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4:15AM Saturday Oct 25, 2008
Malaysia's main body of Islamic clerics has issued an edict banning tomboys in the Muslim-majority country, ruling that girls who act like boys violate the tenets of Islam, an official said yesterday.
The National Fatwa Council forbade the practice of girls behaving or dressing like boys during a meeting on Thursday in northern Malaysia, said Harussani Idris Zakaria, the mufti of northern Perak state, who attended the gathering.
Harussani said an increasing number of Malaysian girls behave like tomboys, and that some of them engage in homosexuality. Homosexuality is not explicitly banned in Malaysia, but it is effectively illegal under a law that prohibits sex acts "against the order of nature".
Harussani said the council's ruling was not legally binding because it has not been passed into law, but that tomboys should be banned because their actions are immoral.
"It doesn't matter if it's a law or not. When it's wrong, it's wrong. It is a sin," Harussani said.
Under the edict, girls were forbidden to sport short hair and dress, walk and act like boys, Harussani said. Boys should also not act like girls, he said.
"They must respect God. God created them as boys, they must behave like boys. God created them as girls, they must act like girls," he said.
Muslims make up about 60 per cent of Malaysia's 27 million people, and are subject to Islamic laws and the council's edicts, even if the rulings have not been enshrined in national or Shariah law.
- AP
© AP
2008-08-28 09:25:01 -
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia has blocked access to a popular news Web site that has often run afoul of authorities for its sensational political reporting, sparking complaints Thursday that the government has reneged on its pledge to keep cyberspace uncensored.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, the government's industry regulator, ordered local Internet service providers on Wednesday to cut off access to the Malaysia Today site, said a commission official who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The site was deemed to have broken the law, the official said, adding that the commission would issue a formal statement with details later.
The site _ which remains accessible through an alternate link _ is run by one of Malaysia's feistiest online commentators, Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, who has published numerous claims about alleged wrongdoing by government leaders.
Raja Petra was charged with sedition in May for allegedly implying the deputy prime minister was involved in the killing of a young Mongolian woman, and his trial begins in October. Government officials have repeatedly accused him of spreading malicious falsehoods.
«Blocking my site is a move by a desperate government that is trying to silence me, but it's not going to stop me,» Raja Petra told The Associated Press. «It only reveals that the government does not know how to handle the Internet.
Officials at the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications, which is responsible for Internet issues, declined to comment.
The crackdown on Malaysia Today drew criticism from bloggers and journalists who accused authorities of seeking to deter dissent.
Wong Chun Wai, group chief editor of The Star newspaper, Malaysia's leading English daily, said the order to block Raja Petra's site was «myopic and ridiculous» and clashed with the government's promise not to censor the Internet.
«If it can happen to (Raja Petra), it can also happen to other bloggers,» Wong wrote on his blog. «In a democracy, we don't have to agree with each other but we must defend the right of everyone to speak up _ including (Raja Petra) and other voices of dissent.
Some of Malaysia's most popular Web sites and blogs offer fiercely anti-government commentaries, presenting themselves as an alternative to mainstream media, which are controlled by ruling political parties or closely linked to them.
Mar 25, 08 2:45pm
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today said his "biggest mistake" in disastrous elections was to ignore cyber-campaigning on the Internet which was seized by the opposition.
The powerful Barisan Nasional coalition suffered its worst-ever results in March 8 polls that left five states and a third of parliamentary seats in opposition hands.
The opposition, which was largely ignored by government-linked mainstream media, instead waged an enormously successful online campaign using blogs, news websites and SMS text messages.
"We certainly lost the Internet war, the cyber-war," Abdullah said in in a speech to an investment conference.
"It was a serious misjudgement. We made the biggest mistake in thinking that it was not important," he said.
"We thought that the newspapers, the print media, the television was supposed to be important, but the young people were looking at SMS and blogs."
The comments are a major about-face for the government, which had vilified bloggers, calling them liars and threatening them with detention without trial under draconian internal security laws.
