The High Court, in its ruling on Dec 31, had contended that “there was no evidence to show that the use of ‘Allah’ (by non-Muslims) could incite violence”. Nazri conceded that such incidents had not happened during the hearing and the government could not, therefore, produce such evidence in court. The subsequent arson attacks on the churches, continued Nazri, “proved that the government was right (about the ‘Allah’ ban)”.
He said banning the use of “Allah” by Christians was a preemptive move to stop outbreaks of religious violence in the nation, and the government was proven right in doing so when churches were attacked following the High Court ruling in favour of the Herald weekly.
Right … Churches have been torched, people have been protesting, tensions have been rising, people are angry, fed-up and scared.
So what’s the story behind the story? The theories are as follows:
Theory #1 (a.k.a UMNO’s [and even a few Christians'] theory):
This is all the Herald’s fault. It’s all cause and effect.
If they weren’t so damn adamant about this here WORD, if they had just kept quiet and stayed away from Court, this would never have happened.
Further, the church burnings were random acts of random individuals – we, UMNO, the guardians of Malay rights and supremacy, had NOTHING to do with this! We never condoned anything!! Promise! Swear to God! Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye!
So damn you Herald and the Catholic Church for all this!
ABIM, TERAS, PERKASA, PPIM, PKPIM, PEWARIS, KIMMA, PEKIDA, etc. What do all these NGOs, associations and movements have in common?
Well, they all serve the Umno agenda under the guise of ‘protecting’ Islam.
To understand Umno’s agenda you have to take a walk down memory lane, all the way back to Kelantan in 1977. In 1977, Umno wanted to bring down the PAS state government of Kelantan. So Hussein Ahmad ‘imported’ some gangsters from across the border town of Golok, Thailand, and paid them to burn Chinese shops, houses and cars.
…
Kota Bharu was in utter chaos so the federal government had ‘no choice’ but to declare an emergency in Kelantan and suspend the Kelantan State Assembly for a few months. Then, fresh state elections were held in March 1978 (only for the State Assembly and not for the Parliament seats) ahead of the 1978 General Election.
Invariably, Umno swept Kelantan and PAS was kicked out …
…
… Najib wants back Selangor and he wants it back this month. So Umno has to do a ‘Kelantan December 1977’ revisited to get back Selangor in January 2010. And that is why Umno paid its goons to burn churches just in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur but not in any other area in Malaysia.
Verdict: Plausible … but if so, they would have declared emergency by now … or done a couple of more burnings to justify declaring emergency. Perhaps they were expecting the protests they condoned to end in total anarchy and bloodshed.
In which case this theory, if true, has fizzled out on them.
Theory #3
(aka ‘The let’s win back 50% of the voting public’s support’ or ‘Let’s bring all the Malays back to UMNO’)………….
Malays comprise nearly 50% of the population – many of whom are sick of UMNO/BN and are now either PKR or PAS supporters.
Since PKR and PAS are all for the idea that “Allah” is for all, UMNO/BN probably think that almost all other Malays do not agree with this and are hopping mad.
Therefore, this is the opportune time for UMNO/BN to woo all these disgruntled, dejected Malays back into their fold.
Cue: Condone the protests, let things get out of hand, then swoop down like Superman to the rescue. All Malays will be thankful UMNO saved the country from these nefarious elements, upheld their religious rights and put the pendatangs back in their rightful place! UMNO boleh!
Verdict: Possible, because UMNO can only see as far as their fat nose – they didn’t account for the facts that:
i) Many, MANY Malay-Muslims have NO PROBLEM with Bahasa-speaking East Malaysian Christians (or anyone else) using the word “Allah”.
ii) East Malaysian Christians are now thoroughly incensed, and they are THE ONLY REASON Barisan Nasional are still in power. Let’s all now see what they’ll do in the upcoming State Elections and in the next GE.
Result: This theory, if true, has totally backfired big time on BN. They’ve committed political suicide … best thing is they didn’t even see it coming! UMNO bodoh!
Theory #4 (aka: The Sungai Wang Philosopher’s Theory):
Who? Yes, I got this theory from a philosopher who spends half his life in Sungai Wang Plaza.
There is a loose affiliation of millionaires and billionares – some are captains of industry, some are big foriegn investors.
All of them have been beneficiaries to BN’s largesse [read cronyism and corruption] in the past, but can now see that all this pillage and plunder is bringing the economy slowly to the brink of collapsing upon itself.
