Politics 101 Malaysia

by Soon Li Tsin, malaysiakini, 9 July.

More interveners are expected to participate in Herald’s legal challenge against the government ban on the Catholic weekly in using the word ‘Allah’ in its Bahasa Malaysia section.

Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Lau Bee Lan today heard counsels representing seven Islamic and one Sikh religious council expressing their vested interest in the case.

The appellate and special powers division judge proceeded to fix Nov 21 to give all interested intervening parties in the judicial review adequate time to respond to both the applicants and respondents.

She also agreed with Sulaiman Abdullah, who was representing the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council, that it would be more convenient for the court to hear the applications from all the state Islamic religious councils concurrently. ”Continued”

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng joined some 500 Catholics at a Good Friday Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Island Park here.

He arrived quietly around noon together with the big crowd and joined them in prayers and singing of hymns for about 90 minutes, reports The Star.

When approached by newsmen later, Lim said:

“I am here alone,” said Lim.

“I just wanted to join the ceremony and out of respect to the ceremony, I will not comment or talk on any issue here. ”Continued”

Malaysia’s government should stop harassing Christians by seizing their Bibles especially at entry points, the country’s biggest church group said yesterday amid a new furore over the imports of the holy book.

The Christian Federation of Malaysia’s statement came a day after a Malaysian Christian complained that airport custom officers seized 32 English Bibles on her arrival from Manila.

Federation chairman Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing said the incident, which happened on Jan. 28, was not an isolated case.

“We have received many complaints from Christians being told to hand over religious books to custom officers at various checkpoints in the country,” he said in a statement. “Now they even want our Bibles.” ”Continued”

 by Terence Netto, malaysiakini, Feb 2.

De facto PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim was subjected to a rigorous examination of his stances on religious issues by about 200 Christian clerics and lay activists and appeared to emerge intact.

There was no variance between his public pronouncements and his private assurances to his inquisitors, an observer at a recent dialogue between Anwar and the Christian leaders noted.

The closed-door dialogue session held in Petaling Jaya on Wednesday morning ran several minutes past lunchtime, which some attendees, assured of anonymity, said was a sign of the eagerness of Anwar’s interlocutors to probe him on issues of deep concern to Malaysia 2.2 million Christians. The meeting began at 9.30am.

By Traveler, Indianmalaysian.com, Jan 5.

MIC President Samy Vellu, who is in Tamil Nadu attending several functions and meeting top politicians in order to discredit Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), accused his former deputy S Subramaniam as the man behind Hindraf in an interview to Kumudam Reporter, a leading Tamil weekly.

“One year ago, Subramaniam lost in his bid to retain MIC deputy presidency. He came to power long before me; his only achievement was to obtain a piece of land for Ramalinga Esvar Temple that he himself claims.

After the defeat, his only work is to campaign against us and for that purpose they started Hindraf. What is that word ‘Hindu’? Indian Christians, Muslims and Sikhs are not important for them. They had political ambitions but did not materialize. They say, Malaysian government did nothing… come to my country.. you wont see a single beggar. Ordinary person here earns in thousands,” said Samy in the interview. ”Continued”

AsiaSentinel, Dec 30.

Malaysia has found itself once again in middle of a messy religious and judicial controversy after the country’s highest court earlier this week threw out a bid by a 28-year-old Indian woman who took her estranged husband to court in an effort to prevent him from converting the couple’s 2-year-old son to Islam.

The woman, a Hindu housewife and secretary identified only as R Subashini, went to the courts in an effort to prevent her 32-year-old businessman spouse, T Saravanan, who assumed the name Muhammad Shafi Saravan Abdullah and converted to Islam in 2006, from taking matrimonial proceedings to Malaysia’s syariah, or religious court. ”Continued”

You got to be kidding. Malaysiakini reports Samy Vellu’s joke of a party has been given the task to look into the status of all Hindu temples.

The party which cannot even manage a simple thing like Maika was to submit a report on these temples to the cabinet periodically.

“I will scrutinise all matters concerning temples with a view to ensure that no temples are demolished in the future and if they have to be demolished, suitable alternative sites must be allocated so that Hindus can continue to worship,” Samy said.

Excuuuussssssee me, but I believe such a move is unconstitutional, Mr Prime Minister. ”Continued”

A Catholic weekly newspaper in Malaysia has been told to drop the use of the word “Allah” in its Malay language section if it wants to renew its publishing permit, a senior government official said Friday.

The Herald, the organ of Malaysia’s Catholic Church, has translated the word God as “Allah” but it is erroneous because Allah refers to the Muslim God, said Che Din Yusoff, a senior official at the Internal Security Ministry’s publications control unit.

“Christians cannot use the word Allah. It is only applicable to Muslims. Allah is only for the Muslim god. This is a design to confuse the Muslim people,” Che Din told The Associated Press.

The weekly should instead, use the word “Tuhan” which is the general term for God, he said. ”Continued”

by Bede Hong, malaysiakini, Aug 29, 2006

Oyoung Wen Feng began in English, outlining the reasons he decided to come out with his secret.Sitting with legs crossed, he proceeded in determined fashion, a microphone in one hand while the fingers of the other enumerated a list of things he wants to accomplish through his revelation.

The audience nodded attentively as he quickly moved from point to point in his dissertation. He seemed unstoppable.When he was done, he repeated the process in a more personal Mandarin. It was then, midway through, his voice abruptly cracked.His eyes reddened. They closed for a split second, as though he was gathering strength to continue. When he did, some words were stuttered.

Though it was a blink within a blink and the episode passed without conscious registration, it was at that moment that the attentive audience became acutely aware of the whole purpose of the gathering.They realised that there sat a man who wanted recognition and closure over a personal issue that had dogged him for over three decades - his homosexuality and his acceptance of it.

Oyoung, 36, a popular columnist with Sin Chew Daily, is the nation’s first Chinese writer to reveal his homosexuality.A double-degree graduate and soon to be a double doctorate holder, the US-educated Ouyang is well built and good looking.The first impression is of a man who is intelligent, open and articulate, but also slightly angry. ”Continued”