PASANGAN yang bercerai “tanpa sebab munasabah” akan dipenjara atau disebat. Begitulah cadangan kerajaan PAS Kelantan. Haruskah kita terkejut apabila cadangan sedemikian datang dari orang-orang yang obses tentang pelaksanaan hukuman hudud? Dari dulu lagi, mereka sudah proaktif membuat draf undang-undang bagi melaksanakan hudud. Namun, apakah mereka telah proaktif dalam membuat kajian dan kertas cadangan misalannya bagaimana […]
Indonesia
Wanting a different Malaysia
(Updated at 2:18pm, 7 March 2011) DURING his college days at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, singer-songwriter Reza Salleh would organise open-mic gigs, where he would entertain campus crowds with his music. Moving back and forth between Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur proved to be a stepping stone for Reza in developing his craft. Today, he […]
“I don’t know if I can really call myself a Malaysian”
IN Oct 2010, indigenous rights activist Nicholas Mujah was arrested and remanded for three days with seven others from his village for an alleged fire in a logging camp. The Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia) secretary-general has been fighting for the rights of Sarawak indigenous peoples to their native customary land since around 1980 and […]
Power, politicians and brutality
FOR a region that prides itself for its so-called Asian values, we in Southeast Asia don’t seem to practise what we preach. We talk about how the region’s peoples are peace-loving, but we forget — and we continue to erase and forget — the historical fact that Southeast Asia has been one of the world’s […]
Whipping violates human rights
SISTERS in Islam (SIS) urges the government to review whipping of women as a form of judicial punishment by the syariah courts. Whipping constitutes further discrimination against Muslim women in Malaysia and violates constitutional guarantees of equality and non-discrimination. Only Pahang, Perlis and Kelantan provide whipping of women under their Syariah Criminal Offences Code. Whipping […]
Indonesian helpers earn only RM300 to RM500 monthly
KUALA LUMPUR, 29 June 2009: Malaysians are not keen to become domestic helpers because of the low wages, the Human Resources Ministry said today. A recent ministry study found that “more than 70% of employers are only willing to offer monthly wages of between RM300 and RM500 for domestic help,” Deputy Minister Datuk Noraini Ahmad […]
Soi Lek: More maids run away than are abused
PETALING JAYA, 25 June 2009: MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek has described the government’s decision to give domestic workers a mandatory weekly off-day as a “knee-jerk reaction”. He said Malaysians should not “overreact” to cases of abused domestic workers, claiming that there were only around 50 reported cases of abused domestic […]
The hybrid-Malay Malaysian dilemma
DR Farish Noor is a prolific academic. The founder of The Other Malaysia project writes on the politics of Malaysia, Indonesia, Islamism, and old Malay hikayats with gusto and insight. He has been published everywhere. Well, nearly. It makes one wonder what he does to de-stress. “I repair old batik, I knit and I stitch,” […]
MOU rules advised in Ambalat
KUALA LUMPUR, 10 June 2009: Malaysian and Indonesian naval vessels should apply the rules agreed upon in a 2002 memorandum of understanding (MoU) to avert tension until the Ambalat territorial issues is resolved, retired Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) vice-admiral Tan Sri Ahmad Ramli Mohd Nor said today. Ramli, who is now Maritime Institute of Malaysia […]
Islamic state
AH, the Islamic state. What is the Islamic state, actually? Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad once said Malaysia was one already. PAS disagrees and wants to turn Malaysia into a real Islamic state. The DAP staunchly does not want an Islamic state. And Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) … well, the PKR jury on […]
