Monday, July 30, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Racial profiling ? this is Malaysia, and it's official policy.
Desert Storm Veteran.
Fearful of his life when he was detained by Malaysian immigration in broad daylight.
Suffered Unimaginable trauma - this coming from a Veteran. (I assumed mere mortals like the rest of us, would have had a heart attack and died)
This is Malaysia, where Racial profiling is official policy.
Bumiputra's are always poor. Hence must be given free money. Free equity in companies, Free access to higher education. Guaranteed employment
Non-Bumi's are rich, hence must pay more tax, pay more for homes, and must be deprived of higher education, they don't need to be employed.
Muslims are always right, hence are allowed to raid Ms. Malaysia pageant.
Allowed to raid entertainment outlets and detain singers.
Barge into rooms of tourist, invading personal privacy, demanding marriage certificates. No need to be accountable, no need due process of the law. Muslims are right.
It's payback time when African American US Navy Officer exposes his treatment at Malaysian Immigration camps.
This is after all Malaysia, if you are not Muslim and a non-Malay you are less than human.
Picture from Malaysiakini
Want to hear his story, click here.
I told them in plain English ‘I am a US citizen, escort me to my hotel and I will proof this’. I was ignored as I walked
about 20 feet with these men.
The firm grip on my arm became firmer and at this time both men were holding each arm and when I started to resist I noticed one of the men reaching for some handcuffs on his waist. I said in a loud outburst I am an American citizen before I go anywhere I want see some identification or a badge or something to proof that I was being escorted/carried off against my will by an official of the government.
At this time, a crowd had formed around me and the men. I thought finally someone has heard my cry. My eyes were almost in tears. I asked again, ‘please let me see some identification’.
That was when I thought this was it. Death was surely at the next stop.
We were transferred to another caged truck. I still felt like this was all too strange and we were not being held by any government officials. No rights had been explained to me and at least five hours had passed.
By this time it was 1.30am. We were given sodas and bread was thrown into the cage. It was like trying to feed a freshly captured monkey expecting him to eat while passing him food through the little holes in the cage. I thought if this was a government agency and whether it was complying with
the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
Okay, after another long, cold and bumpy ride with about 25 other men, we arrived at a place that looked as if it was a third world concentration camp. We waited at the gate for about 30 minutes because it looked like no one had the key to get in, like no one knew we were coming.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Wither Copernican revolution
His theory was groundbreaking. Unfortunately in the middle ages, where church bishops and religious heretics were in control. His views were considered heretic and blasphemous.
The present view at that timeperiod was that the Earth is the centre of the universe and the heliocentric model was totally unacceptable to the church.
Galileo supported the heliocentric model of the universe. In 1632 he was ordered to appear before the Holy Office in Rome
I quote from Wikipedia.
Galileo is perhaps the first to clearly state that the laws of nature are mathematical, writing that "the language of God is mathematics". His mathematical analyses are a further development of a tradition employed by late scholastic natural philosophers, which Galileo learned when he studied philosophy
This is today evident in the Divine Ratio (phi)
That the language of creation, the language of God and the universe is indeed mathematics.
In 1633, Galileo was asked to recant (renounce) his ideas that, and the church upheld the views that "The proposition that the sun is in the center of the world and immovable from its place is absurd, philosophically false, and formally heretical; because it is expressly contrary to Holy Scriptures"
Galileo was imprisoned and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
Went blind and died of natural causes on January 8, 1642.
On October 1992, Pope John Paul II expressed regret for how the Galileo affair was handled.
History has shown us time and time again, suppressed, dogmatic points of view devoid of any intellectual discourse or analysis is not the way to resolve our problems. They merely provide a stopgap measure. Deep seated issues will remain unresolved and eventually the truth will prevail.
In Malaysia, academics have to sign a legally binding agreement entitled "Akujanji" in which they have to pledge loyalty to the Government. Failing to toe the official line, Academics can be charged under a wide-range of Acts which ultimately allows for indefinite detention without trial.
Wither Academic discourse in Malaysia. How many Galileos have the executives (ruling elite and regime) thumbed down ?
Monday, July 23, 2007
Middle ages election
It's bad enough that election results are frequently tampered with.
