Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno is set to be caned by the syariah court in Malaysia for the crime of drinking beer in public, drinking beer in a hotel bar to be more specific.

The irony to this story is that Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno wants her punishment to be carried out as soon as possible and that it be carried out in public.

Even  though she wants the punishment to be carried out in public, I think the real reason for wanting that is not to deter other Muslims from consuming alcohol but to SHAME the Islamic laws and the court that meted out that punishment.

After all what is drinking beer in a hotel bar compared to the real crimes committed by fellow Malaysian Muslims?  Especially the corruption that is rampant among the ruling elites in the country?

Malaysia prides itself as being a modern and progressive Muslim country but if Kartika’s punishment is not retracted, Malaysia is nothing but another backward and barbaric Muslim country.

Malaysian leaders in all their infinite wisdom have banned the use of the term ‘Allah’ by non Muslims, especially in publications.  The reason for the ban is the term ‘Allah’ is exclusively for use by Muslims and Islam.

In Malaysia, Muslims are easily confused.  If Christians in their Malaysia language publication use the term ‘Allah’ to refer to Almighty God, they are deemed to have an agenda.  An nefarious agenda to confuse the minds of Muslims whereby the term ‘Allah’ is used to make them leave Islam and follow the Allah of the Catholics.

It does not matter at all to the Malaysian leaders that the word Allah has been existence in the Middle-East long before the advent of Islam.  It does not matter to the Malaysian leaders that the word Allah has its roots in the Aramaic word ‘alaha’.  It does not matter to the Malaysian leaders that even Sikhs use the term Allah in their holy Sciptures to refer to a supreme diety.  It does not matter to the Malaysian leaders that elsewhere in the world, especially in the Middle East, the word Allah is used by religions other than Islam, and does not cause any confusion or controversy.

It wasn’t too long ago that the Malaysian government banned the Iban language Bible (an ethnic race and language in Malaysia) for its use of Allah and other words that are similarly found in the Quran.  That ban was reversed and one wonders if the government will eventually ban the Iban language again for its use of Allah.

I am not opposed to Christians using another word other than Allah when referring to Almighty God, but I do not want Christians and other faiths to lose this debate just because the government says so.  The government has no business telling Catholics and other faiths that the word Allah is solely Islam’s.  If they think that Muslims in Malaysia might be confused, then whoever is charge of their religious teachings should explain and teach them that Islam does not have a monopoly where the word Allah is concerned.

It is hard to imagine that in the 21st century the Malaysian government cares more about whether or not the word Allah used by non Muslims is going to cause confusion when the focus should be the future of Malaysia’s  economic competitiveness in the S.E. Asian region, and that Malaysia be seen as a model of democracy and multi-culturalism.

The Muslim leaders in the Malaysian government are the ones doing the confusing.  Confusing the rest of the non-Muslim population as to the objective and motivation of this ban in the first place.

I don’t think Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is the man to rehabilitate the image of Islam and Muslims in the West. His call for a more progressive Islam in Malaysia is not well-received due to alleged corruptions in his administration.

I don’t think any amount of dialogue is going to repair any “misunderstanding” by the West.  The West does not have a problem understanding the problem with Islam and its followers.  The followers of Islam are the ones who cannot tolerate the lifestyle and the freedoms treasured by the West.

Why should the West not believe that radical Muslims are inciting other Muslims to take jihad to the West?  There are too many documented statements, and videos to prove the stance taken by radical Muslims.  If the West chooses to ignore these documented threats to their country, lifestyle, and freedoms, the West will wake up one day to find radical Islam not only at their door step but right in their living room.

New York – Malaysia’s Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called Friday for increasing dialogue to repair misunderstandings by the West about Islam.’The main cause is the misperception in the West that Islam promotes exclusively and encourages extremism,’ Badawi said in an address to the UN General Assembly. He said action should be taken to generate ‘greater understanding’ between civilizations and cultures and dialogue to establish ‘the truth that Islam is a religion which espouses universalism, not exclusivity, and tolerance, not bigotry.’

He said religion cannot be blamed for what he called the existing disputes among nations.

Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States and subsequent attacks in London, Madrid and Bali, Islamic groups and governments have campaigned to change the perception that terrorists were inciting Muslims to fight the West.

MALACCA: Bloggers who smear politicians’ names and incite racial sentiments should be punished severely, said Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam.

“Irresponsible statements and lies by bloggers cannot be tolerated,” he said yesterday.

Mohd Ali was responding to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s statement on Tuesday that webmasters and web journalists were not above the law.

Source: The Star

This is one of the main problems with politicians in Malaysia. Why can’t politicians who feel their names have been smeared or defamed, use the courts and sue for damages from whomever have defamed them? Instead they want to use laws like the Sedition Act, or the Internal Security Act and lock up bloggers for good.

There are no laws that I know of that politicians can use against bloggers who publish their writings on the internet. The current laws regulating publications do not include publications on the internet. That is why the general Sedition Act or Internal Security Act has been brandished about by the politicians.

