Category: Agama

Malaysia Deputy Home Minister: Not True That Dr Zakir Naik Given Malaysian Citizenship

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 — Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed dismissed today a news report alleging that Indian televangelist Dr Zakir Naik has been given Malaysian citizenship.

“Not true,” Nur Jazlan told Malay Mail Online when contacted.

“There are many processes to follow and it takes decades to become a citizen,” he added.

Nur Jazlan also told The Star Online that Malaysia does not automatically confer citizenship on anybody, unless said person is born in the country to Malaysian parents.

The Pulai MP said he did not think that Dr Zakir would want to apply for Malaysian citizenship.

Indian news outfit Hindustan Times cited unnamed representatives of Dr Zakir as saying that the Mumbai-based televangelist’s so-called Malaysian citizenship had come as a “package” together with his “Tokoh Maal Hijrah” award that he received from Malaysia in 2013.

The publication also claimed that Dr Zakir now holds dual Indian-Malaysian citizenship although Malaysia does not allow such a thing.

Hindustan Times said the fact that Dr Zakir is purportedly a Malaysian citizen on Malaysian soil would complicate investigations, as Malaysia has not allowed any extradition to India despite signing a treaty in 2010.

The Muslim preacher is believed to be currently in Malaysia.

Earlier this month, Times of India reported that the Indian government had imposed a five-year ban on Dr Zakir’s NGO, the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF).

The daily reported that India’s National Investigation Agency is mulling terror charges against Dr Zakir, reportedly based on testimonies of about 50 terror suspects and convicts recorded from various jails, with those caught citing him as their motivation and source of inspiration.

In April this year, the state of Terengganu offered Dr Zakir three islands for the preacher to open a branch for IRF, in addition to a religious school.

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

November 28, 2016
Arrested ISIS-Linked Cell Members Planning Attacks On Government Buildings, Myanmar Embassy

Arrested members of an ISIS-linked cell in Indonesia were planning attacks on government buildings, TV stations, and the Myanmar Embassy in Jakarta, police said, adding that the scale of the attack might have been even bigger than 2002 Bali bombing.

“They were helping plan a bomb attack against parliament, the national police headquarters, the embassy of Myanmar and several television stations,” national police spokesman Rikwanto said, as cited by AFP.

He added that the attack planned by Islamic State-linked (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants could have been even worse that the 2002 Bali bombings.

The attack on the Indonesian resort island of Bali killed 202 people and injured 200 more, mostly foreigners. Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian militant Islamist terrorist group, linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, was reportedly responsible for the attack. Several of the group’s members were convicted on terrorism charges.

Earlier this week, police arrested Rio Priatna Wibawa, 23, at his home in Majalengka regency, West Java province. Officers discovered large amount of bomb-making material which he allegedly planned to use in the attacks. The bombings were reportedly planned to take place in December, though police failed to find out when exactly.

Police also found a black flag, rounds of bullets, and several weapons, including an air rifle and a machete, police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said, as cited by Reuters. He described the suspect as a “self-taught bomb-maker.”

His two alleged accomplices, all members of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, a domestic cell affiliated with Islamic State, were arrested on Saturday and Sunday. Jamaah Ansharut Daulah is a splinter cell of the Jemaah Islamiyah group.

Those arrested were identified as Bahrain Agam and Saiful Bahri, AFP quoted Rikwanto as saying. They reportedly donated money to buy explosives and even helped Wibawa set up a home bomb-making laboratory.

In January, Indonesia was rocked by terrorist attacks staged by Islamic State sympathizers. At least four people were killed and 23 others, including foreigners, were injured after militants set off multiple explosions and fired guns near a shopping mall in central Jakarta. The attack took place near a UN information center, luxury hotels, and foreign embassies.

Source: www.rt.com

November 28, 2016
Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak To Join Gathering Protesting Myanmar Government’s Treatment Of Rohingyas

Malaysia’s prime minister will be joining a gathering organized by the government to protest violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, according to his deputy.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told a press conference that the Dec. 4 gathering would later determine Malaysia’s diplomatic ties with Myanmar’s government if it decides to continue military operations in troubled Rakhine State — home to around 1.2 million Rohingya.

“The gathering would be attended by Prime Minister Najib Razak and other political leaders. To-date, PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang has confirmed his participation,” he said late Saturday, referring to the Malaysian Islamic Party.

Hamidi also urged other major opposition political parties, namely the People’s Justice Party and the National Honest Party, to join the gathering.

“We put aside our political differences and as Muslims we gather to express our concern for our fellow Muslims in Myanmar,” he underlined.

The announcement came after thousands of people protesting violence against Rohingya joined demonstrations Friday in the capitals of Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

Over the past six weeks, rights groups have expressed concern over reports of killings, rapes, arbitrary arrests and other violations in villages predominantly inhabited by Rohingya in Rakhine amid military operations launched after fatal attacks on police outposts last month.

Myanmar has said that since Oct. 9, at least 86 people — 17 soldiers and 69 alleged “attackers” (among them two women) — have been killed, and property destroyed in the area.

Rohingya groups, however, claim that the number killed in one weekend alone earlier this month could be as high as 150 civilians.

Humanitarian outfits have called for independent investigations into the initial attacks, the ongoing operations and reported rapes and rights abuses in Rakhine, as with the area placed under military lockdown, rights groups and international reporters have been unable to enter.

Hamidi said Malaysia remains firm on the principle that it cannot interfere in the affairs of other countries, but said that on humanitarian grounds, it must express its concern to Myanmar authorities.

“We are not belittling other countries, but we have demonstrated our deep concerns over the Rohingya issues because as fellow Muslims we can feel their sufferings,” he stressed.

The deputy premier also said the gathering would discuss, and state the country’s stance, on calls for the withdrawal of the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, currently the country’s state counselor-cum-foreign minister.

“If someone who is given the award can no longer maintain peace, it [the conferment] can still be questioned,” Hamidi underlined.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s government is also due to send a protest note to the Myanmar government to demand their concern regarding persecution faced by the stateless Rohingya community.

“A cabinet meeting has decided to send a protest note to the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur,” Hamidi added.

A law passed in Myanmar in 1982 denied Rohingya — many of whom have lived in Myanmar for generations — citizenship, making them stateless.

The law denies the Rohingya rights to Myanmar nationality, removes their freedom of movement, access to education and services, and allows arbitrary confiscation of property.

Myanmar nationalists have since taken to referring to the Rohingya — which the United Nations calls one of the most persecuted people in the world — as Bengali, which suggests they are not Myanmar nationals but interlopers from neighboring Bangladesh.

Source: www.worldbulletin.net

November 28, 2016
Muhammad Shamil To PM Lee: Help Singaporeans And Singapore Find Peaceful, Lasting Solution To Rohingya Genocide In Myanmar

Dear PM Lee,

Peace be upon you.

I hope you and loved ones are well.

Sir, with all due respect, forgive me for trying to reach out to you on a seemingly informal channel like FB. I just believe it is one of the most powerful channels today to directly communicate with leaders and other people. And instead of sending a private message, I have made it public to help spread news of the apparent issues in Myanmar and encourage others to speak to their leaders to do something about it. So pardon the medium and heed the message please.

Prime minister, I am deeply troubled and saddened by what is happening in Myanmar and as a citizen of this country, I humbly ask for our government to help and/or tell me what I can do to assist in this humanitarian crisis at our very doorstep. As published in Channelnewsasia, a UN official claims that the government of Myanmar is “pursuing ethic cleansing of Rohingya” (http://www.channelnewsasia.com/…/myanmar-pursu…/3317908.html). The article speaks of genocide, civilians being killed, raped and tortured in a neighboring country. I shudder to think of the horrors Rohingya men, women and children are going through this very moment, should these reports be true and pray for their safety and comfort.

Sir, I am no expert in the matter but I would like to help, and am sure many others would like to help too but simply don’t know how. It’s not like they are suffering from just severe poverty or famine, in those types of situations, at the very least, people could donate money but here the situation is worst, they are systematically being wiped out. I am humbly turning to you, the leader of our very powerful government, as an ordinary Singaporean, to help find a peaceful solution to the problem. Pressure and work with Myanmar leaders to ensure that the crisis is handled in a more humane manner.

This is not the first time in recent history that the powers that be in Myanmar have resorted to violence against civilians. But I hope these acts of seemingly state sanction terrorism stop. And I hope Singapore plays a big part in bringing about and maintaining peace in the region.

We live in a most peaceful multiethnic, multi-religious country, yes there are flaws, but it is something in Singapore I am so very proud of and grateful for. It’s a thing of beauty. So how can we sit idly by while others in Asean are literally being killed simply because of their religion, claimed ancestry or colour of their skin? We have to be a force for good in the region, we are Singapore. Siapa tidak kenal Singapura, negara terindah berbilang bangsa?

Our silence will not save them. Let’s do something to help now.

Majulah Singapura.

Thank you kindly.

Sincerely,
Muhammad Shamil Bin Zainuddin

Source: Shamil Zainuddin

November 28, 2016
Dalai Lama On Rohingya Muslims: If Buddha Happened, He Would Protect The Rohingya Brothers And Sisters

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has a moral responsibility to try to ease tensions between majority Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims, her fellow Nobel laureate, the Dalai Lama, said on Monday.

The Tibetan spiritual leader said he had stressed the issue in meetings with Suu Kyi, who came to power in April in the newly created role of state counsellor in Myanmar’s first democratically elected government in five decades.

“She already has the Nobel Peace Prize, a Nobel Laureate, so morally she should … make efforts to reduce this tension between the Buddhist community and Muslim community,” he told Reuters in an interview in Washington.
“I actually told her she should speak more openly.”

Violence between majority Buddhists and minority Muslims in recent years has cast a cloud over progress with democratic reforms in Myanmar. Rights groups have sharply criticized Suu Kyi’s reluctance to speak out on the Rohingya’s plight.

The Dalai Lama said Suu Kyi, who won worldwide acclaim and a Nobel Peace Prize as a champion of democratic change in the face of military persecution, had responded to his calls by saying that the situation was “really complicated.”

“So I don’t know,” he said.

There is widespread hostility towards Rohingya Muslims in the Buddhist-majority country, including among some within Suu Kyi’s party and its supporters.

More than 100 people were killed in violence in western Rakhine state in 2012, and some 125,000 Rohingya Muslims, who are stateless, took refuge in camps where their movements are severely restricted.

Thousands have fled persecution and poverty in an exodus by boat to neighboring South and Southeast Asian countries.

The Dalai Lama said some Buddhist monks in Myanmar “seem to have some kind of negative attitude to Muslims” and Buddhists who harbored such thoughts “should remember Buddha’s face.”

“If Buddha happened, he certainly would protect those Muslim brothers and sisters,” he said.

The new Myanmar government announced late last month that Aung San Suu Kyi would lead a new effort to bring peace and development to Rakhine State.

The announcement offered no details on how the group would go about addressing the state’s multitude of problems.
Suu Kyi said during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry last month that the country needed “enough space” to deal with the Rohingya issue and cautioned against the use of “emotive terms”, that she said were making the situation more difficult.

Source: http://indianexpress.com

November 27, 2016