WHAT political game is Datuk Zaid Ibrahim playing? In May 2010, he announced that he had no intention of running for a leadership position in Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and wanted to “focus on strengthening Pakatan Rakyat”. He reiterated that message in August. The PKR supreme council member has now announced he will contest a position. What made him change his mind?
Current Issues
Promoting the constitution = seditious?
By Ding Jo-AnnA POLICE report was lodged recently by a society, of which the prime minister is the patron, against the Bar Council’s MyConstitution campaign. The society said the MyConstitution booklets were “seditious” because it explained how the constitution could be amended. But doesn’t the constitution expressly state that it can be amended? And since when did educating the public about the constitution constitute a crime?
Can non-Muslims enter Muslim houses of worship?
By Ding Jo-Ann
SERDANG member of Parliament Teo Nie Ching came under attack recently for visiting and speaking inside the prayer area of a surau on 22 Aug 2010. Umno and Perkasa leaders have accused her of desecrating the surau and not respecting the sanctity of Muslim houses of worship. Is this merely politics? Just what does Islam say about allowing non-Muslims inside mosques and suraus?
Stocktaking Malaysia
By Deborah Loh
LAST year, the Merdeka Day spirit was dampened by the actions of the Shah Alam residents who used a severed cow head to protest the relocation of a Hindu temple to their largely Muslim neighbourhood. This year, the run-up to Merdeka saw a school head in Kulaijaya, Johor, who, besides other slurs, told her charges […]
Student activism: The struggle continues
By Gan Pei Ling
(Corrected at 6:15pm, 4 Sept 2010) THE student movement in Malaysia was once vibrant, independent and autonomous. “Mahasiswa jurubicara rakyat” was the students’ motto in the 1960s. However, the government enacted the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) in 1971 to restrict students’ freedom and their rising influence. Thereafter, the student movement suffered a decline. […]
Seditious Malaysia
By Ding Jo-Ann
KARPAL Singh. Lim Guan Eng. Raja Petra Kamaruddin. Wong Chin Huat. These individuals have all been arrested or charged under Malaysia’s draconian Sedition Act. The Act was passed in 1948, at the height of the British colonial government’s struggle against the communists. But more than 60 years later, the wide-ranging and subjective law is still being used, whenever it’s convenient, to silence political opponents.
Who to trust in Selangor water battle?
By Deborah Loh
ALARM bells were rung recently about an impending water crisis in Selangor. The federal government blames the state government for delaying the Pahang-Selangor raw water transfer project by refusing to let building of the Langat 2 water treatment plant begin. The Barisan Nasional (BN) government says this will result in a water crisis as early […]
Peddling fear and distrust, Harussani-style
By Deborah LohHOW reliable is the recent claim by Perak mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria that a political party was drafting a new constitution threatening the special position of Malay Malaysians? In 2006, he had also spread unfounded allegations that Muslims had been converted and were to be baptised.
Umno leaders’ advice on racial remarks
By Ding Jo-AnnWHEN racist remarks are made against non-Muslim non-Malay Malaysians, Umno leaders call for calm and for these citizens not to be “clouded by emotions”. But when non-Malay Malaysians raise legitimate demands for fair and equitable treatment, they are told that Malay Malaysians are “sensitive”, prone to “uneasiness and anger”, and should not be provoked. Is Umno saying that non-Malay citizens’ feelings are less important, and that Malay citizens are less capable of restraint?
Who’s a traitor?
By Deborah Loh
LEMBAH Pantai Member of Parliament Nurul Izzah Anwar may have been disingenuous when she repeated a minister’s Parliamentary statement about Malaysia’s submarines to a foreign newspaper. But does her speaking to a foreign audience constitute being a traitor as she has been called?
