Memo: Why he's unfit to continue as EC chief
Dec 11, 07 3:00pm
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) urges Parliament to reject the proposed amendment which will effect the extension of the EC chief’s tenure by 18 months. Below is the full memorandum.[Bersih] urges the Parliament of Malaysia, which consists of His Majesty the Yang diPertuan Agong, Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara to reject the proposed bill to amend Article 114 of the Federal Constitution, which will effect in Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman's extension as the Election Commission (EC) Chairperson up to one-and-a-half years.
Bersih stresses that Tan Sri Abdul Rashid, whose service is continuously marred with recurring electoral frauds and manipulations, is not fit for the job and must go immediately. All parliamentarians must therefore vote against this Constitutional Amendment Bill so obviously being rushed through to keep him the job is an insult to both the Constitution and Parliament. 1. In principle, Bersih has no objection to the extension of the retirement age from 65 to 66 years for all members of the EC. The removal of an EC is constitutionally stipulated to be done in the same manner as a Federal Court judge, whose retirement age has been increased from 65 to 66 years, such synchronisation is not objectionable. 2. The Constitutional Bill, if passed through both chambers of the Parliament and consented by HM the Yang diPertuan Agong by this December 31, will however become a back-door extension for Tan Sri Abdul Rashid whose birthday falls on the same day. In other words, Tan Sri Abdul Rashid has to retire if Article 114 of the Federal Constitution is not amended in time. On the other hand, if the amendment is passed, Tan Sri Abdul Rashid may stay on effectively till June 2009 with the conventional half-year extension after retirement. In other words, this will ensure that Tan Sri Abdul Rashid oversees the next elections. 3. The Constitutional Bill, hastily tabled for first reading in Dewan Rakyat on November 20, 2007 and scheduled for second reading on December 11, 2007, is therefore a "Save Rashid" Amendment. Such a "Save Rashid" Amendment, by reducing the Federal Constitution to a tool to serve the interests of one individual especially one unfit for the job, is an insult and assault to constitutional democracy. 4. Article 114(2) stipulates "the importance of securing an Election Commission which enjoys public confidence", which Tan Sri Abdul Rashid has clearly failed. Here is a non-exhaustive list of 10 failures and scandals in the electoral process under his service in and leadership of the EC: 4.1 The electoral rolls is contaminated with the names of the dead, non-citizens, multiple registrations and the under-aged, allowing election outcomes to be determined by phantoms rather than citizens. In 2001, Justice Datuk Muhammad Kamil Awang nullified the election result of Likas state constituency in Sabah on the grounds that the 1998 state electoral roll was illegal as phantom voters, including non-citizens, had cast their votes on polling day. 4.2 The government responded to the Likas verdict by changing the Election Act so that election outcome can no longer be challenged on the grounds of electoral roll validity. All EC wrongdoings are now protected. In a manner amounting to contempt of court, Tan Sri Abdul Rashid attacked Justice Datuk Muhammad Kamil Awang on Dec 4, 2007, alleging that the judge took it out on the government because he was 'frustrated with certain things'. 4.3 Voters are transferred from one constituency to another to secure victory for the ruling coalition. In October 2007, EC secretary Datuk Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor blamed some assistant registration officers for cases that happened before July 16, 2002. If found guilty under the Election Offences Act 1954, those officers shall be liable for imprisonment up to two years, fine up to RM 5,000 or both. However, no names have been disclosed and no police reports lodged.
4.4 Such transfer or implantation of voters continues to happen after 2002. The latest case is the increase of 8,463 voters within three months at Ipoh Timor constituency which the Parliamentary Opposition Leader Mr Lim Kit Siang won with a margin of 9,774 votes in 2004 [see chart]. 4.5 The extent of irregularities and fraudulent registrations, seen particularly in the Ijok by-election on 28 April 2007, is shocking: - Over 50 dead voters were still on the electoral roll and 12 of them, all of them Malays from the Jaya Setia polling district, rose up from their graves to cast their votes on polling day. - Three Chinese voters at Pekan Ijok had their votes stolen by impostors, who had turned up earlier at the polling station. - As many as 23 voters were registered without national identity cards. - As many as 32 voters aged between 100 and 132 years old were still listed on the electoral rolls. 4.6 In the 2004 general elections, the use of three different versions of the electoral roll led to a breakdown and chaos in polling in at least 17 parliamentary constituencies in Selangor and three in Kuala Lumpur. EC then ordered an illegal extension of polling for two extra hours in some of these constituencies. No EC officers have been prosecuted or penalized for the chaos. 4.7 Also in the 2004 general elections, provisional results showed that 98% of the registered voters collected parliamentary ballots in Kuala Terengganu, but 10,254 ballots were not returned. Tan Sri Abdul Rashid offered an absurd explanation that KT voters had the hobby of collecting ballot papers. The final result published on the Gazette saw the reduction of turnout rate to 84% and the missing ballots to 240, with no explanation offered for this changes. 4.8 For years, elections have seen high number of missing ballots in many constituencies. Top on the list for four elections from 1990 and 2004 was the Lumut constituency, which saw the extent of unreturned ballots soaring from 2,763 in 1982 to 8,176 in 1999. Had these missing ballots found their ways to polling stations in other constituencies, they would have overturned outcomes in many marginal seats. Blaming it on the weakness of postal voting registration, Tan Sri Abdul Rashid has failed to end this phenomenon so damaging to the credibility of the EC and electoral process. 4.9 Mal-apportionment and gerrymandering of constituencies have gone from bad to worse with the 2002 constituency re-delineation exercise. In 2004, BN won an unprecedented 91% parliamentary majority with a mere 64% popular votes. This effectively means that one vote for BN was equivalent for 3 votes for DAP, 8 votes for PAS and 26 votes for Keadilan. Tan Sri Abdul Rashid has made a mockery of the "one person, one vote" principle. 4.10 Ultimately, Tan Sri Abdul Rashid is unfit to chair the EC for he lacks the most fundamental quality: the moral courage and the commitment to act independently, guided only by the Constitution and the best interest of Malaysia's democracy. In 2003, he conceded that EC's ability to carry out its task independently has been hampered by the government. In November 2007, he indirectly admitted that the election date was set by the Prime Minister. On Dec 8, 2007, he inappropriately said that the ruling coalition is the only regime capable of running the country.
5. On the grounds that Tan Sri Abdul Rashid is unfit to chair EC and his retirement on this December 31 in the best interest of the nation, BERSIH urges all parliamentarians to vote against the Constitutional Amendment Bill.

12 Disember 2007

Kenyataan Bersama Meminta Temujanji Segera dengan Perdana Menteri

Kami amat prihatin dengan krisis-krisis terbaru yang membelenggu negara kita.Kami memandang serius ketegangan kaum dan agama yang melanda masyarakat kita. Komitmen utama kami ialah perpaduan nasional, muafakat masyarkat majmuk dan juga keselamatan dan kebajikan semua rakyat Malaysia. Kami percaya satu-satunya cara memelihara nilai-nilai tersebut ialah untuk menolak pendekatan yang memecahbelahkan masyarakat dan memelihara jaminan Perlembagaan. Justeru kami sekali lagi ingin mengulangi komitmen kami untuk mengambil pendekatan yang benar-benar bersatu dan pelbagai kaum dan agama di dalam perjuangan kami memperjuangkan keadilan untuk semua.Kami juga kesal dengan tindakan kasar pihak berkuasa di dalam siri penahanan yang berlangsung pada 9 hingga 11 Disember. Penangkapan pimpinan badan bukan kerajaan dan parti-parti politik merupakan satupelanggaran jelas hak asasi manusia yang dijamin oleh Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Peristiwa tangkapan dan tekanan ini jelas bertentangan dengan jaminan kerajaan bahawa Malaysia merupakan sebuah demokrasiyang kukuh, dan akan mencemar nama negara di mata dunia.Kami juga terus komited di dalam memperjuangkan agenda pilihan raya yang bebas dan adil di samping reformasi Pilihan Raya yang benar-benar bermakna. Pemindaan Perlembagaan yang membenarkan pengerusi Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya untuk terus berkhidmat setahun lagi ialah petanda jelas bahawa kerajaan benar-benar ingin meneruskan sistem pilihan raya yang penuh dengan kelemahan dan penipuan. Sekali lagi kami mendesak kerajaan untuk memberi akses yang saksama terhadap media untuk semua parti politik dan menerima bukti-bukti yang kami kumpulsecara serius untuk membanteras penyelewangan pilihan raya yang menular selama ini.Jika tiada langkah yang segera diambil untuk menyelesaikan masalah-masalah ini, kita tidak akan memperoleh keadilan, keamanan dan kebebasan. Justeru, kami bersedia untuk membawanya ke peringkat kerajaan yang paling tinggi memandangkan adalah penting masalah-masalah ini dapat diselesaikan segera.Dengan itu, kami ingin mendapatkan temujanji segera dengan Perdana Menteri untuk membincangkan masalah-masalah negara yang mustahak ini dan mendesak beliau berpegang pada janjinya untuk mendengar masalah semua rakyat Malaysia. Di dalam pertemuan ini kami berhasrat meneruskan agenda perpaduan dan muafakat nasional di kalangan semuarakyat Malaysia tanpa mengira kaum dan agama dan meneruskan gesaan kami untuk pilihan raya yang bersih dan adil, di samping berusaha menyelesaikan masalah negara yang kita hadapi.Endorcees for Solidarity Press Conference 12-12-2007 (In Alphabetical Order) Political Parties: 1 Democratic Action Party (DAP)2 Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS)3 Parti Keadilan Rakyat (KeADILan)4 Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)NGOs : 1 Center for Indepence Journalism (CIJ)2 Centre for Policy Initiatives3 Citizen Think Tank4 Civil Rights Committee, KLSCAH5 Concern Citizen Group6 Gabungan Mansuhkan ISA (GMI)7 Group of Concerned Citizens8 Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM)9 Komas10 Labour Resource Centre (LRC)11 MADPET12 National Alliance of Bloggers (All-Blogs)13 National Human Rights Society (HAKAM)14 National Youth and Student Democratic Movement (DEMA)15 Police Watch and Human Rights Committee16 REFSA17 Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)18 Writers Alliance for Media Independence19 Youth For Change (Y4C)
! -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- December 12, 2007Joint Statement to Seek Immediate Appointment with Prime MinisterWe view with great seriousness the recent crises that trouble our nation.We are especially troubled by the racial and religious antagonism that now pervades Malaysian society. Our foremost commitment is to national unity, multiracial solidarity as well as to the safety and welfare of all Malaysians. We believe that the only way to safeguard these values is to reject socially divisive approaches and uphold Constitutional guarantees. We thus affirm our pledge to remain united in our multiracial and multi-religious approach to uphold justice for all.We deplore the heavy handed actions of the authorities in the series of arrests that took place between the 9th and 11th of December. This brutal crackdown against leaders of civil society organisations and political parties is a clear contravention of the fundamental liberties and human rights guaranteed in our Constitution. The inconsistency of these arrests and intimidations with the government's assurances that Malaysia continues to be a strong democracy willundoubtedly tarnish our country's reputation in the international community.We also remain firmly committed to pursuing the agenda of free and fair elections as well as meaningful electoral reform. The amendment of the Constitution to allow the chairman of the Electoral Commissionto serve for another year is a clear reminder that the government is fully intent on perpetuating an electoral system that is rife with irregularities and corruption. We reiterate our calls to the government to provide full access to the media for all political parties and to take seriously the mass of incriminating evidence thatwe have adduced time and time again and take all necessary measures to abolish well documented electoral malpractices.Justice, harmony and freedom in Malaysia will be forever absent unless immediate steps are taken to remedy these vital issues. The importance of addressing them vigorously is such that we will seek to bring the matter to the highest level of government.We are thus seeking an immediate appointment with the Prime Minister to discuss these pressing matters of state and urge him to honour his promise of being willing to listen to the concerns of all Malaysians.At this meeting we intend to pursue the agenda of national unity and reconciliation among all Malaysians regardless of race and religion, press on with our demands for free and fair elections, and work towards resolving the serious national problems we face.Endorcees for Solidarity Press Conference 12-12-2007 (In Alphabetical Order) Political Parties: 1 Democratic Action Party (DAP)2 Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS)3 Parti Keadilan Rakyat (KeADILan)4 Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)NGOs : 1 Center for Indepence Journalism (CIJ)2 Centre for Policy Initiatives3 Citizen Think Tank4 Civil Rights Committee, KLSCAH5 Concern Citizen Group6 Gabungan Mansuhkan ISA (GMI)7 Group of Concerned Citizens8 Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM)9 Komas10 Labour Resource Centre (LRC)11 MADPET12 National Alliance of Bloggers (All-Blogs)13 National Human Rights Society (HAKAM)14 National Youth and Student Democratic Movement (DEMA)15 Police Watch and Human Rights Committee16 REFSA17 Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)18 Writers Alliance for Media Independence19 Youth For Change (Y4C)

