Posts Tagged ‘Religion’

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PKR clears the air on Arumugam’s second wife

February 10th, 2009
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Since its in the open that Arumugam has some personal difficulties related to marital issues, PKR came out with the explanation:

PKR supreme council member Datuk Johari Abdul has described the personal problems faced by V. Arumugam as not a scandal but a misunderstanding.

He said the problems were linked to the legal status of Arumugam’s “second wife.”

“A non-Muslim man cannot have more than one wife under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 unless he divorces his first wife.

“Arumugam married his second wife some eight or nine years ago by religious rites,” said Johari.

He said Arumugam had not registered the customary marriage because he was still legally married to his first wife of 19 years.

Asked whether Arumugam’s resignation was related to a memorandum that had been submitted to the Kedah Sultan alleging he had insulted the palace by bringing his “second wife” to official functions, Johari, who is also MP for Sungei Petani said:

“To me, this is all just a misunderstanding that has been triggered by certain parties to create uncertainty.”

“Arumugam married his second wife some eight or nine years ago, but this is being raised now. Clearly, this seems to be a ploy to bring him down,” he said.

In Alor Setar, state government sources said that the memorandum was submitted to the Sultan on Tuesday by several residents of Sungai Petani.

They said Arumugam had breached Section 7 (1) of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 by taking a second wife without divorcing his first.

They also questioned the woman’s legal status to marry.

“We have photographs to prove that they married according to religious rites,” said the sources.

Attempts to contact Arumugam have been unsuccessful.

What does Hinduism say on taking a second wife? Anyone can answer?

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Rihanna under ISA

January 22nd, 2009
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Looking at the threat Rihanna poses, why not we allow her into the country, and then put her in ISA to be counseled and reformed? Can we use ISA on foreigners? 🙂 (It’s a joke in case some people don’t get it)

Let’s look at the reasons given by PAS FT Youth:

1. the concert “does not match with the local culture”

2. having Rihanna in Malaysia is a “disgrace to Asian culture”

3. Israel’s ally, the United States, is funded by its public and this includes Rihanna who is currently living in California. It can be considered as supporting Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza.

4. “It doesn’t matter if Rihanna is involved in the issue, but to us (PAS), she is an agent of polluting young peoples’ minds around the world through her songs.”

5. campaign of boycotting US products including their artistes must go on.

6. PAS youth wing will consistently protest against concerts that does not portray the positive Asian culture and which might create social problems in the country.

And more in Star:

7. inviting the Barbados-born singing sensation to Malaysia was “akin to insulting eastern culture, belittling local artistes”…

8. the Grammy award winner to be unsuitable because she often performed suggestively and wore skimpy, sexy outfits.

9. local concert sponsor Celcom should give priority to eastern cultures and local artistes.

10 .Rihanna’s appearance here would result in an outflow of local currency to the United States, and in turn, cause loss to the country and suffering to the Palestinians.

I believe there are more Malaysians who are a disgrace to Asian culture if we judge by their dressing. One can just flip through magazines like Tattler. Or just spend some time in happening places like Bukit Bintang, Hartamas or the various hangouts at hotels. If its too difficult to do, just visit any of the shopping complexes and observe the dressing and behavior of both Malaysians and foreigners. PAS will have a field day sending protest letters to every ministry in town!

This “boycott USA” thing is getting out of hand with selection persecution implemented. Why not we ban all workers, students and tourists from USA? By extension, why not ban all foreigners whose countries deal with the USA since these countries indirectly contribute to the coffers of USA? Why not we ban exports to USA and countries that trade with USA?

And really, why are we getting paranoid with Palestine when our own backyard is stinking so much? Yeah, those people are suffering and we share their sorrow. We donate money and we sympathise with them.

I don’t agree with PAS confusing their Middle East religion with “Asian culture”. They have no right to represent Asians like myself who do not profess their religion. In fact, they can’t represent about 40% of Malaysians and loads of foreigners who are working here. PAS is intruding dangerously into the private lives and freedom of people who are not connected in anyway with its ideology or religion.  Instead of butting its nose every where, just focus and counseling or educating the followers of your religion. That is the correct way, in my opinion.

Looks like PAS is becoming number one enemy of Rihanna fans throughout the world.

BTW, I have not heard any of this singer’s songs nor am I promoting her concert, but I find  it hard to accept PAS’ logic.

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Kuala Terengganu Indian voters meet Najib

January 14th, 2009
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I saw the Indians at Kuala Terengganu attending a dinner (organised by MIC?) over the TV. At that time, it was mentioned by the reporter that Deputy PM Najib may attend the dinner.

