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Court orders Khairy to pay RM150,000 to Anwar for defamation

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KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today ordered Khairy Jamaluddin to pay RM150,000 in damages to jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, after ruling that a statement by the Umno Youth leader nine years ago was defamatory.</div>
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Judge Azizul Azmi Adnan said Khairy’s “main belakang” statement had a sexual connotation meant to attack Anwar, and dismissed Khairy’s defence of fair comment and qualified privilege.</div>
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“The allegations are serious and are capable of bearing a defamatory meaning,” he said.</div>
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Azizul also ordered Khairy to pay Anwar RM60,000 as costs.</div>
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On March 7, 2008, Anwar filed a suit against Khairy and demanded RM100 million in damages, alleging that Khairy, then the Umno Youth vice-chief, had uttered defamatory words against him in a ceramah (speech) in Lembah Pantai on Feb 20, 2008.</div>
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Anwar claimed that a phrase used by Khairy, “main belakang”, suggested that he was a homosexual and a person of low morals.</div>
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Court orders Khairy to pay RM150,000 to Anwar for defamation

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today ordered Khairy Jamaluddin to pay RM150,000 in damages to jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, afte...

Rosmah sempurnakan misi bantuan banjir ke utara

0 Breaking News, News update, 热点新闻 Hot News, 热门话题 Hot Topics 4:17:00 AM

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KUALA LUMPUR: Isteri perdana menteri Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor hari ini menyempurnakan majlis pelepasan Misi Pasca Banjir Utara 2017 yang disertai lebih 400 sukarelawan Team Salute Malaysia untuk misi bantuan banjir ke utara Malaysia Barat.</div>
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Misi yang bermula hari ini hingga 1 Oktober melibatkan Kedah dan Perlis.</div>
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“Misi ini melibatkan 53 kenderaan pacuan 4 roda dengan konvoi dari zon Tengah, Selatan dan Timur yang akan bergabung lagi dengan 50 kenderaan dari Utara dan 2 buah bas.</div>
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“Jumlah yang terlibat 400 orang (sukarelawan),” kata Presiden Kumpulan Salute Malaysia Datuk Rizal Mansor yang turut mengetuai misi bantuan tersebut.</div>
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Majlis berlangsung di Pusat Konvensyen Sime Darby, Kuala Lumpur. Rizal berkata, misi tersebut membawa bantuan fizikal seperti pembersihan rumah serta bantuan makanan.</div>
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<img alt="Rosmah-Mansor1" src="http://s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Rosmah-Mansor1.jpg" /></div>
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Lebih 3,000 di Kedah dan Perlis terkesan dalam banjir yang melanda awal bulan lalu.</div>
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Dalam perkembangan lain, Rosmah turut menghadiri majlis menandatangani Perjanjian Penajaan Celcom Axiata dan Persatuan Badminton Malaysia (BAM) berjumlah RM10 juta.</div>
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Presiden BAM, Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria berkata tajaan itu dana lanjutan untuk tempoh 15 bulan bermula 4 Jun 2019 sehingga 30 Ogos 2020.</div>
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Katanya, suntikan tajaan Celcom Axiata itu bertujuan menyemarakkan semula legasi badminton negara, menyokong hasrat mendominasi sukan badminton di peringkat global terutamanya Olimpik 2020 di Tokyo.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 15px;">“Tajaan eksklusif itu sebahagian komitmen berterusan Celcom dalam menyokong BAM dalam usaha persatuan tersebut untuk memacu agenda sukan nasional ke arah pembangunan ahli sukan bertaraf dunia,” kata Norza ketika berucap pada majlis tersebut.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>-FMT NEWS-</i></span></div>
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Rosmah sempurnakan misi bantuan banjir ke utara

KUALA LUMPUR: Isteri perdana menteri Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor hari ini menyempurnakan majlis pelepasan Misi Pasca Banjir Utara 2017 yang...