In line with promises to reform after the humiliating election results, Abdullah said the government would "respond effectively" and move to empower young Malaysians.
"It was painful ... but it came at the right time, not too late," he said.
Malaysia's mainstream media are mostly part-owned by parties in the ruling coalition, and what was seen as biased coverage in the run-up to last month's vote alienated voters and boosted demand for alternative news sources.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranks Malaysia 124 out of 169 on its worldwide press freedom index. It says mainstream media are "often compelled to ignore or to play down" opposition events.
(AFP)
| Gov't begins crackdown against dissent |
| AFP | Dec 10, 07 4:09pm |
| December 10 is International Human Rights Day, but it appears that the government is no mood to celebrate the event. The authorities marked the day by clamping down on dissent, rolling out three separate legal actions against organisers of protests that have rocked the country in recent weeks. Rights groups and opposition leaders condemned the crackdown as anti-democratic and called for the release of dozens of government critics who face trial over charges including attempted murder and sedition. "The charges are baseless and repressive," said R Sivarasa who was among nine lawyers and their supporters arrested for mounting a human rights march in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. Sivarasa said the group had spent a night on a cement floor in police custody before eight of them were slapped with counts of illegal assembly, creating a public nuisance and disobeying a police order to disperse. In a packed courtroom that erupted with applause for the defendants, prominent lawyer Edmund Bon was also charged with obstructing a city official who tried to remove protest banners from Malaysia's Bar Council building. Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail, who was in court to personally oversee the case, said his actions showed "contempt for law and authority ... that is the seriousness of the matter." No double standards Another 12 opposition figures were also rounded up over the weekend in connection with an electoral reform rally last month which drew nearly 30,000 people who police dispersed with tear gas and water cannons. In a third case, the government was due later today to attempt to revive sedition charges against three leaders of ethnic Indian rights group Hindraf after a judge earlier allowed them to walk free. Last week, 31 ethnic Indians were also charged with attempted murder over the wounding of a police officer during a rally at a Hindu temple on the eve of Nov 25 mass protests organised by Hindraf. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who has threatened to use draconian internal security legislation against Hindraf leaders, said Sunday that action would be taken against anyone who violated the law. "We do not discriminate. There are no double standards in enforcing the law," he said. Unwarranted arrests Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, who came to the court to show his support for the lawyers, condemned the arrests at the Sunday march as "completely unwarranted and a clear reckless abuse of power". "Yesterday, was a black Sunday for human rights. A black Sunday for the prime minister who promised four years ago to respect human rights," he said. Human rights group Aliran urged the government to "immediately and unconditionally release all those brave Malaysians who have been unjustifiably detained." "Aliran deplores the thoughtless and mindless reaction of the state against any democratic expression of our constitutional rights to exert our freedom," the leading human rights group said in a statement. |
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 14, 2007
Filed at 2:22 p.m. ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Myanmar's ruling junta restored Internet access but kept foreign news sites blocked, partially easing its crackdown as a U.N. envoy arrived in Thailand on Sunday to rally neighboring governments around demands for democratic reforms in the country.
The junta cut Internet access Sept. 28, two days after troops opened fire on peaceful protesters and images of the crackdown were plastered on Web sites. Internet service was intermittently restored earlier this month.
Foreign news Web sites, including the BBC and CNN, however, remained inaccessible along with blogs and overseas-hosted dissident sites, which had provided many inside tightly controlled Myanmar with their only information about the pro-democracy protests.
U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari arrived in Asia on a trip to coordinate the region's efforts to negotiate a solution in Myanmar, but declined to comment on his mission to reporters at Bangkok's airport late Sunday, saying he would speak after meeting with the Thai foreign minister on Monday.
Earlier this month Gambari met with Myanmar junta leader Gen. Than Shwe during a four-day visit, urging the government to end its crackdown on protesters. He also met twice with detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
His negotiating efforts have not yet resulted in a dialogue between the government and opposition. Myanmar's government has said Than Shwe is willing to meet with Suu Kyi ''personally'' if she gives up her confrontational attitude and renounces support for sanctions against the military regime.
