http://www.themalaymailonline.com/ma...f-may-13-riots
In plea for Malay unity, Najib opens Umno meet with slides of May 13 riots
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak opened the Umno general assembly today by screening slides of the bloody May 13 race riots and the communist attacks in Malaya, in an apparent reminder to the country’s ruling party of the importance of national unity and the dangers of discord among the Malays.
The Umno president and prime minister also said that Bumiputeras will comprise 70 per cent of the population by 2020, and told the Malay party’s delegates to imagine how strong the community would be then.
“Everything that we see today didn’t come easily on their own. Actually, the ups and downs of Malaysia’s journey were full of episodes and events,” Najib said in his policy speech, before screening black and white clips titled “Communist guerrilla attack in Malaya” and “13 May 1969”.
Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin yesterday urged Malays to rise and defend themselves from a purported onslaught of insults and challenges to their special position in the country, declaring that the country’s predominant ethnic group has been patient enough.
Yesterday, Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil also told Malays at the Umno general assembly that their race would break up if they allowed their faith in Islam to be subverted and if they were disunited in their beliefs.
Najib said today that the key to peace in Malaysia was “solidarity”, a word he repeated throughout his speech.
“The symbol of unity is called solidarity,” he said.
Malaysia is experiencing more visible incidents of communal friction among its various ethnicities.
In July, Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin reportedly said that Malaysia could see another May 13 incident if no efforts were made to preserve inter-ethnic harmony, especially when Malays and Muslims continue to be insulted.
Muhyiddin later clarified that he was not making any threats but merely serving a reminder about the state of the country’s race relations.
Hundreds of Malaysians are believed to have died during the May 13, 1969 clashes between the Malays and the Chinese. Although ostensibly triggered by the results of Election 1969, it was rooted in ethnic tensions between the two communities.
- See more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...nce-warns.html
Saudi Arabia ‘destabilising Arab world’, German intelligence warns
It is unusual for the BND spy agency to publicly release such a blunt assessment on a country that is considered an ally of the West. Germany has long-standing political and economic ties with Saudi Arabia
Prince Mohammed bin Salman is believed to have played a key role in Saudi Arabia’s decision to intervene in Yemen Photo: Getty Images
By Justin Huggler, Berlin7:00PM GMT 02 Dec 2015
Saudi Arabia is at risk of becoming a major destabilising influence in the Arab world, German intelligence has warned.
Internal power struggles and the desire to emerge as the leading Arab power threaten to make the key Western ally a source of instability, according to the BND intelligence service.
“The current cautious diplomatic stance of senior members of the Saudi royal family will be replaced by an impulsive intervention policy,” a BND memo widely distributed to the German press reads.
The memo focuses particularly on the role of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 30-year-old son of King Salman who was recently appointed deputy crown prince and defence minister.
The concentration of so much power in Prince Mohammed’s hands “harbours a latent risk that in seeking to establish himself in the line of succession in his father’s lifetime, he may overreach,” the memo notes.
“Relations with friendly and above all allied countries in the region could be overstretched.”
Prince Mohammed is believed to have played a key role in Saudi Arabia’s decision to intervene in the civil war in Yemen earlier this year.
Both he and King Salman want Saudi Arabia to be seen as “the leader of the Arab world” and are trying to extend its foreign policy “with a strong military component and new regional alliances,” the BND analysts write.
Prince Mohammed is believed to want to succeed his father as king, but he is currently second in line to the throne, behind the 80-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, King Salman’s nephew.
Analysts at the Royal Bank of Canada recenlty desrcribed the jockeying for position inside the extensive royal family as “Saudi Arabia’s Game of Thrones”.
The royal family has thousands of members of varying influence and power, and any suggestion Prince Mohammed is trying to move ahead of the crown prince in the line of succession could trigeer a dangerous power struggle.
Regionally, the Sunni kingdom is locked in a rivalry with Shia Iran “reinforced by mutual mistrust and religious-ideological enmity,” the memo warns.
