KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — A Penang Umno leader’s claim that Muslims may be confused by a Taoist shrine in a public park belittled followers of Islam, said two Islamic organisations today. Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) chairman Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa said while it may be acceptable to propose shifting the shrine over cultural or aesthetic reasons, it was untenable to do so on religious grounds. “It is totally absurd that Muslims will be confused by the existence of other people’s worship house. Suggesting so was an insult to to the Islamic faith and demeaning in nature,” he told Malay Mail Online. Sisters in Islam (SIS) communications officer Aliah Ali also challenged the Umno leader’s assertion

On April 5 in Paris, the director-general of Unesco opened an event organised by Malaysia’s International Centre for South-South Cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation, titled “Embracing the Future: Improving the Quality of Science Instruction in Schools”. Irina Bokova said, “The world today needs more science, better science, more inclusive science. In this setting, I believe we must make the most of the greatest renewable energy we have. This is human ingenuity. This is about providing solutions that are sustainable to tackle a wide range of challenges — in energy, climate change, food security, water management, health and, eventually, peace. Fundamentally, this is about human

THE top three posts in government service in Malaysia which are responsible for public administration, law and order are the Chief Secretary to the Government (KSN), Attorney-General (AG ) and Chief Justice (CJ). The KSN is the head of the civil service, which comprises the administrative, professional and technical services. All secretaries-general of government ministries are accountable to the KSN. The AG who is the chief prosecutor and legal advisor to the Government and the CJ who is the head of the judiciary are together responsible for the justice system. As good governance in the civil and judicial services rests on their shoulders to enforce the high ethical standards in government,

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — Police are empowered under existing legislation to help enforce state Islamic laws, a lawyer asserted following contention over the agency’s powers to conduct “moral policing”. Responding to the controversy over the secondment of police officers to a religious authority, Nizam Bashir said both the Police Act 1967 and the state-enacted Islamic laws catered for such a role. These included acting on Shariah offences such as consumption of alcohol, not observing the fasting month of Ramadan, and khalwat (being in close proximity) — offences commonly considered moral policing. “Simply put, reading the two provisions together and keeping some provisions from Shariah Acts or

TWO YEARS ago The Economist constructed an index of crony capitalism. It was designed to test whether the world was experiencing a new era of “robber barons”—a global re­run of America’s gilded age in the late 19th century. Depressingly, the exercise suggested that since globalisation had taken off in the 1990s, there had been a surge in billionaire wealth in industries that often involve cosy relations with the government, such as casinos, oil and construction. Over two decades, crony fortunes had leapt relative to global GDP and as a share of total billionaire wealth. It may seem that this new golden era of crony capitalism is coming to a shabby end. In London Vijay Mallya, a ponytailed In

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin (pic), a member of the group of eminent Malays known as G25, is suing a businessman for defamation, allegedly for implying that she is treacherous and had insulted the religion of Islam. Noor Farida, 69, said that Azmi Arshad on July 13 last year published a defamatory article on his Facebook account and the Portal Islam & Melayu website. High Court Judge Yeoh Wee Siam advised the parties to go for mediation to resolve the matter. Speaking to reporters here after the parties met the judge in chambers, Azmi's lawyer Azad Bashir said that the court has set May 13 for case management pending the plaintiff filing reply to their amended statement of defence

A RECURRENT news item in Malaysia is raids carried out by religious authorities in implementing fatwa and state laws on morality and personal sins. The most recent is that by the Federal Territory religious authority (Jawi) on a transgender fundraising dinner, which it claimed was actually a beauty contest, and therefore, unlawful for Muslims to organise and participate in. Such raids are carried out by the enforcement staff of state religious departments, resembling the moral police in Saudi Arabia, with the assistance of the police force, to execute arrests and detentions. It is interesting to note that, according to a Reuters news report, Saudi Arabia has decreed that its moral police wil

WHEN the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) announced that our Royal Malaysia Police would assist Islamic department officers with syariah law enforcement, I was utterly shocked. For me, this can only happen in the ultra Islamic state of Aceh (Indonesia) and Taliban-controlled areas in Pakistan and Afghanistan. We are Malaysians! How can we let this happen on our shores? Moral policing by the police should not be a priority. They even need the support of the army to protect tourist attractions in Kuala Lumpur, and suddenly they have extra manpower to assist the religious authorities in enforcing syariah law? Moral policing seems to be taking centre stage in our community these

We refer to the announcement by the Director General of Jakim, Dato’ Othman Mustapha that two officers and a sergeant from the PDRM will be placed at the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) to assist the department in shariah law enforcement. According to Dato’ Mustapha this is a trial project and the intention is to extend this arrangement to the Islamic religious department of other states. These PDRM officers will be giving JAIS advice and share expertise in conducting enforcement operations as well as use their own network to get more police assistance needed in an operation. The G25 and other Muslim NGOs have repeatedly voiced our concern about criminalizing personal

Merujuk kenyataan Ketua Pengarah JAKIM, Datuk Othman Mustapha, dua pegawai polis dan seorang sarjan dari PDRM akan ditempatkan di JAIS bagi membantu mengendalikan kes syariah. Projek ini adalah projek perintis yang akan diperluaskan ke jabatan agama negeri lain, pada masa yang akan datang. Pegawai polis ini akan membantu JAIS memberi khidmat nasihat serta berkongsi kepakaran untuk melaksanakan operasi penguatkuasaan. Selain itu, JAIS boleh menggunakan jaringan untuk mendapatkan bantuan lebih anggota polis jika perlu. Kumpulan G25 dan kumpulan NGO Islam yang sekata sering menyarankan kebimbangan kami mengenai tuntutan yang menjenayahkan dosa peribadi dan pengawasan moral. Kami juga ingin men