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Half-hour row in Parliament yesterday marked the end of one-year UMNO trap for PAS set by Jamil Khir in Parliament on March 27 last year claiming that Federal government ready to work with PAS Kelantan state government to implement hudud in Kelantan

The half-hour row in Parliament yesterday between the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom and the PAS MP for Pokok Sena, Datuk Mahfuz Omar, resulting in the latter’s ejection from the Dewan Rakyat, marked the end of the one-year UMNO trap for PAS set by Jamil in Parliament on March 27 last year claiming that the Federal government was ready to work with PAS Kelantan State Government to implement hudud in Kelantan.

Cleary, there was no such intention, but all Jamil Khir and the UMNO conspirators really wanted was to achieve their objective to destabilize, divide and destroy PAS and Pakatan Rakyat, which they had achieved to a great extent in the past 12 months.

But what Jamil Khir and the entire UMNO/Barisan Nasional leadership did not realise was that the trap they set directly for PAS and indirectly for Pakatan Rakyat was in fact a double-edged sword which could not only cause grave damage to Pakatan Rakyat but also to Barisan Nasional as well.

The UMNO conspirators have succeeded in their damage for Pakatan Rakyat, but they suddenly realized that the price of the success of such a plot against PAS and Pakatan Rakyat was to create a situation where the UMNO/BN coalition is also on the brink of unprecedented disaster. Continue reading “Half-hour row in Parliament yesterday marked the end of one-year UMNO trap for PAS set by Jamil Khir in Parliament on March 27 last year claiming that Federal government ready to work with PAS Kelantan state government to implement hudud in Kelantan”

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Has the IGP gone bonkers as to order the police probe of UM lecturer raising the most legitimate questions about political protest and protest policing?

I read, re-read and read a third time the article “Who owns the police” by University of Malaya senior lecturer, Dr. Khoo Ying Hooi in The Malaysian Insider on 16th March 2015 and I still cannot fathom how it could be the basis for two police officers to question Khoo for one-and-a-half hours under Section 500 of the Penal Code for criminal defamation of the police – without committing a gross abuse of police power.

Has the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Bakar gone bonkers in his latest tweet-trigger happy response to Khoo’s article on the same day, saying

“KYH’s article in MI is misleading the readers, When did @PDRMsia allow the 7th street protest?”

Khoo, in her article, had said that police “had earlier allowed the #KitaLawan rally on March 7 to carry on smoothly, but began their ‘arrest spree’ the next day” – with 11 people, including DAP Youth leader and MP for Rasah Teo Kok Seong, PKR Secretary-General and MP for Pandan, Rafizi Ramli, PKR Youth Chief and Selangor State Exco Member Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad arrested over the March 7 rally.

When Khoo said the police had earlier “allowed” the March 7 rally to be held smoothly, it did not and need not mean that the Police had issued a police permit to hold a rally, as all that it meant was that the Police did not disturb or disrupt the rally and permitted it to be held smoothly.

What is wrong with that statement?

What is the “criminal defamation” against the police in such a statement?
Continue reading “Has the IGP gone bonkers as to order the police probe of UM lecturer raising the most legitimate questions about political protest and protest policing?”

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Why is secularism a ‘non-argument’?

By Wong Chin Huat
Malaysiakini
Mar 23, 2015

COMMENT Many human right lawyers, minority rights advocates, women right advocates and liberals have vigorously and rigorously defended the secular nature of the Malaysian state.

The most outstanding examples include the late parliamentarian Karpal Singh, Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) chairperson Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa and Noor Farida Arifin who leads the Group of 25 Eminent Malays (G25).

Their courageous defence of secularism, while cheered by many members of minorities and liberals, change little the debate amongst the Malay-Muslims.

As the ultimate defence on secularism lies with the judiciary, that increasingly Muslim judges are observing a trend of religious political correctness suggests this may be a losing battle.

Former top judges championing Malay-Muslim ultra-nationalism certainly leaves no room for optimism. Continue reading “Why is secularism a ‘non-argument’?”

