Inter-Research And Studies (IRAS)

Malaysia professes to be a multi-racial and multi-cultural federation with Islam as its religion, but there is a mounting movement to turn it simply into an Islamic state. While defenders of the status quo insist that it is a secular state and Islam’s position is largely decorative, it appears they are fighting a losing battle against the tide of growing Islamisation in the country. Slowly, but surely, Malaysia is headed down the path where religion permeates not just houses of worship, but all aspects of life. Here are the three things we learned about the growing Islamisation of Malaysia. 1. The minister of Islamic affairs is more powerful than any other Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom’s official portfolio is minister in charge of Islamic affairs, but it appears that his purview extends far beyond religion. On Tuesday, he declared that Malaysia was not a secular state, thereby dismantling a key obstacle towards the introduction of more Islamic laws — including the controversial hudud ...

Malaysians are wondering whether Putrajaya's unspoken political strategy is to divide the predominantly Muslim-Malay country along racial lines in a bid to hold on to power following sharpening racial and religious tensions, the Edge Review reported today. This follows incidents that have rocked Malaysia's delicate racial and religious relations – acts by Muslim authorities, who snatched a body at a funeral and disrupted a Hindu wedding ceremony on suspicion that the deceased and the bride respectively might be Muslims. The weekly said there were also signs of a campaign by the country’s civil service to push a religious-inspired agenda. The report cited other similar incidents, such as the threat by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) to destroy the 301 Bibles it seized from the Bible Society of Malaysia and the refusal of Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to follow a court ruling in a highly publicised custody battle that ordered a Muslim conv...

直言不讳：安顺选区的补选刚刚结束。国阵（BN）候选人，民政党主席拿督马袖强成功为执政联盟赢得议席。 然而，该名民政党主席只获得2万157票，而民联的候选人黛安娜则获得1万9919票。拿督马袖强以238票之差获得胜利。这对国阵及民政党而言，是次与民主行动党的对战票数非常接近，而民主行动党也在2008及2013年大选中两次击败国阵。 不管结果是什么，国阵及民联双方，无论是赢家还是输家都应该提防选民以及人民的期望。我们每个人都留意到，在总数6万349名选民当中，只有67.4%选民现身投票。那么，剩下的1万9674位选民在哪？即使是废票也出乎意料的高，大约有550张。许多政治观察家也对国阵得到的结果感到惊讶。 让我们来分析民主行动党的见解。为何把黛安娜放在安顺的首位？民主行动党在霹雳的派系争斗从一开始就非常激烈，而这已经是公开的秘密。北派是由倪氏堂兄弟所率领（拿督倪可汗是行动党霹雳州顾问而他的堂兄弟倪可敏则是行动党该州主席），而南派则由怡保西区行动党国会议员M.古拉所率领，他也是民主行动党全国副主席。 当安顺国会议员谢昂凭在5月1日因患癌去世，北派及南派皆个别派发他们的候选人至党中央委员会，而双方派别也努力游说，以便确保他们的候选人能够参选安顺补选。已故谢昂凭是亲南派的。 由于不想看到两派发生激烈战斗，民主行动党中央委员会选择了一名中性的候选人，即黛安娜，这也是为了缓解两个派系紧张关系的策略。 黛安娜是在怡保出生的女孩，她是民主行动党顾问林吉祥的政治秘书。林吉祥目前是振林山国会议员。而已故谢昂凭则是安顺居民，他在去年的大选中，以7313张多数票，赢得国会议席。 而民主行动党出了什么问题？由于该党的派系争斗，导致许多党内的支持者为了抗议黛安娜的候选资格，而不投票，或现身，但投废票。这些民主行动党的党员及支持者抗议是因为他们喜欢的候选人没有被挑选。再者，黛安娜不是安顺当地居民，而她也不为当地民主行动党党员所熟悉。 在竞选期间，这些当地的民主行动党领袖及党员也不在场，而他们大多只在国家领导人来临之际现身，但在这些最高领导人离开后，也随即离去。 民主行动党领导层曾预言表示该新人将因关注国家问题，如消费税以及青年与妇女的赋权，而获得胜利。除此之外，民主行动党也想表达其多元种族的立场。 对于国阵拿督马袖强的胜利，他不能大声欢呼，因为他只以23...

Selangor Umno's motion on hudud has placed BN component parties in a fix, especially given that MCA and Gerakan have launched a vitriolic campaign against the Islamic criminal law. According to Selangor opposition leader Mohd Shamsudin Lias, Umno tabled the motion to stop PAS and its DAP ally from politicising the hudud issue. But a pro-Umno website had a different take on the matter. In an article yesterday, MYKMU.net questioned if Selangor Umno had gone against the view of party president Najib Abdul Razak. The website panned the motion as "unwise", adding that the push for hudud is a PAS' agenda and not Umno's. "So the party which is supposed to table the hudud motion in the Selangor assembly is PAS. Why is Umno jumping the gun?" read the article. The website also asked whether Najib was briefed on the motion or done at the whim and fancy of Selangor Umno. "Was this motion discussed with other BN component parties in Selangor? I am sure it was ...