This rivalry between the two counties is being fuelled by a Saudi loss of faith in the US as the dominant strategic power in the region and in its ability to provide protection, it says.
Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen was driven by a desire to show the country was “willing to take military, financial and political risks in order not to fall behind in regional politics”.
The overthrow of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad remains a priority for the kingdom, the BND says.
Saudi Arabia has previously been accused of supplying arms and funding to jihadist groups fighting in Syria, including Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0TL19S20151202
Russia says it has proof Turkey involved in Stupid State oil trade
An undated still image taken from a video made available by the Russian Defence Ministry in Moscow, Russia December 2, 2015, shows the Turkish-Syrian border crossing. Russia’s defence ministry officials displayed satellite images on Wednesday which they said showed columns
Russia’s defense ministry said on Wednesday it had proof that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his family were benefiting from the illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic State-held territory in Syria and Iraq.
Moscow and Ankara have been locked in a war of words since last week when a Turkish air force jet shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian-Turkish border, the most serious incident between Russia and a NATO state in half a century.
Erdogan responded by saying no one had the right to “slander” Turkey by accusing it of buying oil from Islamic State, and that he would stand down if such allegations were proven to be true. But speaking during a visit to Qatar, he also said he did not want relations with Moscow to worsen further.
At a briefing in Moscow, defense ministry officials displayed satellite images which they said showed columns of tanker trucks loading with oil at installations controlled by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and then crossing the border into neighboring Turkey.
The officials did not specify what direct evidence they had of the involvement of Erdogan and his family, an allegation that the Turkish president has vehemently denied.
“Turkey is the main consumer of the oil stolen from its rightful owners, Syria and Iraq. According to information we’ve received, the senior political leadership of the country - President Erdogan and his family - are involved in this criminal business,” said Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov.
“Maybe I’m being too blunt, but one can only entrust control over this thieving business to one’s closest associates.”
“In the West, no one has asked questions about the fact that the Turkish president’s son heads one of the biggest energy companies, or that his son-in-law has been appointed energy minister. What a marvelous family business!”
“The cynicism of the Turkish leadership knows no limits. Look what they’re doing. They went into someone else’s country, they are robbing it without compunction,” Antonov said.
Erdogan last week denied that Turkey procures oil from anything other than legitimate sources.
The United States said it rejected the premise that the Turkish government was in league with the militants to smuggle oil. “We frankly see no evidence, none, to support such an accusation,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
Erdogan has said Ankara is taking steps to prevent fuel smuggling, and he challenged anyone who accused his government of collaborating with Islamic State to prove their allegations.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama said Turkey had made progress in sealing its border with Syria, but Islamic State was still exploiting gaps to bring in foreign fighters and sell oil.
WEAPONS FLOW
The Russian defense ministry also alleged that the same criminal networks which were smuggling oil into Turkey were also supplying weapons, equipment and training to Islamic State and other Islamist groups.
“According to our reliable intelligence data, Turkey has been carrying out such operations for a long period and on a regular basis. And most importantly, it does not plan to stop them,” Sergei Rudskoy, deputy head of the Russian military’s General Staff, told reporters.
The defense ministry said its surveillance revealed hundreds of tanker trucks gathering at Islamic State-controlled sites in Iraq and Syria to load up with oil, and it questioned why the U.S.-led coalition was not launching more air strikes on them.
“It’s hard not to notice them,” Rudskoy said of the lines of trucks shown on satellite images.
Russian officials said their country’s bombing campaign had made a significant dent in Islamic State’s ability to produce, refine and sell oil.
U.S. officials say coalition air strikes have destroyed hundreds of IS oil trucks while the Russian campaign has mainly targeted opponents of the Syrian government who are not from Islamic State, which is also known as ISIL.
