Dr M: Hard to differentiate men and women, they all wear pants

'Meaningless to be high income nation with income disparity'

ISIS: Libya, two human rights activists beheaded in Derna

CAIRO - Two human rights activists aged 19 and 21 were beheaded in Derna, in eastern Libya, where jihadists have sworn allegiance to ISIS and imposed Sharia, or Islamic law, local media said Tuesday.

The two activists were reportedly supporters of renegade general Khalifa Gaftar who fights extremist groups alongside the army. The two victims are Mohammed Battu and Sirak Qath, who were abducted on November 6. Their bodies were found Tuesday by residents in Derna.

The city is controlled by the Islamic Youth Council, which has set up an Islamic tribunal and already carried out executions.(ANSAmed).

Jabhat al-Nusra blows up Armenian church in Deir el-Zour: A savage blow that echoes through Armenian history

By Independent.co.uk

In the most savage act of vandalism against Syria’s Christians, Islamists have blown up the great Armenian church in Deir el-Zour, built in dedication to the one and a half million Armenians slaughtered by the Turks during the 1915 genocide. All of the church archives, dating back to 1841 and containing thousands of documents on the Armenian holocaust, were burned to ashes, while the bones of hundreds of genocide victims, packed into the church’s crypt in memory of the mass killings 99 years ago, were thrown into the street beside the ruins.

This act of sacrilege will cause huge pain among the Armenians scattered across the world – as well as in the rump state of Armenia which emerged after the 1914-1918 war, not least because many hundreds of thousands of victims died in death camps around the very same city of Deir el-Zour. Jabhat al-Nusra rebels appear to have been the culprits this time, but since many Syrians believe that the group has received arms from Turkey, the destruction will be regarded by many Armenians as a further stage in their historical annihilation by the descendants of those who perpetrated the genocide 99 years ago.

Turkey, of course, miserably claims there was no genocide – the equivalent of modern day Germany denying the Jewish Holocaust – but hundreds of historians, including one prominent Turkish academic, have proved beyond any doubt that the Armenians were deliberately massacred on the orders of the Ottoman Turkish government across all of modern-day Turkey and inside the desert of what is now northern Syria – the very region where Isis and its kindred ideological armed groups now hold. Even Israelis refer to the Armenian genocide with the same Hebrew word they use for their own destruction by Nazi Germany: “Shoah”, which means “holocaust”

The Armenian priest responsible for the Deir el-Zour district, Monsignor Antranik Ayvazian, revealed to me that before the explosions tore the church apart towards the end of September, he received a message from the Islamists promising to spare the church archives if he acknowledged them as the legislative authority in that part of Syria. “I refused,” he said. “And after I refused, they destroyed all our papers and endowments. The only genocide victims’ bones left were further north in the Murgada sanctuary and I buried them before I left. They destroyed the church there, but now if I could go back, I don’t even know if I could find where I put the bones.”

Msr Ayvazian later received a photograph taken in secret and smuggled to him from the Isis-controlled area, showing clearly that only part of the central tower of the Deir el-Zour church, built in 1846 and renovated 43 years later, remains. Every Armenian who has returned to the killing fields of the genocide has prayed at the church. Across these same lands, broken skulls and bones from 1915 still lie in the sand. When I investigated the death marches in this same region 22 years ago with a French photographer, we uncovered dozens of skeletons in the crevasse of a hill at a point where so many Armenian dead were thrown into the waters of the Khabur that the river changed its course forever. I gave some of the skulls and bones we found to an Armenian friend who placed them in the crypt of the Deir el-Zour church – the very same building which now lies in ruins.

“During the Armenian genocide, the Turks entered the church and killed its priest, Father Petrus Terzibashian, in front of the congregation,” Msr Ayvazian said. “Then they threw his body into the Euphrates. This time when the Islamists came, our priest there fled for his life.” Msr Ayvazian suffered his own personal loss in the Syrian war when Islamist fighters broke into the Mediterranean town of Qassab on 22 April this year. “They burned all my books and documents, many of them very old, and left my library with nothing but 60cm of ash on the floor.” Msr Ayvazian showed me a photograph of the Qassab church altar, upon which one of the Islamists had written in Arabic: “Thanks be to God for al-Qaeda, the Nusra Front and Bilal al-Sham” (another Islamist group). The town was retaken by Syrian government troops on 22 June.

Msr Ayvazian recounted his own extraordinary story of how he tried to prevent foreign Islamist fighters from taking over or destroying an Armenian-built hospital – how he drove to meet the Islamist gunmen and agreed to recover the corpses of some of their comrades killed in battle in return for a promise not to damage the hospital. “As I approached the hospital, a Syrian jet flew over me and dropped a bomb 40 metres from the building. I know the officer who sent the aircraft. He said it was his way of trying to warn the rebels not to harm me. They came out of the hospital like rats – but they did not harm me.”

