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Putrajaya imposes ‘very high’ restrictions on religion, global study finds

by Trinna Leong
The Malaysian Insider
January 15, 2014

Putrajaya’s restrictions on religion are among the worst in the world, revealed a study by American think tank Pew Research Centre.

The report, Restrictions on Religion, which covered 198 countries, found that Malaysia is among the 24 nations with “very high” government restrictions on religion.

It also found that the number of countries with “high or very high level of social hostilities involving religion reached a six-year-peak in 2012”.“A third (33%) of the 198 countries and territories included in the study had high religious hostilities in 2012, up from 29% in 2011 and 20% as of mid-2007,” said the report.

Placing Malaysia on par with countries like Egypt, Syria, Somalia, Russia, Sudan and Iraq, the report measured “government laws, policies and actions that restrict religious beliefs and practices” for its Government Restrictions Index (GRI).

The report, which covered more than 99.5% of the world’s population, had looked at “efforts by governments to ban particular faiths, prohibit conversions, limit preaching or give preferential treatment to one or more religious groups”. Continue reading “Putrajaya imposes ‘very high’ restrictions on religion, global study finds”

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What’s next with Dr M’s fans baying for Najib’s head to roll

BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
January 15, 2014

Nostalgia for better times has dominated this week with one Umno veteran openly calling for Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to return to helm the country while the prime minister’s brother harked back to the integrity of their own prime minister father.

But the better times was when Umno was dominant and the Internal Security Act (ISA) was used to silence dissent, something which Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin alluded to when calling for Dr Mahathir’s return to lead the nation.

He is the latest Mahathirist to say the obvious in not so many words that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak must step down.

Several bloggers aligned to Dr Mahathir have called for the same in the weeks after the last Umno elections where Najib’s camp won handsomely.

These were among the same people who also agitated against Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who resigned as prime minister and Umno president in April 2009, a year after the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) suffered historic losses in the 2008 elections. Continue reading “What’s next with Dr M’s fans baying for Najib’s head to roll”

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Between God and Allah

Wall Street Journal
Jan 14, 2014

Malaysia tries to stop Christians using the Bahasa word for God.

For nearly 200 years non-Muslim residents of present-day Malaysia used the Arabic and Bahasa word “Allah” to refer to God. Seven years ago, the government began an unnecessary and provocative push to ban them from doing so in print. Now Malaysian police are accusing a Catholic priest of sedition after he announced that churches in the state of Selangor would continue using the A word in their local-language services.

At the heart of the dispute is prominent Catholic priest Lawrence Andrew. In 2007, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar banned Father Lawrence Andrew’s church newspaper from printing “Allah.” Father Andrew fought the ban in the courts and eventually lost in the Court of Appeal last October. In November, the sultan of Selangor took the campaign a step further and extended the ban to Bahasa-language Bibles and churches. Now Father Andrew is being investigated for violating the edict under the draconian Sedition Act. Continue reading “Between God and Allah”

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In Nazir’s paean to dad, a call to action for all Malaysians

NEWS ANALYSIS BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
January 14, 2014

It happens all the time. Whenever someone writes or talks about the golden generation of Malaysian leaders, it is a bittersweet experience for citizens of this blessed country.

There is pride that individuals such as Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Tan Siew Sin, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman once charted the fortunes of Malaysia.

And there is deep longing for such men of integrity, principle and fairness.

Yet, there is also numbing sadness that such men no longer exists in government, replaced long time ago by inept individuals with a ravenous appetite for self.

Make no mistake, Razak and friends were flawed men, at times drive by political interests of their parties. But they loved this land above everything else. Above enriching their family members. Above nurturing crony capitalism. Continue reading “In Nazir’s paean to dad, a call to action for all Malaysians”

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Call for bi-partisan support in March/April Parliament for a RCI into RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal or Malaysia will be international laughing stock as “land of mega-scandals without criminals”

Anyone game for a bet – whether the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) “mother of all scandals” had ever been raised or discussed at the Cabinet meeting today?

I am not privy to what happened in Cabinet today or any other information covered by the Official Secrets Act (OSA) but I would not hesitate betting that the subject of PKFZ scandal never cropped up in today’s Cabinet meeting – although two days ago, a second former Cabinet Minister Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy walked free from High Court when the Attorney-General withdrew all charges against him in connection with the PKFZ scandal.