"Study tracks plight of English Muslims"

"Study tracks plight of English Muslims"

(AP, May 15, 2006)

London, England - Muslims are more likely than other religious minorities to be unemployed and live in poor housing in the most deprived parts of England, according to a government study Monday.

Half of English Muslims over the age of 25 are not involved in the formal labor market and a third live in the most deprived areas of the country, according to the study commissioned by the government.

Muslims are also particularly vulnerable to long-term illness and experience poor levels of education, said the researchers from the universities of Derby, Warwick, Birmingham and Oxford.

"Taking the Muslim population as a whole, they face some of the most acute conditions of multiple deprivation," the report said.

The report said members of the Muslim, Sikh and Hindu communities were likely to remain concentrated in the same areas because families want to stay close together and many prefer to live near their places of worship.

A government spokeswoman said the academics had reviewed a variety of data, including information from the 2001 national census.

The government will use the study in its work to encourage equal opportunities for members of all religious communities, the spokeswoman said.

Sir Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the research showed the poverty and other deep-seated problems that have contributed to the marginalization and disaffection felt among many young Muslims.

"We hope that this report serves to highlight the need to develop policies that are able reach into these communities and fulfill their needs," Sacranie said.

"Pope Urges Muslims to Respect Christians"

"Pope Urges Muslims to Respect Christians"
(AP, May 15, 2006)

Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI urged Islamic countries to ensure religious rights for Christian migrants Monday while also saying Christians should continue welcoming Muslim immigrants with open arms. Benedict stressed the need for "reciprocity" in Christian-Muslim relations during a speech to members of the pontifical council for migrants. The Vatican office is studying the issue of migration to and from Muslim countries during its annual meeting this week. Cardinal Renato Martino, who heads the migrant office, has complained recently that while Muslim immigrants are often welcomed into largely Christian countries in Europe and allowed to practice their faith freely, Christian immigrants in the Islamic world are denied those same rights. Benedict said Christians were called to "open their arms and their hearts to everyone," regardless of their countries of origin. "Obviously, it is also to be hoped that Christians who emigrate to countries with an Islamic majority find welcome and respect of their religious identities there," he said. "More and more the importance of reciprocity in dialogue is felt." Benedict has called for respect for religious rights for Christian minorities in the past. In a January speech to Vatican-based ambassadors, he lamented that some countries "seriously violate" religious freedom for minorities. He did not name any, but the Vatican has expressed concern about the plight of Roman Catholic minorities in countries such as China, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East.

"Chinese Muslims to Get First Hajj Service"

"Chinese Muslims to Get First Hajj Service"
(AFP, May 13, 2006)

Beijing, China - The Islamic Association of China (IAC) will set up a special office to assist Chinese Muslims making pilgrimages to Makkah, Saudi Arabia. "This is the first time China has set up a special pilgrimage service for the country's 20 million Muslims," IAC Vice-Chairman Yang Zhibo told Chinese news agency Xinhua Saturday, May 13. Yang estimated that more than 8,000 Chinese would make a pilgrimage in 2007. The number of Chinese making the spiritual journey has been rising steadily. This year it was 7,000. Since 1985, nearly 100,000 Chinese Muslims have completed the pilgrimage. One of the five pillars of Islam, hajj consists of several ceremonies, which are meant to symbolize the essential concepts of the Islamic faith, and to commemorate the trials of Prophet Abraham and his family. Every able-bodied adult Muslim -- who can financially afford the trip -- must perform hajj once in their lifetime. According to official data, China has 20 million Muslims, most of them are concentrated in Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu, and Qinghai regions and provinces. Smaller Muslim communities can also be found throughout interior China. Islam came to China via Muslim businessman during the era of the Tang Dynasty. There have also been reports of companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) coming to China. Yang said that the IAC will introduce more facilities to the faithful to make the journey much easier. "Our service has also improved," Yang said. He noted that pilgrims could leave the country now through four cities: Beijing, Lanzhou, Urumqi and Kunming. A fifth exit port was planned in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, home of most of the Hui ethnic minority, China's second largest Muslim minority group. Local branches of the IAC offered training programs for first-time pilgrims, Yang said. "To better serve Muslims, we will add English, international travel tips and emergency treatment to our programs," he noted. He also said the IAC would help pilgrims outside peak times, starting in August and September this year. Sources with Air China told Xinhua that chartered flights would now carry pilgrims direct to Makkah. Chinese Muslims have been complaining about government marginalization and heavy-handed police treatment. International human rights organizations have chided the Chinese government in several reports for its poor human rights record in predominantly Muslim regions, particularly Xinjiang. Human Rights Watch has said in a recent report that Chinese policy in Xinjiang "denies Uighurs religious freedom, and by extension freedom of association, assembly, and expression." The Uighurs are a Turkish-speaking minority of eight million whose traditional homeland lies in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in north-west China. Chinese Muslim leaders have charged that China was using the US-championed "war on terror" to justify its crushing campaign of religious oppression and rights abuses.

"Reading 'Da Vinci Code' does alter beliefs: survey"

"Reading 'Da Vinci Code' does alter beliefs: survey"
by Paul Majendie (Reuters, May 16, 2006)

London, England - "The Da Vinci Code" has undermined faith in the Roman Catholic Church and badly damaged its credibility, a survey of British readers of Dan Brown's bestseller showed on Tuesday. People are now twice as likely to believe Jesus Christ fathered children after reading the Dan Brown blockbuster and four times as likely to think the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei is a murderous sect. "An alarming number of people take its spurious claims very seriously indeed," said Austin Ivereigh, press secretary to Britain's top Catholic prelate Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. "Our poll shows that for many, many people the Da Vinci Code is not just entertainment," Ivereigh added. He heads a prominent group of English Roman Catholic monks, theologians, nuns and members of Opus Dei, who commissioned the survey from leading pollster Opinion Research Business (ORB) and have sought to promote Catholic beliefs at a time when the film's release has provoked a storm of controversy. ORB interviewed more than 1,000 adults last weekend, finding that 60 percent believed Jesus had children by Mary Magdalene -- a possibility raised by the book -- compared with just 30 percent of those who had not read the book. The English group demanded that the "Da Vinci Code" movie, being given its world premiere at the Cannes Film festival on Wednesday, should carry a "health warning." The group, which stopped short of following the Vatican line of calling on Catholics to boycott the film, accused Brown of dishonest marketing based on peddling fiction as fact. The novel, which has sold over 40 million copies, also depicts Opus Dei as a ruthless Machiavellian organization whose members resort to murder to keep the Church's secrets. The survey underlined the astonishing popularity of Brown's novel -- it has been read by more than one in five adults of all ages in Britain. Ivereigh complained that Brown and film studio Sony Pictures "have encouraged people to take it seriously while hiding behind the claim that it is fiction. "Our poll shows they should take responsibility for their dishonesty and issue a health warning." In the survey, readers were asked if Opus Dei had ever carried out a murder. Seventeen percent of readers believe it had, compared with just four percent of non-readers. Opus Dei spokesman Jack Valero said he was astonished. "Since we were founded in 1928, Opus Dei has promoted the highest moral standards at work, spreading a message of Christian love and understanding," he said. "Yet the Da Vinci Code has persuaded hundreds of thousands of people that we have blood on our hands."

