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The Colors of Malaysia, Thaipusam Festival 2010 at Batu Caves

Naked-Malaysian — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:44:38 +0000

Thaipusam or Thai Poosam is celebrated in Malaysia somewhen between January to February every year mainly by the Tamil Hindu ethnic. To be precise, the date for Thaipusam is determined by the Tamil calendar that falls on a full moon day in the auspicious 10th. Tamil month of Thai when the constellation of Pusam, the star of well-being, rises over the eastern horizon. This year Thaipusam fell on recent 30th. January 2010.

The biggest Thaipusam festival is held annually at Batu Caves, Selangor and has become one of Malaysia key tourism attraction with hundreds of thousands devotees, tourist and visitors flocking the compound of Batu Caves Lord Murugan Temple to perform or watch the colorful and exotic Hindu religious processions.

The 272 steps to the hilltop temple and the 42.7m high Lord Murugan statue. Batu Caves before and during Thaipusam.

According to Hindu lore, Thaipusam is dedicated to hindu god Murugan, the son of Shiva and Parvati, to commemorate the occurrence when Murugan was presented a mystical lance by goddess Parvati to combat and vanquish the demon army of Tarakasura. Murugan came out as winner and was then celebrated in the victory of good over evil.

Although several Hindu shrines exist in Batu Caves, construction of a 42.7 meter high statue of Lord Murugan was completed in January 2006 making it the most dominant feature in the temple compound. In Batu Caves, devotees need to climb 272 steps to reach the temple inside the cave on the hilltop to complete the Thaipusam pilgrimage.

The first Batu Caves Thaipusam pilgrimage is believed to be in 1892 by early Tamils who migrated to colonial Malaya. Two of the first devotees made the difficult track up the ancient limestone hill and planted the `vel’ in the cave that houses a temple dedicated to Lord Murugan. The vel, made of metal and shaped like a lance, symbolizes Murugan who is also known as Velan.

On the eve of Thaipusam, a motorized five-ton silver-chariot bearing Lord Murugan’s image escorted by thousands of pilgrims leaves the Sri Mahamariaman (another name for Parvathi) temple in downtown Kuala Lumpur, on a 15-kilometre walk to Batu Caves.

At Batu Caves, devotees bring fruit and lower offerings usually in yellow or orange adorning dress in same color, the color most favored by Lord Murugan. During the procession, devotees bring milk, water, along with fruits and floral tributes on Kavadis – decorated with feathers of peacock.

Extraordinarily, many devotees torture their bodies with body piercing using hook, skewers and small lances called ‘vel’. These hooks are then tied to strings for pulling chariots or other heavy objects during the procession. Many others pierce their tongue and cheek to impede speech and thereby attain full concentration on the Lord. Most devotees enter into a trance during such piercing due to the incessant drumming and chanting of “vel vel shakti vel.”

Naked-Malaysian: All the above images belong to Mr. Hafis Ismail. All rights reserves.

Technorati Tags: Batu Caves, body piercing, Hindu, indian, Kavadi, Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, Malaysia Deals, Murugan, Parvathi, Selangor, Shiva, Sri Mahamariaman, Tamil, Thaipusam, tourism, travels

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Malaysia Files Suit Against Apple’s iPad for Copying Patents

Naked-Malaysian — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 04:12:42 +0000

FEB 2 – Malaysia has filed a suit against Apple for infringing patents after its recent launch of the iPad, its latest “what-the-hell-is-it” device.

The joint suit by the Federal government and the Penang state administration is related to ideas that were first registered by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng respectively.

The recently launched Apple iPad

Putrajaya and Komtar are claiming that the iPad, due to its position as a product in between the iPhone and the MacBook, is mimicking the 1 Malaysia and Middle Malaysia concepts, respectively.

This compounds Apple’s already tarnished image as being “copycats” after Nokia had in October filed a suit worth up to RM3.5 billion for patent infringements related to the all-conquering iPhone.

A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said that, “Malaysia was the first and is unique in trying to put forward this idea of unity, that all you need is one, plain, dull, boring ol’ thing that combines all the best elements of Malaysia into one streamlined slogan.”