It's bad enough that Malaysia has phantom voters all over their electoral rolls.
Babies, children and the deceased are frequently listed as eligible voters.
We had to take 2 steps back to where only the poorest, underdeveloped and war-torn nations have done - the use of indelible ink.
Now the Election Commision has to defer the decision to use indelible ink to the Islamic Fatwa Council !
Reproduce here in it's entire form from Malaysia-today
MALAYSIA'S Election Commission (EC) has referred its plan to use indelible ink for general elections to the Islamic fatwa council, citing Muslim reservations about cleanliness.
The EC wants the Muslim scholars on the council to rule on the issue of introducing the use of ink, said the commission's deputy chairman, Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar.
The idea to use the ink to mark the fingers of voters is being pushed by opposition parties as a safeguard against multiple voting - a charge that often surfaces in Malaysian elections.
The EC - the government agency that organises general elections and by-elections - said last month that it was agreeable to the idea.
It said the ink could be in use by the next general election, which must be held by March 2009 but which many speculate could be held within the next six months.
Datuk Wan Ahmad said the fatwa council must first decide whether using the ink is allowed in Islam as it could affect ablutions carried out by Muslims before their daily prayers.
The ink cannot be wiped off for two to three days.
The opposition has said that the use of the ink had not posed a problem in Muslim countries such as Iraq.
The vice-president of conservative opposition party Parti Islam SeMalaysia, Datuk Husam Musa, said this month that the use of the ink has no bearing on Muslim cleanliness.
He claimed that the government was merely looking for an excuse not to implement the ink's use.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
So now, Muslims cannot be treated with Iodine, Potassium Permanganate to name a few, for wounds, because they leave a tiny stain. What next, antiseptic cream cannot be applied on open sores ?
Excuse, Stupidity or an increasingly dogmatic civil administration bound to a 14th century texts describing how life should be led Arabia.
You decide.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Revathi a video documentary.
As per closing statement of the video, "the debate continues". But a family is torn apart, a mother and child are separated and a father is deprived from seeing his family for 6 months. If this is religion, then this religion has no compassion and do not subscribe to a higher power nor in my opinion is of an unearthly origin. It is nothing more than a set of man-made dogmas harped and drummed into the minds of zealots, passed down through the generations.
God in whatever name we call it is All Mighty and All Knowing, He is not an insecure brat who needs to see a poor family torn apart and a child and mother separated, just to assert himself. Sadly, in Malaysia, everyone who can spew a few words of Arabic and sport a goatie is playing God.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
For every Revathi 100 more cry in silence
I share his deepfelt sympathy to Revathi and Suresh. May they find courage, compassion and strength to lead their lives as a family. As human beings. As dignified individuals without fear and intimidation.
Scroll down the page of the People's Parliament and read another reply by a "prometheus_bound".
I reproduce the reply here in full.
About a year ago, I represented a woman who had his adopted son detained by JAIS at a detention centre in Ulu Yam. My client was a Christian who converted to a Muslim. She had an adopted son, who is a Muslim. The boy lived with her and her family.
Initially my client financially contributed to the religious school, however when she found out some irregularities, she stopped funding the school.
Her problem thereafter started. The head of the religious school lodged a report to the local authorities claiming that she was trying to “convert” her adopted son to Christianity. Obviously that was a blatant lie.
The religious authority together with the police raided her house in the middle of the night, it was a party of about 20-30 people. They couldnt find a Bible, yet they insist that she was trying to convert the boy as a Christian. The boy was detained at a detention centre in Ulu Yam.
My client threatened legal action against the religious authority. A deal was brokered. The religious authority allowed me to visit the boy at the detention centre. The religious authority wanted to show that the boy wanted to stay at the detention centre voluntarily for an indefinate period of time.
It was heartbreaking. The boy was in fear. After reading Revathi’s story I remember vividly the look on the boy’s face.
The religious authorities need to be reined in.
What we have here is nothing less than legalised Mafias.
Mafias that are unaccountable for their actions. Which operates outside the boundaries of the legal framework.