The acquittal of Chan, following the acquittal last October of Chan’s predecessor as former Transport Minister Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik of three charges of cheating the government in relation to the PKFZ scandal, should be urgent and weighty subjects for today’s Cabinet meeting – that is if the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is serious about the wanting to make corruption part of Malaysia’s past not its future, or the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department on governance and integrity, Datuk Paul Low is making a difference in Cabinet and government not just a cipher and the post-13GE Najib Cabinet is a Transformation Cabinet with anti-corruption as one of its top priority agendas and not the worst “half-past six Cabinet” in history.

I would imagine that the Cabinet Ministers and the top Umno/Barisan Nasional leaders must have sighed with relief at the double acquittal of the two former Transport Ministers marking their success to keep the “mother of all scandals” under wraps and the last thing anyone of them wants to do is to “stir the hornets’ nest” and give the demands for accountability a fresh lease of life. Continue reading “Call for bi-partisan support in March/April Parliament for a RCI into RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal or Malaysia will be international laughing stock as “land of mega-scandals without criminals””

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Who is the leader?

By Wan Saiful Wan Jan
Free Malaysia Today
January 15, 2014

How is it that Umno, a party that has been in power for so long, has suddenly become subservient to these relatively young entities?

COMMENT

Even if you disagree with groups like Perkasa and Isma, I think they really deserve an applause. These two groups have been very effective in their campaigns, to the extent that they cannot be simply dismissed in today’s public discourse.

Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa was set up by Ibrahim Ali soon after the 2008 general election. I don’t think I need to explain who Perkasa is because many readers already know them. Their campaign is centred around defending the rights of the ethnic Malays.

Isma stands for Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia. Those who are familiar with the history of Muslim groups in Malaysia will know that, up to a few yeas ago, the rivalry between the various Malaysian Muslim groups was fierce. And, the contested history is that Isma started off as a splinter from another group, the Jamaah Islah Malaysia (now known as Ikram).

It will take too long to explain the long and convoluted history of Isma properly. But suffice to say that Isma is one of the many Muslim groups that exist in Malaysia today that was inspired by another global movement called the Muslim Brotherhood.

The backgrounds of these two organisations are rather different. But, if we look at their work, they have become potent pressure groups in Malaysia today. Continue reading “Who is the leader?”

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#BBCtrending: Be careful what you say about spinach

BBC Trending
What’s popular and why
14 January 2014

Hundreds of joke images are being shared on social media in Malaysia

Malaysia’s prime minister is being widely lampooned on social media for a comment he made about the price of kangkung, or water spinach.

Food is a faux pas minefield for politicians, especially when it’s perceived as being used in a get-down-with-the-people kind of way – think of British Prime Minister David Cameron’s pasty moment or Chancellor George Osborne’s “posh burger” tweet. The almost inevitable response seems to be ridicule. That’s where the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak finds himself right now. With the government under fire because of price hikes in basics like fuel and electricity, he choose to push back by highlighting a reduction in the cost of the leafy green vegetable kangkung. Continue reading “#BBCtrending: Be careful what you say about spinach”

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Malaysia’s kangkung index

– Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
January 15, 2014

Ungku Aziz had his sarong index. To those not old enough to remember, Ungku Aziz was once the vice-chancellor of Universiti Malaya and is the father of the present governor of Bank Negara. He has always been a keen social and political observer and his views can be rapier sharp as they are acerbic. To the establishment that is.

On the recent Kagkung-gate faux pas committed by an insensitive PM, Ungku Aziz penned down the following verses:

Pucuknya angkuh memanjat bukit,
tak sedar akar terendam air parit,
rakyat mengeluh lelah dan sakit,
sedikit diberi banyak diungkit..

Pucuknya angkuh memanjat bukit,
Tak sedar akar diair parit,
Bagaikan melepas anjing tersepit,
Dah jadi pemimpin , rakyat digigit.