"Muslims urged to speak up for Christians"

"Muslims urged to speak up for Christians"
(Reuters, May 17, 2006)

London, England - The main barrier to dialogue between Christians and Muslims is the failure of some countries in the Islamic world to respect freedom of worship, the country's leading Roman Catholic said on Tuesday. When Christians are persecuted in those countries, Muslims in Britain have a duty to speak up in their defence, said Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. "Dialogue will be impossible as long as minds are closed, as long as adherents of either faith believe that we have nothing to learn from the other," the cardinal said in a speech to the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. "The main obstacle to that dialogue is the failure, in a number of Muslim countries, to uphold the principle of religious freedom." Tensions between Britain's Muslim and non-Muslim populations were exacerbated by last year's July 7 bombings in London, which killed 52 people and were carried out by four British Islamist extremists. Christians and non-believers alike urged Britain's 2.7 million Muslims to condemn the bombings, and the vast majority did. Some Christians have also urged Muslims to be more vocal in their condemnation of abuses in Islamic countries abroad. "Where Christians are being denied their rights, or are subject to sharia law, that is not a matter on which Muslims in Britain should remain silent," said Murphy-O'Connor, who speaks for around 4 million Catholics in Britain. He said there were "rising tensions" in the British Muslim community "which are spilling out on the edges of that community in an adherence to fundamentalist or nostalgic doctrines which approve violence". The cardinal drew a parallel between the experience of Muslims in Britain now -- many of whom complain of Islamophobia -- and that of Catholics in Britain in the 1970s, when sectarian violence in Northern Ireland was at its height. "There is much in our Catholic experience -- when being Catholic and Irish in the 1970s was to be equated in the minds of some with terrorism -- that must surely lead us to sympathise," he said.

World faiths call conversion basic religious right"

World faiths call conversion basic religious right"
by Robert Evans (Reuters, May 17, 2006) V

atican City - A conference grouping an array of world religions, including Christians, Jews and Muslims said on Wednesday everyone should have the right to convert to another faith. Some Muslim countries fiercely contest religious conversion and people leaving the Islamic faith can face death. The statement on religious freedom was issued on behalf of the conference by the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC), the organiser along with the Vatican. The conference was billed in advance as a first step towards shaping a "code on religious conversion" -- or a rule-book that all faiths should follow. "Freedom of religion connotes the freedom, without any obstruction, to practice one's own faith, freedom to propagate the teachings of one's faith to people of one's own and other faiths ...," the statement said. This also meant "the freedom to embrace another faith out of one's free choice". The WCC, which groups mainstream Protestant and Christian Orthodox churches, said the four-day conference near Rome was attended by 27 participants from Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and African Yoruba religious backgrounds. It did not identify them individually, and it was not clear what the level of Muslim representation was or where the Muslim representatives were from. The meeting was sponsored on the Vatican side by the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue and the thrust of the statement was in line with recent calls by the Vatican and other Christian bodies for better treatment for non-Muslims in Islamic countries. Pope Benedict on Monday told a Vatican conference on immigration to and from Islamic states that Christian minorities in those countries should enjoy reciprocity -- or the same rights Muslims generally have in Western countries. Vatican officials, leaders of other Christian and non- Christian faiths as well as atheists and humanists, say limits on non-Muslims in Islamic countries are far harsher than any restrictions imposed in the West that Muslims decry. Saudi Arabia bans public expression of non-Muslim religions, and sometimes arrests Christians for worshipping privately, while Pakistan's Islamic laws deprive local Christians of basic rights although churches can function. In Iran and some other Muslim countries, converts to other religions or to humanism -- like controversial Dutch Somali-born politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali -- are condemned as "apostates" and can be executed if they refuse to repent. In Afghanistan, Islamic clerics in March condemned Western pressure for the release of man who had been jailed after converting to Christianity and said he should have been executed for abandoning Islam.

"Pope condemns Indian bans on religious conversion"

"Pope condemns Indian bans on religious conversion"

by Tom Heneghan (Reuters, May 18, 2006)

Paris, France - Pope Benedict condemned Hindu nationalist attempts to ban religious conversions in India in a speech on Thursday reflecting growing tension among major faiths about the role and nature of missionary work.

In unusually strong language, the Pontiff told New Delhi's new ambassador to the Vatican that efforts in some states to outlaw conversions were unconstitutional and should be rejected.

It was his second declaration this week in defence of religious freedom in countries with non-Christian majorities. On Monday, he urged Muslim countries to give their Christian minorities the same rights as Muslims enjoyed in Western states.

"The disturbing signs of religious intolerance which have troubled some regions of the nation, including the reprehensible attempt to legislate clearly discriminatory restrictions on the fundamental right of religious freedom, must be firmly rejected," Benedict told the new ambassador, Amitava Tripathi.

Anti-conversion laws were "unconstitutional (and) contrary to the highest ideals of India's founding fathers," he said, according to the text of his speech released by the Vatican.

Also this week, representatives of world religions met in Rome to begin working on a "code of conduct" that would affirm conversion as a basic right but curb aggressive proselytising.

The Vatican and the mostly Protestant and Orthodox World Council of Churches launched the initiative after Christian minorities in India complained about aggressive proselytising by newly arrived evangelical groups.

The conversion meeting came two months after Afghanistan threatened to execute a Muslim convert to Christianity, who took refuge in Italy after an outcry from Western countries and the Vatican. Several Muslim states prescribe death for apostates.

Both Christianity and Islam are missionary religions whose scriptures tell believers to spread the faith, a mission that religious minorities usually play down to keep civil peace.

In his statement on Monday, Benedict said Christians in Muslim countries should have the right to speak openly about their religion. Saudi Arabia bars non-Muslims from building churches or making any public expression of their faith.

India's Rajasthan state passed a law last month threatening five years in prison and heavy fines for proselytising, but the governor has not yet signed it. Five other states have already passed such laws to curb missionary activity there.

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has been advocating conversion bans in recent years as it gained ground in state elections. India's 1.1 billion population is 80 percent Hindu, 14 percent Muslim and 3 percent Christian.

It argues that such bans foster communal harmony, but Muslim and Christian minority groups accuse the party of whipping up Hindu voters' fear to boost its political support.

Several Asian countries have considered banning conversion or found ways to discourage it in recent years. Under pressure from hardline nationalist Buddhist monks, the Sri Lankan cabinet approved such a bill last year but later dropped it.

Indonesia has no such law but a court jailed three Christian women last year for allegedly trying to convert Muslim children. Malaysia refers apostasy cases to Islamic courts, where converts can get up to three years for abandoning Islam.

"Divided church awaits Benedict in Catholic Poland"

"Divided church awaits Benedict in Catholic Poland"

by Natalia Reiter (Reuters, May 19, 2006)

Krakow, Poland - It is 7 a.m. on a weekday and the 17th century church of St. Florian, where the late Pope John Paul was once a parish priest, is brimming with worshippers at the day's first mass.

Standing in the historical centre of this southern Polish city, the baroque church sees hundreds of Catholics pass through during the day for mass, a prayer or just a quiet moment.

Full churches in the middle of the week, a rare sight in much of Europe, are common in a country where the Catholic Church has long enjoyed special status and was given an extra boost by having a native son running the Vatican for 26 years.

But when John Paul died in April last year, the Polish church was left something of an orphan. When Pope Benedict visits next week, he will find a traditional church struggling to find a place in an increasingly modern society.

"John Paul's death exposed the Polish church to challenges such as how to accept Polish membership in the EU and how to replace ceremony with the presence of Christian values in everyday life," says Andrzej Rychard, a leading sociologist.

"It is the whole issue of how to modernise Poland -- a question which the church has no answer to."

The tensions came to a head in a row over Radio Maryja (Mary), a broadcaster popular with less educated Poles which has been openly hostile to the European Union and often airs nationalistic and xenophobic views.

Concerned it violated the church's neutrality, Polish bishops established an oversight body in early May and barred Radio Maryja from backing any political force. The radio seems to have ignored an earlier warning from the Vatican ambassador.

WEEP WITH THE POLES

These quarrels will probably seem far away on May 25-28, when Benedict visits Warsaw and Krakow, pilgrimage sites such as Jasna Gora and the former concentration camp at Auschwitz.

Millions are due to attend his open masses in Warsaw and Krakow and to line the streets to greet him.

"I cannot wait for this pilgrimage," said Julita Kozlowska, 63, who attends mass in St. Florian's every day. "I have had a stroke but I will attend Benedict's mass even if the weather is hot. He is to me like John Paul's son."

Polish clergymen say Benedict wants to tap this fervour and get across his message that the Poles are a bastion against what the Church sees as western Europe's spreading atheism and relativism.

"Benedict wants to come to remember John Paul and weep with the Poles, but that will close a certain chapter," said Father Robert Necek, an aide to Krakow Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz.

"The pilgrimage motto 'Persevere in Faith' means Benedict wants the Polish church to maintain its special role."

SPLIT BEHIND THE FACADE

About 95 percent of Poles say they are Catholics. Over half attend mass weekly which, although declining slightly, is far higher than the 10-20 percent seen in former Catholic strongholds such as France, Italy and Spain.

The number of young men studying for the priesthood, a key indicator of the vitality of a national church, is still strong.

Poland has 22.5 seminarians per 100 ordained priests whereas Italy has only 11.6, Spain has 9.5, France has 5.6 and Ireland has 3.6. The United States has 10 seminarians per 100 priests.

What the Polish church does not have is a way to reconcile its deep conservatism and nationalism with modern life and Poland's newfound place among liberal Western nations.

Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek, a leading "moderniser", argues Catholicism can maintain its special place only if it sheds its historical role as the defender of Polish identity.

"In communist Poland, the church was the only significant force defending freedom," he said. "This chapter is over. The church must find its natural role as a guardian of values."

But many bishops and priests irk younger Catholics with their devotion to ceremony and the ideal of a "Catholic Pole" wary of modernity and "strangers".

Surveys show younger Poles go to church much less frequently than their parents or grandparents and ignore much of the church's teaching on contraception and pre-marital sex.

"I consider myself a believer but I do not accept what the church says about sex," says Anna, a Warsaw University student. "It's old-fashioned thinking, out of touch with reality."

The divorce rate is climbing and alcohol abuse is rife despite decades of condemnation from the pulpit.

RADIO MARYJA STIRS CONTROVERSY

The dispute over Radio Maryja illustrates the strains. The radio has defended a militantly traditional Catholicism and supported the ruling eurosceptic conservatives.

The Redemptorist order running it ignored a harshly worded letter from the Vatican's nuncio in Warsaw last month demanding that it stop its political involvement. The bishops responded meekly, reflecting deep divisions among themselves.