Mahathir: I now realise DAP is not chauvinist at all

0 Breaking News, News update, 热点新闻 Hot News, 热门话题 Hot Topics 4:10:00 AM

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PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said although he was behind Umno’s move to label DAP as a “Chinese chauvinist party” when he was the Malay party’s president for 22 years, he has come to realise that the opposition party is instead “ multi-racial”.</div>
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“I am the one who started the labelling of DAP as a Chinese chauvinist party. But when I got closer to them I found that they were not Chinese-only like MCA,” the former prime minister and current PPBM chairman said.</div>
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“DAP is multi-racial. They have Malays and Indians as well,” he said, adding that some of the party’s Malay members had even stood in elections and won.</div>
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“The image that I created of DAP was not really true,” he said at the launch of Johor PH at Dataran Taman Dahlia in Tampoi, Johor, tonight.</div>
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Also present were PH deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin and DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, who is Gelang Patah MP.</div>
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Mahathir, 92, said he and other PPBM leaders gave serious thought to cooperating with other opposition parties after forming PPBM in September last year.</div>
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“Previously, we clashed with Kit Siang and Anwar (Ibrahim). Now we sit on the same stage with them,” he said.</div>
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Anwar, who is the de facto head of PH and PKR, is serving a five-year jail sentence in Sungai Buloh prison for a sodomy conviction. He is expected to be released next year.</div>
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Mahathir, who was prime minister and Umno president from 1981 to 2003, said it was natural for political opponents not to say nice things about each other.</div>
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However, he said since getting to know DAP better after the formation of PPBM, he had seen that the party did have a multi-racial membership.</div>
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“In their meetings they speak Malay, the national language. If they spoke in Mandarin, the Indians and Malays will not understand. Their song is also in Malay,” he said.</div>
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“So DAP is not so bad that we cannot work with them,” he added.</div>
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Mahathir also dismissed the claim that DAP would appoint one of its own as prime minister if PH won the election, and said the claim was fanned by prime minister and Umno president Najib Razak himself.</div>
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Mahathir said PPBM, PKR and Amanah, as the other components in PH, were all led by Malays with only DAP being led by Chinese, specifically secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Kit Siang.</div>
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He said the three parties had enough talents of their own to enable the Malays to lead in a government formed by PH.</div>
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“So there is no way they (DAP) can force us to make one of them the prime minister. They can be ministers of course,” he said.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 15px;">“Kit Siang is not anti-Malay. He fights for his race just like I do for mine,” Mahathir added.</span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">-FMT NEWS-</span></i></div>
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Mahathir: I now realise DAP is not chauvinist at all

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said although he was behind Umno’s move to label DAP as a “Chines...

