There is no doubt that Indonesia’s Muslim leanings have shifted to a more intolerant state from where they were 10 years ago. One needs only to see the recent turmoil to understand the gravity of this shift: the explicit acceptance of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), the massive turnout at the divisive 4/11 and 2/12 rallies last year and the support by many for FPI leader Rizieq Shihab’s aggressive and demeaning description of Christians is a small sample of many indications. But one needs to understand that this is not a big-bang phenomenon. Indonesia’s growing intolerance has been brewing for longer than one would want to recognize. We may recount that in 2008, the FPI burned down houses o

Do I see rainbow in the sky With droves of birds flying by? Do I see a lush greenery Flora and fauna of sheer beauty? Do I see rich traditions From ancient civilisations? Do I see children playing together Of various races and gender? Do I see a true democracy With freedom of speech and assembly? Do I see honest leaders The nation’s burden on their shoulders? Do I see neither corruption Nor radical race and religion? Do I see high integrity No abuse of power and authority? Do I see great prosperity People living in peace and harmony? Do I see a progressive nation The love and pride of everyone? This is only my dream, my friend. But I’ll dream to the very end.

Islam [seyogia] dipahami sebagai ajaran yang terkait dengan konteks zaman dan tempat. Perubahan waktu dan perbedaan wilayah menjadi kunci untuk kerja-kerja penafsiran dan ijtihad. Dengan demikian, Islam akan mampu terus memperbarui diri dan dinamis dalam merespon perubahan zaman. Selain itu, Islam dengan lentur mampu berdialog dengan kondisi masyarakat yang berbeda-beda dari sudut dunia yang satu ke sudut yang lain. Dengan kemampuan beradaptasi kritis inilah sesungguhnya Islam bisa benar-benar shalih li kulli zaman wa makan (relevan dengan semua zaman dan tempat mana pun). [Moeslim Abdurrahman] Wacana Islam Reformis III adalah suatu kehadiran yang wajar dan tepat waktunya. Kehadiran itu adal

KUALA LUMPUR: A group has launched a call to push for the Rukunegara to be the preamble to the Federal Constitution. The initiative aims to advocate for the objectives and the principles of the declaration to be used as a guide in public policies and law making. Championed by a group of civil society leaders, the initiative is also known as Rukunegara Sebagai Mukadimah Perlembagaan (RMP). The initiative’s chairman Dr Chandra Muzaffar said Rukunegara had been sidelined over the years, giving way to trends that threatened national unity and integrity. “If such trends gain more influence in the future, characteristics of our country will change. “This is why we, Malaysians, have to remind ourse

Commentaries on a coherent foreign labour policy have again emerged in the last few weeks. The common consensus is that Malaysia does require foreign workers, but there needs to be a holistic policy that has certainty to enable planning by employers. It should also be consistent as flip-flops are costly to businesses. The policy should be for the longer term to ensure labour supports sustainable economic growth. Recent measures on foreign labour, especially for unskilled workers, have been ad hoc. Protests by employers against the uncertainty of implementation have led to the policy measures being announced and then deferred. The substantial growth of foreign unskilled labour has raised conc

Tributes to Tan Sri Adenan Satem, the late Sarawak chief minister, are still pouring in. The Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) is saddened yet humbled to be adding to the outpouring of grief as not only the people of Sarawak but the whole nation mourn a great and trusted elder. No leader has had such an impressionable impact, even if only briefly, on our lives in a long time. Selfless parents who are proponents of the importance of the English language heaved a sigh of relief every time Adenan (call me CM) spoke of education, our ethnic and religious diversity as our strength and the essence and spirit of what being, living and breathing as a Malaysian was all about. If only every one

JANUARY 21 ― Penang Institute is proud to have organised countless programmes on Islam and Muslims in the past few years, featuring speakers from a wide range of backgrounds including Prof Tariq Ramadan, Dr. Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, Dr Syed Farid Al-atas, Dr Anas at-Tikriti, Ahmed Keeler, Dr Chandra Muzaffar, Prof James Piscatori, Dr Maszlee Malik, Dr Nader Hashemi, Mustafa Akyol, Prof Abdullahi Ahmed An-Naim, Prof Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid and Dr Azhar Ibrahim. Given the importance of Islam and Muslims in Malaysia, it is only right for a think tank funded with state fund to organise intellectual discourse on this topic alongside others. We categorically reject any suggestions to side-line or

I DON’T know if it is true about HRH the Sultan of Johor throwing a challenge to me over the development of Johor Baru. Maybe it is only The Star which is interpreting what HRH says as a challenge to me. But unless HRH denies he is challenging me, I will take the report of The Star as the truth. I admit I am at a disadvantage here. While people can say what they like about me, and I welcome their freedom to say so, I hope that in responding to HRH’s challenge I will not be arrested and jailed without trial. If it is with trial, I welcome the arrest. Now, what did I say? Nothing more than repeating a report by Bloomberg in the press. But I appreciate why Bloomberg is not challenged nor denied

The members of the Group of 25 (G25), many of whom are retired senior government servants, are greatly impressed by the new vigour shown by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in stepping up investigations into corruption at the senior levels of the civil service. The recent arrest of a ministry secretary-general or KSU is a clear indication that the anti-corruption agency is gaining credibility in nabbing senior civil servants whose lifestyles suggest they are on the take. We are optimistic that the relevant authorities will exercise due diligence in their investigation, followed by proper prosecution. We also urge for the MACC to continue with this close surveillance on the top

RAWANG: A Selangor religious official has alleged that Wahabism is gaining a foothold with the elite of Malaysian society. Mahfuz Mohamad, a committee member of the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais), told FMT that areas in the Klang Valley that were considered elite had become nests for the spread of Wahabism, a school of thought that the Saudi royal family subscribes to and is often linked to the Islamic State (IS) terror organisation. He said propagation was focused on the rich and powerful as well as students in tertiary institutions. “The rich can provide funds and the powerful can use their positions to spread this school of thought, while students are their future replacements,

