Day: March 4, 2015

– Huzaifah Ahmad Yamani
The Malaysian Insider
4 March 2015

Dalam kamus ada satu istilah disebut realisme. Makna mudahnya, fahaman yang berpijak di bumi nyata. Apabila seseorang cuba menyesuaikan diri dengan keadaan, kita memanggilnya realistik. Misalnya, apabila kita berjimat cermat dek kerana kenaikan harga minyak dan Cukai Barangan dan Perkhidmatan (GST), ertinya kita seorang yang realistik. Dunia realisme perlu difahami, termasuklah dalam dunia politik.

Apa yang menjadi perdebatan dalaman PAS, antara golongan GU – Erdogan atau sebut sajalah apa pun namanya, bagi saya bertitik tolak dari ‘realisme politik’ inilah. Satu pihak masih mahu mempertahankan ‘status quo’, dan satu pihak lagi mahu berubah dan menjadi ‘realistik’ dengan keperluan zaman.

Nah, ada beberapa persoalan ingin saya ajukan. Satu, salahkah PAS berubah dan menjadi realistik? Dua, apa ‘status quo’ PAS yang sebenarnya? Tiga, antara kumpulan GU – Erdogan ini, mana lebih diperlukan dalam dunia politik Malaysia? Continue reading “PAS, ‘GU’ dan politik realistik”

Azrul Mohd Khalib
The Malay Mail Online
MARCH 4, 2015

MARCH 4 — To say that it had been an emotional morning would be an understatement. The judge had just delivered his ruling and Nik Raina’s head had turned sharply to the back to glance at her boss. Everyone in that courtroom pretty much expected an application by the prosecutor for another lengthy six-month sojourn of the Nik Raina-Borders case to be granted, depriving her yet again of reprieve and justice.

Discharge of the charges was certainly not what anyone expected to hear that day in the Shariah courtroom.

Just a moment before, everyone had heard the response from the prosecutor to lawyer Rosli Dahlan’s impassioned plea on behalf of Nik Raina for compassion, kindness and understanding from the court. To correct an injustice which had been inflicted and sustained for three years.

It was her problem, the prosecutor responded, if she felt that she had suffered humiliation, embarrassment and anguish as a result of this case.

He continued by saying that her decision to take the case to the civil court amounted to disrespect of the Shariah court system and that her actions resulted in the prolonging of the case. Basically that it was Nik Raina’s own fault that it had come to three years since that fateful day in 2012. Continue reading “The release of Nik Raina”

by Ashraf Wahab
Malaysian Digest
03 March 2015

During just a little over a year of my time working here in Malaysian Digest, I have learned that headlines containing the names of a few individuals are always guaranteed to generate a lot of page views.

Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali is always bound to provoke a reaction and also frequent ridicule, as too is the case with Ridhuan Tee. The Prime Minister’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor has never failed to spark multiple responses from our readers. Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, despite now being in prison will always remain a popular choice. Also not to be left out are the young Malay women trio in DAP of Dyana Sofya, Rara Othman, and Melati Rahim.

There are also two individuals who constantly invite vitriol and criticism, particularly from our Malay readers – DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang and his son, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng. No matter what the content of the story is, be it positive or negative, there will always be a barrage of hate coming from our Malay readers.

When we analyse these spiteful comments, we can conclude their animosity towards the two DAP figureheads can be narrowed down to one common fact – that they are both purportedly anti-Malay and anti-Islam. But is this really true?

Being a Malay and Muslim myself, I actually vehemently disagree. So in the first of what hopefully will be a series of articles, I will try to disprove this claim by first focusing on Lim Junior. Continue reading “Just A Few Reasons That Prove Lim Guan Eng Is NOT Anti-Malay”

Yesterday, the Police announced that “A civil servant said to be one of the most senior Islamic State (IS) members in Malaysia and a 29-year-old housewife who recruited a 14-year-old girl into the militant movement are among three people detained by Bukit Aman”.

The 39-year-old civil servant was arrested by the Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter-Terrorism Division in Kuala Lumpur on Monday while the housewife was picked up in Muar on Saturday.

The third suspect – a 22-year-old trader – was also arrested in Perak on Monday.

The civil servant, described by the police as “a senior IS member with direct links to Malaysians in Syria”, is believed to have used his position to recruit members to ensure the local militant network ran smoothly.

This is most shocking news. How “senior” is the civil servant who was arrested, and who are the more “senior” IS leaders in Malaysia?

Malaysia are entitled to ask: Why is the Police fighting a losing war with Islamic State – has IS developed a local leadership structure in Malaysia with dedicated recruiters scouting for new recruits for the terrorist movement in Syria and Iraq? Continue reading “Why is the Police fighting a losing war with Islamic State – has IS developed a local leadership structure in Malaysia with dedicated recruiters scouting for new recruits for the terrorist movement in Syria and Iraq?”

Yesterday, I suggested the postponement of a bill to amend the 1993 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code which is scheduled to be presented to the Kelantan State Assembly meeting beginning on March 18, as up to date, the bill has not been presented to the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council for study, as was decided by all the Pakatan Rakyat leaders from DAP, PKR and PAS at the meeting of Feb. 8.

This is to give adequate time for the Pakatan Rakyat parties to study the proposed amendment bill, but even more important, not to provide Prime Minister and UMNO President Datuk Seri Najib Razak and UMNO strategists the political life-line and the opportunity to further their “UG” (unity government between UMNO and PAs) and “hudud” political games solely to save themselves and to destabilize, divide and destroy Pakatan Rakyat unity and remove the challenge to replace UMNO/BN in Putrajaya in the 14th General Elections.

