Dr Rafidah Hanim Mokhtar, Harakah

Wanita ISMA is concerned over the calls to repeal the Syariah Criminal Offences Law by Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) as a response to Johor Religious Department’s decision to whip offenders committing incest and having sex outside of wedlock.  22 out of 39 offenders were female.

Wanita ISMA feels that the calls are misplaced as the issue should be dealt comprehensively beyond the myopic angle of liberalism or feminism as it involves major offences as stated in Syariah Law, namely incest and fornication. Incest by definition is sexual intercourse between persons so closely related that they are forbidden by law to marry.

Facts that are overlooked by JAG were that in 2008, Johor and Selangor had the highest number of cases of incest, a total of 308 cases over a period of 8 years. According to the senior assistant director of enforcement of the Johor Islamic Affairs Department (JAIJ), Mohd Zambri Kambari, the usual punishment was a fine of RM5,000 or a jail term of three years. Obviously, both punishments, perhaps regarded as very lenient, had failed to deter people from committing the act. Incest breeds bigger problem in the society such as disrupting the lineage of a family especially if the illicit relationship bears offsprings. These children will definitely be subjected to psychological trauma.

Wanita ISMA fully supports the actions by Johor Religious Department to exercise the enactment of Syariah Law in the form of 6 strokes of whipping  as it is meted out in the manner that complies to the Syariah flogging. The Syariah flogging requires that the female offender is in sitting position as opposed to the opposite sex who needs to stand. This is a proof that Islam places great respect to female, without abandoning its principle that every crime must be punished, regardless of gender. Furthermore, the punishment will be postponed if the women is pregnant of in the period of nursing her child.

The offender  is fully clothed and the whipping will not be on her face, head and private parts or on body parts where vital organs are located, the abdomen and the chest. The flogging stick has been specified to meet certain length and thickness.  The executer cannot raise his hand more than his head in whipping and all these are very unlikely to cause physical harm to the offender.

Shariah is fundamental to a Muslim's  belief. Muslims have faith that the Shariah is relevant at all times. JAG claimed that there is no solid evidence that whipping is an effective deterrent to violent or sexual crimes. The problem is that the Shariah solution has never been given a chance to prove its effectiveness in curbing these crimes.

Islam places sufficient legislation to protect people from falling into sin as it  is a complete code of living that is not based on punishment. Punishment is not enforced except in cases where there is certainty about the offence and its perpetrators. However, when certainty is established, and in this case Wanita ISMA believes that the matter has been dealt delicately by the relevant authorities of the Johor Religious Department, the mandatory punishment must be applied, with no compassion shown to the offenders.

In the word of the late Syed Qutb, author of Tafsir Fi Zilal al-Qur'an, such compassion is misplaced, because it is in fact cruel to the community and human morality. Allah is much more compassionate to His creatures and He has chosen what He knows to serve their interests best. When Allah decides on a particular case, no believer, whether man or woman, can counter that choice. Nor is it right that anyone should speak out against such punishment, describing it as hard or savage. It is indeed much more compassionate than what awaits a community that allows adultery (an incest) to spread.

It is rather alarming that a more liberal view of incest is now being propagated in some parts of the western countries. The United States codifies incest prohibition in its law, but it doesn’t stop one of the universities, the University of Missouri for offering a class on sibling incest for the spring 2013 semester in order to understand and accept the culture. Unmistakably and shockingly, there has been  a social pressure towards accepting sibling incests although parent-child incest is still considered offensive. The uncontrolled lust of human for forbidden sexual relationship has also boost the pornography industry that promotes incest porn as one of the genre.

Wanita ISMA is committed to work hand in hand with all parties in curbing social illness through all means, whether by education, public awareness, prevention and by law if necessary.

* The writer represents Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia, or ISMA.

Wow. They did all that even back then? My history books sure didn’t teach me that. The Chinese in Malaysia certainly didn’t get a free ride to where they are. But if I didn’t know my community’s history well, how could I expect others to know? 