I spoke later to the local Syrian military air force dispatcher and he confirmed that he had indeed sent a MiG fighter-bomber to attack waste ground near the building. Msr Ayvazian subsequently went to the old battlefield with Syrian government permission and recovered several bodies, all in a state of advanced decay and one with a leg eaten off by dogs. But he bravely set off with trucks carrying the dead and handed the remains to the Islamists. “They kept their word and later withdrew all their foreign fighters from the province of Hassake. I later received a letter from one of their emirs, very polite, telling me – and here the priest produced a copy of the note – that: “We vow to keep your property and your cherished possessions, which we also hold dear to us.” Msr Ayvazian looked scornfully at the letter. “Look, here at the start,” he said, “they have even made a mistake in their first quotation from the Koran! And then look what happened at Deir el-Zour. It was all for nothing.”

Each year, thousands of Armenians have gathered at their church in Deir el-Zour on 25 April – the date they commemorate the start of the genocide, when Armenian lawyers, teachers and doctors were arrested and later executed by the Turks outside Istanbul – to remember their million and a half dead. The 100th anniversary of the mass slaughter would have been a major event in Deir ez-Zour’s history. And although Syrian soldiers are still holding out in part of the town today, and Syrian authorities have promised to rebuild Armenian churches when their lands are retaken from the Islamists, there is little hope that any Armenians will be able to visit the ruins of their church in five months’ time. As for the Turks, they will do their best to stifle interest in the Armenian holocaust by holding their own commemorations next year – to mark their victory over Allied troops at the 1915 battle for Gallipoli.

'Leave your faith or leave your country'

By Dawn

“We are not Muslim, we are not Hindu, but first and foremost, we are Sindhi. There is a conspiracy to force Sindhi Hindus to leave Sindh, but we will not allow nefarious elements to succeed,” a political activist was sloganeering in English outside the Hyderabad Press Club.

Like most nationalists, he was hoping his message would be heard not only everywhere in Pakistan but also all across the world.

But the sad reality is, all these protests are of no use; the messages all fruitless. Despite their community's strong resistance, the situation is very much the same as it was yesterday. Hindu girls were converted in the past, are being converted today, and I’m sure, will be converted down to the very last Hindu remaining on the soil of Sindh.

It is true that whenever a Hindu girl in Sindh is kidnapped or converted, a large number of Sindhi Hindus – in the face of fear and hopelessness – are forced to migrate to India.

After the alleged kidnapping of Anjali Bai Meghwar from Daharki, Kajul Bheel from Matiari district and Karin from Nawabshah (most people not aware of these names), many people including my dear friend Ajeet Kumar are forced to consider the idea of migration.

“As a last resort we have decided to migrate to India," Ajeet told me a few days ago.

"We are completely insecure here. We are looted but our voice is not heard by the people in the saddle, our temples are attacked in broad daylight but no one takes action, our girls are kidnapped and forcibly converted only to hear more empty promises of justice.

"Nothing happened in the last 65 years and we don’t expect any improvement in future. Things will only become wore.”

All the political parties have condemned and protested the forced conversion of 12 year-old Anjali and subsequent marriage to a young man. But while Bilawal Bhutto, the ruling party’s chairman, has taken cognizance of it, most PPP leaders have kept mum as they know there is no way to turn the situation around. Intolerance of faith differentials has gone so far in this country that not only Hindus but Christians, Ahmadis and Shias are equally targeted every now and then.

The situation is chilling.


In a place where Khursheed Shah was recently charged with religious contempt just because of his usage of the word “Muhajir”; where naming a road after Bhagat Singh, a true Pakistani, can cause so much trouble; where murderers, like Mumtaz Qadri, are welcomed with roses; people being forced to leave their faith and embrace the dominating one does not look odd at all.

“In the coming few months we will leave our motherland," said Ajeet. "See, they have brought conditions to this point; they want us to give up the faith or leave the country."

What can one do in these circumstances? Every new incident of forced conversion increases the feeling of trepidation and insecurity, and the desperateness to flee this land. Even well-heeled families are migrating as they think there is no other option left.

Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, member of PML-N told National Assembly that over 5,000 Hindus are migrating from Sindh to India every year.

Hindus constitute five per cent of Sindh's population. Vankwani's figure suggests that 22.22 per cent of the total Hindu community of the province migrate to India every year.

How many years before Sindhi Hindus are completely expelled?

Everyone knows that the Sindh government passed a law last year which criminalised underage marriages.

But has the government taken any action against those who have converted Anjali? Or even just against those who forced an underage Anjali to marry someone?


Anjali Meghwar’s father Kundan Lal has presented her NADRA and school documents in the court before the authorities. These documents certify her age as 12.

But much like the inertia of previous PPP governments, I think this incident will lead to zero action as well. I mean, PPP has not even managed to oust people like Mian Mithu (allegedly involved in Rinkle Kumari and Anjali Meghwar's cases) from its ranks.

Everyone and everything from the police, the courts and the elected assembly members can be controlled with astonishing ease, as it happened in the case of Rinkle Kumari – a girl from the same district converted by the same people last year. A video was released showing assailants brandishing weapons inside the court. Back then, MPAs and MNAs from the district did not utter a single word in support of the victims. Nor have they done so now.

So when people like Ajeet give up all hopes of improvement, they are very much in the right; because when a state cannot even pass the Hindu Marriage Act, how can it protect them and their assets? How can it prevent their girls from being forcibly converted? It can’t. This is the sorriest state for a state.