When reached for comment, Information and Culture Minister insisted that “this is Malaysian culture and we cannot allow others to steal it, just like how Indonesia stole our batik and Singapore, our Ampang Yong Tau Fu.”

Meanwhile, in a press conference a few minutes ago, Lim insisted that “we have painstakingly worked with lawyers and marketing firms to come up with an idea that was original and convincing, and now Apple has simply come in and stolen it.”

He added that disallowing Apple from using his idea was not acting like a “dictator, chauvinist or communist” but that Apple CEO Steve Jobs was “burning bridges” with the people of Penang and Malaysia, implying that Penang’s relationship with one of its most important foreign investors Intel, who are also Apple’s main chip producer, may have been jeopardised.

He also issued a statement explaining that Middle Malaysia “is about moderate, non-extremist Malaysians. They are not too big, not too small, not too hard, not too soft, not too hot, not too cold, but just nice for people like Goldilocks.”

This comes on the back of criticism that “nobody knows what the hell Malaysian slogans are about since Malaysia Boleh anyway.”

However, it is uncertain if such definitions will be enough to convince the courts in Delaware, where Nokia, whose handphone manuals make up 90 per cent of all Finnish literature, has also filed its suit.

As such, both the Attorney-General and state legal adviser have compiled reams of documents concerning the usage of 1 Malaysia and Middle Malaysia. As with most of these legal documents, they are so thorough and meandering that a Garmin could get lost in them.

Technology expert iVan eNg believes that if Malaysia wins the suit, it could be worth RM2 billion as “despite its obviously stupid, menstrually-linked name, we all know that people will still buy something from Apple even if it is Steve Jobs’ shit in a bag, so long as Apple puts an ‘i’ in front of it or ‘book’ at the end of it.”

And in fact, law experts in Malaysia are confident of victory and are already looking discussing how the award will be split between Putrajaya and Komtar.

“We know that the Federal government has been slow to release funds to Penang. But in this case, I guess they will insist Penang has no right to the cash as the suit is not within Penang’s territory or its state waters. So they will only offer it some ‘wang ehsan’ I believe,” said Bar Council president Left Right N. Centre.

Already, the spate of suits against Apple is drawing flak from previously hardcore Apple supporters such as celebrities like Bono of U2 and Kanye West.

“You know, this is like piracy and piracy is ruining the world. If there was no piracy in the world, then I would have enough money to single-handedly Drop The Debt and cure AIDS,” Bono said.

When quizzed about how Apple was in fact making tons of money from this “piracy”, he simply said, “Hello, hello, I’m at a place called Vertigo,” implying that this suggestion was as nonsensical as his lyrics.

West said that “I’m really happy for Malaysia, and I’ma let them finish. But Nike had one of the best slogans of all time!”

Source: TheMalaysianInsider.com

Naked-Malaysian: I don’t get it. Is this a joke or what?

Technorati Tags: 1Malaysia, Apple, CM Lim Guan Eng, iPAD, iPhone, Komtar, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia per capita, Malaysian Insider, Nokia, pattent infringement, Penang, PM Najib Tun Razak, Putrajaya

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Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan Sodomized by Anwar Ibrahim, Fake or True?

Naked-Malaysian — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:40:39 +0000

Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan would be the most talked about name in Malaysia for the last 7 days, a break-out from recently infamous AdukaTaruna mania. It’s hard to write about Saiful Bukhari without unintentionally being political inclined to Malaysia Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat sides. The sodomy charge towards DS Anwar Ibrahim is not like any other trial in Malaysia judiciary court, many have went out of their way to make sure the second sodomy charge will proceed as planned. As so the country already passed the point of no return when one can still argue wether the sodomy trial was not politically motivated.

This post is not to discuss about the ongoing sodomy trial, but rather to put Saiful Bukhari in perspective.

Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan occasionally can be found with UMNO ministers

1. “Few” days prior to Saiful Bukhari lodged the police report for the alleged sodomy, he met PM Najib Tun Razak (Deputy PM at that time) at his residence. PM Najib Tun Razak acknowledged the meeting but dismissed his involvement to mastermind the second sodomy charge to Anwar Ibrahim by saying the meeting was only about helping Saiful Bukhari getting university scholarship.

a. Saiful did really bad in his engineering study at UNITEN, obtaining GPA 1.0 on semester one (06/07) and GPA 0.8 in second semester, and was already a university drop-out at the time of the said meeting. What scholarship PM Najib Tun Razak was referring to? Why was he lying? Why Saiful has special privelege and direct access to the DPM residence?

b. According to the report made on June 28th, 2008, Saiful Bukhari was sodomized on 26th. of June, 2 days prior. “Few” days mean 2-3 days, right? Was the supposely meeting being held on the same day as the alleged sodomy or before?

2. If Saiful Bukhari was sexually assaulted by Anwar Ibrahim, then why did he allow it to happened more than once despite how he might have objected it (based on his police report)?

3. If the sex was not consensual, how did a 61 years old man with a back pain trauma forced himself onto stronger young man 23 years of age (repoted to be a Tae Kwan Do black belt holder by the way)?

4. What’s with Saiful Bukhari pictures with government ministers (UMNO prominent politicians) floating around the net? Was he a mole? Musang berbulu ayam?

Saiful Bukhari's late mother and the wife of Malaysia Prime Minister

5. Was Saiful Bukhari really committed for Anwar Ibrahim’s PKR campaign during the time of his employment, when he was actually campaigning online (via his Friendster) for Barisan Nasional during the last General Elections? What was his motive?

6. When describing how the sodomy occured, Saiful Bukhari testified that Anwar Ibrahim had request by asking “Can I fuck you today?”, saying his immediate reaction to such, was feeling “angry and scared”. Saiful Bukhari claimed he maintained to refused for sexual intercourse even after consequently being offered monetary compensation. What’s very odd is why despite all of his refusal, Saiful Bukhari still voluntarily stripped naked, cleaned himself and donned a white towel for the alleged sodomy by Anwar Ibrahim?

Best way to keep DNA intact in your butt

7. Despite being “unwillingly” sodomized , Saiful Bukhari conveniently kept his cool, took his time to meet the then Deputy Prime Minister for advice, avoiding cleaning himself (specifically his butt) or taking a dump for two consecutive days, before lodging the police report and went for clinical check-up that found DNA belonging to Anwar Ibrahim inside and outside his anus. Wasn’t all of these freakishly unusual?

Technorati Tags: AdukaTaruna, Barisan Nasional, BN, DS Anwar Ibrahim, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia judiciary court, Malaysian Insider, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, Pakatan Rakyat, PKR, PM Najib Tun Razak, PR, sodomy, UMNO, UNITEN

AdukaTaruna, The Death Seeking Blogger

Street Fight Erupted after Minor Car Accident

Naked-Malaysian — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:59:57 +0000

This is what will happen when moron and idiot were allowed to drive. Driving in Kuala Lumpur requires one to equip himself with daily dose of patience in sufficient quantity, for going to and coming back from work safely. Most of the time in Malaysia, a car accident is just like another disaster around the corner since everyone is driving like F1 superdriver expecting +-0.5 millisecond precision braking, usually when tailgating other car at high speed or when one got caught in bumper to bumper traffic jam after waking up on the wrong side of the bed.

This video clip is rare, but the situation is not. This fight is between two Chinese. The same incident would possibly repeated if it involves a Malay vs. another Malay or Indian vs. Indian, but the probability for it to happen would really be unlikely should this 2 man are from different races.

AdukaTaruna, The Death Seeking Blogger

Naked-Malaysian — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:03:55 +0000

AdukaTaruna obtained celebrity blogger status almost overnight with his infamous remarks to the late Sultan of Johore recently. He wrote “Dah mampos buat buat cara mampos la. Boleh plak simpan mayat tunggu Datuk Bendahara balik dari shopping. Boleh meeting isytihar sedang terlentang. Pada hal dah mampos pagi tadi. Pergi mampos sama lu. Bodoh punya kerajaan spesis stupid.” (Translation; “If he’s dead, make do like he’s dead. Why keep his body unburied waiting for Datuk Bendahara (head of palace officials) to come back from shopping. Why meeting to declare he’s still lying, when actually he’s already dead this morning. Go die with you. Dumb government species stupid”).