“The irony of the Russians raising this concern is that there’s plenty of evidence to indicate that the largest consumer of ISIL oil is actually Bashar al-Assad and his regime, a regime that only remains in place because it is being propped up by the Russians,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
The State Department’s Toner said U.S. information was that Islamic State was selling oil at the wellheads to middlemen who were involved in smuggling it across the frontier into Turkey.
SMUGGLING ROUTES
Russian officials described three main routes by which they said oil and oil products were smuggled from Islamic State territory into Turkey.
The ministry said the Western route took oil produced at fields near the Syrian city of Raqqa to the settlement of Azaz on the border with Turkey.
From there the columns of tanker trucks pass through the Turkish town of Reyhanli, the ministry said, citing what it said were satellite pictures of hundreds of such trucks moving through the border crossing without obstruction.
“There is no inspection of the vehicles carried out … on the Turkish side,” said Rudskoy.
Some of the smuggled cargoes go to the Turkish domestic market, while some is exported via the Turkish Mediterranean ports of Iskenderun and Dortyol, the ministry said.
Another main route for smuggled oil, according to the ministry, runs from Deir Ez-zour in Syria to the Syrian border crossing at Al-Qamishli. It said the trucks then took the crude for refining at the Turkish city of Batman.
A third route took oil from eastern Syria and western Iraq into the south-eastern corner of Turkey, the ministry said.
It said its satellite surveillance had captured hundreds of trucks crossing the border in that area back in the summer, and that since then there had been no reduction in the flow.
The defense ministry officials said the information they released on Wednesday was only part of the evidence they have in their possession, and that they would be releasing further intelligence in the next days and weeks.
(Additional reporting by Alexander Winning in Moscow and Lesley Wroughton and Doina Chiacu in Washington; writing by Christian Lowe; editing by Andrew Osborn, Giles Elgood and Philippa Fletcher)
Read more at Reutershttp://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/02/us-mideast-crisis-russia-turkey-idUSKBN0TL19S20151202#hIX0fh0Zf2FmLlRz.99
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...t/2299730.html
Sri Lanka urges Saudi not to stone to death maid for adultery
Sri Lanka said on Friday it was calling on Saudi Arabia to pardon a domestic worker sentenced to death by stoning after she admitted committing adultery while working in the Arab nation.
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka said on Friday it was calling on Saudi Arabia to pardon a domestic worker sentenced to death by stoning after she admitted committing adultery while working in the Arab nation.
An official from Sri Lanka’s Foreign Employment Bureau said the married 45-year-old woman who was working as a maid in Riyadh since 2013 was convicted of adultery by a Saudi court in August.
Her partner, also a Sri Lankan migrant worker, was given a lesser punishment of 100 lashes on account of being single.
“She has accepted the crime four times in the courts. But the Foreign Employment Bureau has hired lawyers and have appealed against the case,” Upul Deshapriya, spokesman for the Foreign Employment Bureau, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“The appeal is going on. Also from the foreign ministry side, they are in negotiation with the Saudi government on a diplomatic level.”
Officials from the Saudi Embassy in Colombo did not respond to requests from the Thomson Reuters Foundation on whether they would consider the plea for clemency.
Oil-producing Saudi Arabia follows Sharia, or Islamic law, and is often criticised by human rights groups for the wide range of crimes such as adultery, drug smuggling and witchcraft which carry the death penalty.
Stoning, a form of execution where a group throws stones at a person buried waist or chest deep in the ground until they are dead, is still carried out in parts of the Muslim world.
In 2013, Saudi Arabia beheaded a young Sri Lankan housemaid for the killing of an infant left in her care, rejecting repeated appeals by Colombo against her death sentence.
Thousands of men and women from the Indian Ocean island travel to the Middle East every year to seek jobs as maids or drivers.
According to Central Bank data, 279,952 Sri Lankans went to work in Middle Eastern nations in 2014, generating over US$7 billion in remittances, around 9 percent of total GDP.
