Day: December 19, 2014

Yesterday, I said more and more lawyers and Malaysians are asking how an extremist with racial and religious prejudice like Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad could rise up to become Chief Justice, the top judicial officer of the land.

Similarly, more and more Malaysians are also asking how a closet racist and extremist like Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman could hide his true colours to dominate the Election Commission for a quarter of a century, as he was appointed Election Commission Secretary in 1979 and was Election Commission Chairman from 2,000 to 2,008, responsible for six general elections and three constituency delimitation exercises in 1984, 1994 and 2003.

When Rashid, who is now Perkasa Vice President, first joined the extremist and racist UMNO-funded NGO in November last year, he said his objective was to champion Malay rights and ensure Malays retain power.

He told the media at the time that as Election Commission Chairman, he knew how to keep the Malays in power.

He said three redelineation exercises of electoral boundaries which were done during his time with the Election Commission had ensured Malays remained in power. Continue reading “How could a closet racist and extremist hide his true colours as to be the Election Commission Secretary/Chairman for 25 years, responsible for six general elections and three constituency delimitation exercises?”

The Police deserves commendation for the return of the 31 Christian hymnals to Catholic priest Father Cyril Mannayagam in Tangkak last night and an amicable settlement of the latest religious standoff in the country over the police seizure of the books which were meant for Orang Asli parishioners.

The police and various government agencies should learn from such an uncalled-for spat and be aware of their role and duty to be extra-sensitive to promote and not to undermine inter-racial and inter-religious understanding and relations.

I fully share the sentiments of the Sabah Speaker and former Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak, who expressed dismay at the “never-ending problem” of religious controversies over the Allah word issue, hudud and the confiscation of Bibles, hymns and other Christian literature published in Bahasa Malaysia and that “Just as one incident is solved, another one cropped up”.

Let all Malaysians hope and pray that the Sabah Speaker is not correct when he blogged that “it is beginning to look like this is going to be part of the Malaysian ‘culture’ for a long time to come”, urging that Sabah and Sarawak should not “slide down the slippery slope that some states in West Malaysia appear to be heading for” but should continue to take the lead in “maintaining the solidarity between those of different religious faiths”.

Let the police return of the 31 Christian hymnals in Johor start a virtuous cycle of inter-religious respect, tolerance and acceptance in the country for the next 12 months and end the rhetoric and politics of hate, extremism, intolerance and bigotry which had dominated and poisoned inter-racial and inter-religious relations in the country. Continue reading “Let the police return of the 31 Christian hymnals start a virtuous cycle of inter-religious respect, tolerance and acceptance in the country for the next 12 months and end the rhetoric and politics of hate, extremism, intolerance and bigotry”

Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi should stop the Federal Government campaign to “whitewash” an already “very white-washed” Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (RCIIIS).

Last week, Zahid said there was no “Project IC” to issue blue identity cards to tens or hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in Sabah to change the political demography of the State.

This denial of a “Project IC” flies in the face of the finding of the RCIIIS which concluded “that it was more likely than not that ‘Project IC’ did exist” – or to quote the conclusion and answer of the RCIIIS after a 14-page discussion of the question whether “Project IC” really existed:

“In short, there is a probability that such a Project did exist at all material times.” (p.300) Continue reading “Zahid should stop the Federal Government campaign to “whitewash” an already “very white-washed” RCI Report on illegal immigrants in Sabah”

— Syerleena Abdul Rashid
Malay Mail Online
December 18, 2014

DECEMBER 18 — Contrary to Isma’s beliefs, Malaysia will never achieve a high-income nation or even a developed nation status, if gender stereotypes continue to perpetuate our society, especially in matters that concerns the economy and honoring basic human rights. Their idea of solely depending on men as breadwinners and reducing women to child rearing duties is defective and discriminating to all Malaysians – regardless of gender.

The statement made by Dr Nur Farrah Nadia Najib, who heads the group’s family and society bureau, “A high income nation must not rely on women as the major contributor but rather men should lead the workforce and put their biggest effort in shaping the nation” is flawed as it demoralises the struggles Malaysian women work so hard to overcome.

Climbing the corporate ladder and pushing for equal pay has always been important issues for women’s rights advocacy and it is a continuous work in progress which needs support from the all levels of our society. There is no denying that education plays a crucial role in setting the template of success and attainment but even though, the number of women enrolled in tertiary institutions is currently higher than men, the opportunities for women to progress in the local workforce are different. To some extent, these opportunities may not even exist at all.

