Category: Liberty

Categories
Activism Liberty

[1246] Of religious freedom in Malaysia on Wikipedia and Facebook

I am happy to announce that news of the restriction on religious freedom in Malaysia has made it to the front page of Wikipedia (due to the nature of Wikipedia, the permanent link is here). That is exactly what I hoped for when I first inserted the entry to Wikipedia’s current event section a few day ago. This is important in raising awareness pertaining the tyranny that is going on in Malaysia.

Screenshots by Mohd Hafiz Noor SHams. Fair use.

Further, if you are on Facebook and if you care for religious freedom in Malaysia, do kindly consider joining in the newly created group called Uphold the Malaysian Constitution. Reaffirm religious freedom. It may not amount to real activism but at least, it helps in spreading the awareness. Without awareness, there can be no activism.

Categories
Liberty

[1244] Of Justice Richard Malanjum says…

Regulation 4 singles out Muslims for addition procedural burdens and impediments. It requires that a Muslim has to state his or her religion. The requirement does not apply to non-Muslims. There is therefore a differential treatment for Muslims… tantamount to unequal treatment under the law… and has infringed Article 8(1) of the Constitution. It is discriminatory and unconstitutional and should be struck down.

— Justice Richard Malanjum, May 30 2007.

In Malaysia, almost everybody suffers discrimination. The non-Malays as well as the Malays are being discriminated for simply being different.

Categories
Humor Liberty

[1243] Of the state chooses your religion

It is official. A Christian, if the state says so, is a Muslim!

PUTRAJAYA, May 30 (Bernama) — Azlina Jailani, the woman who converted to Christianity, today failed in her appeal to get the Federal Court to compel the National Registration Department (NRD) to drop the word “Islam” from her identity card.

In a 2-1 majority decision, the court ruled that Azlina, 42, who changed her name to Lina Joy, should obtain a Syariah Court order confirming her apostasy before the department could delete the word. [Federal Court Dismisses Lina Joy’s Appeal To Drop Islam In IC. Bernama. May 30 2007]

But oh well, if the majority says 1 plus 1 is 3, the majority wins.

On more serious note, there is really no point of having the identity card stating which religion does one belong to. Unless, of course, if one wants to practice discrimination.

In fact, if most Muslims in Malaysia are obsessed in keeping that label, they should label themselves just like how the Nazi labeled the Jews back in the 1930s and 1940s. These Muslims however would probably wear it proudly anyway.

Categories
Liberty

[1231] Of AllMalaysian Blogger Project might not be a friend of free speech

Routine called me to get my daily dose of Project Petaling Street, a Malaysian blogtal. The zeitgeist at the particular moment I surfed the blogtal was AllMalaysian Blogger Project, a site run by The Star, in association with Genting.

Curious, I checked it out and found this:

What is it?

The AllMalaysian Bloggers Project (AMBP) is an undertaking of the folks behind the AllMalaysia.info website, all of whom believe strongly in the freedom of speech.

All good and dandy but:

Who is it for?

Malaysian bloggers. Your blog can be about anything – as long as it’s not subversive..

Define subversive. To whom?

I am tired of pretender. Freedom of speech, kononnya…

Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved

p/s — I have received information that AllMalaysian Blogger Project has changed the wording of the offending sentence. Now, roughly two days after I blogged about it, the word subversive is gone and replaced with unlawful:

Malaysian bloggers. Your blog can be about anything – as long as it’s not unlawful, pornographic or in, er, bad taste – but only those with a Malaysian slant will be considered for contest prizes.

But, but, but… Thomas Jefferson said:

I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

Hehehe…

Categories
Liberty Politics & government

[1217] Of there goes Giuliani

Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.

— Rudolph W. Giuliani, ‘Freedom Is About Authority’: Excerpts From Giuliani Speech on Crime. March 20 1994.

While authority to some extent is desired, ceding “a great deal of discretion about what you do” to the authority sounds wrong.

Well, it is not too hard to strike Giuliani off the list. Bye bye.

Anyway, how well do you know the candidates for the office of the President of the United States of America?

Head over to an NYT quiz to find out.