Church insiders say many conservative bishops are afraid more decisive action could alienate believers like Kozlowska in St. Florian's, who has no problem with Radio Maryja's message.

Some bishops argue the cost of inaction will be higher if moderate Catholics, especially young ones, turn away from the church.

Surveys show a majority of Poles believe the station's boss, Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, is a negative influence and disapprove of his militancy on behalf of the Law and Justice party.

"Radio Maryja is a real and growing problem I'm afraid," Pieronek said. "It offers a reduced view on Christianity and in my view its attachment to a political party is extremely compromising and shameful. It is sick and dangerous."

"Pope Cites Secularism in Canada Birth Rate"

"Pope Cites Secularism in Canada Birth Rate"

(AP, May 20, 2006)

Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday that low birth rates in Canada are the result of the "pervasive effects of secularism" and asked the country's bishops to counter the trend by preaching the truth of Christ.

Benedict, who has spoken out several times in favor of large families, blamed Canada's low birth rate on social ills and moral ambiguities that result from secular ideology.

"Like many countries ... Canada is today suffering from the pervasive effects of secularism," Benedict told visiting bishops from Canada. "One of the more dramatic symptoms of this mentality, clearly evident in your own region, is the plummeting birth rate."

Canada's birth rate in 2005 was 10.5 births for every 1,000 people, according to Statistics Canada.

"Canadians look to you to be men of hope, preaching and teaching with passion the splendor of the truth of Christ who dispels the darkness and illuminates the way to renew ecclesiastical and civic life," the pontiff told the bishops, speaking in English.

Separately, Benedict told the new Spanish ambassador to the Holy See that family based on marriage should not be "replaced or confused" by other institutions -- an allusion to gay marriage, which is legal in Spain.

Benedict said he hoped his planned visit to Valencia, Spain, in July to attend a church gathering dedicated to families would give him "an opportunity to celebrate the beauty and fecundity of the family based on marriage, its very high calling and its essential social value."

The pope has been leading a church campaign in defense of traditional families.

He also reiterated church opposition to abortion and euthanasia.

"The church proclaims without reserve the primordial right to life, from conception to natural death, the right to birth, to create and live in a family, without it being substituted or confused by other forms or different institutions," Benedict said, speaking in Spanish.

Ambassador Francisco Vazquez Vazquez described the audience as "cordial and affectionate."

Ties between the Holy See and Spain have been strained since Spain's Socialists took office in 2004 with an agenda that has included legalizing gay marriage and making it easier for Spaniards to obtain divorce in the traditionally Roman Catholic country.

PDS dan Syariat-fobia

Senin, 22 Mei 2006

PDS dan Syariat-fobia

http://www.republika.co.id/koran_detail.asp?id=249014&kat_id=16 <http://www.republika.co.id/koran_detail.asp?id=249014&kat_id=16>

Adian Husaini
Ketua Dewan Da'wah Islamiyah Indonesia

Harian Republika (17/5/2006) memberitakan protes anggota DPR dari Partai Damai Sejahtera (PDS), Konstan Ponggawa, terhadap pemberlakuan sejumlah perda yang benuansa syariat Islam. Ia menilai, perda-perda semacam itu inkonstitusional dan bertentangan dengan komitmen Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia (NKRI). Kaum Kristen di Indonesia seperti tiada henti untuk mempersoalkan pemberlakuan syariat Islam di Indonesia. Sebaliknya, mereka tidak mempersoalkan diterapkannya hukum kolonial/Barat yang sebenarnya banyak bertentangan dengan ajaran agama mereka sendiri. Mereka sibuk menyoal, mengapa umat Islam hendak menjalankan syariat Islam, tetapi mereka tidak menyoal, mengapa ajaran-ajaran dan hukum Bibel tidak dijalankan di Indonesia. Ambillah kasus hukum tentang zina. Bukan hanya Islam yang memandang zina sebagai satu bentuk kejahatan. Berbagai ayat dalam Bibel pun menjelaskan tentang kejahatan zina. Sayangnya, hegemoni pikiran sekular atau keinginan untuk menjauhkan kaum Muslim dari agamanya -terlalu mendominasi pikiran sebagian kalangan Kristen. Ketika tercium ada `bau hukum Islam' dalam RUU KUHP --khususnya dalam pasal-pasal tentang perzinahan-- sebuah majalah (edisi 6-12 Oktober 2003), menampilkan laporan utama dengan judul 'Rancangan KUHP: Kitab yang Semakin Menakutkan'. Salah satu perda yang banyak dipersoalkan oleh kalangan Kristen dan liberal di Indonesia adalah perda Kota Tangerang yang memberlakukan larangan pelacuran di daerahnya. Perda ini jelas bukan seratus persen mengadopsi syariat Islam, tetapi sudah menuai banyak protes. Soal zina dalam Islam sudah jelas. Pelakunya harusnya diganjar hukum rajam atau cambuk 100 kali. Jika perda larangan pelacuran semacam ini yang dipersoalkan PDS, alangkah naifnya. Sebab, ajaran Yahudi dan Kristen sendiri sebenarnya juga menolak perzinahan. Dalam konsep Bibel, perbuatan zina dipandang sebagai kejahatan yang sangat berat. Hukuman bagi pezina adalah hukuman mati, dengan cara dilempari batu sampai mati. Beberapa jenis perzinaaan di antaranya malah dihukum dengan dibakar hidup-hidup. Lihat Kitab Ulangan 22:20-22. Kitab Imamat 20:8-15 juga menjelaskan, bahwa berbagai bentuk dan jenis perbuatan zina, semuanya wajib dihukum mati. Bahkan, pezina dengan binatang pun harus dihukum mati, termasuk binatangnya harus dibunuh juga. Sesungguhnya zina adalah musuh Islam, Kristen, Yahudi. Aneh sekali jika kaum Kristen justru menentang peraturan yang melarang, mencegah, atau membatasi perzinaan di tengah masyarakat. Aneh, jika hanya karena syariat-fobia mereka justru mendukung hukum-hukum Barat yang memberi kelonggaran terhadap tindakan zina. Upaya penjajahLogika yang membenturkan syariah Islam dengan NKRI adalah logika yang sangat tidak masuk akal dan ahistoris. Sebelum penjajah Kristen Belanda masuk Indonesia, syariat Islam sudah diterapkan berbagai wilayah di Indonesia. Dalam disertasinya di Universitas Indonesia, Dr Rifyal Ka'bah mencatat, bahwa sebelum kedatangan penjajah Belanda, Islam telah memperkenalkan tradisi hukum baru di Indonesia. Ia menawarkan dasar-dasar tingkah laku sosial baru yang lebih sama rata dibanding dengan yang berlaku sebelumnya. Di samping itu, Islam juga menyumbangkan konsepsi baru di bidang hukum untuk Indonesia. Ia telah mengubah ikatan yang bersifat kesukuan dan kedaerahan menjadi ikatan yang bersifat universal. Mengutip Daniel S Lev, Islam telah membentuk sebuah konsepsi sosial-politik supralokal sebelum Belanda dapat menyatukan Nusantara dalam sebuah administrasi pemerintahan. Sebuah buku yang ditulis FVA Ridder de Stuers, Gedenkschrift van den Orloog op Java (1847), mengisahkan memoar seorang Letnan Kolonel dari Belanda. Letnan Kolonel ini menulis bahwa Perang Diponegoro (1825-1830) sebenarnya adalah perjuangan menegakkan hukum Islam bagi orang Jawa. Kepada William Stavers, ketua delegasi Belanda yang datang ke pedalaman Salatiga, Kyai Mojo menyampaikan pesan, bahwa Pangeran Diponegoro mencitakan hukum Islam seluruhnya berlaku untuk orang Jawa. Persengketaan orang Jawa dengan orang Eropa diputus menurut hukum Islam. Sedangkan persengketaan antarorang Eropa diselesaikan dengan hukum Eropa. Sejak zaman VOC, Belanda pun mengakui hukum Islam di Indonesia. Dengan adanya Regerings Reglemen, mulai tahun 1855 Belanda mempertegas pengakuannya terhadap hukum Islam di Indonesia. Pengakuan ini diperkuat lagi oleh Lodewijk Willem Christian yang mengemukakan teori `receptio in complexu'. Teori ini pada intinya menyatakan, bahwa untuk orang Islam berlaku hukum Islam. Hingga abad ke-19, teori ini masih berlaku. Snouck Hurgronje mulai mengubah teori ini dengan teori `receptie', yang menyatakan, hukum Islam baru diberlakukan untuk orang Indonesia, bila diterima oleh hukum adat. Pakar hukum adat dan hukum Islam UI, Prof Hazairin menyebut teori `receptie' Snouck Hurgronje ini sebagai `teori Iblis' (lihat, Dr Rifyal Ka'bah, Hukum Islam di Indonesia (Jakarta: Yarsi, 1999). Jadi, sejak zaman penjajahan, upaya untuk menghapus hukum Islam dari bumi Indonesia memang sangat gencar dilakukan oleh kaum penjajah Kristen Belanda dan kaki tangannya di Indonesia. Itu mudah dimengerti, karena ketakutan yang membabi buta terhadap hukum Islam. Setiap upaya kaum Muslim untuk memberlakukan hukum Islam selalu dilihat sebagai ancaman eksistensi kaum penjajah. Alb C. Kruyt (tokoh Nederlands bijbelgenootschap) dan OJH Graaf van Limburg Stirum, menyatakan, "Bagaimanapun juga Islam harus dihadapi, karena semua yang menguntungkan Islam di kepulauan ini akan merugikan kekuasaan Belanda. Kristenisasi merupakan faktor penting dalam proses penjajahan." Strategi misi?Pada 18 Agustus 1945, Piagam Jakarta memang digagalkan. Tetapi, Dekrit Presiden 5 Juli 1959 menegaskan kembali kesatuan Piagam Jakarta dengan UUD 1945. Sebagai contoh, penjelasan atas Penpres 1/1965 tentang Pencegahan Penyalahgunaan dan/atau Penodaan Agama, dibuka dengan ungkapan: "Dekrit Presiden tanggal 5 Juli 1959 yang menetapkan Undang-undang Dasar 1945 berlaku lagi bagi segenap bangsa Indonesia ia telah menyatakan bahwa Piagam Jakarta tertanggal 22 Juni 1945 menjiwai dan merupakan suatu rangkaian kesatuan dengan konstitusi tersebut." Dalam Peraturan Presiden No 11 tahun 1960 tentang Pembentukan Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN), juga dicantumkan pertimbangan pertama: "Bahwa sesuai dengan Piagam Djakarta tertanggal 22 Djuni 1945, yang mendjiwai Undang-undang Dasar 1945 dan merupakan rangkaian kesatuan dengan konstitusi tersebut". Jadi, para pendiri dan pemimpin bangsa ini, sejak dulu sudah maklum, dimana posisi Piagam Jakarta. Piagam Jakarta bukanlah `penyakit' yang harus dibuang dan dilupakan, tetapi merupakan satu rangkaian dengan konsitusi. Dalam sistem hukum nasional --yang definisinya masih terus menjadi perdebatan-- kedudukan hukum Islam juga sudah cukup jelas. Di Indonesia, menurut Prof. Daud Ali, kini berlaku empat sistem hukum, yaitu (1) hukum adat, (2) hukum Islam (3) hukum Barat konstitusional, dan (4) common law. Karena itu, sikap fobia (ketakutan yang membabi buta) terhadap syariat yang ditampilkan oleh PDS dan sejenisnya sebenarnya terbukti selama ini terlalu berlebihan. Sebagai partai Kristen, seyogyanya PDS lebih sibuk memperjuangkan aspirasinya, agar ajaran dan hukum Kristen bisa diterapkan buat orang Kristen. Itu lebih baik, ketimbang sibuk menghalang-halangi orang Islam menjalankan ajaran agamanya.( )