Saudi Arabia, which is current chair of the United Nations Human Rights Council Panel, has executed over 150 people this year, mostly by public beheading, the most in 20 years, rights group Amnesty International said this month.
Foreigners, mostly guest workers from poor countries, are particularly vulnerable as they typically do not know Arabic and are denied adequate translation in court, Amnesty said.
Riyadh says it provides fair trials to all defendants.
Malaysian diplomat Muhammad Rizalman pleads guilty to indecent assault
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11553365
Muhammad Rizalman in the dock of the Wellington High Court as he pleads guilty.
The former Malaysian defence attache who returned to New Zealand to face criminal charges has this morning admitted indecently assaulting a Wellington woman.
Muhammad Rizalman bin Ismail, 39, was to have faced trial in the High Court at Wellington toady, but has admitted a charge of indecently assaulting Tania Billingsley.
Crown prosecutor Grant Burston offered no evidence on a charge of assault with intent to sexually violate Ms Billingsley, while a charge of burglary was dismissed.
As Rizalman stood in the dock, a Malay interpreter helped him.
A Crown summary of the offending was read to the court, although Rizalman disputes aspects of it.
It says about 6.30pm on Friday May 9, 2014, Ms Billingsley was at her Wellington flat in Brooklyn.
“She was the only one home at the time and was watching a movie on her laptop in her bedroom,” the summary says.
“Before entering the address, the defendant, Rizalman, removed his trousers and underwear.”
He entered the flat through a closed but unlocked door.
In the kitchen, he took off his jacket.
Rizalman then knocked on Ms Billingsley’s bedroom door and pushed it open.
“He spoke to the victim, saying, ‘Can I come in?’ The victim looked up from her bed and observed the defendant standing in the entranceway to the bedroom, wearing only a shirt and naked from the waist down,” the summary says.
Ms Billingsley got up and began yelling and screaming for Rizalman to get out.
He approached her and grabbed her shoulders and the pair struggled.
Ms Billingsley managed to push Rizalman out of her room.
After removing him from the flat she locked the door and ran into the bathroom to call the police.
A neighbour heard screaming and called a flatmate, while a flatmate’s boyfriend who lived nearby came to help.
He arrived to find Rizalman standing by the front door.
“By this time he had put his trousers back on,” the summary says.
“The defendant was confronted, but eventually began walking away from the address on to the pathway.”
Ms Billingsley suffered marks to her arms and “considerable emotional trauma”.
Rizalman told police the pair had been to a cinema together. He claimed she invited him to her house but became angry when he ate her food.
Defence lawyer Donald Stevens, QC, said there was “no real dispute” about what happened in the house, apart from a suggestion by Ms Billingsley that Rizalman grabbed her throat.
Dr Stevens said Rizalman’s hand might have come into contact with her throat, during a struggle.
He said he understood the Crown would dispute Rizalman was mentally unwell at the time, as the defence argues.
“Mr Rizalman has accepted there was an indecent assault because he went into the house without his trousers and underpants on, which made it indecent.”
The assault itself was Rizalman grabbing Ms Billingsley’s shoulders and arms.
Dr Stevens also asked Justice David Collins not to enter a conviction today, to which the judge agreed.
Crown prosecutor Grant Burston said the Crown didn’t accept Ms Billingsley touched Rizalman first.
The most important thing was the “fear, slash, terror” she would have felt when Rizalman entered her house.
The Crown didn’t agree with mitigating factors cited by the defence, Mr Burston said.
“It’s not accepted by the Crown that the defendant followed the victim to her home because he thought the victim wanted him to follow her,” he said.
“It’s not accepted by the Crown that the fact the defendant removed his trousers and underpants prior to going into the victim’s bedroom was not sexually motivated.
“Thirdly, it’s not accepted by the Crown that the defendant was suffering from a significant mental illness at the time of the offending.”
The defence would need to call evidence about that, Mr Burston said.