Looks like he did, and below is extract from NST report:

Datuk Seri Najib Razak last night urged the Indian community not to fall prey to the opposition’s provocative campaigns.

He said although there had been some recent problems affecting the Indians, these problems were not entirely insoluble.

“I am very confident that these problems can be addressed effectively through consultation and discussion,” he said at a dinner with the local Indian community.

The deputy prime minister acknowledged that there had been some dissatisfaction among Indians regarding several sensitive issues, including some that were raised within the Umno set up.

“Umno is a large party and the views of one or two members do not represent our stand as a whole.”

Najib said issues such as the destruction of Hindu temples had been blown out of proportion and exploited by some quarters for their own political benefit.

“Let me assure you of this: we are not the type of government that goes around destroying temples in the country.”

Najib said the government was also constantly in touch with grassroots leaders from the community to solve their problems.

This included the problem of stateless Indians, he said, adding that he had raised this issue in the cabinet.

Najib urged Indians not to be fooled by the opposition’s propaganda, saying that unlike Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Rakyat was a loose coalition that could not even share common objectives.

3 things I would like to refer from his speech:

1. what he means by recent?

2. “including some that were raised within the Umno set up” and “the views of one or two members do not represent our stand as a whole” . I think the action that the party to in response to the one or two members is lacking. Latest incident is when banners saying close down Tamil schools were shown in Melaka during an unreleated protest by UMNO.

3. “we are not the type of government that goes around destroying temples in the country.” This is most laughable. While he may proclaim so, the truth is the opposite. Temples were and are being demolished for various reasons. He should have not said this statement.  He could have reworded it into something more acceptable like ” won’t demolish or relocate temples without proper procedures being followed”. Then, maybe we can consider his statement as possible.

At the same dinner, Sothinathan gave his views:

MIC vice-president Datuk S. Sothinathan said a party survey showed that in the March general election, 80 per cent of the Indians had supported Barisan Nasional.

“This time around, we do not see much problems in getting the support of the Indians.

“Things in Kuala Terengganu are far different as compared with the other states, for example during the Permatang Pauh by-election.

“There are no real issues among the Indian voters here,” Sothinathan said at the MIC office, near here.

Sothinathan, who is also MIC co-ordinator for the by-election, said he had been getting positive feedback during meet-the-Indian voters sessions.

“Most of the issues which they have raised are concerning day to day matters. We have pledged to look into their problems and seek solutions.”

One of the main grouses of the Indian community in Kuala Terengganu is difficulty in getting citizenship.

“There was a case of an elderly couple, both in their 70s who have been here for more than 40 years but still have not got their citizenship.“

Other issues include business opportunities, education, housing and employment in the civil service.

Sothinathan said MIC would also help to provide transport to bring back Indian voters working or living outside Kuala Terengganu.

1. Hmm…80% supported BN in the March general elections???

2. 40 years and no citizenship. Indonesian who comes now can be public bus driver holding PR. What an irony.

However, there seems to be a lack of local issues for Indian community, unless they look at national issues affecting the community. Of course, if what Samy Vellu says is right, there are some problems affecting the Indians due to UMNO itself!:

The MIC president also claimed that during his visit to the parliamentary seat of Kuala Terengganu recently to oversee the setting up of MIC’s operations room in preparation for the Jan 17 by-election, many had complained to him that Indian, especially Hindu religious songs and cultures, were allegedly barred from being practiced openly

Whoa! What a blooper! (or is it the truth?)

BTW, The same Star report mentioned that:

While the Chinese voters have been described as the “king-makers” in the Kuala Terengganu by-election, the voice of the 523 registered Indian voters cannot be ignored.

Of this number, 380 live in the area while the rest are working in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang and Johor.

Most of the Indian voters, at 235, are registered in the Bandar state seat, 188 in Ladang, 80 in Batu Burok and the rest in Wakaf Mempelam.

They are mostly businessmen and professionals, like lawyers.

This is critical as the majority by the previous MPs was only 628. If the Malay votes are split equally, the Chinese and Indians will be the king makers.

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Posted in BornInMalaysia, Indian

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Pakatan Retak coming soon?

January 12th, 2009
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From Pakatan Rakyat to Pakatan Retak. Well, what we can expect from politicians 🙂

Since Khairy Jamaludin trapped Husam Musa (or is it something pre-planned?) over the implementation of Hudud, Pakatan is getting agitated. DAP is very unhappy at PAS and Anwar Ibrahim over their stand on Hudud.