"Religion, politics mix awkwardly for China's Muslims"

"Religion, politics mix awkwardly for China's Muslims"
by Ben Blanchard (Reuters, May 22, 2006)

Xining, China - Ishmael is a big fan of Osama bin Laden. "He is a hero," he said, stroking his beard. "He is a good Muslim." Maybe not such a strange comment to hear from a Muslim in Iraq or Saudi Arabia, but Ishmael is a Chinese citizen who lives in the remote, northwestern province of Qinghai, in a country which is officially atheist and strictly controls religion. With just over 20 million adherents, according to the government, there are as many Muslims in China as live in Syria, or Yemen, two predominantly Islamic countries. And Islam is alive and well in western China. Ishmael -- who, like many other Muslims in Qinghai, prefers using his Arabic name to the Chinese one stamped on his identity card -- is a student at an Islamic school attached to a mosque in Xining, the provincial capital. There he learns Arabic and Persian, as well as studying the Koran and other Islamic teachings. But politics is technically banned by law from being mentioned either in Ishmael's school or mosque. A large blackboard near the entrance to the mosque, on the dusty outskirts of Xining, reminds worshippers of their duty to love the motherland and love the Communist Party as part of being a good Muslim, an admonition that riles some. "The communists -- who are the Chinese -- are a godless people," said Ahmed, from eastern Qinghai, who like Ishmael belongs to the Hui minority, Chinese Muslims who trace their heritage back to the Middle East and central Asia. That's a sentiment shared by Ishmael's hero, bin Laden, who in April slammed the Chinese as "pagan Buddhists" in an audiotape accusing the United Nations of being an "infidel" body. Yet despite the official controls on religion and politics, the government allows the Hui a great deal of autonomy and freedom in sparsely populated Qinghai and neighboring Gansu. Although there may be occasional tensions, there is little parallel with the far-western region of Xinjiang, where there have been riots and bomb attacks by pro-independence groups. "In places like Qinghai and Gansu, where Islam is less politicized, the government is more open and more relaxed," said Dru Gladney, professor of Asian Studies and Anthropology at the University of Hawaii. "Particularly in very poor areas, there is a lot more flexibility," he said. In many parts of China the Hui have blended in almost seamlessly into the predominant Han culture, all but abandoning Islam except for some traditions such as circumcising male children and avoiding pork. In Qinghai, where around a fifth of the 5 million population follow Islam, Muslim women cover their heads, many restaurants refuse to let alcohol be consumed, and the men wear white skull caps and greet each other in Arabic. A government ban on children under 18 attending Islamic schools in mosques is, in reality, usually ignored, local Muslims say. And they are well aware of what's going on in the wider Muslim world, even if they dare not risk the wrath of the Chinese security forces by protesting in the streets, and limit their political discussions to the home. "We all listen to Voice of America and watch Al Jazeera here," said Noureddin, 23, recently returned from religious school in Saudi Arabia. During the storm over the publishing of cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Mohammad, originally published by the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten last September, China's Muslims made barely a peep of protest. "We knew about the cartoons and felt furious," said Mohammad, 26. "But how could we go and demonstrate?" Other times, though, tensions do bubble over. At least seven people were killed and 42 injured in the central province of Henan in 2004 after a car accident involving an ethnic Han Chinese and a Hui sparked rioting. In 1993, a cartoon ridiculing Muslims led to paramilitary police storming a mosque taken over by Hui in northwest China. Some Han in Qinghai say they resent the province's Muslims for their wealth, but in the same breath will accuse them of petty theft. The Muslims say they resent the Han for their ethnic chauvinism and political domination. Even within the Muslim community, there is unease between different sects and different ethnic groups who also follow the same religion, such as Qinghai's Salar minority and the Uighurs of restive Xinjiang. "The Uighurs dance too much," said Ali, who belongs to the more conservative Ihwani sect which often looks to Saudi Arabia for guidance. "We are different from them."

"This is a Saudi textbook. (After the intolerance was removed.)"

"This is a Saudi textbook. (After the intolerance was removed.)"
by Nina Shea ("Washington Post," May 22, 2006)

Washington, USA - Saudi Arabia's public schools have long been cited for demonizing the West as well as Christians, Jews and other "unbelievers." But after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 -- in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis -- that was all supposed to change. A 2004 Saudi royal study group recognized the need for reform after finding that the kingdom's religious studies curriculum "encourages violence toward others, and misguides the pupils into believing that in order to safeguard their own religion, they must violently repress and even physically eliminate the 'other.' " Since then, the Saudi government has claimed repeatedly that it has revised its educational texts. Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, has worked aggressively to spread this message. "The kingdom has reviewed all of its education practices and materials, and has removed any element that is inconsistent with the needs of a modern education," he said on a recent speaking tour to several U.S. cities. "Not only have we eliminated what might be perceived as intolerance from old textbooks that were in our system, we have implemented a comprehensive internal revision and modernization plan." The Saudi government even took out a full-page ad in the New Republic last December to tout its success at "having modernized our school curricula to better prepare our children for the challenges of tomorrow." A year ago, an embassy spokesman declared: "We have reviewed our educational curriculums. We have removed materials that are inciteful or intolerant towards people of other faiths." The embassy is also distributing a 74-page review on curriculum reform to show that the textbooks have been moderated. The problem is: These claims are not true. A review of a sample of official Saudi textbooks for Islamic studies used during the current academic year reveals that, despite the Saudi government's statements to the contrary, an ideology of hatred toward Christians and Jews and Muslims who do not follow Wahhabi doctrine remains in this area of the public school system. The texts teach a dualistic vision, dividing the world into true believers of Islam (the "monotheists") and unbelievers (the "polytheists" and "infidels"). This indoctrination begins in a first-grade text and is reinforced and expanded each year, culminating in a 12th-grade text instructing students that their religious obligation includes waging jihad against the infidel to "spread the faith." Freedom House knows this because Ali al-Ahmed, a Saudi dissident who runs the Washington-based Institute for Gulf Affairs , gave us a dozen of the current, purportedly cleaned-up Saudi Ministry of Education religion textbooks. The copies he obtained were not provided by the government, but by teachers, administrators and families with children in Saudi schools, who slipped them out one by one. Some of our sources are Shiites and Sunnis from non-Wahhabi traditions -- people condemned as "polytheistic" or "deviant" or "bad" in these texts -- others are simply frustrated that these books do so little to prepare young students for the modern world. We then had the texts translated separately by two independent, fluent Arabic speakers. Religion is the foundation of the Saudi state's political ideology; it is also a key area of Saudi education in which students are taught the interpretation of Islam known as Wahhabism (a movement founded 250 years ago by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab) that is reflected in these textbooks. Scholars estimate that within the Saudi public school curriculum, Islamic studies make up a quarter to a third of students' weekly classroom hours in lower and middle school, plus several hours each week in high school. Educators who question or dissent from the official interpretation of Islam can face severe reprisals. In November 2005, a Saudi teacher who made positive statements about Jews and the New Testament was fired and sentenced to 750 lashes and a prison term. (He was eventually pardoned after public and international protests.) The Saudi public school system totals 25,000 schools, educating about 5 million students. In addition, Saudi Arabia runs academies in 19 world capitals, including one outside Washington in Fairfax County, that use some of these same religious texts. Saudi Arabia also distributes its religion texts worldwide to numerous Islamic schools and madrassas that it does not directly operate. Undeterred by Wahhabism's historically fringe status, Saudi Arabia is trying to assert itself as the world's authoritative voice on Islam -- a sort of "Vatican" for Islam, as several Saudi officials have stated-- and these textbooks are integral to this effort. As the report of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks observed, "Even in affluent countries, Saudi-funded Wahhabi schools are often the only Islamic schools" available. Education is at the core of the debate over freedom in the Muslim world. Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden understands this well; in a recent audiotape he railed against those who would "interfere with school curricula." The passages below -- drawn from the same set of Saudi texts proudly cited in the new 74-page review of curriculum reform now being distributed by the Saudi Embassy -- are shaping the views of the next generation of Saudis and Muslims worldwide. Unchanged, they will only harden and deepen hatred, intolerance and violence toward other faiths and cultures. Is this what Riyadh calls reform? FIRST GRADE " Every religion other than Islam is false." "Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words (Islam, hellfire): Every religion other than ______________ is false. Whoever dies outside of Islam enters ____________." FOURTH GRADE "True belief means . . . that you hate the polytheists and infidels but do not treat them unjustly." FIFTH GRADE "Whoever obeys the Prophet and accepts the oneness of God cannot maintain a loyal friendship with those who oppose God and His Prophet, even if they are his closest relatives." "It is forbidden for a Muslim to be a loyal friend to someone who does not believe in God and His Prophet, or someone who fights the religion of Islam." "A Muslim, even if he lives far away, is your brother in religion. Someone who opposes God, even if he is your brother by family tie, is your enemy in religion." SIXTH GRADE "Just as Muslims were successful in the past when they came together in a sincere endeavor to evict the Christian crusaders from Palestine, so will the Arabs and Muslims emerge victorious, God willing, against the Jews and their allies if they stand together and fight a true jihad for God, for this is within God's power." EIGHTH GRADE "As cited in Ibn Abbas: The apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus." "God told His Prophet, Muhammad, about the Jews, who learned from parts of God's book [the Torah and the Gospels] that God alone is worthy of worship. Despite this, they espouse falsehood through idol-worship, soothsaying, and sorcery. In doing so, they obey the devil. They prefer the people of falsehood to the people of the truth out of envy and hostility. This earns them condemnation and is a warning to us not to do as they did." "They are the Jews, whom God has cursed and with whom He is so angry that He will never again be satisfied [with them]." "Some of the people of the Sabbath were punished by being turned into apes and swine. Some of them were made to worship the devil, and not God, through consecration, sacrifice, prayer, appeals for help, and other types of worship. Some of the Jews worship the devil. Likewise, some members of this nation worship the devil, and not God." "Activity: The student writes a composition on the danger of imitating the infidels." NINTH GRADE "The clash between this [Muslim] community (umma) and the Jews and Christians has endured, and it will continue as long as God wills." "It is part of God's wisdom that the struggle between the Muslim and the Jews should continue until the hour [of judgment]." "Muslims will triumph because they are right. He who is right is always victorious, even if most people are against him." TENTH GRADE The 10th-grade text on jurisprudence teaches that life for non-Muslims (as well as women, and, by implication, slaves) is worth a fraction of that of a "free Muslim male." Blood money is retribution paid to the victim or the victim's heirs for murder or injury: "Blood money for a free infidel. [Its quantity] is half of the blood money for a male Muslim, whether or not he is 'of the book' or not 'of the book' (such as a pagan, Zoroastrian, etc.). "Blood money for a woman: Half of the blood money for a man, in accordance with his religion. The blood money for a Muslim woman is half of the blood money for a male Muslim, and the blood money for an infidel woman is half of the blood money for a male infidel." ELEVENTH GRADE "The greeting 'Peace be upon you' is specifically for believers. It cannot be said to others." "If one comes to a place where there is a mixture of Muslims and infidels, one should offer a greeting intended for the Muslims." "Do not yield to them [Christians and Jews] on a narrow road out of honor and respect." TWELFTH GRADE "Jihad in the path of God -- which consists of battling against unbelief, oppression, injustice, and those who perpetrate it -- is the summit of Islam. This religion arose through jihad and through jihad was its banner raised high. It is one of the noblest acts, which brings one closer to God, and one of the most magnificent acts of obedience to God."