When researching into the issue of poverty, Ungku Aziz came up with sarong index – a measure of the level of poverty. The level of poverty can be measured by the number of sarongs a person has. When Ungku Aziz did his poverty study in Kuala Kemaman many years ago, many people there had only one sarong. People were very poor. Continue reading “Malaysia’s kangkung index”

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The ‘Allah’ Issue in Perspective – Part 2

By Kee Thuan Chye
news.malaysia.msn.com
14 Jan 2014

Yesterday, I looked at the ‘Allah’ issue from the time it started to what it has become today, and how we are now trapped in a web of confusion spun from diverse interpretations of the Court of Appeal’s decision on the use of the word ‘Allah’ by The Herald, as well as the “one-policy, two-countries” implication arising from Prime Minister Najib Razak’s 10-point solution.

In the midst of such confusion, how do we judge who is right – those who claim that ‘Allah’ is exclusive to Muslims or those who insist that it is their constitutional right to practise their religion the way they have been doing it for ages, including referring to God as ‘Allah’?

How do we deal with the rising fervour on both sides, Muslim and Christian, as they seek to defend what they think is right? With Father Lawrence Andrew, the editor of The Herald, who said on December 27 that Christians would continue to use ‘Allah’ in all Selangor churches, and with the Solidariti Umat Islam Klang members who protested in public against his statement?

How do we deal with Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria’s demand for the arrest of the Malays who turned up at a church in Klang to show solidarity with Christians? Continue reading “The ‘Allah’ Issue in Perspective – Part 2”

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The ‘Allah’ Issue in Perspectiv​e — Part 1

By Kee Thuan Chye
news.Malaysia.msn.com
Jan 13 2014

As the ‘Allah’ issue rages on, particularly after the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) raided the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) and seized 300-plus copies of the Bible in Malay and Iban on January 2, let’s take a moment and look at it in perspective.

How did it start?

Not, as falsely claimed by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, because Malaysia has become more liberal and Malaysians are testing the limits of their “new-found freedom”. Not, as he says, because some groups “purposely come up with something to annoy people” or that they want to run down other religions.

That is the usual kind of poppycock for which he has of late been fond of spinning.

The whole mess started in 2009 with Syed Hamid Albar, who was home minister then, banning the Catholic weekly The Herald from using the word ‘Allah’ in its Bahasa Malaysia section. Prior to that, there had been no issue. Christians in Sabah and Sarawak had been using it for ages, long before they joined the Federation of Malaysia. No one had raised a hue and cry. Continue reading “The ‘Allah’ Issue in Perspectiv​e — Part 1”

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Malaysia’s Najib Faces Party, Public Protest

Written by Our Correspondent
Asia Sentinel
13 JANUARY 2014

Subsidy cuts play into UMNO rebellion

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak enters 2014 beset by growing hostility from both the public and within his own political party, the United Malays National Organization, characterized by a deluge of New Year messages across cyberspace celebrating the “year of barang naik,” Malay language for rising prices of items.

That is a play on the initials BN, for Barisan Nasional, the national ruling coalition. It has become an opposition battle cry to the point where Najib mentioned it himself in a recent speech

Najib is making an astute move now, after national and intraparty elections have been completed, taking on the necessary but unappetizing task of dismantling decades of subsidies that have driven government debt close to the statutory limit of 55 percent of gross domestic product. In the wake of both sets of elections, he is temporarily invulnerable to both opposition and intraparty assaults.

However, electricity tariffs have risen by 15 percent, sugar subsidies have been cut. Last September, Petronas, the national energy company, cut fuel subsidies in a move that it said would save the government RMB1 billion annually. Public anger at the cutting of the subsidies is substantial and growing

In addition, many in the party rank and file are still furious over widespread spending to keep the current leadership in place in the September intraparty elections. Continue reading “Malaysia’s Najib Faces Party, Public Protest”

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Show courage in ‘Allah’ row, Zaid tells Pakatan

The Malay Mail Online
January 14, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) must stand firm in its support of non-Muslims’ use of “Allah” and not allow itself to be cowed by fears of a backlash from the Muslim community, former minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said today.

The former PKR member said the pact should have shown the courage to support the proposal of three Selangor DAP assemblymen to amend the state law at the centre of the current religious row, instead of criticising them for their “hastiness”.