The government of Malaysia is at it again.  Malaysian Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, said that the government is going to act on blogs that they consider are belittling Islam or the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Raja Petra Kamaruding, who runs the website Malaysia Today was questioned for eight hours yesterday following a report logded against him by the Information chief of the Malay dominated party, UMNO.

Malaysia Today has been on the spotlight recently because of exposés written by Raja Petra about certain high ranking politicians, and also the inflammatory comments posted by  readers of the site.

As a regular reader of the site, I find that Malaysia Today is rare in that it allows unmoderated comments, and regular participants know what regular posters are like.  Everyone is equally offended on the site, and no particular group is more offended than the others.

The comments/opinions/sentiments expressed on the site are genuine, and to pretend otherwise is to ignore the simmering frustrations that are felt by many people.  Even though the government prefers that such sentiments (against corruption, race preferences, limitations of religious liberties etc) are not expressed openly, for the sake of maintaining the appearance of racial and religious harmony, sooner or later something is going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.  And by then, it could be too late, and God forbid, lead to another May 13 incident.

Malaysia can try to clamp down on bloggers or to shut down any dissenting voices, but with the existence of a  borderless internet, I don’t know how successful the government would be.  Just how many bloggers can they arrest or detain at any one time?  Just think of the image Malaysia will get if ever the government decides to act on their threat. A democratic, moderate Muslim country?  My foot!

The deputy Prime Minister’s statement of “Malaysia is an Islamic state and not a secular one” has sparked a furore in Malaysia.

And like the proverbial ostrich that likes to stick its head in the sand, the authorities in Malaysia have told the media to stop reporting on the issue because it causes “tension”. Yeah, that’s the way to block debate on a very controversial and sensitive issue!

The issue ought to be brought up front and center because the people of Malaysia deserve to put to rest once and for all any doubt regarding the rights and guarantees of Malaysians as laid out in the constitution. Is Malaysia an Islamic state or is it a secular one? Are the federal laws supreme or do the sharia laws trump the federal laws? What exactly does freedom of worship mean as per the constitution?

I concur with Bishop Paul Tan, the Chairman of the Christian Federation of Malaysia, that the term “Islamic state” is an unacceptable one. The growing Islamization of Malaysia is a legitimate cause for concern for Malaysians. Recent cases where Islamic laws have been cited by the civil courts for declining to hear inter-religious disputes have caused great concerns to the non-Muslim population.

Many Malaysians are aware the reason the deputy Prime Minister made the statement is purely political, still Malaysians need to be assured that the federal laws and not sharia laws are supreme in the land.

When the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak joined the Malay Federation to form Malaysia in 1963, they did not join an Islamic state! There!

Malaysia is an Islamic state and not a secular one says the deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak. The basis for his claims is that Islam is the official religion of the country and that Malaysia has always been driven by the fundamentals of Islam.

Yeah, like now I am really, really assured by his statement! Is it any wonder that the non-Muslim minority groups in Malaysia are feeling more marginalized and discriminated by the policies of the government?

The bulldozing of a church built by an indigenous group in Kelantan is a prime example of the intolerance of the government towards non-Muslims despite the guarantee of freedom of worship in the constitution.

In government jobs, Malay Muslims are preferred over other ethnic groups. The same is said to be true of admissions to the local public universities.

The government is blind and deaf towards the grievances of the non-Muslim population. Every time the subject is raised the government insists that Malaysia respects the rights and the freedom of worship of the other ethnic minority groups.

Yeah, tell that to Lina Joy who cannot practise her right to choose her religion, and the Hindus whose temples were demolished by the authorities!

Malaysia, the so called moderate Islamic country, is so fearful of dissent in its practise of Islam that it has added several more books to its list of banned books.

Books that contained a different practise of Islam than what is officially allowed by the government are in that banned list as are books about Islam written by non-Muslims. Books written by apostates of Islam have always been banned.

In Malaysia, the powers that be, think that the ordinary people cannot decipher for themselves whether the contents of a book are true, beneficial, or otherwise. They have to do the authocratic thing and decide for the rakyat what they should and should not be reading.

At one time even the Bible in the Iban language (a native language) was banned because the Iban Bible contained the word Allah when refering to the Christian God. The ban has since been lifted after an uproar by local Christian leaders. The Malay Bible is still banned, except for sale and use in churches, and homes. Importation of the Indonesian language Bible into Malaysia is still banned.

Here are the list of recently added books to the banned list. I already owned one of the books in the list, Islam Revealed by Dr Anis Shorrosh.

1. The Bargaining for Israel: In the Shadow of Armageddon authored by Mona Johulan and published by Bridge-Logos Publishers, United States (USA).

