March 8, 2010

Make Democracy the only game in town

Two years ago, Malaysians wrote history by weakening UMNO/Barisan Nasional’s electoral one-party state. For the first time since independence, the ruling coalition lost its two-third parliamentary majority and a total of five states were ruled by the opposition parties.

As a result, Malaysians have benefited tremendously from the vibrant competition between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat. As Pakatan Rakyat advocates “Ketuanan Rakyat” and values like competence, accountability and transparency, Barisan Nasional under Prime Minister Najib Razak has responded with his “1Malaysia” campaign and “Government Transformation Programme”. In brief, Malaysians are enjoying the bonus of democratisation.

Unfortunately, the budding democratisation is also threatened by some politicians from both sides of the divides who refuse to accept “democracy as the only game in town” and try to subvert or undermine the voters’ verdict through some or all of these four unscrupulous means: (a) defection and change of government without fresh elections; (b) politically-motivated investigation, prosecution, harassment and detention of opposition leaders, civil society activists, journalists and bloggers; (c) discrimination in development funding against opposition-run state governments … [Read more]

Saturday, January 09, 2010

Dear Colleagues,

The Press Conference turned out well. There are about 20 of us representing different NGO sectors at the press conference. Journalists from the print, broadcasting and electronic were there.

Reports are here:
1. http://malaysiakini.com/news/121560 (English)
2. http://merdekareview.com/news/n/11927.html (Chinese)

Al Jazeera also carried the news in its news report.

I attach here the statement with the latest list. As at 1809 hours, we have had 125 civil society groups and 5 political parties endorsing it. Do forward to interested groups and send us new names. We shall update the list of endorsers if necessary. It will still make news if the number of endorsers soars phenomenally.

We may set up a facebook page to archive and update statements in defence of peace, diversity and reason, which include this and also previous statements in response to the cowhead protest. Do volunteer if you could help administering the page.

Yours
Chin Huat

Joint Statement of Civil Society on 22nd January 2010

Attack against one faith is attack against all faiths

We the undersigned Malaysian civil society groups from different spiritual, cultural and ideological backgrounds condemn unreservedly in the strongest possible terms the latest arson attacks against two suraus in Muar in the early morning of January 21.

Any attack on any faith in Malaysia is an attack on all faiths in Malaysia. We express our solidarity with the Sirratulrahim Surau in Kampung Sabak Awor and Parit Beting surau, and to the Malaysian Muslim community at large. Â

The attacks on the suraus seem to be a deliberate and desperate move to provoke Malaysians into sectarian conflicts. The earlier attacks on nine churches, a mosque, a surau, a gurdwara and a convent school, have failed to trigger even distrust as Malaysians of all faiths and creeds stand united in the wake of violence.

While the Police must act swiftly in investigation and defeat any act of violence and terrorism, we call upon all Malaysians to have faith in peace, freedom and reason.

After all, these attacks are at most a … [Read more]

FIMA Relief E-Bulletin January … [Read more]

The Cow-Head Lesson for Merdeka: Deligitimize Violence and Hatred

We, the undersigned civil society organizations are shocked, angered
and saddened by the “Cow-Head protest” in Shah Alam last Friday, 28
August 09,  against a proposed Hindu temple in Section 23 of the city.
The carrying of the head of a freshly slaughtered cow, a sacred animal to
the Hindus, and the unveiled threat of blood shed on the eve of
Merdeka celebration suggest that all Malaysians need to reflect deeply
about our 52 years of nationhood, and the clarion call of 1Malaysia

From the outset, these heinous acts of crime perpetrated by the irresponsible
few must NEVER be  seen as a conflict between the two faiths or the
two faith communities. All major spiritual traditions, Islam and
Hinduism included, uphold peace and human dignity as their common and
core values.  Our spirituality and love for humanity mandates us for
the perpetual quest for peace and abhorrence of all forms of hatred
and civil disorder.

The Shah Alam incident sadly reveals that violence and hatred are
still  inadequately delegitimized in our society. We exhort all
Malaysians  to unite in our joint efforts to  decry and delegitimize
violence and hatred to prevent any individual or grouping from
resorting to intimidation or provocation  when faced with  any
town-planning disputes or rows of  similar … [Read more]

MPF STATEMENT
The Muslim Professionals Forum (MPF) regrets Karpal Singh’s knee jerk political rhetorics to our public forum titled “Who Needs an Islamic State” held at the Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam on 20th April 2008 (Karpal tells PAS to drop Islamic state policy; Malaysiakini 22nd April 2008)

What makes it even more regrettable was that it was not evidence based and hence devoid of any grasp of the course of events in Kiara. It is evident that Mr. Karpal’s entrenched position is based on old prejudices, out of synch with the openness that Malaysia’s new politics expects.