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Proposal of a new coalition government post-BN and post-PR with new Prime Minister to “Save Malaysia” has drawn interest, support and encouragement from MPs from both BN and PR, former Ministers and public intellectuals

The proposal of a new coalition government post-BN and post-PR with a new Prime Minister to “Save Malaysia” has drawn interest, support and encouragement from MPs from both BN and PR divide, former Ministers and public intellectuals.

For instance, this is one of the messages of support and encouragement which I have received for the idea of a new coalition government post-BN and post PR:

“I read your five fundamental principles for a new government. I fully support them. You might also need an agenda to address inequalities and opportunities for all. All the best.”

I fully agree. Continue reading “Proposal of a new coalition government post-BN and post-PR with new Prime Minister to “Save Malaysia” has drawn interest, support and encouragement from MPs from both BN and PR, former Ministers and public intellectuals”

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A New Coalition Post-BN and Post-PR with new Prime Minister should be based on five fundamental principles starting with defending the Malaysian Constitution

Time is running out for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the next 24 hours when the Cabinet holds its weekly meeting on Friday (during Parliamentary meetings) as to whether Najib has deviated from the stand of the first five Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah and the bedrock UMNO/Barisan Nasional nation-building principle and policy that hudud law is against Malaysian Constitution, the 1963 Malaysia Agreement and not suitable for a multi-racial and multi-religious nation like Malaysia.

For nearly 60 years, every Prime Minister if asked will have no hesitation to declaring the Federal Constitution and the Malaysia Agreement of 1963 will not permit the implementation of hudud laws.

The question is why the fifth Prime Minister has been agonizing for a week as to whether to reiterate what is UMNO/Barisan Nasional/Alliance policy for 58 years from Merdeka and 52 years since the formation of Malaysia.

If under Najib, UMNO/BN policies have taken a tectonic shift whereby the Prime Minister cannot open reiterate and reaffirm what had been UMNO/BN/Alliance bedrock nation-building principles for 58 years, in accordance with the 1957 Merdeka Constitution and the 1963 Malaysia Agreement that hudud law is against the Federal Constitution, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and unsuitable for a multi-racial and multi-religious nation like Malaysia, then I invite all Malaysians to seriously think of the possibility of a new Malaysia coalition which is post-BN and post-PR with a new Prime Minister to “Save Malaysia” to defend the Federal Constitution and the rule of law. Continue reading “A New Coalition Post-BN and Post-PR with new Prime Minister should be based on five fundamental principles starting with defending the Malaysian Constitution”

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Who can be the new Prime Minister of a new coalition government in Malaysia to defend the Malaysian Constitution?

DAP fully endorses the stand of G25 of prominent Malay former civil servants urging Putrajaya to uphold the Federal Constitution and that the implementation of hudud law means the abandonment of the path of moderation chosen by the country since Independence in 1957 and the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

The G25 statement said:

“The imposition of PAS’ hudud laws will signify to the world that Malaysia has abandoned the moderate path.

“We will be seen as a country governed by religious laws which are subjected to the vagaries of interpretation of the ulama who are also fallible human beings.”

I am not a Muslim but I am fortified by the G25 group’s citation of Islamic scholars for this position, especially Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi, who is chairperson of the World Union of Muslim Scholars, who said the application of Syariah must be governed by Ijtihad or creative thought, to determine how it would be enforced today as it would not be helpful to take rulings from ancient texts and apply them in totality to modern societies. Continue reading “Who can be the new Prime Minister of a new coalition government in Malaysia to defend the Malaysian Constitution?”

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Najib should be given another 48 hours to make his statement on the stand of UMNO/BN MPs on Hadi’s private member’s bill on hudud implementation in Kelantan

MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai seems to be having the “shivers” causing him yesterday to urge all to give the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak more time to make public the government’s stand on the PAS President and MP for Marang, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang’s private member’s bill on the implementation of hudud laws in Kelantan.