They also notice that BN will not EVER relinquish control of the country and will most likely take the country down with them.
This Loose Affiliation of Millionaires and Billionaires [the L.A.M.Bs] cannot be silent while the country and all they’ve invested in goes down the 1Toilet.
They have to kick UMNO/BN out before it’s too late.
Cue: Relocation of Hindu temple in Shah Alam, missing jet engines, Biro Tata Negara fiasco and now Herald … all these are opportunities for them to instigate a handful of dumb animals to create some havoc.
And knowing Najib’s way of handling things [see Theory #4, above, for an example] – this will most likely cause yet another big red mark on his report card.
Result: UMNO/BN have once again shot themselves in the foot and banged the final nail into their coffin. Bye-bye BN, and sooner than you think.
This theory, if true, would see, very soon, another ‘national crisis’ which Najib and Co. will fail to handle properly [because they can't see beyond their fat noses], thereby placing their coffin into the ground and burying it.
Verdict: Hollywood would want the rights for the movie and the Sungai Wang philosopher would be the next Tom Clancy.
Right these are the theories, so decide which is your favourite:
Let’s be reminded that the Herald’s application for Judicial Review (JR) was only limited to the following:
ie: to have the Home Minister’s prohibition of the use of the word “Allah” in its Bahasa Malaysia section declared “ultra vires”. (See the report in theSun 5 May 2008)
Putting it another way, the reason behind the JR was to enable the word to be used in Herald’s Bahasa Malaysia section for the benefit of East Malaysian and other Bahasa-speaking Catholics who have since time immemorial used “Allah” in their texts and prayers, and is therefore their right under the Constitution.
As such, the High Court’s decision has wrongly been expanded by various sections of the public until it now appears that the Catholic Church has succeeded in getting the Court to declare that “Allah” can now be used by all and sundry for any old reason.
This was NOT the intention of the Justice Lau, Archbishop Murphy, Fr. Lawrence or any Catholic for that matter.
Read the full judgment HERE (pp.15-17 has a superb listing of the historical usages of the Name.)
Hotel raids net unmarried couples By Jennifer Pak BBC News, Kuala Lumpur 4 Jan 2010
Fifty-two unmarried couples could face charges of sexual misconduct and jail terms after being caught in hotel rooms by Malaysia’s Islamic morality police.
Scores of officers conducted raids on budget hotels on New Year’s Day in the western state of Selangor. Those detained in the early hours of New Year’s Day were mainly students and young factory workers.
The Muslim couples are expected to be charged with the offence of close proximity, or Khalwat. Under Malaysia’s Islamic Sharia Law, couples who are not married to each other should not be in a secluded area or confined space, which could give rise to suspicion that they were engaged in immoral acts.
A spokesman for the Selangor State Islamic Department (JAIS) says they chose New Year’s Day because many people are known to commit this offence when celebrating a major holiday.
If convicted, the couples could get a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a fine. Sharia laws in Malaysia apply only to Malay Muslims, who make up over half the population.
I sent this post to my KeADILan e-group, Anwar Ibrahim, Khalid Ibrahim, Teresa Kok and 50 others including foregners, just to show them how bloody ridiculous Malaysia is.
QUESTION: Is JAIS under the purview of Selangor State Govt or Federal Govt?
If it’s under Selangor/Pakatan Rakyat’s purview, WHICH party’s purview exactly?
Has JAIS no respect for a person’s privacy? Does a Muslim person have no right to privacy?
Answers please!
And don’t tell me “this is a Muslim issue, non-Muslims are not targeted (so butt out)” – cos, hello, just imagine these JAIS goons banging around hotel room doors and forcing their way in in the middle of the night; imagine the noise and tension they would be creating – EVERYONE in that hotel would be affected and inconvenienced.
What if they ‘mistakenly’ started hassling a non-Muslim couple [like what happened to an American tourist couple in Langkawi not long ago]?
What if a non-Muslim gets caught with a Muslim? Does one go free or do both get nabbed?
If one goes free and one goes in – this is ‘double standard justice’ and … heh … DISCRIMINATION/PERSECUTION BASED ON A PERSON’S RELIGION.
[This is eerily reminiscent of Hitler's regime - white Jews get caught but white non-Jews go free.]
If both go in, this would be forcing a non-Muslim to be subject to Islamic law.
Moral policing HAS GOT TO STOP. It simply CANNOT WORK in a multi-ethnic/religious country.
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