After launching a series of vitriolic salvos against its traditional rival over the hudud issue, MCA now finds itself on the defensive. And when news broke that Selangor Umno put forth a motion to debate the feasibility of implementing hudud in the state, DAP wasted little time in exacting revenge. But did MCA president Liow Tiong Lai know about the motion beforehand? Here is where the story takes a bizarre twist. Initially, Selangor (Umno) opposition leader Mohd Samsuddin Lias said that the state Umno had briefed Liow on the matter and he did not complain. "We didn't receive their (MCA's) protest," he was quoted by the Chinese media as saying at a press conference yesterday when quizzed on the opposition coming from MCA. "Liow knows about it but he did not respond," he said, claiming that the MCA president did not ask Selangor Umno to drop the motion. Several hours later, there was a "clarification" from Shamsuddin at another p...

Charging opposition leader Teresa Kok over a satire video is a "new low" for Malaysia and an "international embarrassment", says an international rights NGO. "The Malaysian authorities are setting a new low for violating free expression by bringing criminal charges against an opposition politician in a satirical video. "The government is obviously not serious about its commitment to revoke the antiquated and abusive Sedition Act," said Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson in a statement today. He reminded Prime Minister Najib Razak of his promise on several occasions, notably during the 13th general election, to repeal what the PM himself has said was from a "bygone era". Robertson said despite this, the law is still being used for "political reasons". "The case against Teresa Kok is just the latest instance of a senior opposition politician being hauled up on arbitrary charges for simply being an opposition...

Even by his usual outlandish statements, Malaysia's home minister has outdone himself yet again, attributing Barisan Nasional's (BN) victory in Teluk Intan to the warning he gave underworld operators. Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s comments suggested that gangsters were running free in the country and had been influencing elections, raising questions on what security agencies under his purview had been doing all along. The home minister said that because of the warning he personally issued during the campaign in the run up to the May 31 by-election, the gangs did not dare intimidate voters to vote the opposition. "They (the gangs) expected a majority, from 12,000, down to 6,000, and down to 2,000. Alhamdulillah we got a 238 majority. "I warned them because I know each of their faces, and what they were doing. "Because of my warning, they did not dare carry out any of their threats and warnings to the voters in Teluk Intan," Zahid (pic) said. However, he di...

Putrajaya’s one-party policy and its 40-year-old pro-Malay affirmative action programme will spell trouble for the country’s economy, effectively turning Malaysia into the weakest link in Asia, a Bloomberg columnist said today . Citing Putrajaya’s poor handling of opposition politicians and the search for MH370, William Pesek said Malaysia will continue to hog headlines for all the wrong reasons if Putrajaya continues to be complacent in economic matters. “Its 40-year-old, pro-Malay affirmative-action program chips away at the country's competitiveness more and more each passing year. “The scheme, which disenfranchises Malaysia's Chinese and Indian minorities, is a productivity and innovation killer. It also has a corrupting influence on the political and business culture,” Pesek said. Pesek based his observations on a new report from Sarah Fowler of UK-based Oxford Economics, which ranks Malaysia the "riskiest country in Asia of those we consider," more so than Ind...

The National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) is suggesting three separate bills to replace the Sedition Act 1948, including one to promote harmony and another prescribing mediation as a means to resolve disputes. The conciliatory tone of the National Unity Bill is a departure from the restrictive nature of the colonial era law it is partly meant to replace and which critics contend is abused to silence dissent. The bill aims to promote mediation as a means to solving any dispute that come under a list of “prohibited grounds”. The list covers race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth. It also includes other grounds where discrimination “causes or perpetuates systemic disadvantage”, “undermines human dignity”, or “adversely affects the equal enjoyment of a person’s rights and freedoms in a serious manner” based on colour, descent or ancestry, nationality...

Mah Siew Keong’s victory in Teluk Intan has set Gerakan in the right trajectory but the party remains far from arriving at a revival, according to political analysts. Mah, whose win saw him return as MP in the constituency that he previously served for two terms prior to 2008, scored a personal victory in the by-election rather than one for the party, the analysts added. Senior political science lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Dr Arnold Puyok noted, however, that the win has given the party a new lease on life. “Not to say a revival but, yes, it is a major boost for BN and especially Gerakan,” he told The Malay Mail Online via text message. Gerakan was among the hardest hit in the so-called “political tsunami” in Election 2008 that swept it from power in Penang and saw its presence in Parliament dwindle from 10 seats to just two; this fell to a single Parliament seat in the 2013 general election. Prior to the Teluk Intan by-election, Mah had categorised his bid as a ...