When I grew up in the kampong, Life was sublime bonding was strong. I had many friends young and old, Rich and poor were all in the fold. As I grew up I moved out of town To study in a world I hadn't known. To part from friends was not easy, It was for my future they say. I was sent to the Malay College, A school built for the privileged. Life had become quite hectic, To meet the school's objective. From school I was sent to varsity, Located in Singapore city. An institute with melting pot Of all races, the whole lot. I studied for new skills to acquire Which four long years would require. The country was approaching independence, We wanted to be part of the new nation. Our leaders

We are entering 2017 and the one wish that ranks higher than anything else in our hearts and souls for the New Year is that Malaysia will remain a peaceful country with all races living in harmony and respecting our diversity in culture and religion, confident that the rule of law will prevail to protect the rights of all citizens, in accordance with the guarantees under the Federal Constitution. We hope that 2017 will bring more cheerful news about economic recovery to lift the people’s mood and give them a good feeling about the future. With the various restructuring and transformation programmes which have been introduced in the government, as well as in the corporate and financial sector

I REFER to the media reports on the completion of Phase One of the MRT Sg Buloh-Kajang line and would like to join the public in congratulating the Government and MRT Corp for implementing the project on time and within the budget. The project represents an important achievement in improving the urban transport system in the Kuala Lumpur region to world-class standards. By providing fast rail transport and reducing the travelling costs, the project will not only help to make city life less stressful but more importantly, contribute towards raising work productivity and improving the income of the working population. Time saved in traffic congestion will translate in many ways into a healthie

Another year is coming to an end. Some people make personal vows on matters affecting their lives, others celebrate the coming of the new year as if there’s no tomorrow. I have no wish to celebrate or make any life-changing resolution, except to tell you a story about how wonderful Sarawak is. Sinatra croons about New York—the city that never sleeps—while I would say that Sarawak is the place to be in the future when Peninsular Malaysia burns through its own folly. I see a lot of similarity between Syria and the Peninsula. Syria is in the throes of a civil war that has taken the lives of more than 200,000 people. The feuding parties, the Sunnis and the Shiites, just don’t know when to stop a

Jakarta. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has given a clear warning against intolerant mass organizations on his Twitter account, following a series of raids by hardline groups on shops, restaurants and malls. "Law enforcers should not hesitate to take firm action against mass organizations that are violating the law and menacing the society," Jokowi posted on his official Twitter account on Monday evening (19/12). The warning followed a public outcry on social media after the FPI raided several shopping malls in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday. The FPI denied they were raiding the malls and claimed they were only reminding shopkeepers to follow an edict issued by the Indonesian Ulema Council (

Alhamdulillah, pujian yang mutlak kepada-Nya. Selawat dan salam ke atas Junjungan Nabi Muhammad SAW, keluarganya, sahabatnya dan yang mengikut jejak langkahnya hingga hari kesudahan. Sehari dua ini, banyak persoalan yang sampai ke meja kami berkaitan isu Hukum Seseorang Muslim Mengucapkan “Merry Christmas” Kepada Mereka Yang Beragama Kristian. Ini menjadikan kami terpanggil untuk menekuni isu ini dan membuat sedikit bahth al-‘ilmi dalam kerangka fiqh mu’asir (kontemporari) yang diistinbatkan daripada nusus syar’iyyah serta maslahat dan fiqh waq’ie (semasa). Justeru, Bayan Linnas pada kali ini kami tajukkan dengan tajuk seperti di atas. Soalan ini sering berlegar-legar saban tahun dalam kalan

Khalwat raids have resurfaced into public attention on news about the death of a policeman and the injury of another who were trying to escape as the religious enforcement officers closed in to arrest them. These cases of accidental deaths and injuries should raise public concern whether such an offence like khalwat (close proximity) should continue to be criminalised considering that its implementation under syariah law has often brought embarrassment to the country’s system of justice. Some ulama have called the khalwat raids anti- Islamic because they give the impression to society that the religion uses punishment as the only way to uphold moral values. Malays who have visited or lived i

Last month, I attended a talk on pursuing further education in Germany post-Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM). The talk was given by a Malaysian who had gone to university in that country, is now an engineer and working at a German company in Kuala Lumpur. People have misconceptions about German education. It is not really free — one has to enrol for a fee-based foundation programme prior to being admitted to a tuition-free German university. One’s proficiency in German also needs to be at a satisfactory level, hence one has to spend time and money on learning the language before starting the foundation course and improve to a high proficiency level by the end of the degree. It is noteworthy th