"It is indeed difficult to leave Sindh. It is our homeland, it has borne us. But we also can’t stop subscribing to our faith. So leaving is the only option left."

Good bye, Ajeet.

Negri lost transgender case over failure to argue medical issue, says court

The Court of Appeal which decided that Muslim transgender males have the right to cross-dress said the Negri Sembilan religious authorities had failed to prove Islam's position on how those who suffered from gender identity disorder (GID) should dress.

Judge Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus, who led the appellate court's three-member bench, said the three Muslims in the case were not "normal males" as they suffered from the disorder, which had been confirmed through psychiatric and psychological tests.

The religious authorities did not rebut the medical evidence, the court said in its written judgment of its decision on November 7 that Section 66 of the Negri Sembilan Shariah Criminal Enactment violated provisions in the Federal Constitution.

The state religious authorities had filed an affidavit by the Negri Sembilan mufti, who said Section 66, which prohibited a male from dressing as a woman, was a precept of Islam.

"(The appellants' lawyer) makes a pertinent point that the mufti's opinion remarkably fails to address the issue that is crucial for the purpose of the present constitutional challenge: what is the position in Islam as to the appropriate dress code for male Muslims who are sufferers of GID, like the appellants?" Hishamudin said in his written judgment obtained by The Malaysian Insider.

The mufti's affidavit was filed in response to findings by sociologist Professor Teh Yik Koon, who had given supporting evidence for the disorder suffered by the appellants, in addition to explanations on how Section 66 had adverse effects on transsexuals and on Malaysian society.

Muhamad Juzaili Mohd Khamis, Shukor Jani and Wan Fairol Wan Ismail were the appellants in the case to declare Section 66 in the enactment as unconstitutional.

In 2013, the Seremban High Court had dismissed their judicial review application.

Without medical evidence to prove insanity, the court also rubbished a claim by the state legal adviser, Iskandar Ali Dewa, that transgender who behaved and dressed as women were of unsound mind.

"Our answer to this is that in the absence of medical evidence, it is absurd and insulting to suggest that the appellants and other transgenders are persons of unsound mind," Hishamudin said.

Ali, who represented the state religious authorities, had told the court last July that the three had a defence of being incapable of knowing if what they did was against the law.

This is under Section 11 of the enactment and is similar to Section 84 of the Penal Code where a person is unable of telling if he or she has broken the law.

The appellate court in a unanimous ruling had declared that Section 66 of the enactment was void as it violated the constitutional right of freedom of expression, movement and the right to live in dignity and equality.

The other judges on the bench were Datuk Aziah Ali and Datuk Lim Yee Lan.

Hishamudin said the provision in the enactment directly affected the appellants' right to live with dignity and deprived them of their worth as members of society.

According to court papers, the litigants are make-up artists who were arrested for dressing as women and had suffered deep-seated discrimination, harassment and even violence because of their gender identity disorder.

Hishamudin also said all enactments, including Islamic laws, passed by state assemblies must conform to the basic rights stated in the Federal Constitution.

He said Article 74 (2) read with the State List empowered the legislatures to make law on matters to Islam, but even this had its constitutional limitations.

"Article 74 (3) stipulates that the legislative power of the states are exercisable subject to conditions or restrictions imposed by the Federal Constitution."

He said Article 4 declared that the constitution was the supreme law of the federation and any legislation inconsistent with the document shall be declared void.

Hishamuddin said Part 11 (Articles 5 to 13) of the constitution guaranteed the fundamental liberties of all Malaysians.

"Reading Articles 74 (3) and 4 (1), it is clear that all state laws, including Islamic laws passed by the state legislatures must be consistent with Part 11 of the Federal Constitution." – November 11, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/negri-lost-transgender-case-over-failure-to-argue-identity-disorder-or-prov#sthash.Qr7LhOdE.dpuf

Vernacular education a political football for those seeking fame, say experts

 

The debate on whether to abolish vernacular schools is being sparked and fuelled by Malaysian politicians out to make a name for themselves instead of being based on any hard facts, experts told a forum last night.

They told the forum in capital city Kuala Lumpur that Malay supremacist leaders' allegations that vernacular schools cause disunity had no basis and was not backed by evidence.

Policy analyst Dr Lim Teck Ghee said the Barisan Nasional (BN) government – which some of these politicians are a part of – had made it clear that there was no evidence that mother-tongue education caused communal disunity.

“There is also no proof that Sekolah Kebangsaan (national schools) foster unity,” said Lim at a forum titled “Should there be one stream of schooling in Malaysia?”

“These people have no evidence to back up their arguments. In reality, there is no evidence that our vernacular school system causes disunity."

Primary schooling is compulsory in Malaysia with schools using Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin or Tamil as the medium of instruction but of late, private schools are mushrooming with a focus on English as the language of choice.

What is more ironic is that when it comes to disunity among students, the Najib administration may have made matters worse, said Lim of the Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI).

This is because according to the National Education Blueprint (NEB), the administration had cut funding to a primary school programme meant to foster intercommunal ties between children of different school types, he said.

The forum was organised to discuss the debate over whether vernacular schools caused disunity. The claims were recently made by Malay supremacist groups and Umno politicians.