I’m sure everyone isn’t too surprised that Malaysia has once again taken the top spot for an international rank (and not the good kind either). In the 2016 crime index by Numbeo, numbers have shown that Malaysia is ranked at a jaw-dropping top 15th in WORLD. That’s a really unbelievable number considering they compiled data from over 118 countries in the world! Source: Numbeo This is very concerning as Malaysia, which is a developing nation, sits on the top of the ranks alongside most third world countries. So what does this say about our nation? When narrowed down to the South-Eastern Asia region, Malaysia is number 1 on the list! With a crime index of 65.56, Bolehland takes top place, “ahe

THE High Income Nation ambition or the "number game" has been our central economic discussion for the past seven years. Countless policies have been crafted for this end game but the solution remains elusive. I have a revelation. The key and the secret to achieve this lies within humanity’s other half; Women. Let me explain. Women empowerment could potentially unlock an additional income per capita of approximately US$2,300 for the country; which will easily enable an overnight achievement of our target. The preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights mentioned that: “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the h

The headscarf worn by Muslim women is often a subject of immense debate in the media. It is donned for various reasons from the personal to the political. It is imposed on many but freely adopted by others. A piece of clothing that should ideally be an issue of freedom of choice and expression has been heavily politicized. This has led to the oppression of Muslim women even in Canada. It is enforced as a religious obligation, sometimes under great moral duress. A young Muslim Canadian was murdered for not wearing it. On the other hand, other Muslim women, who elect to be visible by donning the headscarf, have been physically assaulted. A vast majority of Muslims believe in the obligation of

PETALING JAYA: Muslim wives can leave their homes without the permission of their husbands if they feel that they are being threatened, ruled the Perlis Fatwa Committee. The Committee was responding to cases where abused women did not leave their houses for fear of supposedly going against the religion. In the fatwa (edict) approved this month, the Perlis Fatwa committee ruled that the women can leave their homes if they strongly felt that their life, religion, honour, family or property was endangered. "This is the last resort and if the wife feels that there was no other way to solve the problem besides leaving the home," they said in a statement on Tuesday. They added that the wives could

PHOTO: General Gatot Nurmantyo appears on the cover of Globe Asia magazine. (ABC News: Adam Harvey) Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has enlisted moderate Islamic clerics to try and convince Indonesians they need to resist the lure of intolerant hardliners. The ABC was the only Australian media outlet invited to central Java to see a major show of support for the President. For a sweltering six hours, thousands of white­clad young Muslims waited for their country's leader inside an open­sided marquee in the city of Pekalongan. Packed so tight that there was no room to move without treading on someone else, the audience slowly sautéed in the 40­degree­Celsius­heat, singing to pass the time.

KUALA LUMPUR, 7th JAN--"Cry My Beloved Country", a poem lamented Malaysia is so much worse than before, has been going viral on social media and messaging apps as it has voiced up the people's thought. Tan Sri Alwi Jantan, the poem's author, feels flattered as he never expects that poem, which meant to be shared within the closed group, would be going viral on social media and overwhelmed by positive feedback. "I'm amazed that (the poem) apparently has an impact......in the sense that, now the people look up and think what have done. And I think my points may be touched their hearts", says Alwi Jantan, the retired senior government officer who served in the public service for 32 years. "I'm

Banking on youth: Two of G25’s younger members, Tunku Munawirah Putra (left) and Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, are helping the group with its new focus on education. — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star The G25 younger members boost the eminent Malay group into the next phase with their focus on education, youth, political financing and national unity. AROUND April 2015, Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim and Tunku Munawirah Putra sat down to lunch with Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin. As chairman and honorary secretary of the Parent Action Group for Malaysia (PAGE), they wanted to ask the outspoken member of G25 to support their goal – ensuring that children in Malaysia are educated according to the wishes of the

When I received on the WhatApps a poem “Cry my Beloved Country” by “Alwi Jantan, Perth, 1st January 2017”, I wanted to be sure that it was penned by Tan Sri Alwi Jantan himself, and not a “fake”. I took pains to check is veracity and I was vindicated when I spoke to the 81-year-old former top civil servant himself, and he confirmed that he had himself written the poem. Born in Dungun, Terengganu on 16th April 1935, Alwi had a long civil service career belonging to the first Merdeka generation of public servants, starting in the civil service in August 1958, and who went on to serve as Director-General of National Archives and Library Malaysia in 1971; Selangor State Secretary (1972-76); Secr

I AGREE with the suggestion by Datuk Dr Goh Ban Lee that cities be allowed to hold municipal elections. Democracy is a concept of citizens choosing their government, not only at the central but also at the state and local levels. In fact, the most direct experience that citizens have with representative government is at the local level. Local governments are also the best training ground for politicians to learn the art of public service and prove their skills in managing problems. One argument about municipal elections is that the opposition parties usually win big, as they are stronger in the urban areas, giving them an advantage to nominate their own candidate to be city mayors. This has

I REFER to the report “SPAD: ‘Chasing’ commissions can result in accidents” (The Star, Dec 27) about express bus drivers chasing after trips as they are paid by commission on each trip they make. Their base salaries are low so they have to depend on commissions to earn a good income. SPAD chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar commented that this was not a good way of paying the drivers because it encourages dangerous driving, contributing to fatal accidents on the highways as happened a few days ago. It’s a tragedy which happens when the driver is exhausted and falls asleep at the steering wheel, all because of lack of rest due to chasing after trips to get more income. The report brings into fo