2. Islam (Mathew S Gordon, Oxford University Press (OUP))

3. Lifting the Veil (Trudie Crawford, Apple of Gold, United States)

4. A Fundamental Fear of Eurocentrism and the Emergence of Islamism (Bobby S Sayyid, Zed Books Ltd, United Kingdom (UK))

5. Islam Revealed – A Christian Arab’s View of Islam (Dr Anis A Shorrosh, Thomas Nelson Publishers, USA)

6. What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam (John L Esposito, OUP)

7. Mini Skirts Mothers & Muslims (Christine Mallouhi, publisher not available)

8. The Battle for God Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Karen Armstrong, Harper Collins, UK)

9. Kundalini For Beginners (Ravindra Kumar, Health Harmony, B Jain Publishers (P) Ltd, India)

10. Sacred Books of the East (Epiphanius Wilson, J-Jeiley Asian Educational Services, India)

11. Sharing Your Faith with A Muslim (Akbidayah Akbar Abdul-Haqq, Bethany House Publishers, USA)

12. Cults, World Religions and The Occult (Kenneth Bon, Chariot Victor Publishings, UK)

13. Petua dan Doa Pendinding, Penawar, Penyembuh Penyakit (Awang Mohd Yahya, Unsie Publisher, Kuala Lumpur)

14. Hakikat & Hikmah 7 Hari Dalam Seminggu (Abu Nashr Al-Hamdanly, Pustaka Ilmi, Batu Caves, Selangor)

15. Pemuda Bani Tamim Perintis Jalan Imam Mahdi (Abu Muhammad, Penerbit Giliran Timor)

16. Kontroversi Hukum Hudud (Kassim Ahmad, Forum Iqra Berhad, Penang)

17. Risalah No.2 Dilema Umat Islam-Antara Hadis dan Quran (Kassim Ahmad, Forum Iqra Berhad, Penang)

18. Siri 7 Amalan-Amalan Bid’ah Pada Bulan Syaban (Ustaz Rasul bin Dahri, Percetakan Putrajaya Sdn Bhd)

According to lawyer, Zukifli Nordin, there are rules that can be followed before Muslims can renounce Islam.

Just what exactly are the rules that a Muslim can follow before he/she can renounce Islam? Let the Malaysian government be clear about it, so there is no confusion and the likes of Lina Joy can get on with her life.

I doubt the government will ever come up with a clear guideline on how anyone can renounce Islam without facing persecution from the state and other Muslims. Even if the government ever did come up with the rules, what is to stop the government from persecuting former Muslims from “insulting Islam” by their very renunciation of the religion?

The Star Online > Nation

Tuesday July 4, 2006

Islam has higher status in Malaysia

PUTRAJAYA: Islam has a higher status than other faiths in Malaysia, said a lawyer holding a watching brief for the Malaysian Muslim Lawyers Association.

Pawancheek Marican said Article 11 of the Constitution restricted propagation of other religions to Muslims.

“Our Constitution favours Islam. Islamic law is part of the law of our country,” he said.

Another lawyer, Zulkifli Nordin, who is holding a watching brief for the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM), said there were rules for Muslims to follow before they could renounce Islam.

“These rules are the Quranic law and the sunnah,” he said.

If I were a Muslim man, I would be jumping with joy at the prospect of having one or two if not more wives where I do not have to be responsible for her upkeep. All I would be responsible for would be to provide for her sexual needs.

What can I say about a religion that has a paedophile as it’s founder?

How convenient for the man to have on the side one or more misyar marriages. Oh sure, it is to reduce the number of divorcees and unmarried women! How helpful and thoughtful of the men!

In Egypt and Saudi Arabia these marriages are mostly temporary, and my deduction from this is so that the couple can satisfy their lust without facing adultery or pre-marital sex charges from the religious police, and then move on.

I am sure there will be a lot of takers of misyar marriages if it is allowed in Malaysia. Malaysia Boleh!

The Star Online > Nation

Friday May 26, 2006

Don has idea for divorcees

A UNIVERSITY professor has suggested that men in Malaysia practise Misyar marriage to overcome the rising number of unmarried divorcees and women.

Utusan Malaysia, reporting on its front page, quoted Universiti Malaya’s Islamic Academic Studies lecturer Prof Datuk Dr Mahmud Zuhdi Abdul Majid as saying that this type of wedding could also reduce the incidence of vice among Muslim women.

He said the difference between Misyar and a polygamous marriage was that the husband did not have to provide money or clothing for his other wife but only be there to provide for her sexual needs.

Dr Mahmud Zuhdi added that this wedding was popular in the Middle East involving rich women who had difficulty looking for a life partner.

He added that even renowned Islamic ulama Dr Yusuf al-Qardawi in his edict said Misyar was legal as it could solve the problems of unmarried women or divorcees.

The practice was allowed and deemed to be necessary by several ulamas in some countries in the Middle East.

Dr Mahmud Zuhdi added that the Misyar marriage came into the picture after several groups urged the Fatwa Council to study if it could be implemented in Malaysia.

He said such a marriage should be practised in this country, as there was a rising number of unmarried women or divorcees.