The latter are asking the government to get rid of the vernacular school system as they claim it causes a rift between Malaysia’s three biggest communities – the Indians, Chinese and Malays.

They believe that all students should be forced into a single-stream school.

Lim said it was logistically impossible to get rid of the about 1,300 semi-national Chinese SJK(C) and Tamil SJK(T) primary schools which currently have 700,000 pupils.

“The authors of the NEB themselves say that the diversity in our school systems is an advantage and they have even called on the government to support them.”

When it comes to fostering unity between different students, the NEB wants the government to expand RIMUP (Pupils Integration Plan for Unity) programmes on all school, said Lim.

Instead, funding for RIMUP programmes have steadily gone down since 2007 when it was first launched. In that year RIMUP received RM25.4 million but in 2011, it only received RM2.4 billion, he said.

Another speaker, Wan Saiful Wan Jan of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), pointed out that the politicians agitating against communal disunity are themselves from ethic-based parties.

“There is this hypocrisy when it comes to the subject of disunity. And they blame our schools,” said Wan Saiful who is CEO of the Ideas think tank.

The entire school system, however, should be revamped, he said, to put more choices in the hands of parents on what schools they want their children to go to.

The current system, he said, was based on an old Prussian Empire model from 1806 which was more suited to creating obedient soldiers and workers instead of critical thinkers.

“The system should be decentralised and depoliticised,” he said.

Instead of funding schools, the funds should go to each individual student and parents can choose which schools to send them to, Wan Saiful said.

According to this model, the government would set minimum standards of academic excellence and maintain public examinations. But schools would have to compete to get students.

“At the end of the day, parents would choose quality. Then the debate over this type of school does not get funding or that one gets too much would be over.”

Such a system would also create a wide variety of choices for students to learn in their own mother tongue, which is the most effective way for children to absorb knowledge.

This was echoed by K. Arumugam, an adviser for the Tamil foundation, a group that supports Tamil primary education.

According to a study done by local academics, poor Tamil children who had gone to a national school where the medium of instruction is Malay did worse than those who went to Tamil primary schools.

“This is why we were against the policy of Teaching Science and Maths in English. This is because it is quicker to pick up scientific and mathematical concepts in your mother tongue,” said Arumugam.

Schools, the speakers collectively argued, were being made into scapegoats for the problem of communal friction when in reality it was due to government policies that privileged one ethnic community over another.

For instance, Arumugam said, the focus on Bumiputera-only tertiary institutions such as Universiti Teknologi Mara came at the expense of places for non-Bumiputera at public universities.

“UITM is increasingly becoming the place where the Bumiputera go to earn their diplomas and degrees. But non-Malays have to fight for limited places in public universities.”

Lim of the CPI said that vernacular schools received less funding than national schools despite the government’s commitment to them.

“There is discrepancy between how much the government says it gives and the actual data.

“There is widespread public perception that the SJKs continue to be discriminated and treated as step children by the government.” – November 12, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/vernacular-education-a-political-football-for-those-seeking-fame-say-expert#sthash.gOAAj28N.dpuf

Mahathir: Some fatwa need to be reviewed

 

Some fatwa (religious edicts) need to be reviewed to suit the times because they are no longer relevant today, said former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed.

“I am talking about fatwa in general. Some fatwa were issued at a particular time, but then we find these no longer relevant today. Therefore, although some fatwa should be accepted, we should also review whether these are suitable today.

“For example, portraits. Portraits used to be forbidden because people tended to idolise the pictures. However, we cannot avoid having portraits anymore because of the prevalence of photography.

“The important thing is that we don’t worship the portrait. So, the old fatwa cannot be carried out today,” Mahathir said.

He said this when asked to comment on the challenge by Sisters in Islam (SIS) against a Selangor state fatwa that declared the NGO “deviant”.

Mahathir further explained that fatwa are needed to handle the challenges faced by Muslims nowadays.

However, he said that fatwa should only be issued after a proper research and debate, accompanied with knowledge, while giving appropriate consideration to the realities of modern life.

He said that although a fatwa may change, it does not mean that there are changes to the content of the Quran.

What he worries about is the misinterpretation of the meaning of the Quran, and therefore not in line with the present realities.

“We cannot change the Quran. We do not need to change the Quran. Quran is not wrong - it is perfect, but interpretation can be wrong or not completely correct and past the time of relevance, not able to overcome new ideas and realities,” Mahathir added.

Americk finishes testifying against Cecil Abraham

 

As the disciplinary proceeding on alleged professional misconduct by prominent corporate lawyer Cecil Abraham continues this weekend, it is understood that senior lawyer Americk Sidhu has copleted his testimony.

Sources familiar with the inquiry told Malaysiakini that Americk testified before the three-member Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board panel almost two weeks ago, on Oct 29, at the height of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy II appeal.

With this, the board had already heard testimonies from two lawyers, namely Americk and another key witness who is also a senior lawyer, who was allegedly first approached by some VVIPs to draft the controversial second statutory declaration (SD) of the late P Balasubramaniam on the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

The senior lawyer, whose identity remains confidential, had testified on Oct 1.