I am not really surprised that the strongest objection to my postponement proposal has not come from either PAS or UMNO, but from Gerakan and MCA. Within hours, the Gerakan reacted in outrage at the suggestion.

Why? This is because MCA and Gerakan leaders had been salivating at the prospect of Kelantan State Assembly passing an amendment bill by the PAS Kelantan State Government to the 1993 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code with the support by Kelantan UMNO State Assemblymen, because they planned to use the Kelantan State Assembly passage of the hudud bill to launch a publicity offensive to attack the DAP. Continue reading “Gerakan and MCA reacted even more ferociously than PAS and UMNO to my suggestion of postponement of bill on hudud implementation in Kelantan State Assembly because they have completely lapped up UMNO plot to use the issue to break Pakatan Rakyat”

Just before midnight, a Cabinet Minister tweeted that he had just left his constituency which is about three hours’ drive from Kuala Lumpur: “Need to read cabinet papers after I reach home. Tmr morning cabinet meeting as usual.”

My first thought was whether the Cabinet papers would include the thousands of 1MDB transactions and email which 1MDB had tried to “wipe” clean from their computers and servers at the end of last year.

Will the Cabinet papers for all Ministers for the Cabinet meeting later this morning cover at least the three issues which had dominated public opinion in Malaysia in the past week, or will it be another Cabinet meeting to avoid and skirt important national issues like the infamous past Cabinet meetings?

First Issue. Leading the three important issues which should dominate a meaningful Cabinet meeting today is undoubtedly the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal, which has been blown wide open by the joint London Sunday Times/Sarawak Report investigations and access to thousands of transactions and email of 1MDB despite abrupt attempts by 1MDB at the end of last year to call in all of its computers, employee laptops and servers to wipe them clean of all emails.

Will the Cabinet end its traditional three monkey stance of “eyes that see not, ears that hear not and mouths that speak not” on the 1MDB scandal for the past six years, take the bull by the horn and decide either to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry headed by former Law Minister Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim or other independent credible Malaysians or give support for a full-scale Public Accounts Committee (PAC) public inquiry into the 1MDB scandal? Continue reading “Will the Cabinet continue the traditional three monkeys role of “eyes that see not, ears that hear not and mouths that speak not” or will they take the bull by the horn to address the three issues which dominate public opinion in past week?”

A Shukur Harun
The Malaysian Insider
3 March 2015

Belum pernah seingat saya, terjadi krisis setajam ini di dalam PAS sepanjang 63 tahun penubuhannya, sehingga telah muncul pelbagai tuduhan seperti sesat, barua, songsang, liberal dan pelbagai kata-kata kesat yang sangat tidak elok disebutkan.

Ini menggambarkan bahawa tahap krisis di dalam PAS ini sudah sampai ke peringkat parah di mana Umno/BN – musuh politik PAS selama ini – mendapat “keuntungan politik” daripada krisis dalaman PAS ini.

Krisis ini telah bertambah marak dalam program Multaqa Ulama baru-baru ini, iaitu apabila tercetus serangan bertubi-tubi dari yang menggelar dirinya “Ustaz Haraki” terhadap golongan yang bukan ustaz, khususnya golongan profesional.

Mereka melancarkan pelbagai tuduhan, persepsi yang salah, melemparkan kata-kata kesat yang tidak disebut mereka yang bergelar ustaz, tetapi telah keluar dengan bebasnya dari mulut “Ustaz Haraki”.

Mereka menuduh kononnya beberapa pimpinan PAS di peringkat pusat bersekongkol menjatuhkan presiden PAS. Continue reading “‘Ustaz Haraki’, terimalah cabaran debat”

By Aidila Razak
Malaysiakini
Mar 3, 2015

COMMENT Dear men of Malaysia,

In 2012, a woman in Delhi was brutally raped and murdered in a bus after an evening out with a friend. Her rapist is now on death row.

The story of this young woman, Jyoti Singh, 23, resonated across the globe – and when it hogged Malaysian social media, I didn’t read a single comment saying she had it coming.

Her rapist and murderer however thinks she did.

Awaiting the hangman’s noose, Mukesh Singh in a BBC interview which will air this Sunday said that Jyoti, whom he and his friends took turns to savage was to blame for the injuries which led to her death.

A woman out at night is inviting trouble, he said, and when it happened she should have just laid there instead of fighting back.

I would like to think that you, the Malaysian male, do not think the same, but reading the reactions that came out of a recent Friday sermon about women who don’t cover their aurat does make me wonder. Continue reading “A woman’s letter to the men of Malaysia”

By Kuo Yong Kooi
Malaysiakini
Mar 3, 2015

COMMENT If someone handed me a copy of the Quran, I am happy to accept it with no ill will in my heart. I have concluded long ago that all religious texts in this world are guidelines to improve human behaviours.

The unfortunate part is many people misinterpreted religious text all the time. If someone has got it right, then it does not matter what religion you are from, their action shows.

In my opinion, the rules that the fundamentalists Muslims want every Muslim to follow are not that much different from the monastic rules for the Buddhist monks and nuns. The only big difference is their approach.

Buddhists see the rules as a path for their followers to practice if and only if they want to attain Nibanna (enlightenment). The themes that Buddhism carried all through a person’s religious life are basically an invitation to explore and the gradual training. It is a personal inward journey. No amount of compulsion can facilitate a personal journey.

If a Buddhist decides to go to the beer festivals and have vice activities, that is his or her Karma. It is as simple as that. That is their business. If you want Nibanna, the monastic codes are much stricter than the rules imposed by the Taliban or IS.

A Buddhist monastic cannot have sex, drugs/intoxicants or entertainment. The Taliban can have up to four wives. Continue reading “I would accept a copy of the Quran”