He said one expert’s evidence suggested Rizalman’s behaviour on the day in question was consistent with the use of cannabis and with anxiety.
Justice Collins bailed Rizalman until Friday, for a hearing about disputed facts.
MPs React
Green Party women’s affairs spokeswoman Jan Logie said she believed Rizalman’s guilty plea would be a “real relief” for Ms Billingsley.
She said the courts were “still not good places for [sexual assault] survivors”.
“There is a lot of work that needs to be done to make them as fair and as comfortable a place for people to be able to seek justice,” she said.
The Green MP was approached by Ms Billingsley last year. The victim was critical of the Government for letting her attacker leave the country and said that Prime Minister John Key appeared unconcerned with her case.
Ms Logie praised Ms Billingsley’s bravery in waiving name suppression to speak out about her case.
“This is one of those situations where because she was brave enough to go public people were able to see the huge number of flaws in the process,” she said.
The Green Party was now calling on Mr Key to apologise personally to Ms Billingsley on behalf of the Government.
Mr Key has previously said he would not apologise because former Ministry of Foreign Affairs head John Allen had already done so.
Ms Logie said a report into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ handling of the case should also be released.
The report by John Whitehead was completed a year ago but would not be made public until Rizalman’s trial was completed.
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said at the time that the findings in the report were “disappointing”.
Labour’s foreign affairs spokesman David Shearer said Rizalman’s plea would make the court process much simpler for Ms Billingsley.
“Clearly, she had a very harrowing deal, now that we know the facts of the case,” he said.
Mr Shearer said the full details of MFAT’s handling of the matter should be released as soon as possible.
“The big question still remains why foreign affairs got this so wrong,” he said. “And so far they have been hiding behind the John Whitehead report.”
Acting Foreign Affairs Minister Todd McClay had no comment to make while the case remained before the court.
A spokeswoman said the Whitehead report would not be released until the court process - including any potential appeals - had been concluded
Family of Texas boy arrested over clock demands $15m in damages
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/23/us...and-apologies/
Fifteen million dollars and apologies from the mayor and police chief.
That’s what an attorney says the family of Ahmed Mohamed is demanding from city and school officials in Irving, Texas, or they say they’ll file a civil suit.
In September, 14-year-old Ahmed made international headlines when he brought a handmade clock to school to show his teachers.
One of them thought it was a bomb and notified school authorities, who then called police. Ahmed was detained, questioned and hauled off in handcuffs. At the time, the school said it reacted with caution because the contraption that had wires could have been an explosive device.
It wasn’t. It was just a clock.
In a whirlwind of publicity about the case fueled by social media, #IStandWithAhmed became a trending topic on Twitter, President Barack Obama invited the teen to attend an event at the White House and a foundation offered him a scholarship to study in Qatar.
Ahmed Mohamed receives job offers, White House invite
Ahmed Mohamed receives job offers, White House invite 01:40
But despite the surge of support for Ahmed, the attorney representing his family says the teen suffered severe psychological trauma and that his “reputation in the global community is permanently scarred.”
In two letters sent Monday to attorneys representing the school district and the city, attorney Kelly Hollingsworth says that Ahmed’s civil rights were violated by the way the case was handled.
Irving city officials told CNN they were reviewing the letter and had no comment.
School district spokeswoman Lesley Weaver told CNN that the district is aware of the letter and also had no comment.
Hollingsworth, who says he was recently retained by the teen’s father, alleges that the teenager was not read his Miranda rights during his arrest and that those involved with the incident tried to cover up mistakes “with a media campaign that further alienated the child at the center of this maelstrom.”
Rather than calming the situation, Hollingsworth says in the letters, officials in Irving stoked the flames.
“They tried to push responsibility off on the victim – Ahmed. They have even implied publicly that what has come of this has been good for Ahmed, as though the resilience of this fine boy and his fine family somehow excused what they did,” the letters say. “It does not, for there is no excuse.”
