FEBRUARY 1 — Hostility between Sunnis and Shiites has become a dominant feature of intra-Muslim relations today. Indeed, the first decades of the 21st century will be known as a period of protracted conflict between these two major denominations of Islam. Twelver Shiites, who form up to 29 per cent of the global Muslim population, are in the majority in Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iran and Iraq. They also constitute important minorities in countries such as Lebanon, Kuwait, Turkey, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. The history of Islam is characterised by numerous instances of violence and hostility between Sunnis and Shiites. The confrontations were often initiated by Sunni rulers and, sometimes, by t

G25 STATEMENT ON THE FEDERAL COURT JUDGEMENT AND ON THE PROSECUTION OF MOHD EZRA MOHD ZAID BY THE SELANGOR RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY We, the Group of 25 (G25), are deeply saddened by the recent decision of the Federal Court to declare section 16 of the Shariah Criminal Offences (Selangor) Enactment 1995 as valid law. We do not intend to be disrespectful to the Federal Court but we are of the firm conviction that section 16 of the said Enactment is ultra vires the Federal Constitution, in that, it is a restriction on the freedom of speech of the citizens by a State law. Under Art. 10 (2) of the Federal Constitution, only Parliament may restrict freedom of speech. The State legislature has no such

Kami, Kumpulan 25 (G25), amat dukacita dengan keputusan Mahkamah Persekutuan baru-baru ini yang mengisytiharkan seksyen 16 Enakmen Kesalahan Jenayah Syariah (Selangor) 1995 sebagai undang-undang yang sah. Kami tidak berniat untuk menyangkal keputusan Mahkamah Persekutuan tetapi kami sungguh yakin bahawa seksyen 16 Enakmen tersebut adalah bertentangan dengan Perlembagaan Persekutuan, iaitu, ia bertujuan menyekat hak kebebasan bersuara rakyat oleh suatu undang-undang Negeri. Di bawah Perkara 10 (2) Perlembagaan Persekutuan, hanya Parlimen sahaja yang berkuasa untuk menyekat hak kebebasan bersuara. Dewan Undangan Negeri tidak mempunyai kuasa tersebut. Prinsip perlembagaan ini telah dipertahank

After years of local, public education, I thought I knew Malaysia- but through this book, I am forced to admit that there is so much more that I did not know. (This is a compliment to a book, as books are supposed to make one think!) The context of the Constitution, the politics that make (or break) this country of ours, & the Islamization/Arabization that has been occurring are articulately and academically discussed through the many chapters of this book. Be ready to have your own copy of The Federal Constitution of Malaysia (RM17.90) as a side reference as most of the discourse requires a reference to the document. The book as a whole provided a factual discourse between what was written

YAYASAN 1Malaysia (Y1M) supports wholeheartedly the decision of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to refer the attorney-general's directive to close three investigative files involving Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak to its Operational Evaluation Panel (PPO). It is within the PPO's ambit of authority to evaluate the AG's decision. There are at least seven reasons why the PPO should undertake this task. ► ONE, there are contradictory views on the authenticity of the donation allegedly made by the late Saudi ruler, King Abdullah, to Najib in March-April 2013. According to the BBC, an unnamed Saudi source has confirmed the deposition of US$681 million from the Saudi mo

A Malay passenger who was seated next to me on a Firefly flight yesterday congratulated me on publishing the book Liberating The Malay Mind, written by Dr M. Bakri Musa. My fellow passenger then quickly added that it was not the Malay mind that required urgent treatment, but the Malay soul. “Do you think (Attorney-General Mohammed) Apandi Ali would have made the same decision on the Prime Minister’s financial scandal if he had a free mind, a liberated mind?” my fellow passenger asked. “He probably would have. Only if his soul were free and he feared God in a proper way would he have made the right decision.” I didn’t want the conversation to continue focusing on the serious issues facing the

IN response to critics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, especially those who brought up the issue of geopolitics and the United States’ role behind it, I just want to say this: let’s get real. Let’s not be like the frog hiding under the coconut shell, afraid to come out for fear of the outside world. We have to face the fact that the world will continue to be dominated by the Americans, on the one hand, because of their culture of creativity, innovation and profit-driven entrepreneurship, and by mainland China on the other, because of the sheer size of the country and the authoritarian power of the communist party regime to drive the economy, setting aside the values of demo

ROME (Reuters) - Generating economic growth in the Middle East is crucial to defeating extremism, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday, putting forward his country as a regional trade hub and pillar of stability. Rouhani is on a four-day trip to Italy and France, looking to rebuild Iranian relations with the West some two weeks after financial sanctions on Tehran were rolled back following the implementation of its nuclear deal with world powers. Italy announced some 17 billion euros ($18.4 billion) of business deals with Iran on Monday. Mega contracts are also in the offing in France, reflecting EU countries' keenness to cash in on the diplomatic thaw with the Islamic Republic.

