these fckrs got no other work, ah?

From the Malaysian Insider:

Hassan Ali’s religious police to nab errant Muslims

Excerpts:

Mosque committee members such as the imam and the bilal will be given powers to arrest Muslims drinking alcohol in public, in a move that highlights the fundamentalist face of PAS and could scare off non-Muslim voters from backing the Pakatan Rakyat (PR). Selangor executive councilor in charge of religion Hassan Ali, who has been locked in controversy over his views on the open sale of beer in convenience stores, made the announcement today.

He also said that the mosque committee members would be allowed to arrest Muslims for selling and storing alcoholic beverages.

Such a ruling could result in many Malay-Muslims losing their jobs in restaurants and hotels in the state.

It is also likely to have consequences for many businesses in the state, and could drive non-Muslim voters who have been strong supporters of the PR alliance to Barisan Nasional (BN).

… or just drive them out of Malaysia.

Hassan also said that the mosque committee members would be given wide ranging powers to also help in the arrest of Muslims for being “disrespectful during the Ramadan month”.

The new ruling suggests a push for a culture of intolerance reminiscent of attempts made by both Terengganu and Federal Territory religious officials to set up snoop squads to report on “immoral activities” a few years ago.

Meanwhile, PAS Youth are egging on Kartika’s whipping sentence:

PAS Youth wants Kartika to be caned

Excerpts:

“They have obtained conviction and as requested by her and family the sentence must be carried out,” said Youth chief Nashrudin Hassan.

“We do not want the syariah courts to be seen to be inconsistent or powerless,” he added, refusing to comment further on the sentence postponement.

On the legal complication that could arise from the punishment (only prisoners can be caned, but she was not sentenced to prison), he said the religious authorities should have studied the matter earlier.

The religious authorities should be living in an earlier century … like 600AD.

In a telephone interview with the New York Times, Amir Muhammad, an author and filmmaker said, “We’ve allowed this huge Islamic bureaucracy to grow over the last three decades.”

Excerpts from the New York Times article:
The scope of Islamic laws appears to have widened in Malaysia over the past few years. Muslims have been prevented from converting to other religions, officials have barred Muslims from working in restaurants or convenience stores that carry alcohol — although this
policy has not been fully carried out — and religious authorities have questioned whether Muslims should be allowed to practice yoga. When laws are enforced, Malaysians often complain that the elite are exempted.

Malaysia’s Islamic laws, which cover marriage, divorce and a specific range of issues related to religious customs, apply only to Muslims.

… but creep out non-Muslims nonetheless … none of us wants to live in an Islamic State, laws that apply to a certain class will still have a chilling effect on those who have to live alongside.

The more zealous these zealots become, the more non-Muslims may have to suffer ‘accidental’ harrassment just because they ‘look’ Malay.

I predict many Eurasians, Portugese, Filipinos and East Malaysians being needlessly hassled for eating/drinking in public.

The further these extremist tentacles spread, the further non-Muslim opinion and rights to speak out will be repressed. Take this posting as an example: any Muslim can point at me and say, “you’re non-Muslim, and so have no right to speak on this, so shut the fuck up, or risk being accused of insulting Islam!” (which could be made a criminal offence affecting non-Muslims if PAS had their way).

Pakatan Rakyat (PR) already has its hands full dealing with the BN-Umno devils, now they have to contend with idiots still labouring under the delusion that those who voted them in actually gave them some mandate to run riot with their extremism.

If Pakatan Rakyat (PR) want to remain in our good books come GE13 in two/three years time, PAS MUST BE KEPT ON THE SHORTEST OF LEASHES (and I use the analogy purposely), FAILING WHICH, KICKED OUT.

PR will be better off bringing in Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) and discarding PAS for all time. I’m damn sure that apart from Kelantan, PKR, DAP or PSM can win in constituencies currently held by PAS.

If you thought the last 50 years of Islamisation under Umno was bad enough, let PAS remain in Pakatan Rakyat and get ready for many records to be broken, because, instead of battling the real demons of corruption, racism and economic disparity, these fuckers have no other work but police tax-paying citizens morals and so bring us all back to the 7th century.

“equality of the malaysian people”

An abridged version of the following post appeared in Malaysiakini on 14 Aug 08

This is a reflection of the events reported in my previous post “Sensitive Sycophants Scupper Serious Session”

Article 121(1)A has been a thorn in the side of our civil rights.

Just ask R. Subashini, S. Shamala, R. Anthony and M. Revathy, Lina Joy or their families. These are merely five of the increasing number of similar cases where Art.121(1)A has failed.

