Decision on Lina Joy's case next Wednesday

BY RAPHAEL WONG

PUTRAJAYA: Next Wednesday, the Federal Court will deliver its decision on the appeal of Lina Joy against the Court of Appeal’s majority ruling two years ago, which ruled that the National Registration Department director-general was right in not allowing her application to delete the word “Islam” from her identity card.

Lina's solicitor Benjamin Dawson confirmed the date of decision today.

On July 3, last year, Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum and Federal Court judge Justice Alauddin Mohd Sheriff reserved their judgment to a date to be fixed.

Lina, 42, was born Azlina Jailani to Malay parents. She was brought up as a Muslim but at the age of 26 decided to become a Christian.

In 1999, she managed to change the name in her identity card to Lina Joy but her religion remains as Islam.

On April 23, 2001, the High Court refused to decide on her application to renounce Islam as her religion on grounds that the issue should be decided by the Syariah Court.

It also dismissed her application for an order to direct the department to drop the word “Islam” from her identity card.

[The Star Malaysia Online]

Me : Finally the result is coming out. After about one year since she (Lina Joy) appealed for her case, there's been many rumours by both sides of the party, or perhaps it is better to unify them as a new pack of people, the havoc-creators, for nobody knew who started the rumours first, but it was surely done for the sake of raging up both sides of the parties, the ones who are clearly against the appeal of Lina Joy, the concerned Muslims (including me), and the ones who are clearly got their backs on Lina Joy, a.k.a the 'liberalists' and socialists.

But for whoever wins, it will surely be a big loss for the other. If the Court's decided not to approve her appeal, one thing for sure that the DAP will use this issue for their own sake. Well, they are socialists for God's sake, any issue which they can use against the current government will surely be raised up, even in the Parliamentary, even for issues which concerns the Batu Gajah MP. Until now they have not kept silent and is still demanding further actions taken, even after the sexist MPs made a public apology, though there are this and that in the public apology, if you get what I am trying to say.

If the Court approve her appeal, perhaps it will be the worst which has yet to come. Maybe even another May 13 ( Please be reminded that I am not approving such things, and I am against such things, as I would gladly be the first one to stop such things from happening). This will surely tarnish the image of Islam Hadhari, whereby our very own Prime Minister was boasting about our great image as an Islamic nation. Hey, what kind of Islamic nation allows apostasy who denounces Islam and converted to other religion? It is surely not in the rule of Islam, thus Malaysia is surely not an Islamic nation, but just a nation with majority Muslim in the country, and taking several parts of Islam to be implemented in the governance, even though each and every Muslims is aware of Al-Baqarah:208 where it is stated that one should take Islam as a whole.

For whatever the outcome is, one thing is for sure, our Prime Minister and his puppets is going to have a bitter day.

PM: Kita mampu berjaya

Daripada AZNAN BAKAR

TOKYO 24 Mei – Malaysia mampu muncul sebagai sebuah negara Islam yang berjaya sama ada dari segi ekonomi mahupun hubungan antarabangsa kerana berpegang kepada prinsip agama itu yang sebenar, kata Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Perdana Menteri berkata, walaupun rakyatnya berbilang kaum dan agama, namun apa yang dilaksanakan adalah selari dengan Islam yang mementingkan keadilan dan kesederhanaan selain tumpuan kepada pembangunan modal insan.

“Hubungan dengan komuniti antarabangsa yang lebih besar juga berasaskan nilai dan prinsip Islam termasuk keamanan. Saya percaya nilai dan prinsip ini selari dengan amalan antarabangsa,” katanya ketika berucap pada Persidangan Antarabangsa Nikkei mengenai Masa Depan Asia, di sini hari ini.

Katanya, nilai dan prinsip Islam tersebut termasuk keamanan, kesederhanaan, permuafakatan, keadilan, menghormati undang-undang dan membantu yang lemah dan yang miskin.

Katanya, di sebalik apa yang dilakukan itu, Malaysia berharap dapat menjadi contoh yang baik dan dapat memberi sumbangan membina kepada dunia Islam dan kepada masyarakat antarabangsa.

