Politics 101 Malaysia

Commentary by Joceline Tan, July 16.

A split has formed at the highest level of the PAS leadership over whether the party should leave Pakatan Rakyat and align itself to Umno and the Barisan Nasional.

The difference in stand has pitched party president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang against Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

Abdul Hadi is the leading figure of the group in favour of negotiations with Umno whereas Nik Aziz is the figurehead of the group that is against working with Umno. They have been issuing conflicting statements on the matter the last few weeks.

A source close to the Kelantan PAS leadership said the standoff between the two groups was so great that Abdul Hadi left for London two weeks ago to seek advice from Ikhwan or the Muslim Brotherhood. ”Continued”

The PAS Kelantan state government plans to compel Muslim government workers to pray 5 times a day as required by their religion, an official said today.

Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat said Muslims who shirk their prayer obligations “are not fearful of Allah and are susceptible to committing bribery and other sins.”

Kelantan is planning to introduce a law to force Muslim government workers to pray 5 times a day, said the MB’s aide Anual Bakri Haron.

He said details on how to enforce the plan will be finalised later.

Kelantan has been ruled since 1990 by the conservative PAS, which has implemented strict morality rules such as banning gambling, nightclubs and rock concerts. — AP

Geert Wilders‘ 12-min film, Fitna, explores Kornic motivations for terrorism, Islamic universalism, and Islam in the Netherlands. ”Continued”

Human rights groups in Saudi Arabia want charges dropped against a woman who was gang-raped and then jailed for speaking publicly about her case.

The woman, 19, was sentenced to 200 lashes of a whip and six months in prison, while the license of her lawyer, Abdulrahman al-Lahim, was revoked last week for speaking to the media, CNN reported Monday.

Barring the woman’s lawyer from representing her in court nearly is equivalent to rape itself, said Fawzeyah al-Oyouni, a founder of the newly formed Saudi Association for the Defense of Women’s Rights. ”Continued”

You needn’t look further than yesterday’s standoff between pig farmers and enforcement authorities in several pig farms in Malacca to realise how much the Islamisation process has spooked the non-Muslims, especially the Chinese.

Primarily because the farmers are Chinese and the complainants and enforcement officers are largely Muslims, the MCA and DAP are quick to plant themselves in the frontline of the swine war.

I have more sympathy for the downstream villagers and river users than for the effected farmers, most of whom have been served long ago with legal notices to comply but have repeatedly ignored them.

We have to wonder if Malacca’s eco system can withstand the extra 100,000 heads of porkers and the waste they dispose hourly. ”Continued”

by Joseph M. Fernando, Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Malaya, in Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 37 (2), pp 249-266 June 2006. Printed in the United Kingdom. © 2006 The National University of Singapore doi:10.1017/S0022463406000543.

The Federal Constitution of Malaysia states that Islam is the religion of the Federation. This provision in Article 3(1), inserted in 1957 when the independence constitution was framed, has drawn considerable scholarly attention in recent years. Most of the studies, however, have not been able to consult the primary constitutional documents. Invariably, many have given varied and ambiguous interpretations of the provision. This article examines the primary constitutional documents and constitutional debates between 1956 and 1957 to trace the origin of Article 3(1) and to determine the intentions of the framers in inserting this provision in the constitution.

Article 3 (1) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia states that Islam is the religion of the Federation. 1 This provision has drawn considerable debate in recent years from scholars, politicians, lawyers and the general public in Malaysia. Varied interpretations of the article have surfaced in recent years and the provision in the Federal Constitution continues to be widely debated from time to time because of its perceived ambiguity.

Most scholarly work on the issue, however, has been based on information derived from a reading of the published material available on the Constitution - the report of the Reid Constitutional Commission, 2 the White Paper on the Constitutional bill, 3 Parliamentary proceedings, newspaper reports and judgements handed down by the courts in the post-independence period. None of the existing works have examined adequately the primary Constitutional documents to ascertain the intentions of the framers. ”Continued”

Singapore’s Muslims should be treated as willing organ donors when they die, the country’s Islamic authority says.

The ruling will remove their exemption from a law allowing doctors to remove the heart, kidneys or liver of a body.

As with all other Singaporeans, Muslims will be able to opt out of the donation scheme while they are alive.

The Health Ministry welcomed the move, but said the rule change would not come into effect until the donation law had been altered to include Muslims.

“It is a very positive development that will significantly enhance the access of Muslims with organ failure to donated organs,” a spokeswoman told Singapore’s Straits Times. ”Continued”

Opinion by Helen Ang, malaysiakini, July 12.

Without meaning to be irreverent, I would describe political Islam as the chicken, Islamic state as the egg and Islamisation as the hatchling. But like the axiomatic chicken-and-egg situation, its schematics are open to interpretation.

And when the Islamisation programme runs to excess as reflected in the unconscionable treatment of Revathi (indirectly vindicating Lina Joy’s wariness of Islamic authorities), the chickens will come to home to roost. It’s happening now.

This round of public outcry may only serve to reinforce some Muslims’ siege mentality. Why are Muslims – I’m to all intents and purposes referring to Malaysian Malays – barricading themselves behind Fortress Islam as if the enemy is at their gate? Malays enjoy total domination of this country. How can a minority whose political leaders are incapable of saying boo to Chicken Little pose any threat to the Muslim majority who make up almost entirely the police force and army?

The minorities did have a capable leader until 1965. His name is Lee Kuan Yew. With Singapore’s expulsion, Malaysia – whose population at that time was about eight million – divested itself of more than 1.3 million Chinese undesirables. Population transfer is helpful to governments aiming for national homogeneity, writes Mark Mazower in his book Dark Continent. ”Continued”

Commentary by David Hodgson, a judge of the Supreme Court of NSW, in Brisbane Times, June 22.

Can Islam be compatible with religious freedom? I certainly hope so, but doubts are raised by a decision of Malaysia’s highest court, given a month ago. Lina Joy is a 43-year-old Malay woman who became a Christian some years ago and wished to marry a Christian man.

As a Malay, at the age of 12 she had received a national identity card specifying her religion as Islam. As long as her identity card stated she was a Muslim, she could not obtain a marriage licence to marry a Christian.

She applied to the National Registration Department to have her designation as a Muslim removed. The department required a certificate of apostasy from an Islamic court before this would be done.

Malaysia has civil and Islamic courts, the latter having jurisdiction over Muslims in religious and family matters. In most states of Malaysia, apostasy from Islam is punishable as a criminal offence by order of an Islamic court. ”Continued”