Cecil is being investigated under Section 94 of the Legal Profession Act 1976, under which the board has the power to strike a lawyer off the roll or suspend the person for misconduct.

The hearing, which is carried out behind closed doors and in secrecy, will resume on Saturday, with several witnesses having been subpoenaed.

It is understood that controversial carpet businessperson Deepak Jaikishian is one of those called as a witness, but it is uncertain whether he will testify in the proceeding this week.

‘Deepak regretted having role in second SD’

Deepak told Malaysiakini in an interview two years ago that be regretted having a role in Bala’s second SD, where he claimed he helped at a request of “a female friend”.

Americk was Balasubramaniam’s lawyer, and helped draft the first SD in July 2008, which revealed that Najib Abdul Razak, who was deputy prime minister then, had links with the slain Mongolian translator.

However, the next day the private investigator retracted the controversial first SD, following the alleged roles played by Deepak and Cecil.

The complaint against Cecil was filed by the Bar Council in April last year, following revelations that Balasubramaniam’s second SD, which retracted his explosive first SD, was not sanctioned by the private eye but allegedly drafted by the senior lawyer.

This resulted from Americk revealing to the Malaysian Bar annual general meeting (AGM) that Cecil had confided in him that Najib had instructed the prominent lawyer (Cecil) to help draft the second SD.

The AGM, which was held a day after the death of Balasubramaniam, was debating a motion on setting up an independent committee to investigate who had drafted the second SD.

It is also reported that Balasubramaniam’s widow and family had filed a suit against Najib, his wife Rosmah Mansor, Cecil and Deepak, among others, following the second SD,which had resulted in the family being in exile in India for five years.

The civil court case will come up on Nov 20, in the High Court Kuala Lumpur, with the defendants applying to strike out the suit.

Court: 'Insulting' to say transgenders unsound

 

It is "insulting" to say that transgender individuals have "unsound minds" as they are suffering from something which they did not choose, said the Court of Appeal.

"Our short answer to this is that in the absence of medical evidence it is absurd and insulting to suggest that the appellants and other transgenders are persons of unsound mind," Justice Mohd Hishamudin Yunus (below).

In his grounds of judgement for the Nov 7 decision, he said that evidences put forward to the court show that the transgender appellants suffer from Gender Identity Disorder, which cannot be treated by any known therapy.

As such, he said that Section 66 of the Negri Sembilan Syariah Enactment banning cross-dressing  is unconstitutional as it condemns transgenders to a life of "uncertainty, misery and indignity".

He added that the same Section also means that the appellants will be confined to their homes for fear of arrest.

"This is degrading, oppressive and inhuman," said Hishammuddin who led the three-member panel consisting also of Justice Aziah Ali and Lim Yee Lan.

The bench also ticked off the Seremban High Court’s verdict in September 2013, which rejected the judicial review application against the syariah enactment, for making "disturbing" findings based on "prejudice".

The High Court judge had then said that transgendered people "have male genitalia and therefore have sexual desires, so will be involved in homosexual activities, a cause for HIV".

Therefore, the High Court judge had said, Section 66 of the Negri Sembilan Syariah Enactment is required to fend off a "greater evil".

"In the present case we note with much disquiet that the learned Judge seemed particularly transfixed with ‘homosexual relations’ in her reasoning.

"We wish to stress that such reasoning is without basis and is grossly unfair to the appellants and other male Muslim sufferers of GID," he said.

"There was a complete failure on the part of the learned judge to appreciate the unrebutted medical evidence before her."

Whether it's against Islam is irrelavant

Reviewing the evidence from the Negri Sembilan mufti, Mohd Hishamudin said the fact that Muslims are prohibited from cross-dressing is irrelevant to the constitutional challenge.

"We wish to make it clear that whether or not Section 66 is consistent with the precepts of Islam is not the issue in the present case," he said.

He said the mufti’s opinion "remarkably fails" to address the position of Islam for sufferers of GID, like the appellants.

On Nov 7, the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal by Muhamad Juzaili Mohd Khamis, Shukor Jani and Wan Fairol Wan Ismail to declare Section 66 unconstitutional.

The appellants had in 2013 lost their judicial review application on the same matter at the Seremban High Court.

The Negri Sembilan government is seeking to appeal the decision at the Federal Court.

The Court of Appeal decision has also courted brickbats from the PAS ulama wing, Muslim Lawyers’ Association and the Muslim Youth Movement (Abim).

The critics say the decision challenges the positin of Islam and Syariah Court in Malaysia.

Vernacular schools, sedition to dominate AGM

 

Umno vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein predicts that the motion on vernacular schools will be the dominating topic at the coming Umno general assembly.

“Apart from this, the motions concerning the Sedition Act, social media and living cost (will also be focal points),” Hishammuddin said.

There have been calls from Umno to abolish vernacular schools and establish a single stream school system.

Among those making the call is Cheras Umno division chief Syed Ali Alhabshee, who accused vernacular schools of sowing the seeds of racism and divide.

However, this claim was met with stiff opposition from various quarters, including Umno’s partners MCA and Gerakan.

As for the Sedition Act, Umno president and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has come under intense pressure from his party to revoke his suggestion to repeal the Act.