Sebagai pemimpin sebuah negara dan sebagai pengerusi semasa Pertubuhan Persidangan Islam (OIC), Abdullah berkata, hasratnya adalah untuk mengembalikan asas agenda umat Islam iaitu untuk memajukan ummah.

Sebab itu katanya, OIC perlu lebih memberi penekanan kepada pembangunan dan ekonomi daripada agenda politiknya.

Katanya, umat Islam perlu mengelak isu-isu perpecahan yang menyebabkan sebahagian besar daripada mereka tidak dapat menikmati keamanan dan kemakmuran.

Menurut Perdana Menteri, untuk itu Malaysia berusaha mengetengahkan Islam sebagai agama yang progresif termasuk dengan memainkan peranan utama dalam memperkenalkan inovasi dalam bidang kewangan Islam.

Katanya, ia dilakukan melalui penawaran instrumen kewangan berdasarkan undang-undang syariah yang membolehkan pelabur, termasuk bukan Islam, membuat pilihan produk yang konsisten dengan amalan terbaik dan beretika.

Beliau berkata, begitu juga dalam membangunkan produk dan perkhidmatan halal, Malaysia sedang menetapkan piawai yang memenuhi kehendak Islam serta yang diinginkan oleh orang bukan Islam untuk tujuan kesihatan dan lain-lain.

“Ini adalah satu lagi bukti mengenai keserasian ajaran Islam dengan kehidupan moden,” katanya.

– Utusan

Me : How could we be called an Islamic nation? Looking back to comments by the Ministers before, we are not an Islamic nation, the only thing is that we are a country with majority Muslim. That is what the MCA stands for during the huh-hah of Islamic nation thing.

If we were an Islamic nation, how come there's still ISA ? The very big thing which is very likely to oppose the way of Islam. Everyone knows how much that there is no justice in ISA. You are arrested for no relevant reason, other than 'for threatening the country' and so on. You are not brought to any kind of trial before you were sentenced for the 2 years under the bars of ISA. Or very much likely said by Saari Sungib, as 'tahanan politik'.

If we were an Islamic nation, how come we still allow gamblings? The only thing Malaysia doesn't allow is illegal gambling. Under the context of Islam, is there any such thing as illegal gambling? No, there isn't. Everyone knows that gambling is haraam, forbidden in Islam. But in Malaysia, it is haraam only if it is not registered, which means for each and every penny the gambling companies received, they must allocate a certain amount known as tax to the government. Does not that means the government too is involved in gambling?

If we were an Islamic nation, how come we still have the Guinness plant in our own land, for God's sake. We kept on talking about halal foods, how we were going to be halal hub and so on, yet we are one of the producers for haraam things. Does not that sounds funny?

They ask you (O Muhammad SAW) concerning alcoholic drink and gambling.^[] Say: "In them is a great sin, and (some) benefit for men, but the sin of them is greater than their benefit." And they ask you what they ought to spend. Say: "That which is beyond your needs." Thus Allâh makes clear to you His Laws in order that you may give thought." [Al-Baqarah:219]

The only thing which sounds true is that part of us (on the governing side) looks like Islamic nation, while in other parts, it is not. Which in the end, it means only one thing, we are not an Islamic country, because for an Islamic country, each and every ruling of Islam must be taken into account, not just to agree in some parts of Islamic rule, while at the same time denounce the others.

O you who believe! Enter perfectly in Islâm (by obeying all the rules and regulations of the Islâmic religion) and follow not the footsteps of Shaitân (Satan). Verily! He is to you a plain enemy.[Al-Baqarah:208]

Singapore Not Dictating On How To Manage IDR, Says Envoy

JOHOR BAHARU, May 18 (Bernama) -- Malaysian High Commissioner to Singapore Datuk N. Parameswaran today described as baseless allegations that the formation of a joint Malaysia-Singapore committee to oversee the cooperation in the Iskandar Development Region (IDR) would affect Malaysia's sovereignty.