The most offending word here is when AdukaTaruna used the word ‘mampos’ which is commonly used to describe dead animal and is regarded as very rude and demeaning in Malay language. The Malay vocabulary has different set of words to use when referring to or describing the Malay royalties compared to the commoners. The alleged insult has hurt majority of Malaysia Malay population especially the people of Johore who are still mourn the demise of Almarhum Tuanku Sultan Johor Darul Takzim Almutawakkil Alallah Sultan Iskandar ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail late Friday evening.

Johorian who are known to love their late Sultan are furious over this matter and unanimously condemn the act of AdukaTaruna. Johor police chief Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said police received over 25 reports from various parties throughout the state.

“We will find and drag them to court,” he said, asserted that the offense is very serious and can not be forgiven.

AdukaTaruna can be prosecuted under Section 233 (1) (a) Multimedia Communications Act 1998 (Act 588) and can be punished according to Section 233 (3) which carries a penalty of a minimum one year imprisonment and/or maximum fine of RM50, 000. He may also be charged under the Sedition Act 1948 and other acts relating to royal institution.

The then Regent of Johore addressing the late Sultan. Tuanku Ibrahim Ismail was coronated as the 5th. Sultan of Johore last Saturday morning.

Aduka Taruna is a just pen name, this unknown blogger actual name is Khairul Nizam. Many have mistaken Aduka Taruna as political blogger championing PAS idealogy. AdukaTaruna blog tagline is ‘Pemerhati Bebas’ (Free Observer) showing that he’s unattached to any political faction. He is known to undiscriminately attack leaders from both political factions in Malaysia, including many of UMNO leadership, DAP, MCA, PKR and also 2 key leaders of PAS, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat and Dato’ Seri Abdul Hadi Awang that can be found here, here and here.

To date, the blog posting that contain the alleged insult has already been deleted. Click link for AdukaTaruna public apology and his declaration not having any association with PAS.

Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim will be requesting the Attorney-General to pay particular note on the blogger who posted disparaging remarks on the late Johor Sultan.

“It is very unusual to find Asians blasting former heads of States, especially the late Johor Sultan, Sultan Iskandar ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail, who was also our former Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

“Whatever has been said and done, no one should be creating calamity and criticism after one dies.”

Rais said he looks at what blogger AdukaTaruna had posted very seriously as “it doesn’t reflect well on us at all”.

“It is as if we’re coming from another planet.”

Meanwhile some angry public are making life threats to AdukaTaruna in Facebook Group Menentang Tindakan Blogger AdukaTaruna Menghina Almarhum Sultan Johor that has multipled its members to 10,000 in 2 days.

Blog Update
Malaysiakini reported blogger AdukaTaruna has surrender himself at IPD Kota Bharu police station at 4.40 this evening.

Technorati Tags: Aduka Teruna, AdukaTeruna, Blogger, DAP, Johor, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia News, MCA, PAS, PKR, Sultan of Johor, Tengku Mahkota Johor, UMNO

‘Allah’ issue; 4 More Churches Attacked and RM600,000 Relief

Naked-Malaysian — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:43:38 +0000

The Malaysian vandals have now sporadically expanded their cowardly attempts to stir religious tension outward of Kuala Lumpur region. Churches in the state of Seremban, Perak, Sarawak and Malacca have now became the latest victims of recent church vandalisme spree adding the numbers to total 8 within the last 3 days.

Police Forensics Investigating the Black Paint Incident in Malacca

A primarily East Malaysian Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) Church in Seremban was attacked today with a firebomb, leaving scorch marks on its front doors. The attack did not affect the church interior and was believed to have occurred early this morning. This incident marks the eight attack on Malaysian churches.

Yesterday in Taiping, Perak 2 cases of church attack were reported. The All Saints’ Church at Jalan Taming Sari and the SMK Convent along Jalan Convent became targets of arson attempts. Both suffered no damage. In Miri, Sarawak it was reported that the Good Shepherd Church had its glass windows shattered after being thrown with bricks, while the Malacca Baptist Church in Durian Daun was with splashed black paint.