June HL Wong, The Star 

There would be better understanding of the Chinese if their contributions to the nation were brought to light.

THE clue to the forgotten nugget of information came in the form of an e-mail.

The reader who sent it pointed me to a particular chapter in a book written by long-serving colonial officer Sir Frank Swettenham.

The book was British Malaya, published in 1907, and once I perused chapter 10, I understood why the reader thought I might find it interesting. Here’s the pertinent excerpt:

“Their energy and enterprise have made the Malay States what they are today, and it would be impossible to overstate the obligation which the Malay Government and people are under to these hardworking, capable, and law-abiding aliens.

“They were already the miners and the traders, and in some instances the planters and the fishermen, before the white man had found his way to the Peninsula.

“In all the early days it was Chinese energy and industry which supplied the funds to begin the construction of roads and other public works, and to pay for all the other costs of administration.

“They have driven their way into remote jungles, run all risks, and often made great gains. They have also paid the penalty imposed by an often deadly climate.

“But the Chinese were not only miners, they were charcoal-burners in the days when they had to do their own smelting; as contractors they constructed nearly all the government buildings, most of the roads and bridges, railways and waterworks.

“They brought all the capital into the country when Europeans feared to take the risk; they were the traders and shopkeepers. Their steamers first opened regular communication between the ports of the colony and the ports of the Malay States.

“They introduced tens of thousands of their countrymen when the one great need was labour to develop the hidden riches of an almost unknown and jungle-covered country, and it is their work, the taxation of the luxuries they consume and of the pleasures they enjoy, which has provided something like nine-tenths of the revenue.

“The reader should understand at once what is due to Chinese labour and enterprise in the evolution of the Federated Malay States.”

Wow. They did all that even back then? My history books sure didn’t teach me that. The Chinese in Malaysia certainly didn’t get a free ride to where they are. But if I didn’t know my community’s history well, how could I expect others to know?

If they did know, surely it would help create a deeper appreciation of the Chinese and assuage the suspicions about their loyalty.

As the nation mourned the loss of eight policemen and two soldiers and hailed them as heroes in the recent Lahad Datu armed intrusion, a blogger thought fit to write:

“As has always been the case, when we send our policemen and soldiers into battle and they are killed or injured, the chances are they are Melayus and bumiputeras. Perhaps there is wisdom in getting more Chinese and Indians to join the armed forces so that they, too, can die for one Malaysia.”

“Always been the case”? How sad that the many Chinese Special Branch officers who died fighting the communists are unforgivably forgotten.

Online columnist K. Temoc who took umbrage at this blogger’s “caustic and unfair” remarks pointed out that five Chinese police officers have been awarded the nation’s highest gallantry award, the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa (SP), two posthumously.

Again, it shows how little is known about non-Malay heroes who served in the security forces.

This blogger certainly didn’t and he clearly buys into the belief that non-Malays aren’t willing to risk life and limb for the country and doesn’t consider why there are so few of them in uniform today.

The irony is even if you are well-known, your deeds may not be officially recorded.

Hence, Robert Kuok may be a business legend in Asia but few Malaysians know he was the close friend and confidant of Deputy Prime Minister Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman.

As mentioned in Ooi Kee Beng’s biography, The Reluctant Politician, Tun Dr Ismail and His Time, Kuok played a role in the nation’s development and politics, including helping to pave the way for Tun Abdul Razak’s historic six-day visit to China in May 1974.

So much is left out of our history books and our national museums.

It’s telling that even Yap Ah Loy’s tok panjang showcasing the family’s exquisite dinner ware are housed in Singapore’s Peranakan Museum, not in Kuala Lumpur, the modern city he founded.

I agree whole-heartedly with the Prime Minister that Malaysians must understand each other better if we hope to become a great nation.

Something therefore must be done to document and preserve the nation’s history that is more inclusive and multiracial.