Debate workers’ issues before GE

0 Breaking News, News update, 热点新闻 Hot News, 热门话题 Hot Topics 3:54:00 AM

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgy5r8wr2HS9re3aRxfsbLjJde3k8wGH-oBI5LxGdDuO4PMyVpy-qIUXZanjaeKzvFankTx6GZv9dykDxXMSpntzlmJg9EgVEZ0iXk1MLvZ6BxBEcu-avyHEtrGE0iMeBvpv1fYaVDwIr1/s1600/Cost-of-living.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="648" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgy5r8wr2HS9re3aRxfsbLjJde3k8wGH-oBI5LxGdDuO4PMyVpy-qIUXZanjaeKzvFankTx6GZv9dykDxXMSpntzlmJg9EgVEZ0iXk1MLvZ6BxBEcu-avyHEtrGE0iMeBvpv1fYaVDwIr1/s640/Cost-of-living.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;">By Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud and Callistus Antony D’Angelus</strong></div>
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<ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4509817799265689" data-ad-format="auto" data-ad-slot="7527534653" style="display: block;"></ins>The political climate in the country is getting more vibrant by the day, in anticipation of the upcoming general election. Umno and its junior allies that form Barisan Nasional, the coalition that has ruled the country since independence, is feeling the heat of the many scandals that confront the party, in particular its leader, Prime Minister Najib Razak.</div>
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The main opposition parties, in forming Pakatan Harapan, are hoping to unseat the government and seem to have the wind behind them. That being said, it will still be a tall order to overcome a ruling party that has the entire government machinery behind it.</div>
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The middle class of the country, the poor and the workers, are being increasingly challenged on an economic scale. The rising cost of living, the growing income and wealth gap, and the negative impact on real income levels have badly affected common people in Malaysia. This situation is independent of political alliances and ideologies. It impacts everyone, regardless of which political party they support.</div>
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The indicators that are used by the government to measure the cost of living are misleading. Ask any common Malaysian, and they will tell you that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as well as inflation figures are no reflection of reality. In fact, it distorts reality and the working poor are the ones who feel it the most.</div>
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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;">With the general election looming, the various political parties should agree to a debate to specifically discuss matters concerning workers. The parties should be willing to take a position on the following</strong></div>
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The rising cost of living and how this will be dealt with going forward;</div>
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<li style="font-family: "PT Sans", Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5 !important; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 20px; user-select: auto !important;">The management of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and the workers’ participation in the management of EPF affairs;</li>
<li style="font-family: "PT Sans", Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5 !important; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 20px; user-select: auto !important;">Wages – the sufficiency of the current minimum wage levels and the minimum wage mechanism;</li>
<li style="font-family: "PT Sans", Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5 !important; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 20px; user-select: auto !important;">The rights of trade unions to operate as free trade unions, without any undue interference by government agencies that stifle the growth of unions and the rights of their members to proper representation, individually and collectively. This would have to include public sector trade unions;</li>
<li style="font-family: "PT Sans", Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5 !important; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 20px; user-select: auto !important;">The state of labour legislation in the country and its adequacy;</li>
<li style="font-family: "PT Sans", Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5 !important; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 20px; user-select: auto !important;">Bilateral and multilateral trade pacts and their position where it concerns labour issues;</li>
<li style="font-family: "PT Sans", Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5 !important; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 20px; user-select: auto !important;">Job creation and the strategies that will be applied in that regard, and</li>
<li style="font-family: "PT Sans", Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5 !important; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 20px; user-select: auto !important;">Foreign workers – their rights; dealing with the large number of undocumented foreign workers and their exploitation by employers, and how the impact on the depression of wages will be dealt with.</li>
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Voters who are workers deserve to know what the position of the main political parties will be where it concerns issues afflicting workers in the country. It is, in fact, an essential component of any economic strategy.</div>
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There is no reason for any of the parties to refrain from taking a position on labour issues, and the voters can make an informed decision as to which party can best serve the people.</div>
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The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) should also be part of the debate, and should take a position prior to the debate on the issues confronting workers and trade unions in the country.</div>
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Workers’ issues are indelibly linked with politics, and staying on the fringes is also a political position by itself that does not serve the workers of the country well. The MTUC should take the initiative to invite all the main political parties to an open debate.</div>
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Workers in Malaysia have been on the margins of the country’s political development for too long, and have paid a price for it. It is about time that this situation is corrected.</div>
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<em style="user-select: auto !important;">Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud and Callistus Antony D’Angelus are FMT readers.</em></div>
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<em style="user-select: auto !important;"><strong style="user-select: auto !important;">The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.</strong></em></div>

Debate workers’ issues before GE

By Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud and Callistus Antony D’Angelus The political climate in the country is getting more vibrant by the day, i...