Authorities in the country relaxed a nighttime curfew to cover four hours -- from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m -- starting Saturday night. It was initially 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
The concessions, however, came amid reports that the government continued to detain dissidents.
On Saturday, security forces arrested four prominent political activists who went into hiding to escape a government manhunt after leading some of the first major marches several weeks ago, Amnesty International said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the arrests ''clearly demonstrate that there needs to be an international presence on the ground,'' referring to Gambari's trip.
The country's state-controlled media said Sunday that a Japanese journalist who was killed during the protests was to blame for his own death, and was not targeted.
Kenji Nagai, 50, a video journalist for Japan's APF News agency, was among at least 10 people killed in the Sept. 26-27 crackdown, when soldiers fired automatic weapons into a crowd of pro-democracy demonstrators
''This was an accident. The journalist was not deliberately targeted,'' said an editorial in The New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a junta mouthpiece. ''The fact that the Japanese journalist was among the protesters amounts to inviting danger.''
Video footage of Nagai's death, broadcast around the world, appeared to show a soldier shooting the journalist at close range.
After meeting Thai officials, Gambari is set to travel to Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China and Japan before returning to Myanmar.
The United Nations has spearheaded an international effort to push Myanmar's military, which has ruled the country since 1962, to halt its crackdown and enter negotiations with detained National League for Democracy party leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myanmar's military leaders say the only way to bring change to the country is to follow the junta's seven-step ''road map'' to democracy.
The road map is supposed to culminate in a general election at an unspecified future date. But so far only the first stage -- drawing up guidelines for a new constitution -- has been completed, and that took more than a decade. Critics say the plan is a ruse to allow the military to keep power.
The regime says 10 people were killed in the clashes and 2,100 were detained during the most recent protests, but diplomats and dissidents say that the toll is much higher, and that as many as 6,000 people were taken into custody.
Also on Sunday, Myanmar held a state funeral for late Prime Minister Soe Win, who died Friday at 59 after suffering from what relatives said was leukemia.
Oct 08, 2007
telecomasia.net
(Associated Press via NewsEdge) The decision by Myanmar's military-led government to block access to the Internet from within the country violated its citizens' right to communicate, the head of the UN telecoms agency said.
Secure access to the Internet is a basic human freedom that "needs to be preserved, no matter what," said Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union.
"No government has the right to cut off its citizens from cyberspace," he told reporters in Geneva.
The Myanmar government shut down the country's Internet service providers last month as part of a crackdown on the biggest anti-regime rebellion in nearly two decades.
Dissidents and foreigners had used the Internet to get word of the government's brutal quashing of the protests to the outside world.
The government says 10 people were killed but oppositions groups say up to 200 people died when security forces attacked demonstrators who were largely led by Buddhist monks.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council that Myanmar's military rulers have to "take bold actions towards democratization and respect for human rights," which observers say are regularly abused in the Southeast Asian country.
"What is wrong in the conventional world is wrong in cyberspace as well," Toure said.
Bloggers from at least 45 countries joined forces last week for an online protest against Myanmar's efforts to keep citizens from sending photographs, videos and reports to the outside world.
© 2007 The Associated Press
© 2007 Dialog, a Thomson business. All rights reserved
(AFP)
27 October 2006
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia’s tourism minister was to meet and placate an elderly American couple harassed by Muslim religious officials on the northern tourist island of Langkawi, a report said on Friday.
Randall Barnhart, 62, and his wife Carole, 61, were rudely awakened in their rented apartment in the early hours of the morning earlier this month by religious officials conducting a raid on ‘khalwat’ couples.
Under Islamic law, which operates alongside the civil code in multicultural Malaysia, ‘khalwat’ -- close proximity between a man and a woman who are not married -- is forbidden.
The couple, who were on a six-week sailing holiday in Malaysia, have been married for 42 years and are Christians.
