Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email Guan Eng courts more problem by declaring that all religion will be treated equally. He says:
All religions are equal, according to Buddhist teaching
– The Star
Doesn’t he know that comparing Islam with other religions as equals will infuriate some (many/all?) of the muslims in the country? Is he baiting certain people to condemn him? Surely he knows that in Islam, only their religion is correct and everyone else is wrong. Its not like Hinduism or Buddhism.
Guess what, he also says that funds will be given fairly to all religion. Gasp!
Plus, he clarifies that Penang will never be an Islamic state (well, as long he is around, anyway).
Islam is the official religion of the country, but the freedom of worship is enshrined in our Federal Constitution.
“Nobody can take away this freedom and this right must be enjoyed by all of us forever.
Worse still, he informed that an inter-religious council had been formed:
We have also formed an inter-religious council called Majlis Silaturahim to promote goodwill and understanding among all religions
How can we forget the fate of IFC (inter-faith council) which was rejected even before formation. Some quarters (PAS including?) held protests against plan to form the IFC, citing that it will put Islam on par with other religions. So how could he proceed with such a committee? Isn’t it against the law or something? Surely its wrong? Would he be taken in under ISA? Unless of course, there’s nothing forbidding him from establishing such a council. No legal issues, no constitutional problems unlike the ones imagined by Nazri.
firstly Guan Eng should be praised for his brave remarks . It takes a maturaty to declare such . Of course not without back fire from pas/umno …
I think Poobalan raised valid point. Lim Guan Eng can say anything he likes to win political points but will this work ? I don’t think so. I remember back in April, when LGE announced this plan, there were opposing statements issued by PAS Penang folks.
Despite Penang having smaller % of Muslims, there are strong fundamentalist elements present there. Remember IFC’s mtg was distrupted in Penang and the people who were involved was all from PAS ( the trial is on-going).
It is the same problem that faced by BN’s non Muslim parties. It is hard to get such council moving due to the non coorperation of the Muslim groups.
BTW, did you guys notice that the previous minister in charge of Muslim issues in the PM dept was replaced by Zahid Hamidi in the new cabinet ? Apparently this was Badawi’s reaction to the non-Muslim’s anger as the previous guy was deemed as a fundamentalist. Zahid is younger and more educated but whether he will be more liberal yet to be seen.
Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is. Mohandas Gandhi
well it will definately give LGE some heights in PG expectation since there’re much non muslims .
Definately pas/umno would disagree .
Malay leaders also disagreed with British back in 1946 when British formed Malayan Union and offered citizenship to non-malays .
In the whole world no one could be much tolarate as Tamils .
anyway this wont happen in malaysia
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FW: Chinese classified as Blacks, court says
This is the post from news.com.au
Chinese classified as Blacks, court says
From correspondents in Johannesburg
June 19, 2008 12:47am
A COURT has issued a landmark ruling classifying Chinese South
Africans as black, making them eligible for benefits for those
discriminated against under the former apartheid regime.
The ruling from the Pretoria high court came after the Chinese
Association of South Africa (CASA) challenged their exclusion from
laws aimed at redressing economic imbalances under white-minority
rule, which ended in 1994.
CASA argued that Chinese citizens continue to be marginalised under
the country’s black economic empowerment and affirmative action
legislation.
Both laws benefit the country’s black, Indian and mixed-race
communities.
“As Chinese South African we were officially classified as coloured
during the apartheid era and suffered under the same discriminatory
laws prior to 1994,” CASA chairman Patrick Chong said.
“The logical inference was thus Chinese South Africans would
automatically qualify for the same benefits afforded to the coloured
group, post 1994.”
The organisation has pressed government on the matter since 2000 in
order to seek clarity on their racial classification