Trump to attend ASEAN summit after all

0 Breaking News, News update, 热点新闻 Hot News, 热门话题 Hot Topics 3:39:00 AM

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WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has backed away from a threat to skip the summit with South East Asian leaders in the Philippines later this year, with the White House now saying he will attend.</div>
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In a statement Friday, the White House said that Trump will visit Manila as part of a bumper November 3-14 tour that will also include stops in China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and the US state of Hawaii.</div>
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The announcement sets up the likelihood that Trump will meet controversial firebrand Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte.</div>
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During a visit to ASEAN’s Jakarta headquarters in April, Vice President Mike Pence had promised allies — anxious about waning US engagement in the region — that Trump would attend the bloc’s summit in Manila this November.</div>
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But Trump’s souring bromance with host Duterte, and a range of other issues had briefly thrown those plans in the air.</div>
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Trump said earlier this month that Duterte had extended an invitation, but that he had not yet decided whether to accept.</div>
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“He invited us so we’re going to see,” Trump said, while announcing he would go to Japan, South Korea, China and, maybe, Vietnam for a regional economic summit.</div>
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Philippine officials were surprised by the about face and the issue was raised during foreign minister Alan Peter Cayetano’s visit to Washington on Wednesday.</div>
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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;">‘Bros’</strong></div>
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Early in his tenure, Trump courted controversy by praising Duterte for doing an “unbelievable job on the drug problem.”</div>
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Duterte’s crackdown on alleged drug dealers has seen the police kill an estimated 3,850 people in 15 months and made him a virtual pariah.</div>
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Both men have shocked with similar barbed language: Duterte’s favored insult “putang ina” was recently echoed in English when Trump called an NFL player a “son of a bitch.”</div>
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But officials said the relationship soured in July, when Duterte vowed to never visit “lousy” America, despite Trump’s invitation.</div>
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Duterte had been angered by a US Congress human rights commission hearing where various advocate groups assailed his bloody war on drugs.</div>
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Aides were left trying to convince Trump — who has also been skeptical of multilateral institutions and shown modest interest in South East Asia — that it is important to attend.</div>
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Aside from the grown importance of South East Asia, since 1951 the United States and the Philippines have had a mutual defense treaty, meaning Washington would defend Manila in any potential war.</div>
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Snubbing a “treaty ally,” officials argued, would not go unnoticed in Beijing or other capitals, where there is a desire to capitalize on any opportunity to limit US power in the region.</div>
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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;">Pivot away?</strong></div>
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But US presidents have not always played much attention to the bloc, which includes the fast-growing economies of Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and five other countries.</div>
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Barack Obama was the first president to regularly attend the ASEAN summit, donning flamboyant local shirts and posing arms-linked for photos with leaders as part of his much-vaunted “pivot to Asia.”</div>
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Trump has taken a wrecking ball to much of Obama’s legacy, including knocking away a key pillar of the pivot by scrapping a trans-Pacific trade deal, embraced by many ASEAN partners.</div>
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Republican Senator Cory Gardner, who visited the Philippines and met Duterte earlier this year, was among those who urged Trump to attend the summit.</div>
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“I think it’s very important that the president travel to the region to the summit,” he told AFP Thursday. “Now more than ever the United States needs to show its leadership not just in rhetoric, but in action, in visible ways.”</div>
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But Trump’s decision to attend leaves a delicate problem about what to do when he and Duterte meet. A warm embrace would likely be seen as an endorsement of Duterte’s policies.</div>
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“Duterte has overseen and condoned what may very well constitute crimes against humanity,” Joanne Lin, senior managing director of government relations at Amnesty International USA, told AFP.</div>
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“In response, President Trump has offered nothing but praise. We hope that at the summit this fall, cooler heads will prevail than what we have seen from these leaders in the past.” Gardner, who sits on the Senate foreign relations committee said engagement was essential.</div>
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“Our leaders around the globe have to have frank discussions with each other and they need to move beyond press release diplomacy, no one should be afraid of that.”</div>
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“We need to make sure concerns are stressed directly. This is not North Korea,” he said. “We are a defense treaty ally of the Philippines and there is a strategic imperative to maintain that relationship.”-FMT NEWS-</div>
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Trump to attend ASEAN summit after all

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has backed away from a threat to skip the summit with South East Asian leaders in the Philippines later...

