Why didn't Lina Joy turned to the Islamic courts ?

The dust has settled, and we've heard both sides of the argument.
Most neutral yet falsely optimistic argument I've heard so far is :
"it's a mere administrative procedure, she needs to apply to the Shariah Courts"

This is why people don't go to the Shariah Courts.
From MalaysiaToday here

Please allow me to reproduce in full.

Gua Musang (Malaysia), SVM News - Malaysian Government authorities Demolished a Christian Church Building in an Orang Asli settlement in Gua Musang in Ulu Kelantan on June 4.

Just few months ago, the Orang Asli community in Kampung Jias converted into Christianity as a result of the ministries of Pastor Moses Soo. And they were in need of a church to worship. So they consulted the Village Development and Security Committee and the Department of Orang Asli Affairs to erect a church to mark their faith.

It was sanctioned and they proceeded constructing the church with the help of volunteers and certain donations.

But on April 11, the Gua Musang district land office issued a stop work order, stated that the construction was being carried out on state land without permission from the authorities.

The following day, Rev. Wong Kim Kong, the Secretary General of the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship of Malaysia (NECF) sent a letter to the land office, said the land belonged to the Orang Asli villagers under Section 2 6(1) and 7(1) of the Orang Asli Act of 1954. And copied to the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and the Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail.

And construction of the church continued.

Again the Land Office issued another notice on May 24 informing the village headman Pedik Busu that the "illegal" structure would be demolished.

Despite various efforts to block the demolishment, the church was finally torn down by bulldozers on Monday, 4th of June

Pastor Moses Soo said to Rev. Paul Ciniraj, the Director of the Salem Voice Ministries and the SVM News Service that police tortured him several times.

Also Pastor Soo said the district land office do not have any right to reduce the church to rubble, because the land belonged to the headman of Kampung Jias but was donated to the Orang Asli community for the purpose of building the church.

After demolishing the church, a report was made on June 6 at the Gua Musang Police Station by the headman Pg. Pedik bin Busu of Kg. Jias and he was accompanied by the lawyer Mr. Lum C. S.

"We are not sure who was responsible for demolishing the Orang Asli church in Gua Musang, the Federal Islamic authorities (UMNO) or the Kelantan State religious authorities (PAS). I think Malaysiakini carried a report recently that the Kelantan govt is going to compensate them for the demolition of the church," a believer of the church said. "In Malaysia where Muslims destroy churches, temples, etc. the govt keeps quiet and pretends it does not know" he added.

So you think Lina Joy will come out alive as soon as she walks into the Shariah court office ?
Easy for one to talk about "administrative procedures". People are not stupid, though we all have our radars tuned at different frequencies. As for Lina Joy she has her radar tuned on her physical survival, and what do you do when these things are the norm in Bolehland.

Arabic script hoo hah

This Post on Malaysiakini has generated some unfounded furore.


Excerpt here :

Therefore, I was very, very disappointed to see that even the national language
is not used by the Malaysian Embassy and instead that another language that I
was not taught back in school is being used. I wasn't aware that this language
superceded our national language in importance.

Of course like everything that's in Malaysia every minor chasm has been blown into the likes of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This is an equally passionate reply on Malaysiakini, from a Malay/Muslim of course

Excerpt here :

If the non-Malays could even take offence with the use of Jawi and call it
Arabic, then it is doomsday for the future of integration as it only exemplifies
the unspoken (or not, as the case may be) aversion they may have towards
anything `Malay' and `Islamic'. Jawi is part of the history of BM. After the
Romanised form was used fully post-1972, we witnessed a decline in the
understanding of BM in its original form ie. with Jawi characters. If one were
to study the language, there are a lot of BM words which could have been better
`pronounced' had the Jawi characters been used.

Please let me highlight the National Language Act 1963. (Akta Bahasa Kebangsaan)
I am pleasantly surprise the AG Chambers actually has a pdf copy of it.
http://www.agc.gov.my/agc/oth/Akta/Vol.%201/Akta%2032.pdf


Section 9 states :

Tulisan bagi bahasa kebangsaan
9. Tulisan bagi bahasa kebangsaan ialah tulisan Rumi: dengan syarat bahawa ini tidak melarang penggunaan tulisan Melayu, yang lebih dikenali dengan nama tulisan Jawi, bagi bahasa kebangsaan.

Nevertheless, please allow logic to prevail, and stop the "Islamic chest-thumping, non-Muslims bashing"

• The largest Malay newspapers in circulation is Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia and both are the Rumi script.
• Public Road signs are all in the Rumi script
• Government Forms and every single official signage is in the Rumi script
• Heck, even the AGC Chambers National Language Act 1963 publication is in the Rumi script
• Parliamentary proceedings, Hansard are recorded in the Rumi script
• Universities use the Rumi script for all courses

Enough said...