If the Government has been remiss, the Chinese should take it upon themselves to address this lack of understanding and appreciation of their community’s immense contributions. It shouldn’t, however, be a glossy and glossed-over coffee table account.

By all means include the darker and controversial aspects, including the Chinese-led Communist Party of Malaya’s attempt to overthrow the colonial government (Interestingly, Kuok’s brother, William, was a communist who died in the jungle).

But it was also a long war that was won with the help of the Chinese, like those S.B. officers.

While we take pride in celebrating our most famous Malaysians – Michelle Yeoh, Jimmy Choo and Zang Toi – we must also honour the unsung, unknown heroes like those mentioned by K Temoc: policeman Yeap Sean Hua who died while apprehending a criminal at Setapak and was awarded the SP, sergeant Lee Han Cheong and Deputy Commissioner Khoo Chong Kong who were both killed by the communists.

It’s time to build a Malaysian Chinese museum that will tell a history – the good, the bad, the noble, the inspiring – that must no longer be hidden or forgotten.

> The writer believes the Malaysian Indian community also has a proud and even longer history to share and preserve. Feedback: junewong@thestar.com.my or tweet @JuneHLWong 

Wong Chin Huat, fz.com

 

Read more at: http://www.fz.com/content/mal-apportionment-pro-rural-pro-malay-or-pro-umno#ixzz2WiqKuaVu

It seems that the more extreme one’s discourse is, the more it mesmerises and excites others. 

Lim Mun Fah, Sin Chew Daily 

The word sedition gets on many people’s nerves as it equates a jail term if convicted.

There was no lack of instigators historically, the most notorious one is the great dictator Adolf Hitler.

The common characteristic of an instigator is always under the guise of a patriot or nationalist, holding the fulcrum of morality and is adept at seditious discourses.

Take Adolf Hitler for instance, his charms, to a great extent derive from his volubility. His eloquence was even once analogised as a deadly excitant.

Adolf Hitler’s oratory is highly personalised. His refined language was dynamic. A ten minute speech of his is as inciting as a long one. It all attributed to his fomenting tongue. His tone is always aspirational, bringing his audience to a longing trance, mesmerizing them further to a restive abyss of total submission.

Most people are deeply interested not only in Hitler’s moustache that he wears above his mouth which is like a black sticking plaster the size of his nose, but also his unique delivery style inclusively which can be found from his biographical movies and documentaries. For example, he would not speak in full spate once he stepped on the stage but would play a trick of silence, letting his audience to quieten from unchecked nosiness. When the audience began to calm down and exchange murmurs, he would strike the chatterbox, from a monotonous tone to a haranguing one, building up a climax with hysterical effect.

The contents of Hitler’s talks prevail with his personal aspirations, calling others’ as well. “Country”, “nation”, “revitalisation” and “righteousness” are the key words of all his speeches.

“Our struggle has only two possible outcomes: it is either our enemy march on stepping our corpses or vice versa.” Most Germans were boiling with hot blood agitated by Hitler’s “quotations” and subsequently a historical havoc known as the Second World War was triggered.

Luckily, German is a nation who is ready to admit mistakes and start afresh. Eyeing the German’s rationality and self abstention redolent of the predominant Hitlerism in history, we cannot help but to wonder disbelievingly when the erstwhile Germans acted fanatically, in bigotry and stupidity abetted by an agitator.

We might sigh and carry grave misgivings knowing that an agitator like Hitler will have followers everywhere. Hitlerian discourses, given any time and context, will be marketable. Unfortunately, in Malaysia, similar instigators and market for instigators do exist.

Immediately after the general elections, reconciliation and rational calling is comparatively bleak. Aggressive and provoking discourses are justified and going strong. It seems that the more extreme one’s discourse is, the more it mesmerises and excites others. Though these Hitler juniors are no match for the authentic Adolf Hitler in terms of charms and dexterity, they are like waiting tiny sparks, ever ready to kindle any fire anywhere to run their capers. Should we not beware?