“So far the attacks have involved stone throwing and arson attempts. There is no serious damage,” said the Home Minister, referring to the latest report on the surveillance on places of worship. He further added, ““Situation is under control and not as exaggerated by the foreign media, SMSes and the Internet,”

The government reiterates that all incidents were isolated and not coordinated. No casualties or injuries were reported.

Scorch marks on SIB Church, Seremban

All of the 8 victimized churches suffered only minor scorch marks or no damage, excluding the Metro Tabernacle Church in Desa Melawati, that left the whole ground in charred. Latest updates shows that the RM500,000 fund from the government to the Metro Tabernacle Church is actually for building a new RM1.5 million church in Batu Caves. Yesterday, Datuk Nazir Tun Razak, the younger brother of Malaysia premier cum the CEO for CIMB Group announced a RM100,000 donation to the same church.

“What happened was only caused by a small segment of the people. It was great to see people of all communities, faiths and social levels reaching out to help. It really reflects what Malaysians are about,” said Metro Tabernacle church senior pastor, Rev Ong Sek Leang.

Six Muslim NGOs — Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM), Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association, Badan Amal Tarbiah Sejagat Malaysia, Pewaris, Islamic Information and Services Foundation, Perkasa — yesterday offered their assistance and support to their “Christian brothers and sisters”.

PPIM executive secretary Datuk Nadzim Johan said the NGOs, which have 60 volunteers, and Rela are prepared to give a hand to their Christian counterparts should they need assistance.

Naked-Malaysian: The cowardly acts of vandalism towards the Malaysian churches did not discriminate whether the concerned churches were from Roman Catholic division or not, showing a high level of ignorance towards Christian faith and church bodies in Malaysia. Although all forms of attack to places of worship should be condemned, it was obvious these vandals are barking at the wrong tree.

Technorati Tags: Allah, Christian, Church, Islam, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Malaysia News, Malaysian, Miri, Negeri Sembilan, Perak, Roman Chatolic, Sarawak, Seremban, Taiping

Post 4 Attacks on Malaysian Churches; “Everything Going To be All Right”

Naked-Malaysian — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 04:36:04 +0000

Last Friday 3 churches around Kuala Lumpur were attacked only days after the Malaysia high court suspended recent ruling to allow Roman Catholic publication to use the term Allah to refer to God in their Herald Weekly Bahasa Melayu section.

The first incident struck the three-storey Metro Tabernacle church, part of the Assemblies of God movement, destroying its ground floor to a charred and twisted wreck.

The second and third attack involved the Catholic Church of the Assumption in Kuala Lumpur’s southwest and the nearby Protestant Life Chapel church, both escape with minor damages as the Molotov cocktail failed to explode.

Coincidentally, the Malaysia judiciary website was also hacked and defaced on the same night, leaving a short threat to drop the ‘Allah’ case.

The latest attack that happened on Saturday morning was to the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Petaling Jaya, but the firebomb missed the glass windows, hitting the building wall instead, leaving a minor burn marks on its outer paint job.

No human injury or casualty was reported in any of the four incidents. Islamic teachings prohibit destroying place of worship even in the event of war.

“Those who have been driven from their homes unjustly only because they said: Our Lord is Allah – For had it not been for Allah’s repelling some men by means of others, cloisters and churches and oratories and mosques, wherein the name of Allah is oft mentioned, would assuredly have been pulled down. Verily Allah helpeth one who helpeth Him. Lo! Allah is Strong, Almighty” – Al-Hajj Ayaat 40.

PM Najib Tun Razak announced last night that the government will fund RM500,000 to repair the Metro Tabernacle church in Desa Melawati.

A group of youth handing out flowers to passer-by at Bukit Bintang. Image source- The Star

Malaysian public, the majority Malay Moslems and other religion adherents remain divided over the ‘Allah’ issue, but all unanimously mourn and condemn any attack to houses of worship or any other acts that will jeopardize the delicate racial harmony in Malaysia.