"World Council of Churches slams Israel"

"World Council of Churches slams Israel"

by George Conger ("Jerusalem Post," May 23, 2006)

Jerusalem, Israel - Israel bears the burden of responsibility for the present crisis in the Middle East, the World Council of Churches has announced, following a meeting of its Executive Committee in Geneva from May 16-19.

The Christian Left's leading ecumenical organization stated Israel's actions towards the Palestinians "cannot be justified morally, legally or even politically."

The failure "to comply with international law" had "pushed the situation on the ground to a point of no return," they concluded.

The WCC condemned the killing of innocent civilians by "both sides" in the conflict and called for the Palestinians to "maintain the existing one-party cease-fire toward Israel" and asked Israel to base its security on "the equitable negotiation of final borders" with its neighbors.

However, the present disparities between Israel and Palestine were "appalling," the WCC said.

"One side is positioning itself to unilaterally establish final borders on territory that belongs to the other side; the other side is increasingly confined to the scattered enclaves that remain. On one side there is control of more and more land and water; on the other there are more and more families deprived of land and livelihoods.

On one side as many people as possible are being housed on occupied land; on the other side the toll mounts of refugees without homes or land. One side controls Jerusalem, a city shared by two peoples and three world religions; the other-Muslim and Christian-watches its demographic, commercial and religious presence wither in Jerusalem," the WCC said.

The WCC claimed a double standard was at work in the international community that favored Israel, saying, "The side set to keep its unlawful gains is garnering support from part of the international community. The side that, despairing at those unlawful gains, used legitimate elections to choose new leaders is being isolated and punished."

"Democracy must be protected where it is taking root," the WCC said, calling for a relaxation of American, British and EU sanctions against Hamas. "Peace must come soon or it may not come to either people for a long time," they concluded.

The WCC's Executive Committee called upon its 340 member churches in over 100 countries representing approximately 550 million Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant Christians to "share solidarity with people on both sides of the conflict," and to "use legitimate forms of pressure to promote a just peace and to end unlawful activities by Israelis or Palestinians."

It also asked its members to "find constructive ways to address threats experienced among the Jewish people, including the nature, prevalence and impact of racism in local, national and international contexts."

In March 2005, the WCC urged its member churches give "serious consideration" to pulling investments out of Israel and endorsed the 2004 decision by the Presbyterian Church of the United States to seek "phased selective divestment" from Israel. "This [Presbyterian] action is commendable in both method and manner, uses criteria rooted in faith and calls members to do the things that make for peace," the WCC said.

The Presbyterian Church will revisit its 2004 divestment decision next month at its 217th General Assembly in Birmingham, Alabama, in response to criticism that the divestment call was one-sided and ill-informed.

Study: Germans pessimistic on Islam"

Study: Germans pessimistic on Islam"
("Jerusalem Post," May 24, 2006)
Berlin, Germany - German public opinion believes a "clash of civilizations" is under way between Christians and Muslims that will lead to further domestic and international conflict, a report commissioned by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung finds.
Germany is in the midst of "a conflict spiral," researchers from the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research reported last week. "Conceptions of Islam were already negative" but have hardened "noticeably in recent times," the survey's authors Elisabeth Noelle and Thomas Petersen reported.
"Germans are increasingly of the opinion that a lasting, peaceful coexistence with the Islamic world will not be possible," Noelle and Petersen concluded.
Esteem for Islam in Germany has been falling precipitously since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and has been driven down further by outrage over the 2004 Beslan school attack in Russia and by a recent series of high-profile stories in the German press.
Concerns over an "honor killing" in Berlin, demands that schoolgirls be permitted to wear burkas, a surge in schoolyard violence involving Muslim immigrants, and the failure of Germany's three million Muslim immigrants to assimilate have deepened a "crisis of cultures."
The Allensbach survey of 1,076 German adults in early May found that 83% of the respondents associated Islam with "fanaticism," an increase of 8% from a similar poll in 2004.
Over 71% believed Islam to be "intolerant," a rise from 66% in 2004; 62% saw it as "backward," up from 49%; while 60% saw it as "undemocratic," an increase of 8% since 2004. Only 8% of the survey participants characterized Islam as peaceful.
When asked what keyword or phrase they associated with Islam, 91% of respondents stated that Islam implied discrimination against women.
Some 61% of Germans said they believed a "clash of cultures" already existed, while 65% said "they counted on such conflicts" to worsen in the future.
While two-thirds of the survey participants said they blamed religious fanatics, not Islam, for the conflict with the West, 40% of the participants said they would favor curtailing Germany's constitutionally guaranteed right of freedom of religion in order to safeguard national security.
Asked if there should be a ban on the building of mosques in Germany as long as Saudi Arabia and other Islamic states banned church construction, 56% agreed, the survey found.
The Muhammad cartoon controversy had also exhausted the average German's willingness to engage in dialogue, Noelle and Peterson noted. "In view of the widespread feeling of being under threat, and the suspected intolerance of Islam, the readiness of Germans to show tolerance to the Muslim faith is sinking."
The survey findings were extraordinary in light of Germany's "special dislike of conflict," Noelle and Peterson noted. "One could even speak of a pronounced need for harmony by Germans," they said.
However, the "ditch has become deeper" between Islam and the West, the survey concluded, as "in most people's minds the Kampf der Kulturer has already begun."

"A Whirling Sufi Revival With Unclear Implications"

"A Whirling Sufi Revival With Unclear Implications"
by C. J. Chivers ("NY Times," May 25, 2006)

