Share |

Monday, 28 November 2016

Ambiga seeks access to Maria before Tuesday's hearing

Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah's lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan is urging police to allow access to her client before Tuesday's habeas corpus hearing.

Ambiga said Maria's lawyer and family members have not been allowed to see her since last Sunday.

"Please give us access to Maria for instructions on legal matters before her case on Tuesday.

"Have been trying to no avail," she said in a tweet to inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar.

She added that an official request has also been sent.

Maria is held under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, which allows detention without trial for 28 days.

She was arrested on Nov 18, the eve of the mammoth Bersih 5 rally which attracted at least 40,000 people in Kuala Lumpur, to demand clean elections and clean government.

Her family said they have not received any information on Maria and do not know her whereabouts.

It is believed that she is held at the Batu police camp in Kuala Lumpur, where the now defunct Internal Security Act detainees were once held before they are moved to the Kamunting Detention Centre in Perak.

Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) visited her last week and said she was held in solitary confinement in a windowless cell, which only has a woooden bed with no mattress and access to cold water for washing.

Her family said the light is constantly on in her cell, disrupting her sleep.

Police said they nabbed her over documents found in the raid at the Bersih office, connected to American billionaire George Soros-linked Open Society Foundations.

Bersih refutes this, saying that there was no such document seized during the raid, according to the list of items seized provided by police.

Sunday, 27 November 2016

The bigger danger of hudud to Non-Muslims.

I've highlighted some potential indirect consequences of hudud to non-Muslims in my previous post. Now this is a bigger one.

Implementation of hudud opens a question as to whether the country is a secular or an Islamic country in practice. Why is this dangerous? Because it may pave the way to bigger and crazier things to happen such as how we officially treat non-Muslims.

In a typical Islamic country under Islamic administration, the non-Muslims are divided into a few categories:

1) Kafir harbi fi'lan: These are non-Muslims that are physically hostile (waging war) against Islamic countries.

It's a requirement for Muslims to kill them (as announced by Pahang Mufti recently). Killing kafir harbi fi'lan will not result in any punishment for the Muslim killer under hudud/qisas law.

2) Kafir harbi hukman: These are non-Muslims that do not have any privilege of protection in an Islamic country and they are not waging war against an Islamic country.

Killing kafir harbi hukman doesn't bring death punishment to a Muslim but only half of a diyya (compensation to the family). This was backed by a Hadith, where Abu Juhaifa reported: "The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, judged that a believer should not be killed for killing a disbeliever." Sahih Bukhari 6517 in context of kafir harbi hukman.

3) Kafir muahid and dzimmi: They are non-Muslims who have protection agreement with an Islamic administration. Muahids are not citizens of the Islamic country but have peace agreements. Dzimmis are citizens and pay jizyahs (a form of tax or protection money).

It is haram to kill these types of non-Muslims. Many Hadiths protecting them. Also backed by Quran 9:29 "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued."

Oh wait, dzimmis are bound under hudud laws 🙂 jeng jeng jeng!!

PAS are just saying their hudud won't apply to non-Muslims to get the bill passed by the parliament. In history, hudud applies to all. Look at Acheh.

4) Kafir musta'min: Non-Muslim tourists with permission to be in the country. In modern world, Non-Muslims with Visa to be in the country. These Non-Muslims are protected until they become a harbi, even a harbi hukman.. let's say stupid Australians wearing our flags on their arses and being seen as a threat to peace?

In practical, most non-Muslims in Malaysia will be classified as dzimmis (you pay taxes). What if you don't? You become a hukman; can be killed but Muslim killer will have to compensate your family with half a diyya. What if you raise up voices against certain Islamic bodies? Will you be considered as harbi fi'lan? (Pahang Mufti already did) So basically, you're dead.

This is why it's important for Malaysia to remain secular in administration. Letting hudud bill to pass will open bigger Pandora's box.

If it looks like Islamic country, sounds like Islamic country, tastes like Islamic country... stop paving the way for this to happen.

To my Muslim friends, do we really want this for our non-Muslim friends? Why do we have to create hell on earth in our selfish pursuit of heaven?

#rejectunfairness

Share this so more non-Muslims will know and more Muslims to see the bigger perspectives.