I admit the original writer may have been harsh in his choice of words, but Jawi is not an official script. So the question to the Malaysian embassy, why use an unofficial script ?

Lina Joy

For all the wrong reasons Malaysia made the headlines again. For 10 years she fought the state and Little Napoleons to have Islam removed from her identity card. She was even baptized.

Today it was denied. Denied by the Federal Court, the highest appeals court in Malaysia.

Read the Constituition of Malaysia here

Article 8, Clause 2 states

Except as expressly authorized by this Constitution, there shall be no
discrimination against citizens on the ground only of religion, race, descent or
place of birth in any law relating to the acquisition, holding or disposition of
property or the establishing or carrying on of any trade, business, profession,
vocation or employment

Article 11, states :

(1) Every person has the right to profess and practice his religion and, subject
to Clause (4), to propagate it.

(4) State law and in respect of the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan, federal law may control or restrict the propagation of any religious doctrine or belief among persons professing the religion of Islam

Picked up from IHT, Cathnews, Guardian

The Chief Justice of Malaya, Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim, who read out his
majority opinion in the packed but respectfully hushed courtroom, said the
government agency responsible for identity cards had acted reasonably when it
refused to change Joy's religious status.
"She cannot at her own whim simply enter or leave her religion," Ahmad said. "She must follow rules."

OK. I am definitely not a lawyer nor do I have any legal training, but does "whim" equals a free will or freedom ?

And what does "Every person has the right to profess and practice his religion" sound to you ?

To cut a long argument short, Lina Joy did not "enter" into Islam, she was forced into it by the State, at birth. She was not given a choice.

More outpourings from the diaspora

molisa said,
on March 18th, 2007 at 8:20 pm

I am a female Chinese Malaysian, living in the Washington DC area in the United
States. I have read many of the letters that often talk about foreign countries
when the writers have no real knowledge of actually living in those countries.
Many draw conclusions about what those countries are like after hearing it
from someone else or by reading and hearing about them in the media or after
four years in a college town in those countries.

I finished STPM with outstanding results from the prestigious St George’s Girls School in Penang. Did I get a university place from the Malaysian government? Nothing. With near perfect scores, I had nothing, while my malay friends were getting offers to go overseas.

Even those with 2As got into university. I was so depressed. I was
my parents last hope for getting the family out of poverty and at 18, I thought
I had failed my parents. Today, I understand it was the Malaysian government
that had failed me and my family because of its discriminatory policies.
Fortunately, I did not give up and immediately did research at the Malaysian
American Commission on Education Exchange (MACEE) to find a university in the US that would accept me and provide all the finances. My family and friends thought
I was crazy, being the youngest of nine children of a very poor carpenter.
Anything that required a fee was out of our reach.

Based on merit and my extracurricular activities of community service in secondary school, I received full tuition scholarship, work study, and grants to cover the four years at a highly competitive US university.

Often, I took 21 credits each semester, 15 credits each term while working 20 hours each week and maintaining a 3.5 CGPA. A couple of semesters, I also received division scholarships and worked as a TA (teaching assistant) on top of everything else. For the work study, I worked as a custodian (yes, cleaning toilets), carpet layer, computer lab assistant, grounds keeping, librarian, painter, tour guide, etc. If you understand the US credit system, you will understand this is a heavy load.

Why did I do it?

This is because I learnt as a young child from my parents that hard work is an
opportunity, to give my best in everything, and to take pride in the work I do.
I walked away with a double major and a minor with honours but most of all a
great lesson in humility and a great respect for those who are forced to labour
in so-called ‘blue collar’ positions.

Those of you who think you know all about Australia, US, or the West, think again. Unless you have really lived in these countries, i.e. paid a mortgage, paid taxes, taken part in elections, you do not understand the level of commitment and hard work it takes to be successful in these countries, not just for immigrants but for people who have lived here for generations.

These people are where they are today because of hard work. (Of course, I am not saying everyone in the US is hardworking. There is always the lazy lot which lives off of someone else’s hard work. Fortunately, they are the minority.)
Every single person, anywhere, should have the opportunity to succeed if they want to put in the effort and be accountable for their own actions. In the end, they should be able to reap what they sow.

It is bearable that opportunities are limited depending on how well-off financially
one’s family is but when higher education opportunities are race-based, like it
is in Malaysia; it is downright cruel for those who see education as the only
way out of poverty.

If you want to say discrimination is here in the US, yes, of course it is. Can you name a country where it doesn’t happen? But let me tell you one thing - if you go looking for it, you will find it. But in Malaysia, you don’t have to go look for it because it seeks you out, slaps you in your face every which way you turn, and is sanctioned by law!