Tourism Minister Adnan Mansor expressed concern that the incident on Langkawi, an idyllic island off Kedah state promoted as a sailing hub, would affect the country’s image.
‘I have communicated with Barnhart through emails and plan to meet him soon,’ Adnan was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times newspaper.
Barnhart complained to police and the US embassy over the raid, which saw the officials yelling and pounding on the couple’s door at two in the morning.
Barnhart, who answered the door, said the officials demanded to see his ‘woman’ and insisted on being shown their marriage licence and passports, according to the newspaper.
He said his wife was terrified by the incident and insisted on going back to the United States.
Barnhart asked for an apology from Kedah state’s religious department and compensation of 4,315 ringgit (1,183 dollars), the newspaper said.
The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
SINGAPORE: Singapore's censors have banned an exhibition of photographs depicting gay men and women kissing, a gay rights activist said Wednesday, calling the move "absurd."
The city-state's Media Development Authority denied the exhibition's organizers a license on the grounds that the photographs "promote a homosexual lifestyle," Alex Au, founder of a Singapore gay rights group, People Like Us, told The Associated Press.
The exhibition, entitled "Kissing," is a selection of 80 posed shots of same-sex kissing between fully clothed models, said Au, who shot the photographs.
"Kissing" was canceled after organizers received a letter from the Media Development Authority on Monday saying it was rejecting their application for a license to hold the exhibition, Au said.
The media regulator confirmed in an e-mailed statement it rejected Au's application for a license to hold the exhibition.
"Presently, homosexual content is allowed in the appropriate context but it should not be of a promotional or exploitative nature," Amy Tsang, deputy director of media content, said in the statement.
"The proposed exhibition ... which focuses mainly on homosexual kissing is deemed to promote a homosexual lifestyle, and cannot be allowed."
Tsang said, however, that authorities have previously allowed "brief same-sex kissing" in stage plays and adult-rated films.
The exhibition was part of "Indignation," a two-week gay pride series of forums, film screenings, lectures and other events that was scheduled to start later Wednesday.
"It's absurd to think that gay people do not also kiss, and that representation of such a reality would be subversive," Au said. "There is a very stereotypical representation of gays and lesbians as deviants and I think it is important to correct the stereotype."
Au added that in place of the canceled exhibition, organizers have planned a talk to be accompanied by a slideshow of the photographs. Indoor gatherings do not require police permits.
Under Singapore law, gay sex is deemed "an act of gross indecency," punishable by a maximum of two years in jail. Authorities have banned gay festivals and censored gay films, saying homosexuality should not be advocated as a lifestyle choice. Despite the official ban on gay sex, there have been few prosecutions.
The Associated Press
Published: June 14, 2007
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: A house that a 73-year-old tycoon bought for his mistress belongs to her and he cannot have it back, a court has ruled in a landmark judgment establishing legal rights of extramarital lovers in Malaysia.
The Court of Appeals ruling Thursday provides some closure in a 19-year dispute between Singaporean tycoon Goh Koon Suan and his Malaysian former lover, Heng Gek Kiau, 56, the New Straits Times and The Star newspapers reported Friday.
"You squeezed her like a lemon and later cast her aside like an old shoe," Judge Gopal Sri Ram of the Court of Appeals was quoted as telling Goh in his ruling. "Surely you cannot use her like that and later claim she has no right," he said.
Court officials could not be immediately reached for comment on the reports.
The Times said Goh bought a house for Heng in 1981 in Malaysia's southern state of Johor, bordering Singapore.
It said their relationship soured in 1988 when he demanded the house back. She refused, and Goh went to the High Court, which ruled in his favor, saying Heng had held the property in trust because she was not married to him.
But Sri Ram overturned the High Court judgment, saying he would not allow injustice in his court.
He said even mistresses can have rights and no longer be treated like chattel.
"The principles of equity are not cast in stone and they change according to circumstances of a contemporary society," he said, adding that women in Heng's position would have no rights if the laws remained static.
