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PM’s blinkered views

— Jaleel Hameed
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 20, 2012

SEPT 20 —Mr Prime Minister sir, where have you been these past few weeks? Why are you still harping on whether your political foes want to change the Jalur Gemilang?

Where are you, sir, when Bernama insulted your popularity by photo-shopping a crowd at your event? Why didn’t you admonish them, sir?

Do you need this kind of magic to show how popular you are? Do you need to talk about the non-story of the opposition trying to replace the national flag?

Why don’t you respond to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, sir, who talks about how close you are to buying votes with your programmes like BR1M? Continue reading “PM’s blinkered views”

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Dr M mahukan orang Melayu berlindung di bawah Umno walaupun sudah busuk sampai ke ususnya

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 22, 2012

22 SEPT — Dr Mahathir Mohamad berkata di Johor Baru dua hari lepas yang pemimpin yang baik perlu menerima teguran yang membina. Ini pun Dr Mahathir benar dan betul tetapi jika kritikan itu di arahkan kepada beliau itu adalah satu kesalahan besar. Apabila beliau di tegur dan di tandingi secara demokratik beliau mengambilnya sebagai satu tindakan memalitkan tahi ke muka dan beliau tidak dapat menerimanya. Hasilnya beliau secara sistematik telah mengharamkan partinya sendiri.

Apabila sistem dan undang-undang yang masih baik semasa itu mampu untuk memulihkan parti yang beliau haramkan itu, maka sistem itu di bunuhnya dengan menceroboh Badan Kehakiman yang sepatutnya bebas dari pengaruh eksekutif. Empat orang hakim Mahkamah Agung telah di pecat termasuk Ketua Hakim Negara Tun Salleh Abas melalui penubuhan “tribunal” yang amat tercemar cara penubuhannya.

Apabila semua sistem berada di tangan beliau, Dr Mahathir bertindak mengikut kehendak hatinya sendiri. Tidak lagi sistem demokrasi yang betul kerana semuanya boleh dilakukan oleh Dr Mahathir dan itulah yang membolehkan beliau terus berkuasa dengan rakus selama 22 tahun itu. Jika sistem tidak tercemar Dr Mahathir tidak akan dapat kekal kerana populariti beliau telah jatuh hasil dari pemilihan 1987 itu. Continue reading “Dr M mahukan orang Melayu berlindung di bawah Umno walaupun sudah busuk sampai ke ususnya”

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Ignoring ‘Innocence’

— A. Lin Neumann
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 23, 2012

SEPT 23 — The “Innocence of Muslims” film controversy, which resulted in riots in the Middle East and the death of the US ambassador to Libya, seemingly exposed the many fault lines between the West and Islam. But that story line has quickly unravelled.

In Indonesia, fortunately, the reaction has been pretty calm. Apart from about a thousand people throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at the US Embassy in Jakarta and small mobs elsewhere looking to attack McDonald’s and KFC franchises — where no doubt the customers were fellow Muslims — the nation has absorbed “Innocence of Muslims” and wisely decided to let it go. In another week or so it should be forgotten.

In Libya, where Ambassador Chris Stevens died during a riot, a video surfaced showing Libyans entering the smouldering consulate building and trying to rescue Stevens, who was then barely alive. US security people had apparently evacuated the facility and lost track of their own ambassador. So much for us against them and the idea that all of Libya was on a rampage.

In the United States, one of the actresses who appeared in the film is suing the filmmaker for fraud, saying she signed up for something called “Desert Warrior” that had nothing to do with Islam, did not mention the Prophet Muhammad and was later redubbed into “Innocence of Muslims” by the producer, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a native Egyptian and Coptic Christian. There goes the vast conspiracy theory. Continue reading “Ignoring ‘Innocence’”

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Suhakam should invoke its powers under the Suhakam Act 1999 to protect Suaram from continued government harassment and infringement of human rights in Malaysia

The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) should invoke its functions and powers under the Suhakam Act 1999 to protect Suaram from continued government harassment and infringement of human rights in Malaysia.