Thus it is high time this government [or the next one which will surely replace it soon] took heed the call to “convene a joint committee meeting of civil and syariah lawyers to discuss and recommend measures to formulate, clarify and rectify procedures relating to marriage between Muslim and non-Muslim, conversion, custody of children and burial ritual” [as enumerated by Gerakan President Koh Tsu Koon], which in effect means to amend Art 121, ie: Giving the High Court jurisdiction over Syariah in matters involving non-Muslims.

Otherwise, the conflict of jurisdiction between the Syariah and civil court in relation to divorce, child custody, burial rites and distribution of property will continue.

Although the Bar Coucil downplayed this solution by saying, it “did not dispute Art. 121(1)A”, this is the only apparent solution:

If I marry a non-Muslim who later converts to Islam we should get our divorce from the same court that issued our marriage license.

If I was born a non-Muslim, but later converted, then wished to revert or simply become an athieist, I should be able to change the particulars of my identity card under civil law provisions.

If I am a Muslim who for any reason wishes to ‘embrace’ another religion, it would be my personal decision and mine alone – after which the Syariah court no longer has any jurisdiction over me, simply because I no longer consider myself a Muslim.

But it will NEVER be this way, not unless…

The roundup on this blog of the Bar Council forum fracas recieved a comment from one “Pirates of the Caribbean” :”No matter how a small bunch of idiots interpret it, i still believe ‘ISLAM’ is still a beautiful religion that spreads love, peace and respect.”

Presumably “Pirates …” is a Muslim who does not count himself in as one of the “small bunch of idiots”, and that is all very well and good.

My question is: How come it is always this “small bunch of idiots” who seem to grab headlines worldwide?  How come this “small bunch of idiots” continue ‘representing Islam’ and giving it far from an image of the ”beautiful religion that spreads love, peace and respect”?

Where is the bigger bunch of level-headed, peaceful, loving and respectful Muslims when Islam needs representation? Why do they not denounce and control this “small bunch of idiots” in their minority each time they raise their idiotic heads?

I would be truly ashamed to be tarred with the same brush by non-Muslims the world over as belonging to a community of believers which are not only ultra-sensitive to criticism, but aggressive, if not thuggish, if not murderous.

At the forum there were video images of people holding threateningly-worded banners: “Jangan cabar Islam dan Ketuanan Melayu!” [Don't challenge Islam and Malay supremacy!].

It is submitted that the abject fear of losing the imagined power behind this notion of “Ketuanan Melayu-Islam” that drove them to behave the way they did.

It is submitted that “Ketuanan Melayu-Islam” was the sole reason why the police did not disperse the crowd but let them carry on [and further spoil the image of this "beautiful religion that spreads love, peace and respect"].

It is for “Ketuanan Melayu-Islam” and the imagined power that it brings that BN leaders did not denounce the hooligans but blamed the forum organisers instead for provoking them [see "Najib: Forum disruption expected" in the Sun.]

It is because of “Ketuanan Melayu-Islam” that PAS and certain quarters in Parti KeADILan hopped on the bandwagon with the “small bunch of idiots” and behaved like utter thugs.

It is submitted here that until and unless the bigger bunch of level-headed, peace-loving Malay-Muslims who believe in “Persamaan Rakyat Malaysia” [Equality of the Malaysian People] can convince their “small bunch of idiot” brethren that meritocracy and equality breeds self-respect, and therefore have nothing to be afraid of, the rest of us non-Malay-Muslims will continue to be second-class citizens forever being shouted down and threatened by our Tuan Melayu-Islam each and every time we assert our civil rights viz Art. 121(1)A.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Breaking News 12 Aug 08:

In a surprising about-turn, PAS Research Centre director Dr. Dzulkifli Ahmad stated, “The Bar Council forum on Saturday should have been allowed to proceed.”

“A small group of us met to discuss the forum and we were unanimous that it should have been allowed to proceed. There are valid reasons for such a forum,” said Dr Dzulkifli.

“As was emphasised to us by International Islamic University constitutional law expert Dr Abdul Aziz Bari and Hanifah Maidin, the head of PAS legal bureau, Article 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution when passed had not envisaged the circumstances that could arise, for example, the impact on people of other faiths embracing Islam.

Read full report in the Star HERE

Now, if the good Doctor could convince PAS Youth to lighten up a bit and stop calling for the banning of pop concerts, the latest being the upcoming one by Avril Lavigne, the common perception of PAS being PR’s ‘problem child’ may be attenuated slightly.