According to Umno Online, Hishammuddin said the party headquarters received a total of 755 motions from 191 Umno divisions nationwide.

Out of this, he said, 638 motions are for reference and 117 motions do not require debates.

As for the 638, he added that 81 concerned amending the party constitution, 87 (on politics), 67 (economy), 74 (religion), 170 (social), 121 (education) and 38 (others).

Hishammuddin (right), who oversees the committee on motions, said several new approaches were introduced, such as a task force to check the motions from the Umno divisions.

“The task force, headed by Rosnah Abd Rashid Shirleen, also monitored, conducted follow-ups and reported the development achieved by the Umno divisions that submitted the motions.

“Apart from this, the task force was also responsible for providing a report to the committee on the motions for further action,” he added.

Hishammuddin also thanked all state Umno liaison chiefs for providing the name lists of speakers in advance.

“This is not to curtail the speakers’ freedom when delivering their speeches, but we want all of them to present their motions well,” he explained.

Transgenders have different identities from their bodies, defends Dr M

(Malay Mail Online) – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad explained today that transgenders have different gender identities than the bodies they are born with, in apparent defence of the sexual minority group.

The former prime minister also said that both females and males wear similar apparel in current times, and there is no longer an obvious divide on what constitute men’s clothing or women’s.

“We have to remember that there are those who were born with indeterminate sex. There are those who look like males, but are actually females. There are those who look females but are actually males.

“So their feelings are different from their appearances,” said Dr Mahathir, who was a practising medical doctor before he entered politics.

Dr Mahathir gave his explanation after a man who was not part of the media posed the question in a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Summit 2014 here.

The man asked whether Shariah judges should sit together in civil courts after the Court of Appeal ruled last week that a Negri Sembilan Shariah law outlawing cross-dressing is inconsistent with the Federal Constitution.

The three transwomen who challenged the Shariah law contended that transgenders suffer from the medical condition of Gender Identity Disorder (GID), and the court ruled that the Shariah law failed to take into account medical evidences.

Lawyers for the applicants had presented in court that they are medically diagnosed with GID under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition, consistent with “the desire to dress as a female and be recognised as a female”.

The Court of Appeal’s three-man bench also unanimously ruled that the Shariah law contravened constitutional provisions that guarantee personal liberty, equality, freedom of movement, and freedom of expression.

It stressed that while the state is empowered to enact laws even involving the matters of Islam, it must not contravene the Federal Constitution that is the supreme law of the land.

The Negri Sembilan government has since said that it will soon file an appeal to the Federal Court on the Court of Appeal’s decision, claiming that Section 66 of the Negri Sembilan Syariah Criminal Enactment 1992 should be looked from the religious point of view.

“Transwomen” or “transgender” are terms used to refer to those who were born male but associate themselves with the female identity, and have nothing to do with sexual preferences.

Are Isma, Perkasa funded by govt grants?

Finance Ministry must reveal all NGOs receiving government allocations, says Nurul.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah has questioned if the government is funding Isma and Perkasa through the Finance Ministry’s RM30 million allocation for non-governmental organisations in Budget 2015.

While debating the budget in parliament today, the Lembah Pantai MP said: “The chairman of Isma is currently being investigated under the Sedition Act.

“If the government decides to fund the organisation, including its forum that is also being attended by Mahathir Mohamad, it is indicative that the government supports someone who’s seditious about racial relations,” she said.

Upon Nurul’s insistence that the Finance Ministry reveal all the NGOs that were benefiting from allocations given by the government, Deputy Finance Minister Chua Tee Yong explained that government grants were reserved for NGOs registered with the Registrar of Societies that met specified conditions and criterion.

He however did not furnish the list of recipients as Nurul requested.

During the Budget 2015 speech, Prime Minister Najib Razak declared that a one-off grant worth RM50 million would be allocated to creditable NGOs.

As part of “empowerment of NGOs and volunteerism or MyNGO,” Najib said the fund would benefit NGOs and uniformed bodies that were involved in community development programmes, unity, social welfare, consumerism, health and security.

No plot to topple Palanivel

MIC vice president says any talk of a plot to topple the president is slanderous.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: MIC vice president M Saravanan today lashed out at rumour mongers who claimed that there was a plot to topple party president G Palanivel.

Describing such claims as slanderous, Saravanan who is also the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports said Palanivel was elected by 4,000 branch chairmen to lead the 68-year-old party.

“There is no reason for anyone in MIC to topple Datuk Seri G Palanivel as he himself has promised to step down in early 2016. He had said that this is his last term.

“He has taken a gentleman approach, unlike past presidents who never announced their date of resignation,” he told Bernama here today.

In September last year, Palanivel pledged that he would honour an agreement that required him to step down as party president in early 2016.

The agreement was reached between him and his deputy Subramaniam, subsequent to their meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Meanwhile, the New Affirmative Action Movement (NAAM) Foundation will collaborate with the Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (FAMA) in marketing chilli produced by its participants.

Saravanan who is also the NAAM chairman said he will meet representatives of FAMA on Friday, to discuss terms and conditions before signing the contract.