Two days ago, Suaram said that Suhakam should intervene in the government’s continued harassment of the NGO’s parent company, Suara Inisiatif Sdn. Bhd as they had been continually persecuted by the government and its agencies since July 2012.

Suaram asked, among other things, that Suhakam take a stand on the Minister of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism, Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s overreaching powers in interrupting and influencing investigations by the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) and to acknowledge the normalcy of foreign funding to organisations in Malaysia.

“Suaram is gravely concerned on the overreaching powers displayed the Minister of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism, Ismail Sabri Yaakob in interfering and influencing the on-going CCM investigation on Suaram,” it said.

Global rights watchdog Amnesty International (AI) has rightly pointed out about suspicions over the timing of Putrajaya’s sudden interest in Suaram’s operations, noting that authorities began probing the NGO soon after it revealed that a close associate of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had sold Malaysian naval secrets to France. Continue reading “Suhakam should invoke its powers under the Suhakam Act 1999 to protect Suaram from continued government harassment and infringement of human rights in Malaysia”

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Anti-Islam film: Let’s exercise wisdom and humanity

By Musa Mohd Nordin | 2:14PM Sep 21, 2012
Malaysiakini

The violent consequences of past artistic, literary and cultural aggressions against the sanctity of Islam and the prophet seem not to have taught us any lesson.

The abomination against theism continues unabated. Claiming to be works of literature or the arts, the perpetrators have guised behind the cloak of freedom of speech.

The notoriety against Islam has been littered with the likes of Salman Rushdie’s despicable Satanic Verses, through to the ugly Danish cartoons and the latest “film”, which has maliciously maligned Prophet Muhammad.

Caricatures of the prophet have today headlined the French press. The pristine beliefs of Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism have similarly not been spared this irreligious onslaught.

These vulgar and blasphemous provocations are intent on mocking the believers’ reverence of their religious texts, tenets and their prophets.

Specific individuals and interest groups are unashamedly abusing our noble values of freedom of speech and expression to tarnish the image of authentic religions, demonising them and demeaning their prophets with trails of untruths and unfounded claims.
Continue reading “Anti-Islam film: Let’s exercise wisdom and humanity”

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Amnesty sees link between SUARAM shakedown, Scorpene scandal

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 22, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 22 ― Global rights watchdog Amnesty International raised suspicion today over the timing of Putrajaya’s sudden interest in SUARAM’s operations, noting that authorities began probing the group soon after it revealed that a close associate of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had sold Malaysian naval secrets to France.

The revelation was made by French lawyer Joseph Breham, who is acting for Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) in the ongoing inquiry on the Scorpene submarine scandal in Paris, during a May 30 press conference in Bangkok.

“Amnesty is concerned that the recent government actions against SUARAM appear to be linked to the organisation’s legitimate work, in particular a corruption case which it has brought before the French courts.

“The government began these actions against SUARAM four weeks after the organisation disclosed new information from documents made available by the French public prosecutor’s office, which implicate Malaysian officials in the corruption allegations,” AI said in a statement here. Continue reading “Amnesty sees link between SUARAM shakedown, Scorpene scandal”

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Aliran condemns slur on Muslims, urges dialogue

By Aliran executive committee
22 September 2012

We refer to the low-budget movie ‘Innocence of Muslims’ that was made by a ‘Sam Bacile’, which depicted the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in a bad light.

We share the global condemnation of the movie by Muslims and people of other faiths alike.

Nobody should be making films like this that publicly condemn other people’s religious beliefs, their founders and other aspects of their faith held sacred. Neither should anyone be coming up with caricatures publicly ridiculing other faiths as happened in the French magazine ‘Charlie Hebdo’.

It is the right of any group to protest against such films or caricatures. In Malaysia, it was appropriate that protests were also held. Continue reading “Aliran condemns slur on Muslims, urges dialogue”