Here in the US, my children have the same opportunity to go to school and learn just like their black, white, and immigrant friends. At school, they eat the same food,
play the same games, are taught the same classes and when they are 18, they will
still have the same opportunities.

Why would I want to bring my children back to Malaysia? So they can suffer the state-sanctioned discrimination as the non-malays have for over 30 years? As for being a slave in the foreign country, I am a happy ’slave’ earning a good income as an IT project manager. I work five days a week; can talk bad about the president when I want to; argue about politics, race and religion openly; gather with more than 50 friends and family when I want (no permit needed) and I don’t worry about the police pulling me over because they say I ran the light when I didn’t. How about you………….?

Customs series Part I

Emotional outpouring on the sorry state of Malaysian Customs.

Since so many of you sharing the story, I also share mine.

About 10 years ago I went to Singapore to drive back a van full load of used computer for a school. Many are 486 and the highest is Pentium (not even MX). Some printers and tables. Well, we helped cleaning the rubbish for Singaporean for free or else they have to pay someone to get rid of it! For school, it was my charity.

Ok, it was quite smooth to pass thru Singapore. The custome asked for purpose and let us pass thru.

When reaching Johor custom, those bastards were excited because, man LOTS of stuffs! I told them this is old computers, rubbish, for school and computer has no tax. But they gave me problem. They said I need to declare. OK, let's declare.

So I drove one of the bastard to the declaration office (he sat in the van to show me the way). On the way, I noticed that I already passed the cusom gate and ready to go into Johor! That bastard actually asked me if I wish to go by giving him RM50!!! Along with me is my friend, who is a teacher. He said, no, we are teacher, we don't do that thing...
OK fine... the bastard brought us to the declaration station. His superiors came out and said, "man, what a work! Any document?" Of course no. They asked us to leave the van to them and wait. We waited a straight 6 hours, from early morning 9am to 3pm!

We got back the van, nothing was removed from the van. And they charge us something like RM200. We asked why? (because we knew computers no tax) They said "cable" is not tax free.

What cable? Oh, those Printer Cable!!! We have about 20 printer cables... Then we asked, why we have to wait so long? They said, "because you make us work! we have to find something to tax you!". Bastard...

To the teacher who posted the article above, I concur, Bastards !

Blatant corruption, Malaysia-Singapore Link

This was highlighted on a prominent local Malaysian blog, reproduced here in it's entire form.

Dr. Muhammad Ghazie Ismail was the former Senior Vice President of the Multimedia Development Corporation

Dear Jeff,

I think I would like to highlight an incident that made me feel ashamed to be a Malaysian about corrupt Malaysia Customs Officers at the Johore end of the Second Link to Singapore.

I came back from Singapore today for some business and, for the first time, I decided to take the AeroLine Bus Services out of One Utama to Singapore and back. I have no complaints about Aeroline and I must say that the journey was very enjoyable with very polite crew members who made our journey memorable.

I stayed in Singapore for two nights and during that time I decided to buy the Sony PSP for my son's birthday next week. Upon our return, we had to undergo the normal passport clearance from the Singapore side and the Malaysian Side.

However, since we were entering Malaysia, we had to also clear customs with our bags opened. However, I was singled out but the customs officer who wanted to know what I had bought and I told her that I bought a PSP for my son's birthday. She said that I should be brought to the Customs Head in his office, accompanied by a male customs officer to meet this person by the name of Zainal (stated on his nametag) and that I was to pay duties for the PSP.

I explained to the Customs Head that I bought the PSP from Singapore and it was meant as a birthday present for my son and he said that I need to pay duties on it amounting 30% of the purchase price. He told me that I should pay RM50 and I wanted a receipt but he then said that for a receipt to be issued I need to pay RM100 or 50% of the RM244 (30% of the purchase price). I told him to please waiver the duties as it is meant to be a present. He then asked his officer to make the decision, and he decided that the duties should be RM50 without receipt. Of course, I left in disgust.

I am appalled that these officers and Head of Customs at the entrance into Malaysia can be so blatant and this is not an isolated incident.

I was told by the Aeroline crew that this is their normal modus operandi and that innocent victims including Japanese and Indonesian visitors coming into Malaysia via the Second Line by bus have been had by these unscrupulous customs officers and I think they should be exposed as they are doing a great disservice to our Visit Malaysia 2007. It has also left me with a very bad taste in my mouth.

I hope you could print this e-mail and that such corrupt customs officers at the entrance into Malaysia should be dealth with by the higher authorities.

Best regards

Dr Ghazie Ismail

Westminster legacy ? What a shame !

British Parliamentary Debate

The Malaysian Parliamentary Debate


It is unfortunate that I am bilingual, and it is unfortunate that I am disgusted with the level of intellect of my honourable elected MPs.