the issue of the ‘Allah’ ban, the whirling dervishes are still whirling... it is a postmodern situation in the field of Islam in Malaysia.

I hope this is a useful sketch of the postmodern Muslim condition. Now we have the rose of violent Islam as in the Islamic State of the self-proclaimed Khalifah Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, Islamic conspiracy theorists said to be a child of America’s Foreign Policy and trained by the Mossad.

How to read the Quran then?

Are Muslims then better off reading the Quran hermeneutically? Is it better for them to remove themselves from the philological, historical, and most importantly cultural context, take the scripture in whatever meaningful language it has been translated into, and take only the spirit of it, and like a Prometheus unbound, soar to greater theological heights? This is a challenging question.

Or maybe religious sentimentality and critical sensibility must come from one’s own exploration using a triad of sense awareness, intellect, and intuition, drawn from purely cultural sources? - We can then be free from cultural biases and these ‘geographically and politically-bound’ schools of thoughts?

In that case then we will be going into the realm of what I consider ‘truly spiritual democracy’ and use reason and rationality to read the Quran (or any religious text) for that matter. Will the collection of hadiths be necessary any more? I think this question has been answered by the subaltern Muslims that has already begun their systematic critique of the narratives of the Great Prophet.

There is a growing number of Muslims who are beginning to assert that the highest faculty is human reason, which we must exercise in order for us to be truly human. This is the essence of the Enlightenment and of the Renaissance in that only through reason and feeling that we can arrive at an understanding the meaning of who we are.

Some say through lots of zikir, chanting, and even dancing (whirling dervishes included) that one can reach what needs to be reached mystically. The dancer danceth the dance of the dance itself (like what Michael Jackson lived for, maybe), and in his/her dance, as she whirls and twirls, he loses himself into the abyss of nothingness... profound... even looking from the outside.

But in all these and applicable to all religions, the question remains: at what point is innovation in religion allowed, acceptable, and tolerated? At what point is the ‘denominationalisation’ of Islam acceptable without the religion being demonised by those who think they have understood the Divine presence but actually clutched by the Devil’s right hand?

We are prisoners of language, trapped in a prison-house of language. We can avoid the answers but we can never run away from more questions. Like in the song Hotel California (by the California rock group Eagles) that goes “you can check out anytime you like but you can never leave”.

Perhaps, in all these lie a possible marriage between philosophy and religion - finally. In Malaysia though, is this at all possible?

Bring on the debate, O brothers and sisters! But debate wisely without raising voices.

---

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. His teaching experience in Malaysia and the United States spans over a wide range of subjects, from elementary to graduate education. He has edited and authored six books; Multiethnic Malaysia: Past, Present, Future (2009), Thesis on Cyberjaya: Hegemony and Utopianism in a Southeast Asian State (2012), The Allah Controversy and Other Essays on Malaysian Hypermodernity (2013), a first Malay publication Kalimah Allah Milik Siapa?: Renungan dan Nukilan Tentang Malaysia di Era Pancaroba (2014), and Controlled Chaos: Essays on Mahathirism, Multimedia Super Corridor and Malaysia’s ‘New Politics’ (forthcoming 2014). He currently resides in the United States where he teaches courses in Philosophy, Cultural Studies, Political Science, and American Studies. Twitter, blog.

Muhyiddin Dismisses Allegations Of Injustice In Giving Funds To Schools

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 (Bernama) -- Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today dismissed allegations of injustice in the distribution of financial allocations to schools.

Muhyiddin, who is also the education minister, said the government had never marginalised any school under its jurisdiction.

The approved annual allocations had been distributed equally in accordance with requirements to all schools without heed for the type of school or location, he said when winding up debate on the Supply Bill 2015 for the Education Ministry in the Dewan Rakyat.

"For example, this year, the operating expenditure allocated to 8,300 national (primary and secondary) schools is RM10.9 billion while that for 1,294 national type Chinese schools is RM2.4 billion and for 523 national type Tamil schools, RM0.97 billion," he said.

Muhyiddin said the distribution of allocation to Chinese and Tamil schools was much better than that for the national schools in poor condition, especially in remote and rural areas and on islands.

Muhyiddin cited Budget 2015 and said RM450 million in maintenance allocation would be distributed to more than 8,000 primary schools, including government Chinese and Tamil schools, as well as national secondary schools compared to only RM50 million to 889 government-aided Chinese schools and 336 government-aided Tamil schools.

Therefore, he said, it was wrong for anyone to allege injustice in the distribution of allocations to schools.

He also said that Budget 2015 had raised the allocation for utilities payment for national type schools from RM2,000 to RM5,000. The government allocated RM5.284 billion as development expenditure for education for the three years from 2013 to 2015, he said.

Of the sum, the biggest allocation was for Sabah and Sarawak, with Sabah getting RM559.87 million and Sarawak, RM609.89 million, he added.

On the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN), Muhyiddin said the government agreed to have hardcore defaulters listed on the Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) beginning next year to educate them to be more disciplined and responsible in paying their debts.

"Defaulters can go to PTPTN to settle their debts and obtain a 20 per cent discount or make installment payments over 12 months and get a 10 per cent discount.

"They are also allowed to reschedule their payments by extending the period of repayment up to age 60," he said.

As of Sept 30, PTPTN was able to collect only RM5.4 billion of the RM12 billion that was to have been paid back.

"Based on records as of Oct 1, some 173,985 hardcore defaulters had not repaid their loans for the 1999-2010 period (exceeding three years), estimated at RM1.23 billion," he said.

On the National Education Blueprint 2013-2025, Muhyiddin said the Malaysian Higher Education Master Plan was being drawn up for streamlining with the blueprint.

"This will provide for seamless continuity in the education value chain from pre-school right up to tertiary level and on to the world of employment.

"God willing, if everything goes according to plan, the Malaysian Higher Education Master Plan would be launched in the first quarter of 2015," he said.

-- BERNAMA