Titah ucapan DYMM Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah di Muzakarah Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah 'Raja Payung Pelindung Agama' Link The Rakyat Post Utusan Malaysia

In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate Executive Summary of the Marrakesh Declaration on the Rights of Religious Minorities in Predominantly Muslim Majority Communities 25th-27th January 2016 WHEREAS, conditions in various parts of the Muslim World have deteriorated dangerously due to the use of violence and armed struggle as a tool for settling conflicts and imposing one's point of view; WHEREAS, this situation has also weakened the authority of legitimate governments and enabled criminal groups to issue edicts attributed to Islam, but which, in fact, alarmingly distort its fundamental principles and goals in ways that have seriously harmed the population as a whole; W

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24 — Islamic principles dictate that it is M. Indira Gandhi who should get custody of her children, PAS said in remarking on the controversial legal tussle between the Hindu mother and her Muslim ex-husband. PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said that according to Islamic principles, Indira must be given child custody while her ex-spouse Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, formerly K. Pathmanathan, must provide alimony for their three children and also receive visiting rights. “In the context of Islam, it is true that the mother has the rights to care for the kids, and she must have that right,” Tuan Ibrahim told Malay Mail Online in a phone interview last week. “Howev

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24 — The concept of an Islamic statehood is a relatively recent creation and was never mentioned in the Quran, Turkish-born scholar Mustafa Akyol said today. An advocate of political secularism, the journalist who has been a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times told an open forum on Islam here that Islamic statehood is man-made and not divine inspiration as some clerics have suggested. He cited from Islam’s golden period during the Ottoman empire to support his argument. “The sultanate did not come from the Quran. The republic did not come from the Quran,” he said, the latter referring to present-day Iran. “These are modern ideas.” “There seems to be a lot of

OVER the past couple months, the G25 Group of Moderate Muslims have been labelled extremist, dangerous, anti-Islam, deviationist, biadab(disrespectful) and disloyal to the King. The group of senior retired civil servants first made the news in December 2014 with an open letter about their concerns on areas of conflict and overlap between civil and syariah law. Their call for consultation to harmonise syariah laws and the Federal Constitution gained support and inspired an “I am #26” petition. There were some opponents, notes founder member Datuk Latifah Merican Cheong, former assistant governor of Bank Negara and former programme director with the World Bank. Groups such as Perkasa “caricatu

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24 ― Indonesian social movements are attempting to counter jihadist influence, but the Malaysian government has completely politicised Islam until there is little space for more peaceful interpretations, The Economist said. In an analysis of the Jakarta bombings published yesterday, the London-based weekly publication noted that supporting or joining the Islamic State (IS) is not illegal in Indonesia, though the Indonesian government is considering preventive detention laws to curb terrorism. “The country’s two biggest Muslim social movements — Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama — have been trying to counter jihadist propaganda. “In Malaysia, however, the government itself ha

JANUARY 23 — I was saddened to hear of the Federal Territories Islamic Department’s (Jawi) decision to file an application with the Federal Court to reverse the Court of Appeal’s ruling favouring intellectual Kassim Ahmad. I really don’t understand how the Malaysian public, taxpayers and Muslims in Malaysia in general are served by the religious authority’s incessant (two years and counting) pursuit of this frail, 82-year-old scholar. Explain to me, Jawi, why this should be considered nothing but the actions of a bully whose only interest is to win and not to seek justice? Justice? Sorry, Jawi is not interested in justice. What can be surmised from Kassim Ahmad’s case and others like it, is

KUALA LUMPUR: Two prominent advocates of moderation who have been involved in the Global Movement of Moderates have left the body. Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai, a pioneer trustee to the GMM, tendered his resignation to chairman Tan Sri Razali Ismail two weeks ago. He cited his intention to commit his time to “domestic moderation issues” and the media business, of which he is The Star Media Group managing director and chief executive officer. Former ambassador Datuk Redzuan Kushairi, who had played a key role in the GMM, has also informed Razali of his intention to move on. Redzuan has served as ambassador to Uzbekistan, deputy high commissioner to the United Kingdom and deputy permanent represen

You sit in the corner of the café, inhaling the strong aroma of kopi-O. You have decided to forego human companionship, focusing on the Facebook newsfeed on your smartphone. As you absent-mindedly nibble on the kaya toast, your eyes are drawn to news of a terrorist attack in a café in Jakarta, one that is not dissimilar to the one you’re sitting in. You look up with widened eyes, as a sense of panic sets in. Things that barely registered moments ago take on a new meaning — that couple whispering over there, that man who is hesitating a little too long at the cashier, that foreigner with a large backpack. But, this is Malaysia; surely nothing like the events in Jakarta, Istanbul and Paris wou

UPPSALA – Many in the Muslim community have long taken issue with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The declaration, these critics attest, was created by colonial powers with a long history of gross human-rights violations, and amounts to yet another attempt by a few Western players to impose their will upon Muslim countries. Islamic conservatives and fundamentalists go a step further, as they declare that no human invention can equal – much less supersede – sharia law, which amounts to the word of God. This clash between the UN’s secular human-rights standards and Muslim religious doctrine mirrors the broader conflict between Islam and modernity – a conflict t

Parents deserve sympathy ahead of the start of every new academic year what with new school uniforms, new shoes, new stationery, new school bags, new bus fares, new books of sorts - although recycled textbooks are still provided for by the Ministry of Education (MOE) this last year until a new syllabus kicks in the next. But all that is really not new except for parents starting their eldest child in Primary or Form One. To opt being in such a spot there are cheaper alternatives such as shopping at hypermarkets that advertise aggressively for bargains galore rather than shopping malls or specialist shops, recycling boys’ slacks or girls’ pinafores and “kain kurung” which are usually made of

THE multiple bombing attacks in Jakarta by terrorists reportedly linked to the Islamic State show that when militants want to strike, they can do so at any time. All that the authorities can do is take maximum precaution by tracking their movements and monitoring their Internet chatter to nip in the bud their plots before they strike. I believe all police forces in the region are doing this quite well, but there is no guarantee that a terrorist strike like in Jakarta will not happen in other cities. The most effective response to a terrorist attack is citizen unity to demonstrate the will of the people to reject any form of extremism, including religious-inspired terrorism. At the same time,