What recourse does a civilised nation, or a civilised populace have against these groups. In the very first place, they operate outside the legal framework. To top it all off, they are State sanctioned. One just needs to cry Allah-u-akbar in a mob frantic frenzy and any Federal Court Judge, politician and police officer will stand back and look away. This is Malaysia
For every Revathi, 100 more Revathis cry in silence. We all pray for them, may they find courage and compassion, someday.
Monday, July 16, 2007
What a shame
Original post here
"It was a prison. They placed me in a solitary confinement," Massosai Revathi, an ethnic Indian, said a day after she was freed from a state-run Islamic counselling centre. "Although I served 180 days, I still cannot convert out of Islam," said Revathi, 29. "I wasted my time"
So, to all who said it was an "administrative procedure". What do you have to say now ?
Not only was it torture, denial of human rights and now they tell her she's still a Muslim and cannot lead a life the way she wants.
SHAME ON YOU PEOPLE ! RELIGIOUS BIGOTS
Let me ask a simple question
Massosai Revathi, a Malaysian citizen whose parents had converted to Islam but who was brought up by her Hindu grandmother and who had lived most of her life as a Hindu. Revathi is therefore one of the unfortunate cases of Malaysian citizens whose complex identity was bound to get her into trouble with the religious authorities in Malaysia, and it finally did. Following her marriage to her Hindu husband according to Hindu rites, they had a child who was also brought up a Hindu. Revathi was later called in by the religious authorities and told in no uncertain terms that she was legally a Muslim and had therefore committed a crime in the eyes of Islamic law and Muslim jurists. She was then sent to one of the country’s ‘Faith Rehabilitation Centers’ so that she could be ‘persuaded’ to return to Islam.
This is the associated press reports, her 100-day extension has been extended to another 80-days
Malaysia’s Islamic officials seize baby from mother who sought a Hindu life
The Associated Press
Published: April 6, 2007
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Islamic authorities took away the baby of a Muslim woman who is living as a Hindu in defiance of the law in the latest case of religious conflict straining ties in multiethnic Malaysia, officials said Friday.
Revathi Masoosai’s 15-month-old daughter was taken by the Islamic Religious Department in southern Malacca state on March 26 and handed to Revathi’s Muslim mother, said department enforcement officer Mohamad Imran Ahmad.
“The baby’s grandmother has custody of her for now,” Mohamad Imran told The Associated Press.
Revathi, an ethnic Indian, is being held in a rehabilitation center run by Islamic authorities for her religious transgression. The baby was with Revathi’s husband when she was seized. He has filed a police complaint, but it was not clear if he plans to take the case to court.
Meanwhile, the baby will stay with her grandmother. “When the baby’s mother is released, she can try to regain custody if she wants to,” said Mohamad Imran without elaborating.
The case, which was made public by the opposition Democratic Action Party on Thursday, highlights an increasing number of spats affecting the religious and family rights of the ethnic Indian and Chinese minorities.
Indians, who form about 8 percent of Malaysia’s 26 million people, are mostly Hindus while some are Christians, Muslims and Sikhs.
Activists say a string of recent disputes have ended in favor of Muslims — who comprise nearly 60 percent of the population — and strained ethnic relations in this multicultural nation, which has enjoyed racial peace for nearly four decades.
Revathi, 29, was born to Indian Muslim parents who gave her a Muslim name, Siti Fatimah. However, Revathi claims she was raised as a Hindu by her grandmother and changed her name in 2001, said Chong Eng, an opposition member of Parliament.
Revathi married Suresh Veerappan in 2004 according to Hindu rites. The marriage has not been legally registered because Suresh would have had to convert to Islam first.
Revathi’s official identification documents state she is Muslim because Malaysians who are born as Muslims cannot legally convert.
The Islamic Religious Department apparently learned of Revathi’s case after she gave birth. Revathi was detained in January and taken to a rehabilitation center in central Malaysia where she is expected to be held until at least mid-April to undergo religious counseling, Chong said.
“Separating mother and child … is inhuman,” Chong said in a statement.
A custody battle would be complicated because Islamic officials and Revathi’s mother would likely seek to try the case in Islamic Shariah court, which handles religious, family and personal law disputes involving Muslims.
Non-Muslims turn to civil courts to settle these issues. But the secular courts have generally avoided taking a position in such disputes between Muslims and non-Muslims, leaving it to the Shariah system, where verdicts have often favored Muslims.