Goh had met Heng, then a 16-year-old illegal immigrant from Indonesia, in Singapore in 1968.
Goh, who was already married, brought Heng to Malaysia where he purchased the house and registered it under her name. In 1984, Heng, who obtained Malaysian citizenship, gave birth to a boy and Goh began supporting them with a monthly maintenance.
Heng's lawyer, P.K. Nathan, told the court that Heng was the rightful owner because she continued to pay all government taxes on the house, and had even used her own money to renovate it.
Goh owns a jewelry shop, hardware outlet and construction company in Singapore.
It was not immediately clear whether Goh would appeal to Malaysia's highest court, the Federal Court.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
A Malaysian Islamic court has extended the detention of a Muslim-born
woman living as a Hindu in defiance of the law after she refused to be
rehabilitated, an opposition leader said Wednesday.
Revathi Masoosai, an ethnic Indian, was detained by the Islamic
Religious Department in southern Malacca state in January and sent for
religious counseling in a rehabilitation center after they discovered
she had been born to a Muslim family.
Revathi, 29, was born to Indian Muslim parents who gave her a Muslim
name, Siti Fatimah. But she claimed she was raised as a Hindu by her
grandmother and changed her name in 2001, opposition Democratic Action
Party officials have said. Malaysian Islamic law regards people born
to Muslims as being Muslims themselves.
Islamic officials seized her 15-month-old daughter from her Hindu
husband, Suresh Veerappan, last month and handed the child to
Revathi's Muslim mother.
Revathi married Suresh in 2004 according to Hindu rites but 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 change their religion.
Parliamentary opposition chief Lim Kit Siang, who chairs the DAP, said
the Malacca Shariah Court has extended Revathi's initial detention
term of 100 days, which expired Wednesday, for an additional 80 days.
Her husband was informed by court officials that "she did not
cooperate during the 100-day stay," Lim told The Associated Press.
Revathi was not brought to court and Veerappan's demand for a copy of
the court order on the extension was rejected, he said.
Islamic Department officials in Malacca could not immediately be
reached for comment.
"It is sad and tragic that this heart-rending tale of the father,
mother and baby girl being forcibly separated into three different
locations by law and religion had not been resolved today," Lim said.
"When law and religion comes together to break the family, it gives a
bad name to our country. Something is very wrong and it must be put
right."
Lim urged the government to intervene and ensure justice for Revathi's
family, warning that the case could promote ill-will among Malaysia's
different races.
THE Islamic authorities have taken away the baby of a Muslim woman who is living as a Hindu in defiance of the law, officials said yesterday, in the latest case of religious conflict straining ties in multi-ethnic Malaysia.
Ms Revathi Masoosai's 15-month-old daughter was taken by the Islamic Religious Department in southern Malacca state on March 26 and handed to Ms Revathi's Muslim mother, said department enforcement officer Mohamad Imran Ahmad.
'The baby's grandmother has custody of her for now,' Mr Mohamad Imran told the Associated Press.
Ms Revathi, an ethnic Indian, is being held in a rehabilitation centre run by the Islamic authorities.
The baby was with Ms 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 Mr 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 per cent 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 favour of Muslims - who make up nearly 60 per cent of the population - and strained ethnic relations in this multicultural nation, which has enjoyed racial peace for nearly four decades.
Ms Revathi, 29, was born to Indian Muslim parents who gave her a Muslim name, Siti Fatimah. However, Ms Revathi claims she was raised as a Hindu by her grandmother and changed her name in 2001, said Mr Chong Eng, an opposition member of Parliament.
Ms Revathi married Mr Suresh Veerappan in 2004 according to Hindu rites. The marriage has not been legally registered because Mr Suresh would have had to convert to Islam first.
Ms 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 Ms Revathi's case after she gave birth. Ms Revathi was detained in January and taken to a rehabilitation centre in central Malaysia where she is expected to be held until at least mid-April to undergo religious counselling, Mr Chong said. - ASSOCIATED PRESS