The overwhelming majority of complaints to date on matters of serious concern, such as deaths in custody, have pertained to the police. This is a fact that cannot be ignored, just as we cannot blind ourselves to the fact that the EAIC simply does not enjoy the confidence of the majority of Malaysians, many of whom had not even heard of the commission until the current debate started.

Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, fz.com 

IN LATE May this year, Utah authorities arrested six individuals for the torture of their roommate, Thomas Chapman. They are alleged to have handcuffed him, repeatedly assaulted him with boards and sticks, kicked him repeatedly in the ribs and the head, and stapled his ears, chest and lips, all while he was being held at gunpoint. His assailants believed that Chapman had set one of them up earlier in the month.

Read more at: http://www.fz.com/content/too-much-ask#ixzz2WcyjR2qt

Malay political leaders who have achieved the pinnacle of their career do so by a combination of guile, political pedigree and money – plenty of money.

CT Ali, FMT

Malays who are pillars and leaders of society, Malays who are in high public offices, Malays possessing great executive and political power with wide discretion in using that power and minimal accountability, will, more often than not, misuse that power to their personal advantage, resulting in the detriment of the very people whom they lead.

This was true of the Sultans who were not hesitant on calling upon the British to safeguard their royal prerogatives while surrendering their interest, that of their subjects and of their country into the avaricious hands of the British.

The British then proceeded to hand over part of our nation in the north to Thailand and unilaterally reigned over Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan, Selangor, Johor, Kedah and Perak – appointing themselves as “advisors” to these Sultans “whose advise must be acted upon”.

In the process Sultans who were compliant with the wishes of the British were put on the thrones of Kedah, Perak and elsewhere and whatever changes deemed necessary by the British to the constitution of Malaya to reflect the interest of the British – changes that have literally changed forever the very foundation of our nation – for good and for bad.

This is also true of Umno from the time they took government after Merdeka to this very day where political power in their hands were abuse for the personal gain of their own kind to the detriment of the Malays and our nation.

And it is true today of those Malays who have been privileged to hold high public office and who then proceed to sell their executive powers along with their integrity and credibility to the highest bidders while taking for themselves whatever could be taken from our national coffers.
How cheaply they sell themselves and how little they care for the common good of our people and our nation! They do not seem to understand that with great power comes great responsibility.

This not to say that all Malays with power will misuse that power but the prevalence of this scourge amongst Malay leaders plagues too many of them, so many that it raises the question of whether the Malays can really lead responsibly.

As a Malay, it pains me to raise that question that only a Malay can rightfully ask of his own leaders before others ask it – if that is not already being done.

For the Malays, the sum of the negatives far outweighs the positive. Our problems are multi dimensional but none more so than the dearth of worthy leaders to lead us in this darkest hour of our nation, if not of the Malays.

Malay political leaders who have achieved the pinnacle of their career do so by a combination of guile, political pedigree and money – plenty of money.

It is never by being a force for common good and for positive change within their party, within government and for the people and our nation.

It gives rise to the question as to what they will do once power is in their hands. How will they sustain and keep their hold on power? With guile, with an over dependence on their political pedigree (for whatever it is worth), and with money too?

And none reflect this more than the two alpha Malay leaders that now take centre stage in our political life – Anwar Ibrahim and Najib Tun Razak.

Abusing the trust

Both had greatness thrust upon them at an early age not by their own accord but by others. Najib because of his pedigree and Anwar by Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Whether deserved or not of that greatness, both then proceeded with unrestrained aplomb to abuse the trust placed upon them.

Najib through his personal indiscretion and a lacklustre political career, Anwar by his rabid attempts at consolidating around him political power and the financial means to achieve that power.