A total of 109 youths who participated in the NAAM pilot project where each were given an acre of land for cultivation, are expected to reap the benefits from chilli cultivation at end of this month or early December, said Saravanan.

Saravanan said NAAM would expand the types of crop to be cultivated after participants “get the hang” of agricultural farming through the project.

“In the initial stages we encourage them to market their products to FAMA as they are still inexperienced in the marketing aspects and it maybe risky for them to do it on their own,” he told Bernama on Hello Malaysia programme recording here today.

Heads must roll for Cameron Highlands disaster

MIC’s strategic director says culprits should be charged for manslaughter.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: The government should consider charging culprits responsible for the recent mud flood and landslide at Cameron Highlands, for manslaughter.

MIC Strategic Director S Vell Paari in a statement said the charge would serve as a stern deterrent to others.

“Those responsible must face the music and those who contributed to this tragedy, be it politicians or officials on the take or those lackadaisical about enforcement should be hauled to court as well.

“There must be no cover-up. Heads must roll. Or else the five would have died in vain,” he said.

The mud floods and landslides which occurred in Kampung Raja, Pekan Ringlet and the Bertam Valley in Cameron Highlands last Wednesday, claimed five victims and caused over 90 victims from 28 families to be evacuated to relief centres in Ringlet.

Vell Paari also urged his party president G Palanivel, who is the Member of Parliament for Cameron Highlands and Minister of Natural Resources and Environment to form a panel comprising independent experts to investigate the tragic incident and provide a detailed report.

- BERNAMA

Are the majority of UMNO Ministers, MPs and leaders like Noh Omar, not prepared publicly to endorse Najib’s Global Movement of Moderates initiative and yet deny being an extremist?

By Lim Kit Siang Blog

The “ruckus” by the Selangor UMNO/Barisan Nasional chief, Datuk Noh Omar, the UMNO/BN MP for Tanjung Karang in Parliament yesterday has thrown up a teaser – are the majority of UMNO Ministers, MPs and leaders like Noh Omar, not prepared publicly to endorse Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) initiative and yet deny being an extremist.

It would be interesting for a such a vote to be taken.

That this question has to be asked four years after Najib has launched his GMM campaign with very uncertain answers is a sad reflection of the failure of another signature policy of the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Najib’s first signature policy failure was the infamous case in early 2010 when his Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, in response to my challenge, declared that he was “Malay first, Malaysian second” in a unqualified repudiation of the Prime Minister’s 1Malaysia Policy!

Yesterday, when Noh Omar tried to be a hero during my speech on the Prime Minister’s Department during the committee stage of the 2015 Budget, I challenged Noh Omar to declare his stand whether he is a “moderate or extremist” in the context of Najib’s promotion of the GMM initiative, where in his third speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 26, 2014, he said:

“The fight against extremism is not about Christians versus Muslims, or Muslims versus Jews, but moderates versus extremists of all religions. We therefore need to rally a coalition of moderates; those willing to reclaim their religion, and pursue the path to peace.”

Despite being repeatedly challenged, Noh Omar refused to declare that he is a “moderate” as defined by Najib’s GMM campaign, and instead sought refuge in a meaningless statement: “I want to declare in this House, as an MP and a Malaysian, that I obey the law of the Constitution and Rukunegara”.

Noh Omar is unable to state where in the Constitution or Runkunegara is there justification or authority for Perkasa President, Ibrahim Ali, to threaten to burn the Bible without having to face the wrath and sanctions of the law.

It was therefore no surprise that Noh Omar refused to respond when I pointedly asked him whether he would agree to a zero-tolerance policy for any threat to burn the holy book of any religion in Malaysia.

I had earlier said that just as there should be a zero tolerance for corruption, there should be a zero tolerance for any threat to turn the holy books of any religion in multi-religious Malaysia – whether Quran for Islam, Bible for Christianity, Tripitaka for Buddhism, Vedas for Hinduism, Torah for Judaism, Guru Granth Sahib for Sikhism and Tao Te Ching for Taoism?

Noh Omar had never agreed to any policy of zero tolerance for corruption (which is why Malaysia’s corruption problem is so grave and rampant) and it is asking him to do the impossible to agree to a policy of zero tolerance for any threat to burn the holy books of any religion in multi-religious Malaysia.

But if so, how can Noh Omar qualify to be a “moderate” in the context of the contest between “moderates and extremists” in the fight against extremism?

But what is most educative and informative is that the Nor Omar “ruckus” in Parliament has also thrown out the teaser – whether the majority of UMNO Ministers, MPs and leaders are like Noh Omar not prepared publicly to endorse Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) initiative and yet deny being an extremist!

Teacher awarded RM300,000 in damages for being denied employment while pregnant

he Star
by MAIZATUL NAZLINA

SHAH ALAM: A 32-year-old teacher who sought a declaration that pregnancy was not a reason for her to be denied employment, has been awarded RM300,000 in damages by a High Court here.

High Court senior assistant registrar Ahmad Rizki Abdul Jalil awarded Noorfadilla Ahmad Saikin RM12,907.68 for loss of earnings, RM2,296.10 for loss of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) benefits, RM912.71 in EPF dividends and RM25,000 for pain and suffering.

