June 2009

Court dismisses Herald's application for stay of decision
(c) TheSun

KUALA LUMPUR (May 28, 2009) : The High Court today dismissed an application by the Herald Catholic Weekly for an order to stay a Home Ministry decision prohibiting the use of the word "Allah" in its publication.

High Court (Appellate and Special Powers Division) judge Lau Bee Lan made the decision in her chambers after hearing submissions from counsel S. Selvarajah and Porres Royan for the applicant, Archbishop Datuk Murphy Nicholas Xavier Pakiam, and Senior Federal Counsel Munahyza Mustaffa and Andi Razalijaya A Dadi for the Home Ministry, as the respondent.

"Under Section 9 of the Control and Restriction of the Propagation of Non-Islamic Religions State Enactment, it is an offence for Muslims and non-Muslims to publish or broadcast the word "Allah" in association with non-Islamic religions.

"The judge held that if the stay was granted, this will tantamount to supporting the offence to be committed if the Herald publication was to be circulated to other states," Andi told reporters outside the chambers.

On April 24 this year, the applicant was given leave by the High Court to quash the Home Ministry's decision of Jan 7, 2009 that the applicant's publication permit for the period Jan 1, 2009 to Dec 31, 2009, was subject to the condition that he be prohibited from using the word "Allah" in the Herald.

He was also granted leave to apply for nine declarations, including to declare that the decision of the Home Ministry and the Government of Malaysia was illegal and ultra vires the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

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Priest of St John's Chapel, Triang called in for questioning
by police

21.5.2009 Fr Jean Claude have been called in by the police for an 'interview' at the Triang police station tomorrow, Friday (22/5/2009)... Allegedly the instructions come from the Inspector General of Police (IGP)..

Last Sunday at 4pm, there was a special mass (prayer service) at the St John's Chapel in Triang, i.e. that 83 year old chapel, that the Pahang Government is threatening to demolish.

Lots of yellow coloured St John's Chapel parishioners were there, and there were many more persons that came from other churches around the country to show solidarity.

After mass, there was food and drinks served, and a little talk by me on Freedom of Religion.

Now, the police has called in the Parish Priest, Fr Jean Claude Lourdes, for questioning tomorrow.

What are the police doing? Trying to put some psychological pressure to stop this desparate attempt by this community to save their 83-year old chapel? I wonder..

Fr Jean Claude said that he will be going in to the Triang police station at 2-30pm tomorrow (22/5/2009).

Why is this old chapel being targetted for destruction suddenly...something is amiss.

Is there some corruption involved? Maybe the anti-corruption body need to just investigate to be sure...

Or, is it just some form of 'punishment' being meted out to the Catholic community in Triang? Why? Because of the problems that the Catholic Church been causing - i.e. that Allah case, the conversion and religious rights issues..

Maybe, it is because the church sits in that odd seat that has repeatedly elected a DAP ADUN - but then the MP, is BN Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob...

Najib is from the Pekan Constituency, adjacent to the Bera Constituency, and I believe our new PM should step in and ensure the continued existence of this little chapel which has served the Triang community as shelter during bad times...

source : http://charleshector.blogspot.com

Religion and human rights

Friday, 22 May 2009

source : ©The Nut Graph

By Ambiga Sreenevasan, Andrew Khoo and Zarizana Abdul Aziz

ON Tuesday, 28 April 2009, The Star published an article by Dr Wan Azhar Wan Ahmad under the column IKIM's Views on the question of religion and human rights in Malaysia. We the undersigned wrote a rebuttal. The Star has chosen not to publish our rebuttal.

We would appreciate the opportunity of presenting a different perspective to that expressed by Wan Azhar in respect of religion and human rights in Malaysia. In so doing, we would stress that these are our personal viewpoints and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organisation to which we belong.

In the area of supranational laws, there is a move to advance binding sets of principles that will guide nations. By [their] very nature, these principles govern and restrict the conduct of the state.

Malaysia is no stranger to such principles. We are a party to the Geneva Conventions and the Chemical Warfare Convention. These conventions regulate the conduct of warfare by states and are very much part of human rights laws. These laws are intended as a reflection of common decency, which guide civilised nations to the extent that they override or circumscribe a state's absolute freedom in the conduct of war. Indeed, this is only to be welcomed.

Are these rules new? Hardly. Such rules of war have been in existence for several hundreds of years. For example, when the international community questioned and condemned Israel's conduct in the Gaza War, we appealed to international human rights and humanitarian laws.

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