Yesterday a public rally was held at Bukit Bintang to show Malaysian solidarity over recent religious distruption. A group of youths – of various races and professions – got together at the city centre and handed out flowers to passers-by in a gesture of goodwill in the wake of the arson attacks on four churches in the Klang Valley. The youths stood in the hustle and bustle of the Golden Triangle of Jalan Bukit Bintang carrying placards and banners with the message “Everything’s gonna be alright”.

Technorati Tags: Allah, Christian, Herald Weekly, Kuala Lumpur, Lutheran, Malaysia, Malaysia News, Petaling Jaya, Protestant, Roman Catholic

The Fuss over the Name Allah

Naked-Malaysian — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:30:57 +0000

The first day of 2010 in Malaysia started with a reversal ruling by Kuala Lumpur High Court to government banning on the word Allah from Roman Catholic church publication. The religious polemic between Muslim and Christian community in Malaysia is now in a legal tug of war, with the Home Minister committing to petition for appeal. The Muslim community remain divided by the recent progress, that unsuprisingly inter-related with political factions in Malaysia, with pro opposition supporters unrefuting the High Court decision.

Allah is the standard Arabic word for God. While the term is best known in the West for its use by Muslims as a reference to God, it is used by Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, in reference to “God”. The term was also used by pagan Meccans as a reference to the creator-god, possibly the supreme deity in pre-Islamic Arabia.

The concepts associated with the term Allah (as a deity) differ among the traditions. In pre-Islamic Arabia amongst pagan Arabs, Allah was not considered the sole divinity, having associates and companions, sons and daughters – a concept which Islam thoroughly and resolutely abrogated. In Islam, the name Allah is the supreme and all comprehensive divine name. All other divine names are believed to refer back to Allah. Allah is unique, the only Deity, creator of the universe and omnipotent. Arab Christians today use terms such as Allah al-’Ab (“God the Father”) to distinguish their usage from Muslim usage. There are both similarities and differences between the concept of God as portrayed in the Qur’an and the Hebrew Bible.

It is true the name Allah predates Islam? The popular view is that Islam is exclusively associated with the revelation of Prophet Muhammad SAW roughly 1431 years ago. Among the core teaching of Prophet Muhammad PBUH however involved believing Islam as the continuation to the religion of Isa PBUH (Jesus), Musa PBUH (Moses), Ibrahim PBUH (Abraham), and going all the way back to Adam PBUH, the first human on earth. As Islam views it, to say something predates Islam would literally means to predate all humanity.

In relation to the usage of the word Allah in Malaysia Roman Catholic publication, it is very important to get the facts straight.

1. Regionally, Christianity had only flourished in Borneo long after Islam has established itself, with Christian missionaries actively converting pagan tribes in Sabah and Sarawak during the Rajah Brooke era.

2. The calling of god as Allah in local Christian teachings got nothing to do with Arabia pagan god, the Christian term for god was purposely localized to imitate the name of existing native god, the god of the majority, which is the god of Muslims. Furthermore not one Orthodox Coptic Arab Christian Missionary ever laid foot on Malaysia soil to justify calling god as Allah. All missionaries were from England and other European countries.

To be technical one can says the name Allah predates Prophet Muhammad PBUH, but at the same time, the same name was also non existence in any Roman Catholic Bibles produced in the country(s) where all the Christian missionaries had came from. The local Muslims reservation on this issue is not entirely baseless.

It is important to know exactly where both side stand on this matter. Its common for Muslims to back the Islam side, and Christians backing the Roman Catholic side. However, to have another large group of Muslim unopposing the Christian view on this matter is something worth sinking our mind into.

According to Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, the spiritual leader for Parti Islam Malaysia (PAS) cum Chief Minister to the state of Kelantan, a key figure in the opposition coalition, Islam is a blessing to the universe, that translates into Islam is for all (Arabic; “Rahmatan Lil-Aalamin”). The one god in Islam is also the universal god of all religions. Other religion should be welcomed to call their god by Islam name.

Technorati Tags: Borneo, Christian, Islam, Kelantan, Kuala Lumpur, Malay, Malaysia, Malaysia Insider, Malaysian, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Sabah, Sarawak

Malaysia ‘Allah’ Ban Overturned

Naked-Malaysian — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:21:01 +0000

A Malaysian court has overturned a government ban on non-Muslim publications using the word “Allah”.