He said Singapore was not interested in meddling with Malaysia's internal affairs, more so dictating on how to manage the IDR.

"If there're those who have that kind of thinking, it means that they don't know the truth. There's no reason why the committee should get involved in Malaysia's affairs. And they (the committee) don't intend to do that," he told reporters after accompanying members of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce on a visit to the IDR here.

Certain parties have alleged that the joint committee would affect Malaysian sovereignty and questioned its rationale.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced the formation of the committee after holding an informal meeting with his Singaporean counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, in Langkawi on Tuesday.

Parameswaran said the committee would only cooperate on technical matters. "Singapore hasn't expressed any intention to give ideas on the IDR. But we're ready to share our expertise, for example, in river clean-up with Malaysia," he said.

On the construction of a bridge to replace the Causeway, he said: "Let both prime ministers talk to each other. And when they're more confident, they can discuss the difficult issues," he said.

Developed by Khazanah Holding, the 2,200 sq km IDR in southern Johor covers areas like Johor Baharu, Kulai, Kota Tinggi and Pontian.

___________________________________

Honestly, there's no reason why people SHOULD NOT described it as NOT AFFECTING Malaysia's sovereignty.

The very basic reason is because IDR is in Malaysia's land, not Singapore. Then why bother to ask them, to form a team to oversee IDR ? Unless, of course, Singapore is guaranteed to have a hold of IDR for themselves. It is just like you taking other's places, expect that you didn't need to withdraw guns and tanks, unlike what the States did to Iraq. All you need to do is just to disguise yourself as a 'potential partner', and then you make your way in controlling their economic path line.

Then again, in the context of our very own Malaysia, every man and woman knows how Singapore plays a big role, economically. Yep, the States and Singapore, two main economic resources of Malaysia in these days. With the States, the government is going for F.T.A agreement, though Pak Dollah Badawi himself knows that with F.T.A, his great agriculture plan would definitely fail. What about Singapore? Which is the beginning where we see the Temasek Group and IDR came into hands, and became parts of our gambling cards.

Malaysia need to sell off some things to make Singapore please. In simple words, if you sell fruits at the market, you need to attract your buyers to buy your stuffs. That's how Malaysia did it, though the costs are very great. Impossible it is not, as everyone knows politics is the art of possibility, turning the impossibles to possibles. No need to remind me of YTL proposal to built a fast train from KL to Singapore. No need to remind me of the ECM-Libra Avenue merger controversy. It's all just part of a long string.

As per said in the first place, why do we need Singapore to form a joint action to oversee IDR ? Why not we look for private companies which won't get extra-benefits from overseeing the development of IDR? Would not that sound better, rather than having a neighbour of ours to help us oversee our own land? Of course the costs might be higher, but hey, that's way better than having a country which is constantly buying sands and rocks to expand their territories, to oversee the IDR together with us. Silap-silap, masuk mulut buaya pula nanti.

Of course, not to forget just how much 'we' spent to get Durians for Lee Hsien Loong, or in better words, our own money, RM26k, used by our very own Prime Minister just to satisfy the Singapore Prime Minister. And hey, it is not shark fins or turtle meats, it is just merely durians. Is not that weird, RM26k just for durians. Wow, this is really the land of Bolehland?

Beers will flow ... down the drain

By EDDIE CHUA

SEPANG: A total of 196,272 cans of beer are destined to go down the drain instead of quenching the thirst of drinkers.

The beers packed in 8,178 cartons were seized over the weekend from a syndicate specialising in reselling duty-free beers to pubs and sundry shops.

Busted booze: Madrina (left) inspecting the seized cartons of beer while KLIA Customs preventive chief senior assistant Saidi Ismail (centre) and Federal Territory Customs deputy director Zaimah Zainal Abidin look on.

The beers are being held pending the cases involving two Myanmar nationals caught during the raids by Customs officers at four shoplots in Section U5, Shah Alam light industrial estate.

It is learnt that Customs Department would not auction off the beers as the sale would affect the local market.