Grozny, Russia — Three circles of barefoot men, one ring inside another, sway to the cadence of chant. The men stamp in time as they sway, and grunt from the abdomen and throat, filling the room with a primal sound. One voice rises over the rest, singing variants of the names of God. The men stop, face right and walk counterclockwise, slowly at first, then fast. As they gain speed they begin to hop on their outside feet and draw closer. The three circles merge into a spinning ball. The ball stops. It opens back up. The stamping resumes, softly at first, then louder. Many of the men are entranced. The air around them hums. The wooden floor shakes. The men turn left and accelerate the other way. This is a zikr, the mystical Sufi dance of the Caucasus and a ritual near the center of Chechen Islam. Here inside Chechnya, where Russia has spent six years trying to contain the second Chechen war since the Soviet Union collapsed, traditional forms of religious expression are returning to public life. It is a revival laden with meaning, and with implications that are unclear. The Kremlin has worried for generations about Islam's influence in the Caucasus, long attacking local Sufi traditions and, in the 1990's, attacking the role of small numbers of foreign Wahhabis, proponents of an austere Arabian interpretation of Islam whom Moscow often accuses of encouraging terrorist attacks. But Chechnya's Sufi brotherhoods have never been vanquished — not by repression, bans or exile by the czars or Stalin, and not by the Kremlin of late. Now they are reclaiming a place in public life. What makes the resurgence so unusual is that Sufi practices have become an element of policy for pro-Russian Chechens. Zikr ceremonies are embraced by the kadyrovsky, the Kremlin-backed Chechen force that is assuming much of the administration of this shattered land. Post-Soviet Russia tried to make zikr celebrations a symbol of Chechen aggression, portraying zikr as the dance and trance of the rebels, the ritual of the untamed. Now zikr is performed by the men the Kremlin is counting on to keep Chechnya in check. The occasion for ceremony on this day was the blessing of the foundation of a mosque that will be named for Akhmad Kadyrov, the Russian-backed Chechen president who was assassinated in 2004. The mosque, whose foundation rests on the grounds of the former headquarters of the Communist Party's regional committee, is meant to replace older associations. Not only is it an implicit rebuke of Communism, it is situated beside the ruins of another, much smaller mosque that was being constructed by the separatists in the 1990's. Its scale and grandeur are intended as public statement. At a cost of $20 million, it will be a sprawling complex, with room for a religious school and a residence for the mufti, said Amradin Adilgeriyev, an adviser to Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's pro-Kremlin premier and son of the slain president. The mosque will hold 10,000 worshipers, making it the largest in the republic. Its minarets will rise 179 feet in the air. It will speak not just of faith, but of power. And so on this day the men dance. And dance. Tassels on their skullcaps bounce and swing. Sweat darkens their shirts. They are perhaps 90 in men in all, mostly young. They look strong. But zikr is demanding. As some of them tire, they step aside. Others take their place. Their stamping can be heard two blocks away. The entrance to the construction site is controlled by gunmen who make sure that none of the separatists enters with a bomb. Other young men boil brick-sized chunks of beef in caldrons of garlic broth, stirring the meat with a wooden slab. Zikr has several forms. This form traces its origins to Kunta-Haji Kishiyev, a shepherd who traveled the Middle East in the 19th century, then returned to Chechnya and found converts to Sufism. Initially his followers pledged peace, but in time many joined the resistance to Russia, and their leader was exiled. They fought on, becoming a reservoir of Chechen traditionalism and rebellious spirit. In 1991, when Chechnya declared independence from Russia, the Kunta-Haji brotherhoods, long underground, fought again. Sebastian Smith, who covered the Chechen wars and wrote "Allah's Mountains: Politics and War in the Russian Caucasus," noted that they became a source of rebel resolve. At one zikr ceremony he observed, the men were dancing, he wrote, until a Russian bomber screamed low overhead, buzzing the village. Mr. Smith watched their reaction. "No one even looks up," he wrote. "The whooping grows louder." The Sufis resisted the influx of Wahhabis who came to fight Russia beside them, but whose version of Islam aligned more closely with that of the Afghan Taliban. Mr. Kadyrov said in an interview that he hoped to help restore Chechen Sufi traditions as part of an effort to preserve Chechen culture. He has reopened the roads to Ertan, a village in the mountains, where Kunta-Haji Kishiyev's mother is buried. Her grave is a shrine and a place for pilgrimages, which for years were not made. This spring the roads to Ertan are crowded with walkers, who visit the grave to circle it and pray. Still, efforts to incorporate Sufi brotherhoods into a government closely identified with the Kremlin contain contradictions. Some see manipulation on Mr. Kadyrov's part, noting that Chechen self-identity has never been suppressed, even by some of the most repressive forces the world has ever known. Whether Mr. Kadyrov can control the forces he taps into is unknown. The zikrists dance on this day with state approval. But for whom? "Kadyrov wants to show that he is a supporter of Chechen traditional Islam," said Aslan Doukaev, a native of Chechnya who is director of the North Caucasus service of Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty. "But Sufis always wanted Chechen independence, and that signal is being sent here too."

"Mosque plans bring controversy to Tuscan town"

"Mosque plans bring controversy to Tuscan town"
by Jennifer Carlile ("MSNBC," May 25, 2006)

Colle Di Val D'Elsa, Italy — For hundreds of years, Colle di Val d’Elsa has been renowned for its crystal and as the birthplace of medieval sculptor and architect Arnolfo di Cambio. But, the picturesque Tuscan town, situated on the road between Florence and Siena, may soon be better known as home to one of Italy’s largest mosques. That is, if it’s ever built. The controversy over the planned construction has been brewing for seven years and has split the local community. The outcome here could set the tone for Muslim endeavors and integration across Italy. “Those of us who live here are really afraid,” said Lucia Prizzi, who lives in an apartment beside the field and vineyards where the mosque will be built. “It’s not right that the local government gave them this land without consulting us first,” she said. Her sentiments are echoed on graffiti along a nearby wall: “No Mosque,” “Christian Hill,” and “Thanks to the communists the Arabs are in our house!!!” Another calls on the mayor, who supports the mosque’s construction, to build it at his house. Once a nation of emigrants, Italy has only had a sizeable immigrant population for around 15 years, and is still adjusting to the changing circumstances. Yet, in many areas someone from an adjacent town can still be seen as a “foreigner” — as they have a different dialect, cuisine, and patron saint — let alone someone from across the Mediterranean Sea who practices a different religion. With one of the European Union’s highest unemployment rates, wages at a near standstill and prices shooting higher along with the euro currency, many Italians see little room for immigrant labor. And since the rise of international terrorism, the growing Muslim community — now at around 1 million, or 2 percent of the population — is being eyed with even greater scrutiny than other immigrant groups. After the July 2005 London transport bombings, dozens of suspected Islamic extremists were deported from the country. And in April, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government said it thwarted planned attacks by such extremists on Milan’s subway system and on Bologna’s cathedral, which houses a painting that depicts the Muslim prophet Mohammed in a Dantesque hell. Feeding on the country’s fears, the political party La Lega Nord — or the Northern League — switched its platform of separation from southern Italy to kicking out all foreigners, but most notably Muslims. Meantime, although there are more than 500 Islamic centers of varying sizes across the country, Italy does not recognize Islam as an official religion. This charged atmosphere has affected life in Colle di Val d’Elsa, where the Muslim community and the mayor have been working to build a new, larger, Islamic center to accommodate the town’s growing number of Muslims and to promote cultural exchange. ‘A place to exchange cultural knowledge’ The historic center of Colle di Val d’Elsa — which means “hills of the valley of the river Elsa” — rests on a verdant hill, looking over the businesses hub where medieval facades stand alongside modern buildings. On a recent Friday, the fruit and vegetable market was winding down in Piazza Scala, in the center of the lower town, as the muezzin’s call to prayer rang out from the current Islamic center, a former bakery with an entrance along the piazza. As the imam lead the prayer, the small room filled with up to a hundred people. Men stood hip-to-hip, wall-to-wall, bumping each other as they bent over in prayer. On the other side of a cloth partition, women sat cross-legged, knee-to-knee, with children clambering on top of them and vying for room. “As you can see, we need a bigger space,” said Imam Feras Jebareen, adding that “on religious holidays we are forced to rent another hall that can hold more people.” “The idea came about to create a center that would not only be an area to pray but a place to exchange cultural knowledge and assist integration,” he said. Plans were put forth, and in 1999 the town’s previous mayor, Marco Spinelli, approved construction of an Islamic cultural center in the Badia quarter’s San Lazzaro park on the edge of town. The center would comprise a mosque with a dome and minaret, made from local crystal and covering 600 square yards, as well as a library, open air-courtyard, playground with basketball hoops, and parking lot. Pedestrian and cycling paths would link the center with the town’s sporting grounds. “It’s not really a mosque, but an open structure for cultural activities as well as Islamic prayer,” said the current mayor, Paolo Brogioni. Construction costs would be paid for by a donation from Monte dei Paschi bank’s cultural fund and the Muslim community, with the local council paying a small fee to the architect who drew up the plans. Jebareen, the imam, said each working Muslim in Colle di Val d’Elsa was asked to give 500 euros, and that no outside country had sponsored it. “We want it to be an Italian mosque, for Italian Muslims, that represents an Italian Islam,” he said. Both mayor and imam said that the Muslim community was integrating well and that there had never been problems with the current Islamic center. Opposition to the new construction therefore took both parties by surprise. “Clown!” and “Shame on you!” the people shouted as the mayor left the legislative palace on a recent evening. The town council had just voted down the Badia residents’ petition to hold a referendum on the mosque’s construction and a few dozen protesters waited around with an “anti-democratic” banner and rice to pelt at the mayor. Several groups have popped up in opposition to the mosque, including “Insieme per Colle” – or “Together for the town of Colle” – which promoted the referendum, and the Civic List political party. While the Northern League opposes all mosques, saying they are political institutions where “terrorists work to create a state within the state,” these groups say they only oppose construction on the specified plot of land in the Badia quarter. “We are not against integration or the Islamic community,” said Letizia Franceschetti, president of the committee that proposed the referendum on the center’s construction, stating that Badia residents don’t want to lose the grassy parkland, vineyards, and views of Chianti’s hills in the distance. However, Brogioni, the mayor, accused the group of “hiding behind the arguments of the park and environment.” “What I don’t understand,” said Brogioni, “is that I would like to discuss the activity of the center, not the place where it will be constructed, because if the people of that area don’t like the activities of the center, then it won’t go over well in any other part of town.” The mayor said that although the community was informed of the construction in 1999, there was no opposition to the plan until after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. But, the protesters outside the legislative palace were quick to tell reporters that the “mosque bomb” was not dropped until a later date, and that their opposition was not related to a fear of Islam. Amidst the bitter counterclaims, anxiety over the unknown is apparent. One woman spoke of seeing Muslim youths train for jihad on television, and a man said that the only reason a park was being built alongside the mosque was to accommodate all the Muslim children. “Well, when you have multiple wives, what do you expect,” he said, asking that his name not be used with that comment. Many feared that due to the size of the mosque, Muslims from across Tuscany would flock to Colle di Val d’Elsa for Friday services and camp out during Muslim holidays, making the area a no-go zone for them. “Why put an Islamic Vatican here on our terrace?” asked Viviana Mastacchi. “Imagine how it’ll be during Ramadan, imagine all the confusion,” the 39-year-old waitress said. Meantime, others feared that their apartments would depreciate in value, and there was confusion over who was funding the construction costs. "Our houses won't be worth anything," said Mastacchi. "There's an Italian saying," said Gabrielle Antonio, "If I don't have shoes for myself, how can I give you a pair?" "If they ask the council for money and I don't even have a house, how can we give them money for a mosque?" the 60-year-old asked. “I think that the people here are really afraid, whether their fears are right or wrong, either way it’s only human to be afraid if you’re on a bus or on a subway you’ll look around to see if there are any Muslims around you,” Franceschetti, the lawyer, said. To combat such fears, imam Jebareen, a Palestinian physiotherapist who has lived in Italy for more than 10 years, has promoted a pact against terrorism as well as an annual interfaith forum, and has signed a contract with the local government, stating that the new Islamic center’s existence is contingent on the Muslim community not taking part directly, or indirectly in illegal activities involving the center. Speaking of the contract, Franceshetti said: “The Muslim community is going to have to guarantee and verify that those who enter the Islamic center are good people, which is absurd because no city, not even New York or London could confront this problem. Even they found themselves helpless in the face of grave attacks.” The mayor remained confident that non-Muslims would frequent the center and that both groups would benefit from learning about each other, but many were skeptical. “I’m a Catholic, why would I go there?’ asked retiree Folto Massaini. Muslim Sinam Sharki, 19, also questioned why non-Muslims would frequent the center when “it’s really a place for prayer.” Sharki, a Moroccan who came to Italy when she was 13, said she had non-Muslim Italian friends at school but did not see them outside of class. “It’s not that I don’t like them; they are just very different from us; they go to discos, they eat out at restaurants, and we don’t,” she said. Brogioni insisted that it was this divide that made the center, and it’s location within the town, essential to integration. “The error often made in cases like this is to isolate them, to have them not be seen and not want to be seen,” he said. “In reality, to be seen, and to want to be seen, is a big moment.” The Muslim community has won full permission to begin construction of the Islamic Cultural Center, but the opposition has also vowed to continue its legal battle against it. As growing Muslims communities across Italy plan to construct larger and more elaborate Islamic centers, Colle di Val d’Elsa’s experiences may foreshadow the ups and downs of integration and religious conflict to come.

