The Kita president defends the right of Muslims to religious freedom which he says is enshrined under Article 11.
(Free Malaysia Today) - Kita president Zaid Ibrahim said the controversial church raid by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) would not have taken place had Article 11 of the Federal Constitution been upheld.
More than 30 police and JAIS officers stormed a thanksgiving dinner at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) premises last Wednesday.
The authorities claimed they had received a complaint that Christians were attempting to convert the 12 Muslims present at the dinner that night. Until today, no evidence or details of the complaint had been made public.
Zaid however pointed out that the true essence of Article 11 forbade proselytising to Muslims but acknowledged a Muslim’s right to religious freedom.
“Kita believes that this freedom belongs to everyone – Muslims and non-Muslims – and is a fundamental right of every human being,” he said in a statement today.
“We believe it is cruel for anyone to be forced to accept a religious belief or faith that he or she in all good conscience has renounced or refuses to believe in.”
The lawyer-turned-politician warned of similar raids in other parts of the country and of more Muslims being punished for exercising their freedom to believe.
“There will be more confusion and an escalating war of attrition among religious communities,” he predicted. “State laws will continue empowering officers to make arrests and raid premises so that they can make sure Muslims are not in the company of evangelical Christians.”
Zaid rapped JAIS of being too duty-bound in preventing Muslims from exercising their right to convert instead of understanding what “lies inside the heart of Muslims”.
“JAIS is simply happy to punish and imprison someone like Kamariah Ali (a follower of Ayah Pin) and regard her as a deviant Muslim,” he said. “It does not matter what her true beliefs are, just as it does not matter if she is happy with the faith.”
Silence from the Pakatan camp
The former PKR supreme council member also said that the Pakatan Rakyat component parties would not support the true meaning of Article 11 for different reasons.
PAS, he said, would not step up because of its belief that freedom of choice would give a “lesser” Muslim the opportunity to deviate from the faith.
He added that PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim would not risk his chances of becoming prime minister while DAP would be concerned about losing votes and Penang.
“That explains why the great defenders of freedom in Pakatan had to issue a gag order. Don’t address sensitive issues, is what they seem to be saying… get to Putrajaya first,” he said.
written by AlwaysFair, August 11, 2011 00:22:28
How true this is!! That is why more laws and raids are needed to enforce the religion which many do not believe in, if not for the law which forced them to. Also it explains why there are so many professing the faith but acting otherwise.
B-T-W can you force a FAITH or BELIEF down a person's throat? Since the day he was born, he has no choice until death? Is it fair?
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written by earthman, August 10, 2011 23:04:42
Have been waiting for a courageous and honest Muslim to speak up , without fear and favor ( to man but God fearing ) Some politicians and Muslims may agree but fear man or protecting self interest . The rest are just hypocrites who care not about justice and fairness, their positions.
God is with the righteous.
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written by cruzeiro, August 10, 2011 20:20:22
And all assurances were made- just like when they passed the ISA- that the infidels would not be affected. They were unilateral decisions by the UMNO/BN regime in their efforts to compete with PAS's religiosity back then.
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written by cruzeiro, August 10, 2011 20:16:41
======================
Where have you been, batsman? Timbuktu?
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written by cruzeiro, August 10, 2011 20:14:47
First he says plenty of nice things and whacks PKR (Note that UMNO is not mentioned at all) then ".. the issue would be dealt with differently under a Kita-run government as the party was the only one in the country fearless enough to defend Article 11.
“We would refer Article 11 to a properly constituted Constitutional Court,” he said."
Fine.
Then he goes on to say:
“We would insert an all empowering Article stating that all laws must conform to the Quran, and that laws contravening Islamic tenets and practices would be void. Islamic tenets and Islamic practices, in this case, would be those that are approved by the Conference of Rulers,”
Now who is going to interpret the Quran and that make sure the FC subject to it?
You guessed it- JAKIM, JAIS, MAIS and the whole jing-bang ....
And guess what else- it also means that the Quran will be the supreme law of the land ... Nice eh?
So, since Non-Muslims cannot decide/interfere in matters of Islam (even if you can pass the Syariah exams) - effectively, it means that non-Muslims wouldn't have a say ....
Now all you Kafir Laknats- please applaud this wimp of a lawyer ....
Under KITA, maybe we can hope for an Islamic Republic a la Pakistan!!