What is clear is that Liow is no more the confident self six days ago when he gave “exclusive leaks” to the media that Najib would announce the UMNO/BN’s stand on Hadi’s private members bill last Friday – and six days have come and gone, and Najib continues to suffer from “labour pains” without any sign that Najib would be opening his “golden mouth” on this issue.

In the past week, Malaysians have been told that the 13 Barisan Nasional component parties last Thursday and the Cabinet last Friday have reached a consensus to oppose Hadi’s private member’s bill on hudud implementation as it is against the Federal Constitution, unsuitable for a multi-racial and multi-religious nation like Malaysia and would have an adverse impact on the nation’s economy, foreign investment and development.

Why have the confidence expressed by the MCA and Gerakan Presidents and leaders that Najib would come out with a statement declaring UMNO/BN opposition to Hadi’s private member’s bill suddenly evaporated in the past week? Continue reading “Najib should be given another 48 hours to make his statement on the stand of UMNO/BN MPs on Hadi’s private member’s bill on hudud implementation in Kelantan”

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Lee Kuan Yew’s death – passing of an era

Lee Kuan Yew’s death on Monday at the age of 91 marks the passing of an era.

The tributes from world leaders in the past few days is testimony of the mark he had made not only in Singapore, ASEAN, Asia but in world politics in his transformation of Singapore in three decades from a backwater British colony into a first world country, or in World Bank statistics on GDP per capita PPP, into the fourth wealthiest nation in the world, after Macao, Qatar and Luxembourg.

Under Kuan Yew leadership, Singapore had punched above its weight in the international area in many areas of human endeavour.

This is something Malaysians should ponder long and hard, as to why we are losing out in the international stakes, as we are not only unable to punch above our weight in international affairs on many fronts, but even punching below our weight.

Singapore is set on many new challenges in the post-Lee Kuan Yew era, not least of which is how Singapore can continue to punch above its weight in many areas of human endeavour, but can also lead the way in upholding human rights and democratic freedoms.

(Media Statement after signing the condolence book on the passing of Lee Kuan Yew in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 25th March 2015)

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Cops overstepping legal limits in ongoing public crackdown, lawyers say

by Joseph Sipalan
The Malay Mail Online
March 25, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 – The police are acting beyond their legal means by relying on a law provision that has been declared unconstitutional to arrest people for participating in public shows of dissent, lawyers said.

They argued that the authorities cannot continue to detain individuals using disputed laws when the courts have clearly ruled against the admissibility of such legislation, even if an appeal is still pending.

“This is a worrying development. The authorities seem to take the position that just because an appeal is filed, it means there is no finality to the interpretation of the impugned provision,” said civil liberties lawyer Syahredzan Johan.

“This is a deliberate misapprehension of the law,” he added when contacted by Malay Mail Online. Continue reading “Cops overstepping legal limits in ongoing public crackdown, lawyers say”

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Going beyond the obvious in hudud discourse

By Wong Chin Huat
Malaysiakini
Mar 21, 2015

COMMENT There is perhaps no political debate more mislabelled and misleading in Malaysia than that of the so-called “hudud” law.

Hudud, an Arabic word, is the plural form of hadd (had in Malay), which means ‘limit’. It refers to fixed punishments mentioned in the Quran for certain crimes.

Section 4 of Kelantan’s Syariah Criminal Code II (1993) 2015 listed six types of crimes: sariqah (theft), hirabah (robbery), zina (adultery), qazaf (accusation of adultery without four credible witnesses), syurb (intoxication), and irtidad/riddah (apostasy).

The same is listed in Section 4 of Terengganu’s Syariah Criminal Offences (Hudud and Qisas) Enactment 2002 [Enakmen Kesalahan Jenayah Syariah (Hudud Dan Qisas) 2002].

The Brunei Syariah Penal Code Order 2013 lists two more types of crimes: zina bil-jabar (non-consensual adultery) and liwat (sodomy).