- Breaking up a marriage.
- Separating a mother from her 15-month old daughter for 3 months
- Taking away a baby from her father.
All for the sake of what ?
If religion is all about coercion, wrecking marriages, separating families.
Then I make my stand here loud and clear
ISLAM, at least the Malaysian version of it is the NOT WORTH IT's DAY in HELL.
IT'S a bureaucracy run my zealots, who derive wicked fetish and satisfaction, on the suffering of others. They have no compassion, no intention to assist fellow human beings.
ISLAM in MALAYSIA and all it's proponents and administrators - if I had my way, you will be buried alive in nothing less than pig's excrement.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Taliban strikes again
To them they are answerable to their version of God's divine laws, they are despicable, disrespectful and have no sense of human dignity. They interpret laws and rules to their whim and fancy, often citing words of scripture.
This is almost Medieval Europe
I reproduce here a report from
a local newspaper.
IPOH: The Perak Religious Department (JAIP) has
ordered a singer to appear before the Syariah Court for “exposing her body”
during a performance and “encouraging immoral activities”.
However, an indignant Siti Noor Idayu Abd Moin, 22, said she was wearing a sleeveless top and long pants when JAIP officers raided an entertainment outlet in Sunway City where she was performing on Tuesday.
Our band had just finished and it was a little past midnight when they came
in and rounded up all the Muslims. “They asked to see our MyKad but
one officer refused to touch the cards, referring to them as najis (unclean),”
she said.
Siti Noor Idayu said the JAIP officers later detained seven
people, including four employees of the outlet, and brought them to the
department office.
“They put us in a tiny room and turned up the air-conditioner. I heard one officer tell the other: Bekulah dia orang (Let them freeze),” she said.
Siti Noor Idayu also said the male officers kept taking photographs of her, adding that she was made to stay overnight in that room until 10am.
She said the officer who finally came to record her statement at 8am, accused her of consuming alcohol and drugs, being involved in immoral activities, and that her MyKad was a fake.
“I took the breathalyser test twice and when the reading remained at zero, the officers looked frustrated.
“I heard one tell the other: Tapi dia tak minum lah (But she did not drink),” she said.
Siti Noor Idayu said an officer even told her that the money she earned working in the outlet was duit haram (illicit money) and that her parents, children and future generations would all be tainted for using such money.
“They finally wrote me a notice accusing me of dressing sexily and encouraging immorality just because I sang there,” she said.
The notice ordered her to appear before the Syariah Court here on Aug 6.
When contacted, JAIP director Datuk Jamry Sury said he was confident that his officers had not acted outside of their jurisdiction in issuing the notice.
“According to Islamic laws, a Muslim woman is not allowed to serve or entertain a man who is not her husband in a place where immoral activities usually take place,” he said.
I am not a lawyer, hence I will not go further, but are we a secular nation or an Islamic nation, in which Islamic law reigns supreme ?
Doesn't the Federal Constiuition has a list of areas that falls within the purview of the Syariah Court. Did it say anything about "a Muslim woman is not allowed to serve or entertain a man who is not her husband in a place where immoral activities usually take place”
Who defines what is immoral ? Which set of laws defines morality ?
Today, Muslim women in Malaysian will never represent Malaysia in any beauty pageant (e.g. Miss Universe, Miss World) - due to to infamous storming of a Miss Malaysia/World pageant a few years back.
What next, will they storm the next Asean Games rhythmic gymnastic event when a Muslim woman were to compete ? After all, she is entertaining a crowd of people, men included and they are all definitely not her husband.
Which set of laws will these Strom Troopers be governed under ?
Aren't there laws for lawful/unlawful and unruly behaviour in public places ? Who detained these Storm Troopers when they disrupted the Miss Malaysia Pageant ?
Like Shamans, Wizards and Witches of pagan tribes, these individuals wield blind, lawless authority over the people and nobody questions them. Mortals cuddle in fear as they walk pass, logic does not prevail and all decorum of a civil society are broken by these people.
Forget everything you've seen or read in the media - about Malaysia being truly Asia.
It is not and it is surely being sucked into the Middle Ages, quickly.