However, encouraging women to participate in the workforce is not enough. There must be pro-active measures by the government to guarantee that half of this country’s populations’ skills and talents are fully utilised in order to spur positive economic growth. Having more women at work can only be advantageous to our country, as differing perspectives supports diversity and innovation which are key dynamics needed to compete in an increasingly competitive globalised economy. Continue reading “Including both genders at work is paramount for a high income nation”

NGOs CALLING FOR RATIONAL DISCOURSE IN SUPPORT OF 25 CONCERNED CITIZENS

We, a group of Malaysian NGOs fully support the recent open letter from a group of 25 personalities that identified themselves as “a group of concerned citizens of Malaysia” to urge the government to hold a public discourse on Islamic law vis a vis the Federal Constitution. The 25 individuals, who identified themselves as “moderate Muslims”, comprised of, among others, retired civil servants, judges and ambassadors.

We applaud the courageous action of these towering figures to stand up and publicly address sensitive yet critical issues plaguing our nation. Too often in the history of nations, the extremists have triumphed not because they enjoyed majority support, but because the majority were silent and idle. Like similar minded NGOs working for the love of our nation, these 25 senior citizens chose not to be passive and have voiced their dismay and abhorrence at the current state of the nation.

We share their sentiment that “there is a real need for a consultative process that will bring together experts in various fields, including Islamic and Constitutional laws, and those affected by the application of Islamic laws in adverse ways”. We would further add that a similar process of consulting relevant experts and stakeholders, be applied to matters related to the process of legislation of other laws too. These should be undertaken in an ambience of transparency, best practises , mutual respect and permeative consultation. Continue reading “95 NGOs back the 25 ‘Eminent Malays’”

By Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Dec 15, 2014

We are familiar with the expression, “Behind every great man, is a woman”, but in Ibrahim Ali’s case, the expression which best fits him was said by the comedian Jim Carrey, “Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes”.

Yesterday, Ibrahim Ali of Perkasa declared himself a hero of the Malay community. He lashed out at the group of 25 former civil servants and academics who had penned an open letter to Najib Abdul Razak to halt the spread of extremism. Malaysians affectionately dubbed this influential group, the ‘Eminent 25’; however, an irate Ibrahim called them “cowards”.

For the 25 people to “come out” means that a point of no return has been breached; but let us examine the profile of Ibrahim Ali, the self-proclaimed hero. Continue reading “Portrait of a confused hero”

by Pathma Subramaniam
The Malay Mail Online
December 19, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 ― A Court of Appeal decision this week which indicated that police may ignore orders if it involves the private rather than the public sphere of life, may drive citizens to take matters in their own hands, lawyers have warned.

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the government and rejected the Ipoh High Court’s order of mandamus to compel the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) recover M. Indira Gandhi’s six-year-old daughter citing the distinction of the role of the police in enforcing laws in the public sphere as opposed to private lives.

The mandamus order, issued in September, was essentially an instruction from the High Court to the top cop to carry out his statutory duty to find and return Indira’s six-year-old child Prasana Diksa and arrest her ex-husband Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah.

Lawyers, who had observed the matter at the appellate court, said that while the court’s ruling was specific to Indira’s case, its consequences may be far reaching.

“The court did not rule on custody but just on the way to enforce the order of custody, however, it will affect all other cases involving private remedy.

“This is dangerous because the underlying message to the public at large is that you have to find your own way to put the remedy into effect,” said Andrew Khoo, the Bar Council’s human rights committee co-chairman. Continue reading “Court ruling in Hindu mother’s case raises key concerns, say lawyers”

– Syerleena Abdul Rashid
The Malaysian Insider
18 December 2014

Throughout the world, marriage is still regarded as a sacred union between an adult man and an adult woman. Marriage, along with birth and death, signal key defining moments of a human being’s life – the beginning, the passage and the end. Therefore, matrimonial unions often warrant grandiose celebrations from every culture and society.

But the practice of child marriages is inexcusable and such unions do not warrant any kind of celebration.

There are several reasons why parents impose early marriage upon their children, some view marriage as a means to alleviate themselves from poverty by providing some form of brief economic relief (e.g. dowry, handing over responsibility of raising a child to someone else) but mostly, in our country’s case, it is seen as a method to protect children from immoral sexual activities. Continue reading “Protecting our children from child marriages”