Hollingsworth argues that the damages are numerous but difficult to quantify. He notes an online blog post that superimposed the 14-year-old’s face onto a famous image of Osama bin Laden, a “Clock Boy” Halloween costume on a website and harassment suffered by the teen’s siblings.
“Ahmed will now forever be associated with bomb making wholly without basis,” Hollingsworth says.
Among numerous allegations, the letters say that the authorities interrogated the Muslim teenager, alone, for at least one hour and 25 minutes, a period that was recorded on a police officer’s iPhone. At one point, according to the letters, a police officer who first saw Ahmed said, “Yep. That’s who I thought it was.”
“Ahmed clearly was singled out because of his race, national origin and religion,” the letters say.
If officials don’t comply with the family’s demands for apologies and compensation for the damages within 60 days, the letters say, a civil lawsuit will be filed.
http://news.asiaone.com/news/malaysi...having-t-shirt
Commando charged with having IS T-shirt
PARIT - An army commando has been charged in a magistrate’s court here with possession of a T-shirt with Islamic State (IS) design.
Clad in blue denim jacket and jeans, Mohd Abu Haliff Shah Abu Bakar, 28, was read his charge under Section 130JB(1)(a) of the Penal Code before magistrate Mohd Fitri Sadarudin.
No plea was recorded.
According to the charge sheet, Mohd Abu Haliff Shah was found in possession of the T-shirt at his home at Kampung Baru, Mukim Lambor Kiri Bota, in Perak Tengah, on Nov 12 at about 1.30pm.
Mohd Abu Haliff Shah, who is based at the Sungai Udang camp in Malacca, faces up to seven years in jail or a fine and the forfeiture of the item.
Mohd Fitri set Jan 6 for mention.
It is learned that the case will be transferred to the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
DPP Nurul Qistini Qamarul Abrar prosecuted while Mohd Abu Haliff Shah was unrepresented.
- See more at:
http://www.shameonyou.buzz/malaysian...-trips-in-usa/
Malaysian Islamic affairs (Yapeim) Minister have been using money for Orphans for lavish shopping and golf trips in USA!
Charity organisation Yayasan Pembangunan Ekonomi Islam Malaysia (Yapeim) had funded a federal minister’s shopping trip in the US last year using donations meant for an orphanage, a PKR-linked anti-corruption group alleged today.
Continuing its exposés on alleged power abuse by Yapeim, National Oversight and Whistleblower (NOW) director Akmal Nasir also claimed the minister in charge of Islamic affairs, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom, the latter’s wife and their entourage had travelled to the US in May last year under the guise of an official charity programme organised by the state-linked charity agency, but instead had gone on a shopping spree and played golf for most of the eight-day trip.
Akmal said official documents of the programme obtained by NOW showed that while Yapeim deemed the trip as a means to “strengthen” the charity body’s work, payment was instead made among others for a golf game, gift shopping and a trip to a factory outlet store in Washington DC that sells luxury goods.
The trip, funded by Yayasan Pembangunan Anak Yatim/Miskin (Pemangkin), which is an institution under Yapeim’s watch, had cost more than RM410,000, Akmal claimed.
“I am quite certain that this exposé can reach beyond the imagination of the rakyat how an Islamic foundation under the watch of the prime minister can be abused for a minister’s activities like playing golf or shopping and all.
“NOW, with this, demand a thorough investigation where the spendings of Yapeim and other institutions under Yapeim are checked and audited openly,” Akmal told a press conference at the group’s office here.
In copies of receipts of payments for the Yapeim US programme, the foundation was said to have funded a trip to three locations — Washington DC, Iowa and Minnesota.
The trip took place from May 21 to May 29, 2015. Out of the schedule, four days were spent on a “VVIP” trip to Leesburg Corner Premium Outlet, a factory outlet store that sells luxury goods at discounted prices.
Transportation fees to the outlet cost close to RM6,000, according to the receipt.