Failure of Najibnomics – blaming the victims, scoffing at people

0 Breaking News, News update, 热点新闻 Hot News, 热门话题 Hot Topics 3:30:00 AM

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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;">By Liew Chin Tong</strong></div>
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When it comes to economics, the Najib Razak government is both arrogant and ignorant. It doesn’t understand the livelihood of ordinary folks and is not prepared to concede that Najibnomics is not serving the needs of Malaysians. Whenever concerns are raised, the immediate reply is to blame the victims who complain.</div>
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Last weekend, Najib blasted those who criticise his GST policy. For him the 6% regressive tax is good for Malaysia and no one should whine or complain about it.</div>
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I am further stunned with the claims made by Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah who said: “If people are poor, I believe that they have made themselves poor. If they have arms and legs and can walk, they can survive in Malaysia.”</div>
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Irwan said that there is no reason that Malaysians should be poor because there are plenty of opportunities for them to be well-off.</div>
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According to him: “When some say Malaysia’s economy is lagging behind, the people are poor, they’re wrong. We are not like debt-ridden Bangladesh and we are not like the Philippines. They (those who say Malaysia is poor) are confusing the rakyat.”</div>
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In the 1985 and 1997 economic crises, respectively, at the least the Malaysian Government was prepared to admit that there was a crisis, and it needed to respond (although at that time, Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his deputy Anwar Ibrahim quarrelled over the choice of remedy).</div>
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What we are facing now is a “silent crisis” that the Najib government refuses to acknowledge at all. Instead the government either sings its own praises or blames the victims like Irwan did when ordinary Malaysians are suffering.</div>
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Since the last general election, as a result of the combined effect of the implementation of GST on 1st April 2015, the 30% depreciation of the ringgit since October 2014 and the successive subsidy cuts, prices have gone up in general. This is eating into people’s disposable income and hence hurting domestic consumption.</div>
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All these happen at a time when wages do not go up because there is no attempt to reduce the influx of unskilled foreign labour and or government intervention to help industries to move up the technological ladder.</div>
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Increasingly, Malaysians are seeking employments overseas. Daily commute to Singapore from the Causeway increased from 200,000 to 300,000 in the past four years, many choose to work in low wage 3D (dirty, difficult and dangerous) jobs there. Malaysians have also been known to work illegally in the United Kingdom and Australia.</div>
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The government needs to acknowledge that there is a crisis before it can deal with it properly. It must stop blaming the victims and scoffing at suffering Malaysians. Najibnomics doesn’t care about ordinary people.</div>
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<em style="user-select: auto !important;">Liew Chin Tong is Kluang MP and DAP central executive council member.</em></div>
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<em style="user-select: auto !important;"><strong style="user-select: auto !important;">The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.</strong></em></div>

Failure of Najibnomics – blaming the victims, scoffing at people

By Liew Chin Tong When it comes to economics, the Najib Razak government is both arrogant and ignorant. It doesn’t understand the live...

KP SPRM bidas Kit Siang kerana kenyataan ‘monyet’

0 Breaking News, News update, 热点新闻 Hot News, 热门话题 Hot Topics 3:11:00 AM

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI9EHfNaOvXwocFdmg-HUG3N6MZpKlyj561y9I7mGb57oWGUGk6cLA-dl4jt4Mb1GltTYqHnx6QIN3w4EEq92EcbA05SUQV3qOCFF9vqzdkTIEKRDT4l5zePipc_QtEHKimBCaQnu36Qi5/s1600/Dzulkifli-limkitsiang.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="648" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI9EHfNaOvXwocFdmg-HUG3N6MZpKlyj561y9I7mGb57oWGUGk6cLA-dl4jt4Mb1GltTYqHnx6QIN3w4EEq92EcbA05SUQV3qOCFF9vqzdkTIEKRDT4l5zePipc_QtEHKimBCaQnu36Qi5/s640/Dzulkifli-limkitsiang.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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IPOH: Ketua Pesuruhjaya Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad menyifatkan tindakan Lim Kit Siang menggelarnya ‘monyet’ dalam isu 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) melampau dan tidak beradab.</div>
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Dzulkifli berkata beliau menerima kritikan pemimpin DAP itu secara terbuka tetapi ia perlu disampaikan secara beradab dan bertamadun.</div>
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“Rakyat boleh menilai adakah adab dan bicara pemimpin DAP itu budaya Malaysia.</div>
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“Kita masyarakat Malaysia orang beradab tetapi perkataan yang digunakannya itu melampau dan tidak bertamadun,” katanya kepada pemberita selepas hadir pada majlis perasmian mural pencegahan rasuah sempena Kembara Jelajah Antirasuah (KEJAR) 2017 SPRM yang dirasmikan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir di Pejabat SPRM Perak hari ini.</div>
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Satu portal berita hari ini melaporkan, Lim membidas ketua pesuruhjaya itu dengan mengatakan semua mata turut memerhatikan suruhanjaya tersebut dan sama ada Dzulkifli dapat memimpin badan antirasuah yang bersih.</div>
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Lim dipetik sebagai berkata Dzulkifli harus menyedari bahawa jika beliau (Dzulkifli) bertindak seperti “monyet yang mempunyai mata tetapi tidak melihat, ada telinga tetapi tidak mendengar dan ada mulut tetapi tidak berbicara” mengenai skandal 1MDB, beliau akan menjadikan SPRM sebagai agensi anti-rasuah kleptokratik pertama di dunia.</div>
-FMT NEWS-
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KP SPRM bidas Kit Siang kerana kenyataan ‘monyet’

IPOH: Ketua Pesuruhjaya Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad menyifatkan tindakan Lim Kit Siang menggelar...