ISIS thugs slice crucified victim's throat open in chilling 'how to execute a disbeliever' instruction video


  • Man in Boehringer Ingelheim pharmaceuticals top is murdered on film
  • Sickening video is called an 'Explanation of How to Slaughter Disbelievers'
  • ISIS militants walk prospective terrorists through the best ways to kill
  • A Kurdish soldier is also blown up in the 14-minute propaganda video

A sickening new tutorial video from ISIS has urged Muslims to take revenge on disbelievers in the US, Britain and France.

The 14-minute instructional clip is entitled an 'Explanation of How to Slaughter Disbelievers' features a balaclava-clad terrorists showing the best way to kill those who do not support Islamic State.

A man's throat is severed by a militant with a kitchen knife and Kurdish soldier is blown up by a hand-made bomb in the graphic propaganda footage.

The video makes reference to attacks in Germany, Finland, Russia, the United States, France, and Britain and pays homage to terrorists who have carried out massacres in Europe.

A French-speaking ISIS militant called Abu Sulayman al-Firansi appears first on screen, saying: 'We must fight them.

'Even with the most basic equipment, they have kept crusaders sleepless and worried by fighting for ISIS.'

He then calls on Muslims in France to kill in the name of Allah.

Standing in the background tied as if he was being crucified is an unidentified man wearing a Boehringer Ingelheim pharmaceutical top.

The terrorist uses him as a dummy before handing a knife to a second ISIS fighter who slices his wrist and throat before gutting him in a gruesome murder.

The sick killing is followed by a tutorial of how to kill someone face-to-face or by approaching them from behind.

An English-speaking terrorist labelled Abu Muhammad al-Muhajir then appears on screen to deliver a ranting message in a call to arms.

It cuts to a man in a kitchen with explosives, hinting ISIS were making bombs in their homes, before a captured Kurdish fighter is slaughtered.

Abd Isma'il Muhammad ash-Shaykh, 23, from Raqqa tells of his capture by ISIS before he is filmed running through the desert as bullets are fired at his feet.

After dodging the shells, he is blown up and his dismembered body strewn across the sand.

MailOnline has contacted German company Boehringer Ingelheim, which also has a base in Berkshire, but nobody was immediately available for comment.

Malaysia: Babies for Sale

IGP: Malaysia not hub for selling babies

KUALA LUMPUR: Bukit Aman has refuted allegations by Al-Jazeera that Malaysia is a hub for the sale of babies.

Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the 25-minute documentary by the media nework, which aired on Nov 25, portrays Malaysia as a booming hub for sales of babies, with syndicates working together with civil servants.

"The documentary also claims that the syndicate involved a network of traffickers, doctors and government officials allegedly involved in the trafficking of babies.

"We do not deny that there are cases of babies for sale in the country, but it was not as simple as portrayed in the documentary and we are constantly monitoring these illicit activities," he said in a statement Saturday.

He added that efforts have been redoubled with the establishment of the Anti Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Unit (D7C) in 2008 and the Sexual, Women and Child Investigation Division (D11 ).

"In 2010, we managed to arrest six involved in the sale of babies including a doctor, three nurses, the child of a doctor and a civil servant.

"In 2014 we managed to cripple a syndicate operation out of Pedas, Negri Sembilan, with the arrest of a man and woman and rescue of three women, three teenage boys and an infant.

"Last year we managed to rescue 17 women, four teenage girls and three babies in a case in Gombak with the arrest of three women," he said adding that in two cases in 2016 three men and a woman were arrested while a baby was rescued.

Khalid said the police was taking stern action and was working closely with the relevant ministries and government agencies to curb any cases of exploitation towards women and children.

"Police will conduct investigations based on the allegations made in the documentary to ensure necessary follow up actions are taken.

"The community must also play its part by not encouraging such activities which do not follow the law.

"Encouraging such activities also gives room for the exploitation of children to occur," he said.

Muslim preacher Zakir Naik allegedly offered M'sian citizenship, says report

PETALING JAYA: Controversial Muslim scholar Dr Zakir Naik (pic) has been given a Malaysian citizenship, according to an article published in the Hindustan Times

Naik, who has preached and conducted programmes in Malaysia before, was also alleged by the report to be currently hiding here after his Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) was recently banned by Indian authorities.