The court also instructed the Government to pay RM5,000 in costs.

Noorfadilla’s counsel Honey Tan said that Monday was fixed for assessment of damages.

Tan said the Court had awarded the mother of four damages for breach of Article 8(2) of the Federal Constitution that prohibits gender discrimination.

The Court of Appeal had on June 28, last year, upheld the landmark decision made by the Shah Alam High Court after the Government withdrew its appeal. However, no reason was given.

A three-man panel, led by Justice Datuk Clement Allan Skinner, then struck out the appeal and ordered the Government  to pay RM5,000 in costs.

On July 13, 2011, the Shah Alam High Court ruled in favour of Noorfadilla, who sought a declaration that pregnancy was not a reason for her to be denied employment as an untrained relief teacher.

The court then ordered an assessment of damages for the breach of Article 8(2) of the Federal Constitution, which stated that there should be no discrimination against anyone based on gender.

It was the first time that damages were awarded for an infringement of the article.

Noorfadilla had filed the suit on May 7, 2010, seeking a declaration that the termination of her contract because she was three months’ pregnant was illegal.

She named Hulu Langat district education officers Chayed Basirun and Ismail Musa, Selangor Education Department director Dr Zahri Aziz, the Education Ministry director-general, the Education Minister and the Government as the defendants.

Noorfadilla was offered a position as an untrained relief teacher on a month-to-month basis starting in mid-January 2009.

However, the offer was withdrawn when she informed the Hulu Langat district education office that she was pregnant.

The landmark decision was later nominated for a Gavel award in Women’s Link Worldwide, which works to ensure gender equality around the world.

Don't Sideline Bahasa Melayu, Says Muhyiddin

Tan Sri Muhyiddin YassinFrom Abdul Muin Abdul Majid

CANBERRA, Nov 11 (Bernama) -- Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said Bahasa Melayu had a place as the language of knowledge and it should not be sacrificed amid efforts to empower the English language.

In defending the government's decision to revert the teaching of Science and Mathematics in Bahasa Melayu from English, the deputy prime minister made his stand clear on this.




"As a Malaysian, I don't think my language should be killed just because I want to strengthen English language usage," he said during the question-and- answer session with members of the Malaysian community and students at a gathering, here, Tuesday night.

The event held at the Malaysian High Commission premises in Canberra kicked off Muhyiddin's three-day working visit to the Australian capital and Perth. He had flown into Canberra from Nagoya, Japan this afternoon after attending an international conference on education for sustainable development.

Muhyiddin, who is Education Minister, said his views on this matter were not because he is Malay as it had more to do with his concern over the issue of imparting and absorbing knowledge in an effective manner.

"This is not a question of my nationality because if Malaysia had not started that way (upholding Bahasa Melayu)....it means for both subjects, Bahasa Melayu would just die," he said.

Muhyiddin explained that he would not be fair to Malaysian students if the move to teach Science and Mathematics in English was continued given the constraints faced by the ministry.

He cited insufficient qualified teachers to carry out the task at hand as among the reasons the decision to revoke the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English was made in 2009.

He pointed out that many of the teachers were the product of a system in which the medium of instruction was Bahasa Melayu.

Muhyiddin said during the time that the policy was implemented, many teachers involved would automatically revert to Bahasa Melayu when students in Science and Mathematics classes failed to understand what was being taught, and this defeated the purpose of the introduction of the policy in the first place.

Muhyiddin noted that some might argue that the policy was well executed in urban schools but this was not the case in rural and remote parts of the country.

The deputy prime minister revealed that the ministry studied the situation in depth before the final decision on the matter was made.

"Maybe in your school, it is okay but for many other schools, it's not okay, as the teachers are not qualified, so the students don't undertand. But what is wrong with Bahasa Melayu (to teach Science and Mathematics)? So now we've gone back to Bahasa Melayu.

"And the students can understand. For me, I'm concerned about knowledge; Science is knowledge, Maths is knowledge. Language is the medium. So if you are concerned about English, I'll teach you English," he said.

Muhyiddin cited Japan which excelled in various fields of knowledge despite everything being in Japanese.

Among those present at the event were Malaysian High Commissioner to Australia Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad, heads of government agencies in Canberra, high commission staff and Malaysians residing in Australia.

Earlier Tuesday, Zainal Abidin was on hand to welcome Muhyiddin on his arrival in Canberra from Nagoya, Japan where he represented Malaysia at Monday's 2014 Unesco World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development.

On Wednesday, Muhyiddin is scheduled to launch the Global Malaysian Studies Network Centre, a collaboration between the Australian National University and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He is also expected to call on Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss before travelling to Perth, the capital of Western Australia.

His itinerary in Perth includes a visit to the office of Fugro Offshore Survey where he is expected to be briefed on the new phase of the search operation for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

The Boeing 777 jetliner with 239 people on board was en route to Beijing when it vanished about an hour after take-off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8.

The current phase of underwater search for the aircraft is being conducted in the southern Indian Ocean where it is believed to have gone down after veering off course in mysterious circumstances.

Muhyiddin's visit to Perth will also be marked by a courtesy call on Colin Barnett, the Premier of Western Australia and opening of Malaysia Hall Perth.