Perlis laundrette covers ‘Muslim only’ sign, re-thinks policy

0 Breaking News, 热点新闻 Hot News, 热门话题 Hot Topics 3:03:00 AM

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PETALING JAYA: The owner of Empire Laundry Hub in Kangar has covered a sign informing the public that only Muslim customers were welcome at his laundrette after he was reprimanded by the Perlis government and advised against the policy by state mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, who visited the premises.</div>
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Shalihuddin Naharuddin, 36, however, said he was still undecided as to whether he would allow non-Muslims to use the service and needed time to reconsider the matter.</div>
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He claimed he only wanted to uphold the concept of an “Islamic community”, and did not intend to discriminate against those of other religions or races.</div>
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On Wednesday, the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, told the owner of a laundrette in Muar, who displayed a similar notice, to operate his business in Afghanistan if he wanted to continue with his “Muslims only” business policy.</div>
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“I cannot accept this nonsense… this is not a Taliban state and as the Head of Islam in Johor, I find this action to be totally unacceptable as this is extremist in nature,” the ruler was quoted as saying.</div>
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Shalihuddin today said the idea came about after a small survey he conducted among a group of Muslims, revealed that the majority wanted Muslim-friendly services.</div>
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He said the policy was mainly a marketing proposition as no other laundrettes in the surrounding area offered such a service.</div>
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“Even so, it is not that we do not allow non-Muslims to come here. They can still come if they want to have a rest at our laundrette,” he told FMT today, explaining that the premises had space for people to sit while waiting for their clothes to be washed.</div>
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“If non-Muslims come to do their laundry here, we will divert them to other laundrettes located about 400 metres away,” he said.</div>
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He said he covered up the notice after the state government instructed him to, and after the state mufti advised him against practising such a policy, following reports about the matter yesterday.</div>
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Meanwhile, the owner of the laundrette in Muar apologised on Wednesday after he was admonished by the Sultan of Johor, and agreed to offer his service to all races.</div>
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A photograph of the signboard he placed at the entrance of the laundrette clearly stating that the business was “Only for Muslims” went viral on social media earlier this week. The sign was reported to have been changed to “Muslim Friendly” after an intense debate among social media users.</div>
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In an interview with The Star, Sultan Ibrahim warned other business owners who implemented such discriminatory practices, that they could lose their licences as he intended to impose the ruling through the state executive council.</div>
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“Don’t mess around with your narrow-minded religious prejudices,” Sultan Ibrahim was quoted as saying. He also ordered state religious authorities to investigate the shop.</div>
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“Islam teaches the faithful to be tolerant and respect other people and faiths,” Sultan Ibrahim said.</div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">-FMT NEWS-</span></i></div>
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Perlis laundrette covers ‘Muslim only’ sign, re-thinks policy

PETALING JAYA: The owner of Empire Laundry Hub in Kangar has covered a sign informing the public that only Muslim customers were welcome...