The most well-known of hudud punishments are stoning to death for adultery, and amputation for theft and robbery. Continue reading “Going beyond the obvious in hudud discourse”

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Stoning law sees Umno, PAS chase Islamic vote

By Bloomberg
Malaysiakini
Mar 23, 2015

Six months after Prime Minister Najib Razak stood before the United Nations and urged Muslims worldwide to be moderate in their religion, members of his own party are supporting a law that punishes adulterers with death and thieves with amputation.

Lawmakers from Najib’s Umno joined the opposition PAS to pass Islamic criminal law, or hudud, in the opposition-held state of Kelantan. The move has drawn criticism from other parties in their respective coalitions, while human rights groups say it’s an unconstitutional step for secular Malaysia.

Umno officials are burnishing their Islamic credentials to safeguard support among the ethnic Malay majority after the coalition retained power in 2013 by the narrowest margin since independence. The swing by Najib’s party to the right risks worsening race relations at a time economic growth is forecast to slow.

“What Umno and PAS are doing on hudud is not about Islam, it is about politics and staying in power,” said Noraini Othman, a retired sociology professor who co-founded a group promoting progressive views of Islam.

“Religious indoctrination has created extremist voices in these parties, in these governments, that have succeeded in becoming louder while the so-called moderates are now a silent majority.” Continue reading “Stoning law sees Umno, PAS chase Islamic vote”

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Seeing through the hudud controversy

By Liew Chin Tong
Malaysiakini
Mar 23, 2015

MP SPEAKS First of all let me stress that Muslims have the right to believe in hudud law. I respect that right, as much as I believe Muslims respect the rights of people of other faiths.

However in the case of the Kelantan hudud enactment, it is more than just a legal matter but rather as a political ploy meant to eliminate the progressives in PAS and to break Pakatan Rakyat in the process.

Worse than that, albeit unintentionally, the bickering and anger arising from the fiery emotional arguments could tear the nation apart.

The end game for those who designed the plot is to draw the battle line along a ‘Muslims versus non-Muslims’ conflict. Continue reading “Seeing through the hudud controversy”

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Who is really insulting hudud?

By Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi
Malaysiakini
Mar 24, 2015

COMMENT Over the past few days, the mainstream media has highlighted the case of a “penghina hudud” (hudud insulter) from radio station BFM who subsequently received death and rape threats. Most of the news failed to put the concept of “insulting hudud” or “insulting Islam” in the proper perspective.

In this comment piece, I would like to ask who is actually insulting hudud by analysing the content of four YouTube videos – that of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Nur Jazlan Mohamad, Ahmad Farouk Musa and BFM’s Kupas clip.

The first video I would like to “kupas” (analyse) is the video of former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir. This video is an excerpt from an Astro Awani news clip where Mahathir was quizzed on PAS’ hudud.

He said PAS’ hudud was not fair because if a Muslim steals, his hand will be cut off, but if a non-Muslim steals he will only be jailed for two months. He add that “in the future all Muslims will have no hands.”

Now let us ask ourselves, is Mahathir an insulter of hudud? An ustaz from PAS, in the same video, argued that Mahathir has indeed insulted hudud. I am of the view that Mahathir did not. Continue reading “Who is really insulting hudud?”

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Selepas 22 tahun ‘Hudud PAS’ jadi ‘Hudud sebenar’

Mohsin Abdullah
The Malaysian Insider
24 March 2015

Kenyataan Tun Musa Hitam Sabtu lalu (21 Mac) mengesahkan apa yang selama ini ramai “syak” (atau sedia maklum?) iaitu Umno ttidak pernah berminat melaksanakan hukum hudud di negara ini.

“Sebagai seorang bekas penganjur Umno, saya penuh percaya yang hati sanubari Umno sejak ditubuhkan hingga sekarang berpendirian hudud tidak sesuai bagi Malaysia yang berupa negara majmuk berbagai keturunan dan agama ini “.

Jelas bukan? Kata kata bekas timbalan presiden Umno itu.

Pun begitu, Umno pintar menyuarakan hujah bahawa “kami bukan tidak mahu hudud tetapi masanya belum sesuai untuk dilaksanakan “. Lantas “ia perlu dikaji“.