"Hindus blame Islamisation for temple trashing"

"Hindus blame Islamisation for temple trashing"
(AP, May 25, 2006)

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Minority Hindus staged a rare protest Thursday to condemn the demolition of temples by authorities - a racially loaded charge in Muslim-majority Malaysia. About 50 protesters gathered on the sidewalk outside the headquarters of Kuala Lumpur City Hall, and threatened to file a civil suit against the government and local councils if the destruction of Hindu temples doesn't stop. Waving banners that read "Demolishing temples is criminal," the protesters chanted prayers to the Hindu god of destruction, Shiva, and smashed a coconut as a prayer offering. The activists said hundreds of Hindu houses of worship have been destroyed in the past 15 years across the country, blaming a growing "Islamization" of Malaysia. At least seven temples have been torn down, partly destroyed, served demolition notices or torched since late February in various parts of the country, they said. "We are not asking for a club to play billiards. We are not asking for a prostitution center," said P. Uthayakumar, the group's lawyer. "We are asking for our temples to pray." Kuala Lumpur Police Chief Kamal Pasha Jamal and City Hall officials refused to comment on the demonstration. City Hall has torn down a few temples in the past on the grounds that they were built illegally on public land. The activists - gathered in a coalition calling itself the Hindu Rights Action Force - were turned away by City Hall police officers who refused to accept a petition denouncing the temple destruction. Such allegations relating to religion are highly unusual and bold in Malaysia, which takes pride in its racial harmony and discourages overt racial disagreements. About 60 percent of Malaysia's 26 million people are Malay Muslims. Chinese, most of them Buddhist or Christian, represent about 25 percent of the population and ethnic Indians – mostly Hindus - make up 10 percent. All citizens have the constitutional right to practice their faith, but minorities have complained in recent years that their rights are being eroded.

KEKALKAN JATI DIRI ISLAM SEBAGAI AGAMA PERSEKUTUAN

KEKALKAN JATI DIRI ISLAM SEBAGAI AGAMA PERSEKUTUAN,
MANTAPKAN MAHKAMAH SYARIAH SEBAGAI MEDAN KEADILAN

21 Januari 2006


Wadah Pencerdasan Umat (WADAH) menggesa agar YAB Perdana Menteri bertindak tegas menangani polemik cabar-mencabar terhadap perkara-perkara sensitif yang telah sekian lama disepakati di dalam Perlembagaan termasuklah apa yang disifatkan sebagai perkumpulan sepuluh (10) menteri-menteri bukan Islam yang mewakili parti-parti komponen Barisan Nasional menghantar memorandum kepada YAB Perdana Menteri pada 19 Januari 2006 yang lalu berhubung penyemakan semula undang-undang berkaitan pertukaran agama.

Tindakan Tidak Bertanggungjawab Menteri-Menteri Kabinet Bukan Islam

2. WADAH melihat isu ini sebagai satu tindakan yang tidak bertanggungjawab yang cuba mengambil kesempatan di atas kelunakan Kerajaan di dalam isu-isu sensitif. Kabinet dilihat sebagai sudah berpecah dan perkumpulan ini tidak dapat berbincang secara rasional di dalam mesyuarat mingguan Kabinet sepertimana yang lazim dilakukan di sepanjang sejarah pentadbiran negara selepas Merdeka.

3. Perkumpulan ini tidak wajar membuat representasi berasingan di luar mesyuarat Kabinet kerana ini memberi tanggapan bahawa Kabinet tidak dapat lagi memutuskan sesuatu lalu terpaksa mendesak pimpinan secara terbuka.

Pengagihan Bidang Kuasa Mahkamah Sivil dan Mahkamah Syariah

4. Sehubungan ini, WADAH juga menyanjungi tinggi ketegasan pendirian YAB Perdana Menteri untuk tidak meminda Perkara 121 (1A) (Kuasa-Kuasa Kehakiman bagi Persekutuan) di dalam Perlembagaan Persekutuan yang jelas memberi peruntukan pengagihan bidang kuasa serta tanggungjawab Mahkamah Sivil dan Mahkamah Syariah (lihat Utusan Malaysia, 21 Januari 2006). Telah diperuntukkan bahawa Mahkamah Sivil tidak mempunyai bidang kuasa berkenaan apa-apa perkara dalam bidang kuasa Mahkamah Syariah. Tujuan peruntukan undang-undang ini adalah untuk mengelak percanggahan atau pertindihan antara keputusan Mahkamah Syariah dengan Mahkamah Sivil.

5. Tidak timbul isu sama ada Mahkamah Sivil lebih tinggi dari Mahkamah Syariah kerana isu yang dibangkitkan di dalam polemik ini merupakan isu undang-undang peribadi (personal law). Di dalam undang-undang peribadi, taraf mana-mana kes yang bersabit dengannya adalah sama di dalam mana-mana mahkamah, sama ada Mahkamah Sivil atau Mahkamah Syariah.

Memantapkan Peruntukan Perkara 121 (1A)

6. Untuk menghindarkan sebarang kekeliruan dan kecelaruan yang mungkin ditimbulkan oleh desakan-desakan ini, adalah penting untuk Kerajaan menjelaskan (clarify) peruntukan tersebut secara lebih mantap dan tuntas (once-for-all) tentang pengagihan bidang kuasa dan tanggungjawab Mahkamah Sivil dan Mahkamah Syariah tanpa meminda mana-mana aspek Perlembagaan Persekutuan yang berkaitan atau mana-mana peruntukan undang-undang lain.

7. Isu di sini bukanlah kekaburan Perkara 121 (1A) tetapi keengganan masyarakat bukan Islam menerima hakikat bahawa Islam adalah agama Persekutuan. Dan keengganan ini cuba dihujahkan dengan mengaitkan insiden-insiden yang telah selesai.

Penambahbaikan Struktur Mahkamah Syariah Sebagai Medan Mencari Keadilan

8. Pada masa yang sama, WADAH mendesak Kerajaan menambahbaikkan (upgrade) keseluruhan jentera pentadbiran Mahkamah Syariah agar lebih kemas dan teratur. Usaha penyeragaman undang-undang perlu disegerakan dan Mahkamah Syariah perlu dikekalkan sebagai medan mencari keadilan bukan hanya kepada masyarakat Islam bahkan juga kepada masyarakat bukan Islam.

Kebebasan Beragama Tidak Wajar Disalahguna

9. WADAH prihatin tentang semarak dan gejolak api kemarahan rakyat di merata pelusuk negara lantaran persepsi bahawa umat Melayu dan Islam sudah sekian lama dipermain-mainkan. Malah ada yang mulai menganggap bahawa sikap keterbukaan yang berlebihan di pihak umat Islam bukanlah satu penyelesaian yang baik. Bagi sesetengah pihak ini, perkara dasar yang berkaitan dengan umat Melayu dan Islam tidak harus sama sekali dikompromikan.

10. Kerajaan selama ini telahpun menjalankan dasar keterbukaan bagi menjamin keadilan dan kemakmuran dapat dinikmati oleh semua kaum. Keterbukaan dan kebebasan beragama ini sudah dirasakan terlalu berlebihan sehingga padahnya, umat Melayu dan Islam pula yang semakin tercicir dengan dasar keterbukaan ini. Sudahlah keterbukaan ini semakin tidak dihargai, malah sikap segelintir masyarakat bukan Islam menuntut perkara-perkara sebegini sememangnya tidak dapat lagi diterima oleh umat Melayu dan Islam di negara ini. Sikap sebegini tidak seharusnya dilayani.

Jangan Ada Campur Tangan Kuasa Asing

11. WADAH juga ingin mengingatkan Kerajaan bahawa sememangnya terdapat cubaan campurtangan kuasa asing dalam mengganggu kestabilan rakyat di negara ini. Agenda yang dibawa oleh segelintir ini nampaknya sudah mula mendapat dokongan dan perhatian bukan cuma dari perkumpulan-perkumpulan bukan Islam bahkan dari segelintir masyarakat Islam yang cuba menjuarai isu-isu agama. Mereka ini akan terus mendesak untuk memastikan kehendak mereka dituruti. Sepertimana cubaan-cubaan terdahulu, sekiranya mereka tidak berjaya, mereka akan melobi di peringkat antarabangsa pula.

Seruan Kesatuan dan Pencerdasan Umat

12. WADAH berpandangan bahawa apa yang berlaku ini mempunyai implikasi, hikmah dan pengajaran. WADAH dengan ini menggesa agar semua pimpinan masyarakat Melayu dan Islam agar terus bersatu mempertahankan kedaulatan dan kesucian agama Islam di negara ini.


Haji Abdul Halim Ismail
Setiausaha Kehormat
WADAH PENCERDASAN UMAT (WADAH)



WADAH dipimpin oleh YBhg Dato’ Dr Siddiq Fadzil sebagai Presiden dengan Setiausaha Kehormatnya, Haji Abdul Halim Ismail. WADAH mempunyai cawangan-cawangan di seluruh negeri.

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