There is no ‘Noah’s Ark’, the federal government must act

0 Breaking News, News update, 热点新闻 Hot News, 热门话题 Hot Topics 2:52:00 AM

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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;">By P Ramasamy</strong></div>
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The responsibility for planning and executing flood mitigation projects in the country is the complete preserve of the federal government.</div>
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However, although state governments do not have the kind of budget the federal government has, they still have a role, although a limited one.</div>
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The constitutional separation of powers makes it clear that the state cannot barge into areas that come under the jurisdiction of the federal government.</div>
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Furthermore, the budgets of state governments are too small to undertake massive and costly flood mitigation projects that only the federal government has the capacity to do.</div>
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Flood mitigation has become an important area of focus for both the federal and state governments due to climate change and to the frequency and intensity of rainfall.</div>
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On Sept 15, 2017, Penang was inundated by massive floods – as the quantity of rain that normally falls in one month fell in one day. Nobody could have anticipated the kind of rainfall that Penang had been subjected to in the last few years. It is during heavy rainfall, resulting in massive flooding, that people not only in Penang but also in other states experience misery and nightmare.</div>
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While we can only generalise on the causes of climatic changes that result in massive floods and landslides, there are individuals and NGOs who are quick to blame the state government, particularly in Penang, for allowing development in hilly areas, assuming this to be the primary cause of the floods.</div>
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However, these civil society organisations, in their zealous pursuit to cast the blame on the state government of Penang, are silent about the nature of development taking place in hilly areas, especially the unchecked and unregulated agricultural activities. A recent study points out that unregulated agricultural farming might have something to do with floods as well as landslides.</div>
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Yes, I agree that given the erratic nature of weather conditions in the country, local governments, and state and federal authorities must apply strict regulations to prevent the worse effects of flooding. Perhaps the time has arrived for checking the illegal activities of farmers who have been somewhat left alone to pursue their agricultural activities, free from being regulated by laws and regulations. A few years back, floods, resulting in major landslides in Cameron Highlands, were found to have occurred not due to housing projects but due to unchecked and unregulated farming.</div>
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It is nice to hear that the federal government had allocated nearly RM2 billion for flood mitigation projects in Penang. It was on the basis of this information that the federal government said it couldn’t be faulted by the state government for preventing floods. But then, the actual truth is something else.</div>
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Yes, such an amount was announced in 2006, but the question is how much was spent for flood mitigation projects in Penang? According to state sources, only RM443 million was spent on mitigation projects over the last 12 years or so. According to Penang Local Government Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow, RM1.4 billion was allocated under the 9th Malaysia Plan but only RM306 million was spent on floods. Under the 10th Malaysian Plan, RM193 million was allocated but only RM125 million was spent and under the 11th Malaysian Plan, RM205 million was allocated but only RM12 million was spent on flood mitigation.</div>
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Even if half the amount that had been allocated had been spent, it could have meant a massive reduction in floods. So, what the federal government says and does, are two different things. Undeniably there is big gulf between rhetoric and action!</div>
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It is not in the interest of the state government to cast the blame on the federal authorities. However, if the federal government ministers and agents keep on repeating lies and half-truths, then state government officials are duty bound to explain the truth of the matter.</div>
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The Penang Federal Action Committee chairman Zainal Abidin Osman said if the federal government had not spent RM2.6 billion under the three Malaysian Plans on flood mitigation, the situation could have been worse in Penang. This is a blatant lie coming from a person in a responsible position. The actual fact is that the federal government had only spent 25% of the original allocation. So what is Zainal talking about? Another spin?</div>
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Finally, the federal government should cut out its political propaganda and address the flood situation in Penang immediately. Penangites do not have the luxury of time for God to dispatch “Noah’s Ark” to rescue flood victims.</div>
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<em style="user-select: auto !important;">P Ramasamy is Penang deputy chief minister and DAP deputy secretary-general.</em></div>
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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;"><em style="user-select: auto !important;">The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.</em></strong></div>

There is no ‘Noah’s Ark’, the federal government must act

By P Ramasamy The responsibility for planning and executing flood mitigation projects in the country is the complete preserve of the f...

Are Christians a threat to the nation?