Akmal noted that Pemangkin’s director is the former Kelantan Umno Wanita chief who was implicated in another power abuse allegation during the Rompin by-election in Pahang earlier this year.
The Wanita Umno leader, who is also the chairman and director of Yapeim, was accused of siphoning RM223,000 of the foundation’s money, purportedly to help Barisan Nasional’s (BN) election campaign.
She was also appointed to the post by Jamil Khir, Akmal pointed out.
“For Jamil Khir Baharom, if he still has dignity, he should resign immediately and apologise openly to Malaysians because he had abused money meant for poor orphans donated by the public,” Akmal said.
Akmal demanded that Jamil Khir and the top two heads of Pemangkin, who also head the Yapeim board, return every sen they took from Yapeim, including their salaries, allowances and overseas spending.
Senator Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki told Malay Mail Online yesterday the federal government has no direct involvement in the operations of Yapeim or knowledge of the alleged mismanagement at the entity.
Yapeim director-general Datuk Abibullah Samsudin said in a statement yesterday that it was ready to be investigated over claims of mismanagement.
Yapeim was a charity set up by the federal government in 1976 and placed under the purview of the prime minister, with special attention from Jamil Khir.
Akmal had said that more than half a million Malaysians have joined Yapeim’s monthly salary cut scheme to donate their money and estimated that the charity will receive RM65.73 million this year from public donations.
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-...-mineral-water
Malaysian company launches halal mineral water Lumin Spring
MALAYSIA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Lumin Spring International Group Sdn Bhd has launched a halal mineral water called Lumin Spring.
Certified by the Health Ministry and Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) as safe for consumption, Lumin Spring says it is a nourishing mineral water with halal accreditation.
Speaking during a press conference at Nexus in Bangsar South, Lumin International Group executive director Ting Chung Cheng hopes the new product will redefine the business frontier for the halal market.
“We intend to enter the global halal market with our new product,” Datuk Dr Ting said.
“The accreditation from Jakim opens a new market and more opportunities for us.”
Lumin Spring mineral water is sourced from the natural spring cluster in Heavenly-Lake at Changbai Mountain in China’s Jilin province.
Lumin Spring incorporated environmentally-friendly features in its gold-tinted water bottle, which is fully biodegradable and made from non-toxic materials.
To ensure the mineral water bottles have a sustainable shelf life in the tropical climate of Malaysia with its high temperatures throughout the year, they were made to withstand temperatures of up to 150 deg C.
The Lumin Spring mineral water is expected to be priced between RM6 (S$2) and RM6.50 and will be available at exclusive partners of the company and for online purchase at
in December.
http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/...ceful-salafism
Malaysia and the concept of “Peaceful” SALAfism
Salafism in Malaysia has garnered renewed attention with the increasing presence of Salafi ulama within the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) youth wing.
Salafi doctrines emphasise a return to religious practices of the Prophet and his followers in the seventh century and the removal of all forms of innovation and any adherence to pre-Islamic practices.
While it is unlikely that these new Umno Salafis would uproot the largely traditionalist Islamic bureaucracy and institutions in Malaysia, their presence has reinvigorated the nexus between Salafism, politics and extremism.
In order to contrast non-violent Salafism with Jihadi Salafism, the term “Peaceful Salafism” has been bandied about by pundits. While not meant as a serious analytical category, it attempts to describe the non-violent Salafi imagination in Malaysia, regardless of whether one is a political or quietist Salafi.
Quietists are perceived to be peaceful because they shun street activism and focus their activities on proselytisation. Political Salafis are perceived so because, unlike their violent counterparts, they attempt to achieve their end - an Islamic utopia - through political participation rather than armed strife. Peacefulness is thus defined as either being unchallenging of the political status quo or pursuing ends through the means of peaceful politics.
Salafi scholars have to rescind the hate in their rhetoric. Peaceful Salafis cannot be ambivalent to the presence of Jihadi Salafis and their followers who dwell safely within the Malaysian “Political Salafi” and “Peaceful Salafi” climate. Otherwise, they would be seen to harbour extremism hopes - no matter how latent - for an Islamic utopia in Malaysia.
