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.
Muslims
“No one method for interfaith engagement”
By Ding Jo-Ann
PETALING JAYA, 12 Aug 2010: There is no one method for successful interfaith engagement, an expert in global interfaith initiatives said. World Faiths Development Dialogue executive director Katherine Marshall said engagement takes place on many different levels in many different ways. This ranges from the very specific, such as people of different faiths building a […]
Married but busted for khalwat
By Shanon Shah
WHEN moral policing in Malaysia makes the headlines, it’s often for the wrong reasons. Take the Federal Territories Islamic Department’s raid on Zouk nightclub, Kuala Lumpur, in 2005, which created an international uproar. Or in 2007, when Amnesty International appealed on behalf of Ayu, a transsexual woman assaulted by Malacca’s Islamic law enforcers. More recently, […]
1Malaysia pageant vs fatwa
By Jacqueline Ann Surin and Shanon ShahDURING a press conference in 2003, then Perlis Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim tried to defend the state’s decision to loosen conditions for polygamy. Perlis had decided that Muslim men did not need to seek their first wife’s consent to marry another woman. At the press conference, which Jacqueline Ann Surin covered, the Perlis […]
In Geli we trust?
By Jacqueline Ann SurinScreenshot of Geli’s Facebook accountTHERE’s a new movement in town and it seems all set to change the political landscape. Gerakan Anti-Liwat is barely a couple of weeks old. But with a Malay acronym like Geli, it’s hard not to be tickled by this latest of citizen initiatives to keep society’s morals on the straight […]
Boon for upholding Islam
By Shanon Shah“I hope there will be no more issues arising from the caning sentence which can be imposed by the syariah court on Muslim women to protect the sanctity of Islam.” HOME Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, anticipating the public’s questions about the feasibility and fairness of the caning of three Muslim women for “illicit sex”, […]
The price of speaking up
By Jacqueline Ann Surin(Pic by circo de invierno @ Flickr) CONSIDER this. Despite the available evidence of Al Islam‘s unethical undercover report in which the magazine’s Muslim journalist spat out the holy communion to photograph, no action is going to be taken. The Attorney-General’s Chambers decided this despite the police reports and a memorandum lodged by Catholics about […]
Scholar: Don’t define ethnicity by religion
By Ding Jo-AnnMoucarryKUALA LUMPUR, 5 Mar 2010: Defining an ethnic group in religious terms can lead to oppression and arrogance, an Islamic studies expert said at a public lecture about Islam and Christianity in the Middle East. Speaking at an International Institute for Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) lecture on 3 March, Dr Chawkat Moucarry said such definitions […]
Umno Youth a year later
By Deborah LohKhairy, after he was elected Umno Youth chief during party elections in March 2009 (Pic courtesy of theSun) KHAIRY Jamaluddin wasn’t the clear favourite when he was elected Umno Youth chief. A jeering crowd accused him of bribery after he trounced two other contenders in the party elections in March 2009. But Khairy has emerged […]
Church survival and complicity
By Deborah LohGurdwara Sahib Sentul was stoned and had a glass door damaged (Stock pic source: morguefile.com) THIS is not another commentary on “Allah” and its usage, nor is it about the attacks against churches, a Catholic school and a Sikh gurdwara after the issue spiralled out of control. It is instead about the private dilemma the […]