If one remembers correctly, there was no mention of Islamic laws in the agreement made the 3 parties to work together. But now, PAS is backstabbing DAP, while PKR is playing sandiwara with words since the by-election is days away.

Let’s look at extracts from a Malaysiakini report below:

Hadi said that hudud laws were not an issue in this by-election because it had already been gazetted in Terengganu when PAS held power between 1999 to 2004.

“It only applies for Muslims while non-Muslims can decide for themselves. Misunderstanding (on this issue) between Pakatan Rakyat (parties) does not arise.

“It is only Umno that is causing problems,” he added.

Lim then replied that DAP respects the opinion of its coalition partners but Pakatan Rakyat cannot make decisions as a federal government unilaterally.

“If any problems occur, we will resolve it through musyawarah, that is through discussions. All three parties must hold discussions and if a consensus is not reached, it must be discussed again.

“This means, should PKR and PAS agree to implement hudud and DAP disagrees then it cannot be implemented. Everything must be discussed until all three parties agree,” he said.

Lim went on along the same vein for about five minutes while Hadi was noticeably uncomfortable forcing Terengganu PAS chief Mustafa Ali intervened.

Mustafa told reporters that hudud was not an issue in the Kuala Terengganu by-election as the results would not have any impact on the state or federal government.

Hmm…the seat got hot for them until squirming nervously?

I always thought that PAS will back-track/backstab/break away from the coalition. Their ideology is being compromised for the sake of winning the general elections, but it cannot be surpressed for long. PKR is depending on Anwar for comments, but no news from Tian Chua and gang. They will most likely support the stronger side, and in this case, PKR-PAS team looks a better prospect than PKR-DAP prospect.

Its very hard to have a balanced partnership in any coalition. Each party would like to think of it as being the backbone of the coalition, and PAS certainly does not want to play 3rd fiddle to Anwar and DAP.

Interestingly, according to Malaysian Insider:

Speaking to The Malaysian Insider earlier, Khairy denied he had backed the implementation of hudud during his debate with Husam.

Khairy, who has in recent weeks been campaigning on a more inclusive agenda in the race for the top job in his party’s Youth wing, was quoted by The Star as saying he supported the implementation of hudud, in what would have certainly damaged his reputation among more moderate Muslims and non-Muslims.

The Star later retracted the report.

So, did he or did he not mention that he will support Hudud law? Suara Keadilan believes he did:

… The issue over hudud – not new – stirred up a storm of reaction after Husam and Khairy both declared at an open debate they would implement the Islamic law if they came to power.

… Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak too tried to limit the damage from Khairy’s comments. The son-in-law of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had been reported as saying he would implement hudud if he won the Umno Youth chief post. He has since said he was misquoted.

Another article from CKcounterpunch blog says:

Husam’s forthrightness led Associate Prof Mohd Agus – also participating in the forum – to ask Khairy point-blankly if he would push for hudud law if he became Umno Youth chief.

Khairy, the 32-year old son-in-law of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said he would.

Many in the audience were taken aback by his answer.

“It contrasted against his earlier remarks about multi-racialism and how important it was for Malaysians to shift to a new paradigm. With Husam, well, PAS and DAP have never been hypocritical about their opposing stands,” said a spectator who declined to be identified.

So, this unclear situation is not good. We may have some negative elements in BN itself who want to implement Hudud.

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push for Thaipusam holiday in Kedah

January 9th, 2009
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If I remember correctly, the previous state government said that it will look into declaring Thaipusam holiday for Kedah since last year’s request was too close to the festival. Alas, those folks lost the elections.

This time around the PAS-led state government has to satisfy the hunger of the Hindu community. Can they push for holiday for Thaipusam? Will it be considered as anti-Islamic to support a holiday for a kafir religion?

Strangely enough, the call to make Thaipusam a holiday comes from the non-PAS EXCO. who says he has discussed with the Menteri Besar:

The Indian community here has asked the state to declare Thaipusam a public holiday in line with most other states which have already done so.

In making the appeal, Kedah state executive councillor V. Arumugam said he would seek an audience with Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah to get his approval for the public holiday.

He said he had earlier discussed the matter with Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak .

Thaipusam falls on Feb 8 this year and is a public holiday in Selangor, Penang, Perak, Negri Sembilan and Johor.

Which brings us to the next question – What about Malacca? Is MIC trying again this year?

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