But it is not incontrovertible that peaceful Salafism is all that peaceful. While field research by Dr Maszlee Malik and Dr Khalil al-Anani (2013) shows that political participation has tamed radical Salafi elements in Egypt, the same cannot be said about political Salafism’s foray into the mainstream of Malaysian politics. Despite having an Islamist space in social and political arenas, Malaysia has hosted local and regional radical groups such as Al-Ma’unah, Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia and Jemaah Islamiyah.
The mechanism that encourages peacefulness among groups that decide to lay down their arms for the political process is the promise of continued or even increased relevance and popularity in society. This mechanism is not foolproof.
As long as a total and radical Islamisation of Malaysia towards the end of an iconographic Islamic utopia is not fully achieved, radicals and supporters will feel unsatisfied and seek to realise “Daulah Islamiyah Baqiyyah wa Tatamaddad” (an Islamic State that is forever lasting). This was revealed in a Facebook posting written by a Malaysian Abu Sayyaf fighter who encouraged his followers to pursue armed extremism all over the world, from Syria to Pattani, Ambon-Poso and Mindanao.
Radicals like him may be militant or Jihadi Salafists, but radical followers and supporters, numbering in the thousands, are from the different strands of Salafism. What ties them together is a subscription to an exclusivist position on the Salafist doctrine of Al-Wala’ wal-Bara’ (Loyalty and Enmity) that draws narrow theological boundaries between oneself and the putative “Other”.
This duality is at odds with the Malaysian society they live in, which is democratic - ostensibly a heinous innovation - and multi-religious. When confronted with their cognitive dissonance, they either put aside their worldview, or concur that Malaysia is yet to be Darul Islam.
Now that Umno has co-opted the Salafi ulama for religious legitimacy, there is a rekindling of political discourse within the Salafi worldview. For instance, Dr Fathul Bari, the current Executive Committee member of Umno youth who once elaborated on his taxonomy of kafirs (infidels) before he joined Umno, has recently expressed his displeasure regarding “Puji Kafir, Hina Islam” (praising infidels while insulting Islam). Dr Fathul Bari argues that, despite the value deficiencies of Muslim societies and governments, placing a positive value upon the perceivable good of infidel societies and governments is an act of shirk.
The Islamic Party, PAS, also legitimises its electoral fights with Umno by arguing that Umno does not satisfy their vision of Muslim rule. PAS and Umno engage in piety-outbidding through the contention of the Islamic-ness of Malaysia.
Otherwise, another example of piety-outbidding between PAS and Umno centres on the confusing debate over the legitimacy of teaming up with non-Muslims in their respective coalitions, because, as ideologues like Dr Fathul Bari would argue, some kafirs are Kafir Harbi and meant to be fought and opposed. The problem with this discourse is that it falls neatly into the already highly racialised politics in Malaysia, encouraging racist rhetoric and allowing Umno Supreme Council member Annuar Musa to brag that his “racism is based on Islam”.
Salafi scholars have to rescind the hate in their rhetoric. Peaceful Salafis cannot be ambivalent to the presence of Jihadi Salafis and their followers who dwell safely within the Malaysian “Political Salafi” and “Peaceful Salafi” climate. Otherwise, they would be seen to harbour extremism hopes - no matter how latent - for an Islamic utopia in Malaysia.
Jihadi Salafism and elements of Salafism that encourage kafir hatred, that is hatred of non-Muslims, should not be left unchallenged.
Put in the context of a racialised, multi-religious society, non-Muslims and those Muslims around the world who are “not-so-Muslim” are at risk if hatred is given a womb in which to percolate an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria brand of 100 per cent Islam: Jihadi Salafism.
The writer is a Research Analyst in the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
This article first appeared in RSIS Commentary