Federal Territory Customs chief Datuk Madrina Alwi said the beers, worth RM286,964, had an unpaid duty and sales tax of about RM1mil.

She said the syndicates worked with freight forwarders and haulers to obtain duty-free beers meant for Hong Kong, Singapore and the local duty-free outlets.

Based on the invoices and transaction records seized from the four shoplots which stored the beers, she said each carton was to be sold for RM30, one third of the market price.

She said the syndicate had been operating for more than six months.

Last week, Madrina said Customs officers arrested two Bangladeshis at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport for smuggling 560 cartons of cigarettes and failing to declare RM10,000 worth of foreign currency.

They were apprehended when they tried to pass through the green lane.

Me (Undisclosed location) : Only something is wrong over here. The fellas who are selling the beers are wrong, for unpaid tax? Uhh.. c'mon. I just had a speech on Halal talk, and even Malaysia just handled the Halal Expo, right? Yet, why are we still claiming money for these things. Sorry if any non-Muslims are offended, but beers are not welcomed in Islam.

I really wondered how come a government that is saying loudly on "Katakan Tak Nak pada Rokok" just let go of the drinking issue. Even the Mix FM deejay said that his friend met an accident due to 'drink and drive'.

And what is more, Malaysia is currently being one of the backbone of OIC. Don't you feel it's wrong for us, who are leading people on what is Halal and Haram, and yet let go of beer just like that.

It is just nonsense. Like the people who asked Pak Lah "Are these halal haram only on foods? What about the other things in life?"

Halal and haram in Islam is not just the matter of what we eat, but also the money provided for us, and by us. That must also be accounted of. We would not want our sons and daughters to buy things using haram-stained money, right?

Malaysian minister hatches blog control plan

A top Malaysian minister has proposed a controversial plan to classify bloggers in a bid to contain the information they send on the Internet, a report said Sunday.

Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin said bloggers would be labelled professional or non-professional to prevent the misuse of blog sites, since professional bloggers would ensure their web content was based on truth.

Zainuddin did not elaborate how his plan would be implemented.

The proposal follows an unprecedented defamation suit launched against two bloggers who were critical of the government.

Prominent bloggers Jeff Ooi and Ahirudin Attan are being sued by the New Straits Times Press newspaper group for posts criticising the daily and the government.

Zainuddin, who has previously accused bloggers of using lies to overthrow the government, said "the classification will also facilitate any action to be taken against those found to have violated the country's laws."

"It is feared that these (blog sites) will be misused by those who have an agenda to spread slander," he was quoted as saying in the Sunday Star newspaper.

"By right, there should be a mechanism to control the phenomenon, including classifying bloggers as professionals and non-professionals," he added.

Opposition lawmaker Lim Kit Siang, with the Democratic Action Party, said it would be impossible to implement such a plan, which he described as "definitely an attempt to obstruct and impede free blogging."

"How are we going certify who is professional and non-professional? It is a ridiculous idea," he told AFP.

Lim, a blogger himself, said the government should instead fund bloggers to generate responsible blogging.

Another popular blogger, Raja Petra Kamarudin, who runs the blog site "Malaysia Today," said Zainuddin made many statements without "thinking them through properly."

"How do you evaluate what is truth? It is impossible to register bloggers. What if I refuse to register? How are you going to find out where the blogger is residing?" he said.

Rights groups have condemned government attempts to crackdown on bloggers, arguing that they offer a crucial alternative to the tightly-controlled mainstream media.

Agence France-Presse

Me: Another day of seeing democracy tarnished in Malaysia. Of course, then some of the peoples would then say, democracy in Malaysia is different than democracy in the West. To that kind of question, I would like to leave that aside and just ask them, How in the world do you define Democracy?

Some of my friends told me that all this democracy and other ism is just basically ways of the Illuminati to control us. Yep, true enough. Where does democracy comes from? Western country, right? What laws were they using then? Capitalism. Why? Because they wanted to fight another part of themselves, the Communist and Socialist. Believe me, the two people who introduced Socialist and Capitalist were friends, if not that they were from a same group of people.