He is also under investigation by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA), who are closely monitoring his whereabouts and have reportedly prevented his family members from leaving the country.

The report quoted one of Naik’s representatives as confirming the development, saying that the Malaysian citizenship was offered as a package deal to the Muslim preacher when he was awarded the Tokoh Ma’al Hijrah title back in 2013.

“It is the state policy of Malaysia to offer citizenship to the awardees of the highest civilian honour of their land. Naik is now a Malaysian citizen too,” the Hindustan Times quoted the unnamed representative as saying.

The report also alleged that Naik, a renowned televangelist, was holed up in Malaysia as a tactic to avoid the NIA investigations.

He was earlier suspected by authorities of being either in Thailand or Africa.

On Friday, Naik issued a statement criticising the move to ban his IRF organisation and the subsequent case against him.

He stressed that he had always advocated peace and condemned violence of any form during his public speeches.

A separate report published by the Hindustan Times quoted him as saying that the probe against him would have been a non-issue if government investigators had done “a thorough job”.

“I expected professional investigators from government agencies to do a thorough job. Had they done so, this issue would have been a no-brainer, a non-issue.

“But I guess that was not the plan. The plan was to ban, not investigate,” he said in the statement.

NIA officials had in recent days conducted raids at 20 commercial and residential properties reportedly belonging to Naik, and had seized several official documents.

Among others, the documents showed that the IRF had purportedly given an Rs80,000 (RM5200) scholarship to Abu Anas, a Rajasthan native who was arrested in January while he was allegedly planning to go to Syria to fight for the Islamic State.

Malaysian authorities could not be immediately reached for comment on the alleged citizenship offered to Naik.

White House petitioned to reveal MO1's identity

Some 10,000 people have signed an official online petition to the White House seeking details on 'Malaysian Official 1 (MO1)' that was named in a civil forfeiture suit initiated by the US Depart of Justice (DOJ).

The petition said that the court documents had claimed that US$681 million had been illegally transferred to the personal bank accounts belonging to MO1 and yet there has been no investigations in Malaysia.

"(Prime Minister) Najib Abdul Razak has continuously denied he was MO1. To end this infamous kleptocracy, we Malaysians want to know who MO1 is," read the petition.

The petition was filed through the 'We the People' page on the White House website.

If a petition receives 100,000 signatures within 30 days of filing, which was on Nov 24, the White House has to issue an official response.

The suit in question was filed against the proceeds of "The Wolf of Wall Street" motion picture, which was allegedly funded through monies that originated from 1MDB.

It was initiated by the DOJ's Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, which described this case as its biggest ever.

Among other allegations, the court documents claimed that 1MDB was supposed to use its funds for the benefit of Malaysians.

Instead, the money was diverted by fund officials and their associates to purchase yachts, hotels, jet plans, artwork by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Money, pay gambling debts and to fund "The Wolf of Wall Street".

According to the FBI's International Corruption Unit and the US Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigative Division, at least US$1 billion traceable to the conspiracy was laundered through the US and used to purchase assets there.

To Malaysians, the most significant claim was that US$731 million in 1MDB funds was transferred to the bank accounts of MO1.

MO1 was mentioned 36 times in the DOJ document, while Najib's associate Jho Low and his stepson Riza Aziz were both explicitly mentioned.

Coincidentally, Najib had once admitted that he had received about RM2.6 billion from Middle Eastern "donors" and denied that it had anything to do with 1MDB.

Najib has also claimed the DOJ's lawsuit does not involve him in any way.

Will Muslim politicians succumb to Jamal’s ‘fatwa’?