PETALING JAYA: The Perlis state assembly acted contrary to the Federal Constitution when it amended its enactment to make it allowable for just one parent to convert a child to Islam, said G25, the group of eminent Malays. “The amendments are contrary to the Constitution which provides that words in the singular include the plural and that words referring to the plural include the singular. “The word ‘parent’ in this case includes both mother and father,” said Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin, the spokesman for G25, yesterday. On Thursday, the Perlis legislative assembly passed amendments to the Administration of the Religion of Islam Enactment 2006. Under Section 117, the phrase in Malay, “father

TANJUNG MALIM: Perak Ruler Sultan Nazrin Shah (pic) has expressed his concern over the corruption and criminal breach of trust committed openly by highly-educated and high-ranking individuals. He said based on media reports, corrupt practices and criminal breach of trust were not only rampant but even occurring on a very large scale. Sultan Nazrin said history has shown that criminal breach of trust and corrupt practices, and ravenous use of power were factors that had caused the downfall of many governments and collapse of civilisations. "In the history of Islamic governments, many among the leaders of the Bani Umaiyyah (Umayyad Caliphate) and Bani Abbas (Abbasid Caliphate), due to their pr

Recently, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said that the country’s Muslim population should support a plan by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party to adopt hudud, or the Islamic Shariah law system that metes out punishment as set up by the Quran. Azly Rahman writes on this development. I wrote these sentences on my Facebook status page some time ago: “ … SIMPLY PUT, ON THE HUDUD… seriously speaking … i have a few questions: you kidnap innocent girls and sell them, in the name of religion you shoot girls in the face — those who only wish to go to schools you rape women and put them on trial for immodest behaviour you spew hatred towards people of other faiths and race you ask those who disagre

KANGAR: The amendments passed by the Perlis state assembly go against a fatwa issued by the Perlis Mufti Department which states that a child of a convert need not embrace Islam but may receive teachings on Islam from the Muslim parent. In the April 2015 fatwa, which is still valid, the converted parent is responsible for introducing Islam to the child but custodial right is not decided by religion. “The state fatwa on custody rights of children was decided long ago by the Perlis Mufti’s Department,” said the state’s Mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin (pic) who posted a picture of this fatwa on his Facebook page. “The passing of the amendments seems to be at odds with this fatwa, on top

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 — The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) said today it is concerned that security laws such as the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) is being used for non-terrorism purposes and to suppress political dissent. In a statement in conjunction with World Human Rights Day, Suhakam chairman Tan Sri Razali Ismail stressed that Malaysians should not arrested and detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression. “In its short lifespan, security laws, in particular the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA) has been applied for non-terrorism purposes. For this reason, Suhakam is concerned that preventive detention, terrorism

A FEW weeks ago, President Obama gave his last press conference to world leaders at the conclusion of the APEC meeting in Peru. His message echoed what he had been saying at various times when he travelled to Third World countries. He said he may be the most powerful man in the world but the US President cannot make policies without the approval of Congress. He would love to stay on for another term as president but the constitution does not allow it. He often reminded leaders that democracy is not easy. He had himself faced a lot of personal criticism and racial insults which hurt him and his family but that’s the burden a leader of a democracy has to deal with in office and which he has to

KUALA LUMPUR: A group of concerned citizens have formulated a code of ethical conduct (CEC) to serve as a guideline for the people to counter divisions between Malaysians of all races. The group, called Dialog Rakyat (People’s Dialogue), seeks to esta­blish a network of like-minded individuals and organisations in the pursuit of national cohesion and unity to transform the country’s diversity into a source of strength. Dialog Rakyat’s organising committee chairman Tan Sri Omar Abdul Rahman said there was a critical need to impose such a code, as irresponsible people were harping on polarising rhetoric that posed a grave threat to national harmony and unity. “Lately, many factors have emerged

DECEMBER 1 — The Group of 25 (G25), joins others in expressing its serious concern on the worsening situation with the Rohingyas in Myanmar. We unreservedly condemn the atrocities being perpetrated on the Rohingya community. The situation is getting worse by the day. Unless the Government of Myanmar is taken to task, the situation will continue to get worse. That is only at one level, of course. Not enough people, particularly in our own country and the region, care enough about the Rohingyas. In Europe and America, as in Australia, people are generally concerned about hordes of Muslim Refugees, yet again, seeking refuge on their shores. Also the Muslim countries who have the means to help,