The only way of attain democracy, to me, is none. There is no such thing as democracy, if some people were given absolute power. That is the mere problem happening everywhere, from United States of America to Japan. Whenever someone was given the green light, you will see the ego coming out from his head. And thus, war was started.

One simple example : The Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Before the events happened, the States needed the Commons to give them the green light, to bless their government to go away, even if it means an Unholy War.

Alright, enough on democracy. Now, on this blogathinga. Perhaps blogs needed to be control. We can see things like malaysiasucks.blogspot.com. Such blogs, perhaps might be controlled. But then again, how many Malaysians actually read blogs? The visitors' numbers might go up to 1 mil, but how many unique numbers? The urbanized areas like KL and JB, perhaps are opened to such things, but let me remind you, not everyone.

People in the kampung, it's like they care about politics. All they wanted is to have a simple life, having a place of their own, and quietly move along towards a future that they are sure of. For urban people, they know how dirty politics in Malaysia is, so they don't care. As long as their 'periuk nasik' aren't bothered, they won't care.

Politics to Malaysians are just satire. Influential people with great mouths speaking here and there, and makes people to laugh. It's just about that. Which is the reason why many Malaysians are yet to register as voters. They see the same ending everyday. "BN is gonna win for whatever reason it is. So, is there a difference if I vote?".

Honestly, there aren't any such things as dangerous blogs. Reason, these people will just say their words and after that, that's it. They won't take another step towards revolution. They can't. Malaysians are just too lazy to be revolutionists.

The thing that Zam need to stop is the porno sites, not these things. C'mon Mr. Zam, stop the politics and do something right, for all people, not just the BN. Thank you.

Endless Stories

_________________

Man charged with raping his daughter

By TEH ENG HOCK

JOHOR BARU: A 42-year-old man was charged in the Sessions Court here with raping his daughter.

The man pleaded not guilty and claimed trial to the charge of raping his 16-year-old daughter on April 26 at his house in Johor Baru.

Judge Aliman Musri denied Mohd Yani bail, and set July 24 as a date for mention while awaiting a medical report on the girl.

_________________

Gang-raped in terror carjack

JOHOR BARU: A woman who was waiting in the car while her husband went to a toilet was held up at knife-point and taken on a terror ride, gang-raped and robbed.

The 28-year-old woman who works in Singapore, was driven around Plentong for three hours after being abducted from the petrol station in Tampoi. Her three-year-old son was in the car with her.

The drama unfolded when the victim and her son had accompanied her husband to town on his way to work in Singapore at 4am several days ago.

The husband stopped the car, with his wife and son inside, at the petrol station and kept the engine running.

Soon after, the woman was shocked to see a man armed with a knife, knocking at her window demanding that she open the door.

The woman, fearing for her son's safety, complied and the suspect then drove the car to pick up his friend from a nearby area.

They blindfolded the woman and threatened to harm her son if she struggled.

The woman begged the men to let them go as she was pregnant but they instead took her to a secluded area and took turns to rape her.

They then picked up another man before dropping both mother and son in Permas Jaya and driving off with the car and her belongings.

Johor Baru (South) OCPD Asst Comm Shafie Ismail said that the car had been recovered two days after the incident in Majidee. He appealed to those with information to contact the police hotline at 07-221 2999 or the nearest police station.

_________________

Endless Stories. Everyday we hear the same issue. Be it The Star, Utusan, Kosmo, Berita Harian, NST, it is always the same thing. RAPE. INCEST.

It seems that our government (I'm saying this to both sides) is like doing nothing to counter such things. The govt just spent about 36 million just to win Ijok. And the oppositions, they counter back the lies of the government. And issues like these are left behind.

Honestly, when did we start hear such things. Somewhere back in the year 2000, perhaps? What was the main thing about that? Internet. It was the starting of Internet for Malaysia. And since then, this issue also started.

Perhaps it is time for the government to start filtering the internet. It's not that they can't. If I am correct, the MCMC, or Dr. Lim Keng Yeik himself said about such filterization. But the government did not concern too much about it.