Red-shirt leader Jamal Md Yunos’s condemnation of Muslim politicians who do not support Hadi’s hudud bill as “devils” sounds very much like a ‘fatwa’.
Some people have been using Islam as a weapon against non-Muslims, politicians and others, (although the Prophet did not mean it to be used as such), and Jamal is now using it against Muslim politicians who have different views from that of Hadi and similar-minded persons. It is like condemning them to hell.
Will Muslim politicians be intimidated by Jamal calling them devils?
This reminds me of an incident in the mid 80s when the then-Kedah menteri besar, who was guest of honour at a function, was upon arrival taken to the waiting room and persuaded to dress up as a cowboy, complete with sombrero, and enter the hall with a blazing gun. He was greeted by shouts of “Montoya”.
‘Montoya’ became such a catchy word and wherever the MB went, he was called “Montoya,” especially by children. He wasn’t able to take this taunting for long and soon gave up his post.
“Devils”. That’s what Jamal has labelled Muslim politicians who don’t support Hadi’s hudud bill. He is, whether he remembers ‘Montoya’ or not, doing a similar thing. He wants the pak-turut Muslims to start sneering at their leaders who do not support hudud with the hope that this will make them ‘repent’ and support hudud, as they will not say “I will rather resign or be kicked out than support Hadi’s hudud” as the spoils of office are too good to sacrifice.
The Sun on Nov 25, 2016 carried a picture of children carrying placards stating ‘Saya Muslim, Saya Sokong RUU 355'. What do these young children know about hudud, or how much about Islam itself? Is this kind of practice actually allowed in Islam - using innocent children to further the cause of politicians?
These children are merely following orders, merely showing ‘respect’ to their teachers or elders, without being able to appreciate what it is all about, whether it is good or bad.
Will Muslims politicians who do not support Hadi’s hudud become psychologically broken if they should begin to be called “devils” by Muslim voters in their constituencies or will they stand by their conscience and educate their constituents about the hypocricy behind Hadi’s hudud?
Will they tell their constituents that research done by Muslim scholars has shown that Ireland, a Roman Catholic country, was found to be the most Islamic compared to Middle Eastern hudud practicing Islamic countries where crime has not gone down?
Jamal is pitting these politicians against religious authorities such as the ulama and muftis who are all for Hadi’s hudud. How will they face up to these authorities if their own knowledge of Islam is no match to that of the authorities’?
The Muslim politicians who have in the past declared that they will not support Hadi’s hudud for some reason or other should show us they are people of honour by staying steadfast to their declared stand. Jamal has no divine authority to turn them into ‘devils’, or to compel them to support Hadi’s hudud.
All Muslim politicians should not be taken in by the baseless blanket explanation that existing punishments under the Islamic laws are not effective in deterring crimes and therefore RUU 355 is necessary.
School discipline has gone down
Crime has gone up because school discipline over the past 40 over years has gone down and down to such a level that in some schools teachers are afraid of their pupils. Isn’t this the most absurd situation, where adults cannot control children, allowing the children to acquire devilish behaviour and become criminals in adult life?
Hadi and his ilk should instead look seriously into the causes of school indiscipline and take measures to bring back the standard of discipline that existed in the 50s and 60s.
Can Hadi tell us whether it is not better to give young children a few strokes of a small, light cane and change their behaviour for the better (kalau hendak meluntur buluh, biarlah dari rebungnya) than to allow indiscipline to grow and turn into crime in adult life and then give them 100 lashes, 30 years’ jail, chop off their hands or even stone them to death?
The answer to rising crime is not hudud but bringing back strict discipline into our schools to create future adults of a much better character than the adults of today.
Has Hadi got the mettle, the will and the knowledge about child character development to take this challenge if he is genuine about making our future society a better one with minimal crime?