Maybe Mr. Karpal needs to widen his reading horizons and references and heed to the investigative reporting by “alternative media” which among others wrote “PAS research director Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad was well received by the audience even though he apologised at the onset that his preparation for this morning was the bare minimum (although he added in a few points while Abdelwahab was speaking). Quoting verses from the Quran effortlessly and framing his discussion within the local context, he said that the supreme objective of Syariah is justice. Quoting an ulama, he explained: “Syariah is the public interest of humanity, avoiding harm, enriching (with) benefits.” With … [Read more]

Joint memo to Datuk Seri Nazri

1. JOINT MEMO TO DATUK SERI NAZRI

Our Ref: MPF/MMN/003/06

March,20, 2006

YB Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz
Minister
Prime Minister’s Department
15th Floor, Parliament House
Tower Block
Kuala Lumpur

Assalamualaikum WBT

Dear Yang Berhormat,

JOINT MEMORANDUM TO THE MINISTER IN PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE, LAW PORTFOLIO, DATUK SERI MOHAMED NAZRI ABDUL AZIZ IN SUPPORT OF HIS STATEMENT IN DEWAN RAKYAT ON 16 MARCH 2006 THAT THE ISLAMIC FAMILY LAW FEDERAL (TERRITORIES) (AMENDMENT) ACT 2006 DOES NOT CONTRADICT HUKUM SYARA’ AND SHOWED NO DISCRIMINATION TO WOMEN.

We jointly support the above said statement by Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz on the above amendments to the above Act. In addition, we would like to jointly recommend the following actions:-

Malaysians must reaffirm Islam as the official religion of Malaysia. Sensitivities of Muslims must be respected and unwarranted comments on Islam avoided.

We take pride in Malaysia’s multi-racial and multi-religious make-up, the source of our rich cultural heritage. Our harmonious co-existence hinges on mutual respect of different faiths and racial communities.
Some Non-Muslims understandably cannot relate to Muslims’ reverence of the Islamic sacred texts. The current trend of comments by Non-Muslims on Islamic jurisprudence such as Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories), Amendment Act 2006 has caused concern among Muslims.
Offensive and inflammatory criticisms of Islamic … [Read more]

From Husna’s Blog …

Saturday, December 22, 2007

MPF @ Rumah Solehah

We had a makan2 thingy last night @ Rumah Solehah, the new house (their very own home, no need to move like nomads now) is sumwhere in Jln Thavers, Kg. Pandan where we got lost !! The MPF (individuals la) did some Qurban for the kids of Rumah Solehah; a shelter for the women and kids with HIV and AIDS. Since my dad is the chairman of the house thus MPF is somehow related too. Last two years we did a fundraising for the house (raised close to 250K), and of course the usual visits. So technically my dad is the father for all the kids there, 25 or 26 of them. But sadly not all of them came last night, they were still in the old house @ Bdr Tun Razak because most of them were not well. We had yummylicious nasi pilau by Aunty Azra, and the main dishes of kerutup daging & fried chicken by Aunty Rohana (sedap giler !) , mee by Aunty Elya, different types of salad by Aunty Aishah, heavenly desserts cupcakes, donuts by Aunty Gee & Aunty Mils and cream … [Read more]

MUSLIM PROFESSIONALS FORUM STATEMENT

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana (1863-1952)

The Muslim Professionals Forum (MPF) view with much concern the events that have unfolded the past few weeks which only testifies to the wisdom of the abovementioned verse.

Civil society and the world at large has been treated to dark images of the streets of Kuala Lumpur due to memory lapses on the part of both the government and the governed.

The unprecedented, highly inflammatory and malicious statements issued by P. Uthayakumar, as legal adviser to Hindraf (Hindu Rights Action Force), failed to recognized the decorum of civilized discourse and was calculated to incite racial and religious discord among Malaysians.

The perennial denial of her citizens to a peaceful assembly and the inappropriate show of force by the police only serve to demonstrate an unduly autocratic political governance out of sync with the higher aspirations of the democratic process.

THE MUSLIM PROFESSIONALS FORUM (MPF) TAKING COGNISANCE OF THE ABOVE DO HEREBY:
1. URGE the leadership of Hindraf to furnish the legal evidence for their alleged grouses and grievances and cease the distortion and falsification of historical facts;

2. URGE the leadership of Hindraf to exhaust all the … [Read more]

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Statement from organisers of ‘Understanding Hamas’
(Forthcoming lecture by Azzam Tamimi, 4/12/06)

At 7pm on Monday 4th December, Dr. Azzam Tamimi, director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought, will speak at Edinburgh University’s Appleton Tower on ‘Understanding Hamas’. He will sell signed copies of his new book, Hamas: Unwritten Chapters (C. Hurst & Co., London, 2006), priced at £15.

In the face of criticism and accusations, we, the three organising societies, reiterate our commitment to host this important event and invite our critics to engage with their minds and desist from knee-jerk reactions and politically motivated smears.

The Speaker and Topic
As well as being an accomplished academic, Dr. Tamimi comments regularly on the Arab and Western media, particularly on issues related to Middle Eastern politics and Islamism. He was an important consultant on the BBC’s Power of Nightmares documentaries and has his own Comment is Free column at the Guardian. He has long been a prominent voice of Palestinian resistance and is well known as a speaker in the British anti-war movement.

Crucial to understanding the ongoing violence and discord in the Middle East is analysis of the discourses maintained by various actors in the conflict. Since its formation, Hamas (the Islamic Resistance … [Read more]