Walaupun tidak menegaskan bila masa yang sesuai untuk hudud, hujah seperti itu menyaksikan Umno ,”terlepas” daripada dituduh “tidak Islamik” atau “anti perundangan Islam”. Sekali gus terus menambat hati sebilangan besar pengundi Melayu.

Dan apabila PAS, pada 1993, membentangkan Enakmen Jenayah Syariah II di dewan undangan negeri Kelantan, Umno tetap “terlepas” daripada dituduh “anti undang undang Islam “ dan “ tidak Islamik”.

Caranya dengan melabelkan enakmen yang dibentang PAS itu sebagai “hudud PAS“ dan bukan “hudud Islam sebenar“. Oleh kerana perundangan itu pada hemat Umno “bukan hukum Allah sebenar”makaia “tidak patut disokong”. Continue reading “Selepas 22 tahun ‘Hudud PAS’ jadi ‘Hudud sebenar’”

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Attack on Aisyah proves stupidity

By Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Mar 23, 2015

It takes a brave Malay woman to say what the whole nation is thinking, and it is amazing how many Malay men cannot wait to show the world the ugly face of the Malay psyche.

The threats of physical violence and rape on BFM host Aisyah Tajudin, for her satirical take on the Kelantan hudud law, have proven that despite receiving the ‘best education in the world’, many Malays remain shallow, servile and seriously stupid. Only insecure, egotistical Malay men would feel threatened, not just by the truth, but by a woman, and worse still, a Malay woman.

The rakyat’s problem is that Malaysia’s religious men aspire to become politicians, and its politicians pretend to be religious men.

The latest hudud debacle has very little to do with religion. It is about power. Power over the Malays in Malaysia. Power to overcome any non-Malay resistance. And power to crush any opposition, especially from progressive Malays, who represent the biggest threat. Continue reading “Attack on Aisyah proves stupidity”

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Hudud, a cause for hubris and hypocrisy

COMMENTARY BY JAHABAR SADIQ, EDITOR
The Malaysian Insider
23 March 2015

Justice or hubris, democracy or hypocrisy, these are the questions cropping up as hudud laws make their regular appearance in the Malaysian political and legal landscape.

If you read or listen to PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, and even self-confessed PAS progressives such as Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, you get the impression that hudud has a place in Malaysian society.

Fact is, even Umno politicians, with the exception of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, will find it hard to disagree with their political opponents in PAS.

And Muslims themselves have to confront the fact that the Quran does speak of such criminal laws and punishments. Continue reading “Hudud, a cause for hubris and hypocrisy”

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Call on Malaysians to think the unthinkable – a new Prime Minister and a new Malaysian coalition government before 14GE to “Save Malaysia”, protect constitutionalism and rule of law and entrench good governance

The DAP Central Executive Committee decision last night to reaffirm its commitment to Pakatan Rakyat as the embodiment of the hopes and aspirations of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion and region, for a new Malaysia where there is freedom, justice, democracy, integrity and human dignity had been a great disappointment and shock to UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders who had expected to see the demise of Pakatan Rakyat last night.

Pakatan Rakyat is undoubtedly facing its greatest crisis in its seven-year history as a result of the political conspiracies of plotters who use the bait of UG (Unity Government of UMNO and PAS) and hudud implementation in Kelantan to destabilise, divide and destroy PR.

What the UMNO/BN conspirators never expected was the unintended consequences of such a plot, as it has also brought UMNO/Barisan Nasional coalition to the brink of disintegration or of being totally discredited even if the shell of the coalition is maintained.

This is best illustrated by the great and prolonged “labour pains” of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to declare the stand of UMNO/BN on the private member’s bill of the PAS President and MP for Marang, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

Najib was supposed to make clear the official UMN/BN stand last Friday, but five days have come and gone, and there are no signs that Najib is out of his “labour pains”. Continue reading “Call on Malaysians to think the unthinkable – a new Prime Minister and a new Malaysian coalition government before 14GE to “Save Malaysia”, protect constitutionalism and rule of law and entrench good governance”