“Pakatan can only lead the country if it is brave enough to offer solutions to the difficult religious and ethnic issues that Umno seems adept at creating.

“Pakatan can only be stronger if they can take on Umno on these issues by presenting comprehensive solutions and not shying away as they are prone to do,” he wrote on his blog today. Continue reading “Show courage in ‘Allah’ row, Zaid tells Pakatan”

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Malaysia’s Lee Kuan Yew

Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Jan 13, 2014

The rivalry between former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and current PM Najib Abdul Razak has assumed ludicrous proportions. With a legacy to protect, a son to manoeuvre into position, his cronies to look after, and a country to run, Mahathir is in overdrive. He may be approaching 90, but he retains much of his vigour to annoy.

Yesterday, a former minister, Zainuddin Maidin, urged Mahathir to return to Putrajaya. Having Mahathir back in Putrajaya would be as bad as having a hole in the head.

Much to Najib’s annoyance, Mahathir refuses to shut up, but Najib has only himself to blame. Najib is busy clocking-up air-miles in his new jets. Mahathir says in one sitting, what Najib mumbles in one month.

The current ‘Allah’ side-show is meant to trick ignorant Malays, and weak-willed Muslims, into believing that Umno Baru is the only party that will protect their race and religion.

The real issue is the economy of Malaysia. Umno Baru, Najib and Mahathir are trying to mask this fact behind the ‘Allah’ charade. The rakyat is being out-manoeuvred by Umno Baru.

Last August, Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew launched his book, ‘One Man’s View of the World’, in which he described Malaysia as an underperforming nation disadvantaged by its pro-Malay economic policies. Continue reading “Malaysia’s Lee Kuan Yew”

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Bersyukurlah kangkung turun harga!

– Izmil Amri
The Malaysian Insider
January 14, 2014

‘Orang Melaka suka makan kangkung yang tidak dikerat-kerat’. Ini helah Tun Perpatih Putih ketika rombongannya sangat teringin melihat wajah Maharaja China.

Tun Perpatih Putih adalah adinda kepada Tun Perak dan dilantik jadi bendahara menggantikan abangnya itu setelah beliau meninggal dunia. Sebelum jadi bendahara, Tun Perpatih Putih yang dihantar Sultan Mansur Shah ketika mahu dijalinkan hubungan diplomatik dengan China. Delegasi itu begitu berjaya sekali sehinggakan maharaja China menghadiahkan Melaka puterinya, Hang Li Po.

Alkisahnya di zaman itu, adatnya ialah orang kebanyakan di China dalam zaman pemerintahan dinasti itu tidak boleh melihat wajahnya sang Maharaja. Kalau tandu maharaja lalu, jalan harus dikosongkan, dan kalau ada yang masih tersisa berdiri, mesti tunduk sujud di hadapan baginda. Continue reading “Bersyukurlah kangkung turun harga!”

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From McKangkung to World Kangkung Day

K Pragalath| January 14, 2014
Free Malaysia Today

Netizens make fun of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s endorsement for water spinach.

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s endorsement for the fall in the prices of water spinach (kangkung) continues to prompt Malaysian netizens to join the fray to “support” the premier’s endorsement.

A page called Hari Kangkung Sedunia has been created on social networking website, Facebook while Jan 13 is now officially declared World Kangkung Day.

Among others the page speculated that major fast food outlets would have to rebrand some of the popuar selling products, citing as examples Kangkung Fried Chicken, Burger Kangkung and McKangkung.

The endorsement for kangkung have gone viral via a 1:24 minute on YouTube. The video with 44,235 hits is a result of combining two video clips. Continue reading “From McKangkung to World Kangkung Day”

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Remembering my father, Tun Razak

by Nazir Razak
The Malaysian Insider
January 14, 2014

Thirty-eight years ago today, on January 14, 1976, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein passed away in London from complications wreaked by leukaemia.

Malaysia lost its prime minister. I lost my father. Malaysia was 19. I was nine.

The days immediately after were shrouded in personal sorrow and national mourning.

My four brothers and I sought to comfort our mother, while the public and heartfelt outpouring of grief throughout the country served as a resounding reminder that we were not alone in our time of tragedy.