All they were concerned about was blogs and their 'lies'. All they were concerned about was their mishandlings being unfolded, one by one, in the Net, and they have just no other option left, except to deny it and campaign for support of filtering the Net from these blogs.

And the oppositions? Hmm, too much time spent on countering the government that they had no time to spend their time on this issue. They just walked away and started gossiping the government mishandlings (though most of the time the gossips appeared to be true). They just kept on commenting on the Malaysia's politic. And to some of them, it is all about politics. Politics, politics and politics.

True enough, we need to carry on with our life with politics. The Iskandar Development Region, MSC, whatever you name it. But as what cost? What is the use of such high-rising economy, or astounding technology, if no actions are taken to make sure the moral level of the Malaysians at the same time is also as the same level with the level of economy and technology. If the country trade can reach RM100 million (or what number it was, like I really care for such figures in times like these), why not make our moral level reach 100 million also, in moral currency that is. Is not this, also one of Islam Had Hari concepts (no wonder it is Had Hari, ada had dan harinya).

It does not matter who started it first. But please, someone, government or opposition, take some action please. It isn't something good if we had lost what we were once proud of, Moral, Ethic. 10 years ago in Malaysia is too different, in term of moral and ethic.

Ramblings

As the Ijok by-election is already over, let's take a look on what is left to be written:

1) Proton
Alright, this news have been silent for a time. Ramblings about Volkswagen AG buying Proton is far from over yet, though the officials have yet to say anything. Then again, rumours about Naza buying Proton is also there, just in case Volkswagen AG is not interested, somehow. But, for whatever is at stake, the percentage is high. 50%, if I am correct. With such percentage you can control the company and drive it anywhere you wanted, even if you were told to only handle them technically and let the elders take care of their management. And so on, and so on.

Of course there were dismissed issues, which are actually meant to help save Proton, like the 'salvage your old car and buy a new one with a CHEAPERRRR price', but officials say it was merely a suggestion, not an implementation. Proton could be better, if they wanted to, but they could not. They very reason behind it is perhaps their inability to counter foreign cars. Creating cheap cars for Malaysians, but with moderate CCs, is certainly a hard job. Perhaps they might want to look into how the Americans created their cheap cars which run fast?

2) WPI & FTA
Quite a controversial issues. Malaysians are already scared of seeing Singaporeans and Americans to actually run the whole place up.

Under the effect of FTA, we will see our rice farmers to be gone in at least 6 months. Under WPI, we will see a 2nd Singapore, right in our country.

But then again, what else could be done? In any way, these two countries are becoming our main supporters, like it or not. Most companies are already running away from Malaysia, and set off sail for countries with better oppurtunities such as China and Vietnam. The main reason, NEP. Believe me or not, NEP may be important for a country like Malaysia, but that is the trade off that we must bear in mind.

10 years ago, NEP may be relevant, as we are one of the best negara dunia ketiga which offers places to build foundries and plants, for the very reason that there is no place else as better as Malaysia. But as time goes by, China became more democratic. Vietnam became more democratic. In the end, companies have to let go of Malaysia, because countries like China and Vietnam offers better manpower and other.

3) ECM-Libra Avenue
Well here is something. Apart from the Ijok by-election, Starbiz wrote an article about Kalimullah Maseerul Hassan who is appointed as the new executive director for ECM Libra Avenue, after he stepped down last year from ECM Libra Avenue's helm, together with Khairy Jamaluddin (KJ) and his friends.

Then again, he made a comeback now, and maybe it could be worse as time flies. What people are thinking right now, at this very right time, as Malaysia's economy has gone 'boom' earlier this year, ECM-Libra Avenue is going to be a major key player in the upcoming events, at least some of the ramblings above. Also, just as a reminder, Temasek Group should also have some influence in ECM-Libra Avenue, right? And not to mention KJ (well, if Kalimullah is there, somehow, unofficially, Khairy must be there too, right? It does not need to be in the black and white, for some level of friendship)