Ruling on a lawsuit filed by a Malaysian Roman Catholic church publication, the Kuala Lumpur High Court said on Thursday that the home ministry’s ban on the use of the word “Allah” was “illegal, null and void”.

Judge Lau Bee Lan said the term was not exclusive to Islam, adding that all Malaysians had the right to use the word under the constitution which guarantees freedom of expression and religion.

The Herald had filed for a judicial review after it was temporarily ordered to stop publishing in 2007 for using the word “Allah”.

The government had argued that the word was exclusive to Islam and that its use by other religions could mislead Muslims and harm national security.

The church disputed this and argued that the word predates Islam as a term for God and is used in many places in a non-Muslim context.

It added that in Malaysia, the term is widely used among indigenous Christian tribes in Sabah and Sarawak.

No threat to security

The church also argued that the ban goes against the principle of freedom of religion and religious practice enshrined in the federal constitution.

Lau ruled on Thursday that the home ministry had failed to show how the Herald’s use of “Allah” could threaten national security.

Lawrence Andrew, the editor of the Catholic weekly, said outside the courtroom that he was “very happy” with the decision.

“We called out for justice and we got it,” he said, adding: “It is a victory for all Malaysians.”

Thursday’s ruling could open the door for other non-Muslim publications to use the word “Allah” as a translation for the word God in Malay language publications.

Hishammuddin Hussein, the home minister, said the government would appeal against the decision.

Source: AlJazeera

Technorati Tags: Allah, Islam, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Malaysia News, Malaysian, Roman Catholic, Weird

Identical Twins Escape Death Penalty

Naked-Malaysian — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 07:42:10 +0000

KUALA LUMPUR: A pair of identical twins was acquitted and discharged by the High Court here Friday of drug trafficking because of difficulty in identifying which of the two was in possession of the drugs five years ago. Justice Zaharah Ibrahim, who described the case as unique, said that although R. Sathis Raj and R. Sabarish Raj, 27, looked alike and had identical DNA, which made it difficult to differentiate between them, there was no doubt that one of them was the culprit.

”My job, as required by the law, is to determine whether the prosecution has succeeded in establishing a prima facie against the two accused. In this case, both are identical twins.

”Arresting officer Chief Inspector N. Sekaran, when identifying the first twin, was sceptical, but when asked by counsel, said that he needed some time and yet was still not so sure when identifying the first twin.

”A member in the arresting team, Kpl Mohamad Sidek Paiman, at first could not identify, but later asked for both the twins to stand and said there was a difference in their height. However, he identified the first twin as the one wearing spectacles.

”The question is, which of the twins was arrested first. Is it the one wearing the spectacles because at the time of arrest both were not wearing spectacles.

”Mohamad Sidek said he only identified them from the shirts they wore on that day,” she added.

Sathis Raj and Sabarish Raj were charged with their brother, R. Deva Raj, 43, now deceased, with two counts of trafficking in 166,336gm of canabis and 1,762gm of raw opium at a house in Jalan SS 2/19, Petaling Jaya, at about 4.05pm on Aug 5, 2003. Justice Zaharah said that based on the testimonies by the two policemen, there were doubts and the prosecution had failed to determine which of the twins was in possession of the drugs.

“One of the accused should be called to enter his defence but the question is which twin, because even the DNA cannot be used to determine the identity. On the day of the incident, both were not wearing spectacles. Otherwise, that could have been used as a basis for Mohamad Sidek to identify the first twin.

She said that although one of them was indeed in possession of the drugs, she was acquitting both because she could not afford to send the wrong person to the gallows.

After Justice Zaharah delivered her judgment, the twins, both clad in white shirts, cried and hugged each other.

Deputy public prosecutor Rosidah Abu Bakar prosecuted while counsel Gurbachan Singh appeared for the twins. – Bernama

Source: Star Online

Technorati Tags: Death Penalty, Drug Trafficking, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Malaysia News, Malaysian, Petaling Jaya