I must confess that given my age and my father’s hectic schedule, I sometimes lament the fact that he gave so much to the country, leaving too little for his family.

However, I have never wavered from being enormously proud of his selfless dedication to our young nation.

I did not get the time to know him. But imprinted in me are the values he imparted, the integrity that he insisted upon, above all. Yes, above all, including his family. Continue reading “Remembering my father, Tun Razak”

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Moderates in Malaysia, Unite as patriots to save the country from the conspiracy of reactionaries and anti-democratic forces out to turn the clock back to the discredited policies of the past

I call on moderates in Malaysia to unite as patriots to save the country from the conspiracy of reactionaries and anti-democratic forces out to turn the clock back to the discredited policies of the past.

The axis of reactionary and anti-democratic forces in government, politics and media (printed and social) have been flexing their muscles in the past eight months for the restoration of Mahathirish policies and hankering for the return of Mahathir to the helm of Putrajaya, whether as Prime Minister or de facto Prime Minister.

It has reached the stage where one of Mahathir’s top propaganda minions, Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin, has surfaced publicly to test the waters with the outrageous suggestion on Sunday for the return of Mahathir to Putrajaya to help the Barisan Nasional federal government “tackle raging racial, religious and economic issues”.

Zainuddin went public two days after Mahathir floated the idea of the restoration of the Internal Security Act, which immediately received a troika of support from the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar; UMNO (not necessarily Najib’s) mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia and the Umno “savior”, Perkasa – which represented a triple slap-on-the-face for the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

For the past eight months, the country has been plunged into the worst racial, religious and national polarization to create the conditions and perceptions of unrest and instability to justify a putsch by the reactionary and anti-democratic conspirators. Continue reading “Moderates in Malaysia, Unite as patriots to save the country from the conspiracy of reactionaries and anti-democratic forces out to turn the clock back to the discredited policies of the past”

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Giving right-wingers free rein will backfire, analysts warn Umno

by Melissa Chi
The Malay Mail Online
January 14, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 ― Umno’s continued silence as the voices of Malay right-wing groups grow louder by the day could end up being misconstrued as Putrajaya’s endorsement of extremism and racism, analysts have warned.

By staying passive to appease its supporters in Malay-Muslim Malaysia, Umno also risks having its own grip on power weakened in the event such groups later decide to enter the political arena as opponents, the analysts added.

Director of independent pollster Merdeka Center Ibrahim Suffian acknowledged the strategy, saying the easiest, tried and tested way to shore up support from a particular group, is to use emotive issues.

“Certainly by not curbing this, by not doing anything, (it) actually condones these kinds of statements.

“It also has a counter-reaction, not only espousing more extreme and conservative views by allowing more leeway for them to do whatever they want, but it might also increase the politicising among religious groups, the Christians for example, could be more politicised and resort to being extreme as well,” he told The Malay Mail Online when contacted. Continue reading “Giving right-wingers free rein will backfire, analysts warn Umno”

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The tragedy and farce that is the PKFZ

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
January 13, 2014

This is a fact of Malaysian political life: apart from the government’s favourite target Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, all other ministers or former ministers have never seen the inside of a jail.

There will be a few near misses here – one that comes to mind is the 1982 murder of an Umno politician – and there but no one pays the ultimate price for whatever they did while in office.

Today, former MCA deputy president and retired minister Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy joined the long list of former ministers who were spared incarceration when prosecutors dropped three cheating charges against him in connection with the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project. Continue reading “The tragedy and farce that is the PKFZ”

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Knives are being sharpened for the Night of Long Knives in the conspiracy by Umno reactionaries/anti-democratic forces to remove obstacles in the way of their putsch

Yesterday, I titled my blog piece “The Empire strikes back – the plot for a putsch by reactionary anti-democratic forces thickens with the call for a return of Dr M to Putrajaya”.

The online Star today carried an interesting item which is not unrelated to the tale of “The Empire strikes back”.

The online Star report by Martin Carvalho titled “Hasan Malek denies again rumours of resignation” states: Continue reading “Knives are being sharpened for the Night of Long Knives in the conspiracy by Umno reactionaries/anti-democratic forces to remove obstacles in the way of their putsch”