"What you applaud, you encourage;
Be careful what you celebrate .."
~ Peggy Noonan.
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written by NottyMaus, August 10, 2011 19:51:20
Let's crack peanuts and discuss your views over some carlsberg ? Heineken if you like ?
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written by malsia1206, August 10, 2011 18:33:44
1. Pitting the deceased Altantuya against the 2 UTK murderers
2. Ptitting RPK against the Home Menteri on the ISA detention
3.Pitting the Perak State Government against Royalty interevention
4. Pitting Anwar against Sodomy II
5. Pitting a slaughtered cow head against the non-Muslims
6. Pitting the deceased Teoh Beng Hock and Sarbaini against MACC
7. Pitting Bersih 2.0 against PDRM
8. Pitting the Christians against JAIS
All these with GE13 in mind. Surely the Malaysian voters know what to do when they cast their votes?
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written by batsman, August 10, 2011 18:21:42
Saying that the raid is against the constitution is meaningless unless there is a movement to change the laws that are against the constitution. For this to happen, UMNO must be voted out of office.
For your information, the ISA is also against the constitution. I don't see so much emotion over the ISA expressed as with the JAIS raid. What gives?
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written by Fart Fart Wah, August 10, 2011 17:23:26
The Truth Behind JAIS Raid on DUMC/b]
Slowly but surely, the truth is oozing out and Hishamuddin had better learn that there are always leakages, no matter how tight he thinks his secret shenanigans may be hidden! Remember there are always good men around and these are the one who will choose to become "Deep Throat"!
If this is true, see for yourself the arrogance and evil of men like the UMNO Hishamuddin, cousin to Najib and (sadly) son of Hussen Onn!
DUMC members, you'd better tighten security around your Pastor Daniel Ho for anything now goes as far as BN is concern!
The real story behind the raid on the DUMC church by JAIS & the police actually has very little to do with attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity. It has everything to do with Bersih 2.0.
Apparently, pastor Daniel Ho hosted Dato Ambiga Sreenevasan & members of the Bersih 2.0 committee in DUMC sometime last week. The police & the Special Branch were outside the church recording everything. Ambiga & her Bersih committee members are under constant surveillance by Bukit Aman ever since the Bersih rally.
Christians have largely voiced their support for Bersih from the very beginning. Since last week Hishamuddin, the home minister has been in touch with Hasan Ali through their proxies on finding a way to teach pastor Daniel Ho & the Christian community a lesson for supporting Bersih. The Harapan Komuniti thanksgiving dinner was selected as a good option to intimidate the pastor of the DUMC church.
Pastor Daniel Ho & the DUMC church were selected as a target of choiceas pastor Daniel Ho is a leading member of the evangelical Christian community & the DUMC church is a well respected establishment. Hishamuddin wanted to show that he was not afraid to take anyone on. That is why the police could not produce a warrant or JAIS produce a copy of the complaint. Hishamuddin has always thought of himself as above the law & is the law.
Party leaders of MCA & UMNO were informed in advance of this raid & were advised to prepare statements to link the Opposition with the
“unjust” raid on the DUMC church. This is nothing more than an effort to conceal the link between Hishamuddin & Hasan Ali. Ultimately, Hishamuddin & UMNO regard Bersih as the biggest threat to their
political future. Any support for Bersih therefore must be nipped in the bud. The accusations of attempts to proselytize Muslims by the DUMC church is just a distraction from the actual truth.
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written by Mestizo, August 10, 2011 17:11:06
Religion is something very personal to individual. Our constitution guarantee freedom of religion to every citizen. But in Malaysia, our politicians made it into a law. Asked those politicians in BN why they want to make it into a law. Of course we know. And we also know it got nothing to do with Islam as a religion.
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written by temenggong, August 10, 2011 16:50:47
“We would insert an all empowering Article stating that all laws must conform to the Quran, and that laws contravening Islamic tenets and practices would be void. Islamic tenets and Islamic practices, in this case, would be those that are approved by the Conference of Rulers,” he said.
That would be handing over the entire constitution to a few jerks who advise the Rulers. Imagine Harussainy advising the Rulers!
The constitution should be restated, that the high courts are the superior courts. It is as simple as that.
It is the judges, being mostly Malays, that are not upholding the constitution.
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Now there are 3 muslims I know that can confront the muslims devils.
RPK, Asri and now, Zaid
I will support these three.