HOW 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.
Federal Constitution
“Syariah court has no legitimacy for non-Muslims”
By Ding Jo-Ann
Corrected 11.35am on 25 Aug 2010 ON 20 Aug 2010, a three-person bench of the Court of Appeal unanimously denied the application of S Kaliammal, the widow of Mount Everest climber M Moorthy, to determine her late husband’s religious status. Moorthy passed away on 20 Dec 2005 after entering into a coma. Just before his […]
The moral imperative of disobeying unjust laws
Sideways by Deborah Loh
THE day after police forcefully broke up peaceful candlelight vigils held on 1 Aug 2010 against the Internal Security Act (ISA), and arrested 36 people in Petaling Jaya and Penang, I followed a debate on Twitter. It was between a young lawyer and a Barisan Nasional (BN) Member of Parliament (MP). The gist of their […]
Corporatising JHEOA: Its impact on indigenous rights
By Deborah Loh
PETALING JAYA, 20 July 2010: A proposed move to corporatise the Orang Asli Affairs Department, known by its Malay acronym JHEOA, to take charge of land development for the Orang Asli will impoverish the indigenous peoples. Centre for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC) coordinator Dr Colin Nicholas said corporatisation was likely to be among the amendments […]
PR shies away from Islamic state issue
Translation by Gan Pei Ling
THE Nut Graph started posting six questions to 222 Members of Parliament (MP) in January 2010 for its MP Watch: Eye on Parliament project. The project — a likely first of its kind in Malaysia — aims to record MPs’ positions on key issues of democracy as well as provide MPs a platform for voters […]
“Tian Chua keeps seat if EC stays mum”
By Ding Jo-Ann
PETALING JAYA, 23 June 2010: Batu Member of Parliament Chua Tian Chang will keep his seat if the Election Commission (EC) refuses to declare it vacant, said constitutional lawyer Tommy Thomas. This is despite Thomas’s view that Chua was disqualified as an MP when the High Court fined him RM2,000 for biting a police officer. […]
Dilemma over Batu
By Gan Pei Ling
Confusion reigns over the status of Batu MP Tian Chua because of a lack of understanding about what the constitution says. Found in Quotation says it all.
A non-Malay PM: How possible?
By Deborah Loh
IN envisioning federal power, one of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s trickiest points is where to place the DAP (read, a Chinese Malaysian) in the executive line up. As prime minister? God forbid, not in this Malay-Muslim majority country. As deputy prime minister? But what about PAS?
Tian Chua still MP, says EC
KUALA LUMPUR, 23 Oct 2009: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)’s Tian Chua remains the Member of Parliament for Batu as long as the judicial process of appeal is still pending, said Election Commission (EC) chairperson Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusuf. He was asked to comment on the position of Chua or Chua Tian Chang who […]
Najib: Don’t be suspicious of 1Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR, 15 Oct 2009: Datuk Seri Najib Razak has called on all quarters not to harbour any suspicion or be unduly worried over his 1Malaysia concept as it does not deviate from what was agreed upon by the nation’s forebears. The Umno president told delegates who gathered for the party’s general assembly here that […]