Today we know enough of these two individuals to wonder how is it that after all that they have done to themselves, to our people and to our country, they are still at the top of the heap amongst the Malays, nay amongst all Malaysian, to be able to give us no other choices for our leaders but themselves! How is this so?

Are the Malays selling themselves short? Of course we are! We deserve better! We cannot be silent anymore.

We cannot continue doing nothing anymore, and there is no time quite like the present if the Malays are to awake and begin the process of stopping the rot. Otherwise that saying “Takkan Melayu hilang di dunia” will no longer have any relevance or the ability to move future generations of Malays as it has moved Malays in the past.

Today the Malays are synonymous with political power – failed political power and abused political power!

Political power has been misused and abused for so long because the institutional framework that makes this possible exists. And it exists because of this outdated and horrendous belief that the majority rules, that the minority and the individual can be egregiously discriminated against with impunity by those in power, that justice will not prevail.

The result of the 13th general election is a travesty of what majority rule should be all about when it was first institutionalised by Umno in the time when it had its two-third majority in Parliament.

During that time, majority for Umno meant consolidating and maintaining their two-third majority in Parliament. This they proceeded to do by manipulating district boundaries to create a disproportionate political advantage for themselves.

It is like a household comprising of the father, mother and four children. The mother and the four children are given one vote each when it comes to deciding where they should go for a holiday.

The father gives himself six votes. So no matter how they vote it is the father who will have his way over the others. In Malaysia, Umno is the father and we are the rest of the family.

READ MORE HERE

In moments like these, it is easy to hate the arbitrary nature and high-handedness of the ruling government too. This is all the more the case when the ruling establishment, once again, is showing signs of attempting to remain in power on the sly. 

Nurul Izzah Anwar 

Thousands of Malaysians voted abroad during the 13th general election. Many more returned from Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, London and Taiwan, traditionally places with large numbers of Malaysians, to exercise their right to suffrage on May 5th.

This is a peculiar phenomenon.

Why do Malaysians who have found greener pastures abroad feel compelled to return to the country to cast their ballot? This certainly goes against the thesis of Albert O. Hirshman — who argued in a famous treatise in 1970 that when people have the chance to leave, they will, especially if they have found the entity to be increasingly dysfunctional and inefficient.

Malaysia, or rather its government, over the last few decades, has certainly manifested such features.

Concurrently, those who decided to 'stay back' would attempt to improve the country by voicing out. Be that as it may, those who have left the country are not expected to express their voices anymore let alone to vote. Yet, vote they did.

The quick and short answer to the above phenomenon is that they care. Indeed, not only do they care about the future of their immediate and extended families still in Malaysia, but they care about Malaysia, period.  

And that is where Malaysia draws its greatest pride from — Malaysians and their sense of belonging, of camaraderie.

Beyond caring, they also know, through their collective exposure in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, if not as far away as United Kingdom, Japan and Australia, that Malaysia has been back-pedaling, especially on issues like corruption and crime let alone in building a vibrant democracy.

Take corruption, for example. The national debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio at 54 per cent, it is one per cent shy of the constitutional limit; and this figure is a conservative estimate. When one lumps in the debt of the government linked companies (GLCS), often with the element of corruption still at work, the ratio is easily in the range of the mid-70s.

While many do not like to use the B word (i.e. bankcruptcy), the next generation is expected to foot the financial profligacy of the present one. Malaysians abroad share the same concern and anxieties with those at home.

Not surprisingly, up 75 to 85 per cent of the voters abroad, almost without fail, voted for the opposition according to exit polls.

Like the 51 per cent of the people in Malaysia, they chose to throw their lot with Pakatan Rakyat, this despite the fact that Pakatan Rakyat did not have any offices or representatives outside the country.

In fact, one may even wonder if they did so purely to register their disgust with Barisan National, rather than due to any objective attachment to Pakatan Rakyat; a trend that was discernible across all racial groups in urban areas from 2008 onwards.

Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/the-oppositions-new-mandate-nurul-izzah-anwar/