When Islam is used as weapon against non-Muslim politicians

Anyone who says he knows God's intention is showing a lot of very human ego.”
- Michael Crichton
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s rejoinder to non-Muslim politicians “not to act like Ahok in Jakarta," is just more evidence that this religious cult masquerading as a political party, like Umno, is using a weaponised Islam to threaten, intimidate and harass non-Muslims in this country. It is further evidence that a weakened prime minister has no choice but to play political chicken with this cult that means to turn Malaysia into another failed Islamic state.
Hadi does not tell us exactly what Ahok had done but the implication being he (Ahok) either insulted Islam or interfered in Islam resulting in outrage and retaliation by pious Muslims against interlopers of their sacred text.
I however think it is extremely important to understand what Ahok did that has resulted in a veiled threat by a Muslim Malaysian politician. As reported in the Jakarta Post, Ahok, repeated “a verse from the Quran that is used by some Muslim groups to oppose his election as governor. The governor said he meant to criticise the use of religion in politics, but some Muslims took his words as an insult to their holy book.”
You read that right. Ahok cavalierly mocked a verse from the Quran that some Muslims had used to attack him on the campaign trail. Therefore, it is not as if he mocked the Quran randomly or out of context, he was critical of a verse that some Muslims used to justify their bigotry towards his candidacy.
Apropos everything, the Jakarta Post reported on Wednesday “that Jakarta police named Buni Yani a suspect on Wednesday evening for allegedly uploading edited footage that defamed non-active Jakarta Governor Basuki ‘Ahok’ Tjahaja Purnama - as the incumbent gubernatorial candidate's comments in the video were purportedly blasphemous - and caused nationwide uproar, particularly through mass demonstrations.
“‘We have found sufficient evidence to build a case and name him a suspect,’ Jakarta police spokesperson Sr Comr Awi Setiyono said. Awi said Buni's video post had ignited hatred and animosity among the public.”
In other words, this manufactured controversy was ignited by the machinations of religious zealots in an effort to cause instability by using religion as a means to incite hatred and animosity. If this is not applicable to the numerous religious provocations in this country, I do not know what is.
What exactly is this propaganda meant to achieve? Solidarity amongst the Muslim polity? In another piece, I highlighted the fact that, “Veteran journalist A Kadir Jasin has admitted that the propaganda that he disseminated during his time destroyed the Malay polity.”
This time of course because Umno is in such a weak position, Hadi has been given permission by the Umno state to use its weaponised Islam against non-Muslim politicians. Why? Remember what Hadi said about the current Umno prime minister - “Najib is only human and not a saint, and humans make mistakes, but the act of attacking and bombarding the prime minister with unfounded allegations is uncalled for.”
And really is this not the way of some Muslims who use their holy book to threaten, intimidate and vilify their non-Muslims citizens or political opponents? Have not Malay/Muslim politicians or preachers used verses from the Quran to attack political parties or their supporters here in Malaysia?
Don’t interfere but…
Remember the Pahang mufti who allegedly advocated the murder of the enemies of Islam, I certainly do - “Then we have the Pahang mufti declaring ‘Not DAP only. Whoever is ‘kafir’ (infidel) and against Islam’ and therefore an enemy of Islam [the implication being] who can be killed. Here is a state mufti advocating the murder of non-Muslims and the Umno state remains silent. How exactly is this different from the threats of IS?
Or remember when those reported invaded and mocked another faith and all the then-attorney-general said was, “The actions of the two reporters may have hurt the feelings of the people but I was satisfied that they did not intend to offend anyone. It was an act of sheer ignorance. Therefore, in view of the circumstances at that particular time and in the interest of justice, peace and harmony, I decided not to press any charges against them.”
And therein lies the rub. Hadi has publicly stated that he believes religion and politics should not be put in separate corners. Then why is it he attacks those who would defend themselves by pointing out the fallacies in his preferred religious tomb? The answer to that is simple of course.
As I wrote in ‘Behind Hadi Awang’s Islamic state’ - “Hadi’s rejoinder that only ‘Islam has to be the leader and ruler, those who are not of Islam must be followers (pak turut)’ is the kind of bigoted rhetoric that characterises mainstream Malay politics and is the overt ideology that maintains the system of privileges and systemic inequalities that impedes any sort of egalitarians goals in this country.”
To Hadi and his kind of Muslims, religious subservience and political oppression are the only available avenues for non-Muslims. We cannot question their holy book, while they can question ours. We cannot defend ourselves against their religion when they use their religion to attack us all the time.
We are constantly told not to interfere in the affairs of Muslims even though these issues affect us as Malaysians. Hadi and most Muslims politicians in this country will never sign a document that pledges that non-Muslims will not be affected by Islamic law. They will never moot such legislation. They will never debate such legislation and they will most probably use the security apparatus of the system to crack down on such speech or proposals.
Think about it. The constitution guarantees free speech and freedom of worship but the reality is those freedoms have been chipped away for decades. While on the surface we have those rights, slowly but surely, the supremacy of Islam - not as some sort of state religion but as a means of control - have sublimated the intent of the constitution.
While Hadi uses Islam as a mean of control and propaganda, the rest of us including those Muslims who disagree with Hadi, are not allowed to use the religion in our defence or counter attack. When you play with fire you will get burned and this is not a lesson for the non-Muslims but rather for Umno, who thinks that it has a handle on Islam but the reality is that it is spinning out of control.

S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy.