Tag: Malays

UMNO Lodges Police Reort Over Malay-Language Christian Books Found Among Flood-Relief Items In Kelantan

KUALA LUMPUR — UMNO has lodged a police report over Malay-language Christian books that were found among flood relief items in Kelantan, claiming they could threaten the Muslim faith.

News website Utusan Online reported today (Feb 5) that the books titled “Isa Al-Masih Kalimatullah” (Jesus Christ the Word of God) and “Kisah Tentang Yesus Kristus” (The Story of Jesus Christ), which contained cartoons, were distributed by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) on January 21, together with food items and daily necessities to residents at Kampung Slow Machang in Pasir Mas.

The news report, however, did not mention if the Christian books contained the word “Allah”, the Arabic word for God that has been the contention of a few court cases involving a government ban and seizures of materials containing the word.

Muslim coalition Pembela said last month that the Catholic Church must no longer use the Malay language in its Herald weekly as continuing to do so was to challenge the Federal Court decision that upheld a government ban on the paper from describing God as “Allah”.

Christian compact discs (CDs) and books containing the word “Allah” were confiscated from a Sabahan at the Kuala Lumpur International 2 airport in Sepang last October and returned to him about two weeks later.

Two cases involving the right of Christians to use the word “Allah” remain pending in court, which are Sarawakian Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill’s suit against the Home Ministry for confiscating her Christian CDs and the Sabah Sidang Injil Borneo church’s suit over the seizure of children’s books.

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

February 6, 2015
Malaysian Minister Urged Malays To Boycott Chinese Businesses

A minister’s call for traders to lower the price of goods in line with the drop in oil prices took a racial tone when he called on Malays to boycott Chinese businesses, singling out the Old Town White Coffee franchise because of its alleged DAP links.

Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob in a Facebook post (pic) said Malay consumers had a role in helping the government to fight profiteers by using their collective power to lower the price of goods.

“Forgive me for sharing my views, but besides the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism, which uses the Price Control Act and the Anti-Profiteering Act to act against traders who raise their prices indiscriminately, the greatest power lies with consumers.

“The majority of consumers are Malay, Chinese are a minority, if the Malays boycott their businesses, they will surely have no choice but to reduce their prices,” he said in a Facebook post.

Ismail, who was the former domestic trade and consumerism minister, confirmed to The Malaysian Insider that the statement was made by him on his Facebook account.

The post has been shared numerous times by other Facebook users and several also congratulated him for being “bold” in his statement.

He also singled out the Old Town White Coffee chain owned by OldTown Bhd, saying Perak DAP chairman Datuk Ngeh Khoo Ham owned shares in the company.

“Malays are still refusing to boycott (Old Town White Coffee) what more when its owner is said to be the DAP Ngeh family of Perak who are known to be anti-Islam.

“As long as the Malays don’t change, the Chinese will take the opportunity to oppress the Malays,” said Ismail.

Ismail told The Malaysian Insider that his statement was directed at Chinese businesses whom he said were “reluctant” to lower their prices.

“I am referring to Chinese traders who are reluctant to reduce the prices of goods even though the price of petrol has come down.

“What I want to emphasise is for people not to depend solely on the government to ensure the price of goods comes down because as consumers, they can use their power to pressure businesses,” he said.

In his post, Ismail took Malay consumers to task for continuing to patronise Chinese outlets “even though their halal certification is suspect” and even though some of these outlets have had action taken against them. He did not specify which businesses these were.

“Imagine, many Chinese eateries have no ‘halal’ logo and they have been raided a few times and caught because their ‘halal’ certification is suspect, (but) Malays continue to crowd these restaurants, when there are thousands of Malay restaurants which genuinely ‘halal’,” he had said.

He then cited Old Town White Coffee as an example and claimed that it was owned by Ngeh’s family whom he said were “anti-Islam”.

Besides Ismail, other ministers who have insisted that traders must lower goods because oil prices had dropped are Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan and the current Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Haslan Malek, but Ismail was the first to call for Malay boycott of Chinese businesses.

Source: www.themalaysianinsider.com

February 3, 2015
Meet The Rich Kids Of Malaysia

Just last week, we opened up your eyes to the lavish world of Tehran’s finest youths, who claim to be ‘The Rich Kids Of Tehran.’ (Read Here)

A day after, a spin-off Instagram account called, ‘The Rich Kids Of Malaysia’ was set up and has now amassed a total of over a thousand followers.

The account that has recently garnered attention currently allows nominations and has posted pictures of those who are deemed to be the ‘elite.’

After failing to contact the account owner to clarify, a source told us how he stumbled upon the account and saw his friends’ pictures being posted up on the account without their permission.

“I don’t mind someone starting an account like that, I can understand the poor souls’ need for such a thing. But at least do it right, you know?

“Worse was when I saw my friends’ pictures, (whether rich or not, doesn’t matter) in the posts and clearly they had no idea that this was happening.”

After going somewhat viral on social media yesterday, the account owner that purportedly created it out of ‘fun and leisure’ relayed a statement through an Instagram post, “To the owners of the pictures, kindly DM, Tweet or email me if you want me to remove your pictures. I will respect your concern.”

The account clearly received mixed reactions from users, even those whose pictures have been posted without their knowledge:

Despite the negative comments received by viewers, the account owner remains positive and bites back to ‘haters’ stating, “I also received DMs thanking me coz uploading their pic. As I mention(sic) in my profile, this is a leisure page for fun people. Luckily I also received positive feedback even from the owner of the pics.. on top of that, I respect every request to delete any pics by the owner.. #keepitpositive, I agree..”

Source: www.malaysiandigest.com

January 30, 2015
Teo Chee Hean: No Indication Of Heightened Threat To Singapore From ISIS

There is no indication of a heightened threat to Singapore specific to the Republic’s support to the coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), said Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean in Parliament on Wednesday (Jan 29).

However, the violence in Syria and Iraq continues and raises the overall threat level in every country, as ISIS still attracts extremists and encourages its overseas supporters to carry out attacks on home soil, using all means available, Mr Teo said.

He was responding to a question posed by MP Alex Yam Ziming on whether there were heightened threat to Singapore, and whether additional measures are required to address issues of self-radicalisation.

ADDRESSING IDEOLOGY

On the second question, Mr Teo said self-radicalisation is a problem as it can lead to “lone-wolf” attacks.

“We have had instances of Singaporeans becoming self-radicalised even before the Syrian conflict. ISIS has, however, worsened the threat through its widespread and effective use of social media to radicalise and recruit foreign fighters and supporters,” he said.

There is growing international recognition of the need to “deal upstream with the ideology that fuels jihadist terrorism”, said Mr Teo, who added Singapore will be hosting the East Asia Summit Symposium on Religious Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration in April this year.

“The Symposium will share best practices among participating countries and build capability to counter the terrorists’ radical ideology,” he said.

Source: www.channnelnewsasia.com

January 30, 2015
Abdullah Tarmugi Reappointed As Member of Presidential Council For Minority Rights

Mr Abdullah Tarmugi has been reappointed as a member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights for a further three years.

The reappointment, which took effect from Saturday, was made by President Tony Tan Keng Yam, according to the government gazette on Monday.

Mr Abdullah, 70, was first appointed to the Council in January 2012 after his retirement from politics in 2011. He was a former Speaker of Parliament and was also previously Minister in charge of Muslim Affairs.

The Presidential Council for Minority Rights ensures that laws passed in Parliament do not discriminate against any racial or religious community.

It also advises the President on nominees to the Malay Community Committee and the Indian and Other Minority Communities Committee. The two committees certify minority candidates for parliamentary elections.

The Council has 17 members, all of whom are appointed by the President on the advice of the Cabinet.

Six permanent members on the Council are appointed for life. They are: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam, former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and former Cabinet ministers Othman Wok and S. Dhanabalan.

The Council’s other members serve three-year terms. It is chaired by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

January 13, 2015