Inter-Research And Studies (IRAS)

(This article was earlier published in the Rakyattimes.com on 17/5/2014) By Viktor Wong Recently, Umno president Najib Razak had addressed in a youth function, calling on the younger generations to steer away from "liberalism" and "pluralism" which could destroy our country by adopting instead, moderation. Just what exactly does he really try to mean here? The problem here is, does the crowd of youths there understand what does Najib trying to say? Yes, many of the youths may and may not understand on what Najib is trying to prove by asking them to stay away from liberalism and pluralism. We supposed Najib himself too does not really understand the actual and clear definitions of these two words that he addressed to the young crowd in a function recently. Liberalism is actually a social and political definition which specifically identify one or more subject of being different than the previous or the earlier generations or what has been laid down by t...

The push for hudud by many Muslim-majority countries including Malaysia is to ensure its ruling governments maintain their position in power, a UK-based activist and academic said today. Dr Anas Al-Tikriti, who heads the London-based think-thank Cordoba Foundation, said he believes that the current debates on implementing shariah law stems from a political rather than religious perspective, adding that most countries which have adopted hudud have appalling human rights, economic and social track records. “Was Malaysia not a Muslim country 30 or 40 years ago? Why (the push for hudud) now? “Why is it countries that proclaim to be Islamic are the really failed countries in terms of social, political and economic justice? Why resort to hudud?” Anas said. He was speaking at a forum titled: “The politics of religious liberty. Persecution in the name of religion.” Anas said that while as a Muslim he is not against shariah laws, the surrounding circumstances are important before the laws can...

Socialism is usually defined into many kinds of ideology unnecessarily by many socialist leaders themselves as well as opponent of socialism. Such has indeed confuse many socialists, potential socialists and those who are interested in deepen their understanding on socialism. Why do we need to interpret socialism into so many kinds of ideological segment, such as Leninism, Marxism, Maoism, Trotskyism, Centre-Left, Social Democrats, Socialist Democratic, First International, Third International, Fourth International or whatsoever ? Some even claim they are more socialist then others and vice-versa. Some claim to be reformed socialist and this confuse our socialist community even more. As the result of all these differences, we could see first the Socialist, Labour and Communist Parties around the world disintegrating one by one like a domino, some of these parties are even split into two or three political parties but their names still remain as socialist or communist, with only d...

A PAS lawmaker has slammed a public university over a religiously-charged seminar which attacked Christianity, and challenged a claim that Christian priests were masquerading as football coaches to proselytise to Muslims. Parit Buntar MP Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusuf Rawa said the speakers should make a police report over the accusation, and warned that statements made at the seminar were mala fide and dangerous if they failed to back them with evidence. "The speakers and the organisers of the seminar risk being hauled up for making accusations which could threaten inter-religious harmony in the country which was already fragile," said Mujahid. He urged them to provide evidence to the police, and cited Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution restricting the propagation of any faith to Muslims. The seminar on the use of the word "Allah" and Christology, held last Tuesday at the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) , heard one of its speakers, Abdul Karim Omar‎, claiming tha...

Pressure growing for medieval Islamic religious punishment Malaysia appears dangerously close to instituting seventh-century religious law that would require amputation of hands or feet for theft, beheading or stoning for adultery and other crimes, and flogging for drinking or other offenses. The issue of Islamic punishment has been kicking around for years, with little effect. But Hadi Awang, the head of Parti Islam se-Malaysia, or PAS is expected to table a private member’s bill in June when the Dewan Rakyat, or national parliament, reconvenes. The bill would make Islamic law supreme in the eastern Malaysian state of Kelantan. However, the Malay-majority states of Perlis, Terengganu and Kelantan appear ready to go ahead with or without parliamentary approval, political analysts say. Other Malay-majority states along the northern tier next to Thailand could follow. Normally, an opposition bill would have no chance of passage in Malaysia’s parliamentary system. However, according to a...

In our continuing series to mark the anniversary of the most heated general election in recent memory, we examine the state of the main federal opposition Pakatan Rakyat. Malaysia’s multi-racial fabric may be fraying and its institutions rotting due to what some say is the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration’s misrule since May 5 last year. But observers and analysts feel that as things stand now, there is little chance that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) can offer a viable alternative for the public to resolve the problems afflicting Malaysia. This is because there is fear the coalition is collapsing under the weight of its members’ competing ideologies. The hudud issue effectively questions whether PR is up to governing Malaysia in all its pluralistic complexity as long as one partner, PAS, sticks to its guns to impose the Islamic criminal law. This comes just as PR loses more and more of its leading lights, the latest being DAP national chairman Karpal Singh, who died in a road ac...

By Al-Jafree Md Yusop “This is awesome!” Those were the exact words that came out of my wife’s mouth when we reached Jalan Tun Perak upon seeing the massive crowd getting ready to push the government for electoral reforms during Bersih 3.0 in April 2012. At one corner I can swear I saw a pink Power Ranger walking proudly, waving at the enthusiastic crowd, at another corner a group of youth reciting poetry, banging on homemade percussions while the people surrounding them were dancing to their tunes. It’s like a carnival, no speeches, no sermons, every single Malaysian that took to the street on that day was clear about one thing – a clean and fair election. A street rally or demonstration is really about expressing yourself in a collective manner. It is supposed to be a cathartic experience for each individual. That was not the case with last week’s Bantah GST May Day rally. As opposed to the Bersih 3.0 in which more than 200,000 Malaysian took to the streets of Kuala Lumpur, the Bant...