0 Breaking News, News update, 热点新闻 Hot News, 热门话题 Hot Topics 12:13:00 AM

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkH7W-sTBxqUqRhxMLeDWaFeTnVwseGtPfmFCBIngLc0iW9yzqXWlbEksrUkiXyPFMbCOb1AzPovAHBiOgBCgu3O6uVHpSfEAdNHtMpz3IV-Y6v5DHrxZ66_3hLlcWv2FLxdeFm_huqOBE/s1600/Christians-nation.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="648" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkH7W-sTBxqUqRhxMLeDWaFeTnVwseGtPfmFCBIngLc0iW9yzqXWlbEksrUkiXyPFMbCOb1AzPovAHBiOgBCgu3O6uVHpSfEAdNHtMpz3IV-Y6v5DHrxZ66_3hLlcWv2FLxdeFm_huqOBE/s640/Christians-nation.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;">By Dennis Ignatius</strong></div>
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Yet again, a Muslim group is raising the specter of a Christian threat to the security of the nation and the position of Islam in Malaysia.</div>
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A group of NGOs led by Jaringan Muslimin Pulau Pinang (JMPP) is demanding that the police investigate a “seditious” video by a foreign pastor which they claim would incite local Christians to start their own jihad to take over the country. The group also claims that references to “building the Kingdom of God” were somehow a sinister plot against Islam.</div>
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In addition, the group gormlessly regurgitated baseless allegations that Hannah Yeoh, the Speaker of the Selangor State Assembly and arguably Malaysia’s most prominent Christian, is using her book Becoming Hannah to spread Christianity and cause confusion among Muslims.</div>
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I wouldn’t be surprised if her book makes it to the Guinness Book of Records for having attracted the most number of police reports in the world.</div>
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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;">Lost in translation</strong></div>
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Admittedly, Christian phraseology does not often translate well in non-church settings and can give rise to misunderstanding.</div>
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“Invading” a country with the presence of God or building the “Kingdom of God”, for example, might sound ominous even though it simply means to pray that God’s presence and godly values will fill the land. It has nothing whatsoever to do with a physical invasion or a call to wage war against non-Christians. Similarly, the Kingdom of God has nothing to do with acquiring political sovereignty.</div>
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Christians certainly need to be more sensitive about how their phraseology might be perceived in a pluralistic culture, particularly when everything these days quickly ends up on social media. It might help, as well, if Christians are more judicious in what they put out on social media; not everything needs to be broadcast to the whole world.</div>
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Notwithstanding this, however, only the most delusional, irrational or obtuse would actually believe that Christians are planning an armed invasion or plotting to overthrow the government.</div>
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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;">Becoming confused</strong></div>
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As for Hannah’s book, as far as I know, Hannah has not encouraged Muslims to read her book and neither has she promoted it among Muslims. In fact, the vast majority of Muslims in the country would never have even heard about Hannah’s book if extremist groups had not created a fuss about it.</div>
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There are, in fact, thousands of Christian books, videos and articles available in Malaysia and, of course, millions more on the internet. That JMPP would single out the book by Hannah, who also happens to be a DAP politician, suggests that their motives are more political than religious.</div>
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In any case, it is simply asinine to blame Hannah, or any other author for that matter, if some confused and insecure person somewhere feels threatened by a book. Going by that kind of logic, we would have to close bookstores and shut down the internet just to ensure that no one gets confused. Or, perhaps, to let them remain confused and unable to think for themselves.</div>
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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;">A spiritual matter</strong></div>
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JMPP and its fellow travelers might also want to note that Malaysian Christians have always eschewed violence. We don’t go around threatening to attack those who don’t agree with us, burn down their places of worship or rowdily demonstrate against religious events we don’t like.</div>
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We don’t resort to guns and swords because our struggle is purely spiritual. Our “weapons” are prayer and intercession, the kind you use on your knees before God rather than with your fists raised in anger.</div>
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Like other Malaysians, we love our nation and we want to see peace, justice, good governance, integrity and godly values prevail. We pray for the prosperity and success of our nation and for all its citizens. We pray constantly for our rulers, our prime minister, for the government and for the security forces too, because our Bible demands it of us.</div>
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And we try to reach out to all who are in need and defend the rights of the persecuted and marginalized irrespective of race or religion. Many Christians, including Pope Francis and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have, for example, spoken out forcefully against the persecution of the Rohingya. In Malaysia, churches and Christian NGOs are also in the forefront of caring for refugees and other disadvantaged groups.</div>
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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;">Rising intolerance</strong></div>
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Of late, our nation has witnessed increasing incidents of racial and religious intolerance that threaten our very existence as a plural society. Unfortunately, intolerance and extremism appear to enjoy the tacit approval of some politicians and officials.</div>
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Every time the lalang moves somewhere in the country, PAS, for example, immediately seems to conclude that it is part of some Christian conspiracy against Islam and jumps into exploiting it for maximum publicity and political mileage.</div>
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A few months ago, they went to town on a church event in Malacca. Using highly provocative and inflammatory language, they accused the church concerned of challenging the sensitivities of Muslims and of conspiring with Zionist interests to target Malaysia. They went so far as to call on the ummah “to rise before it’s too late” as if Malaysia was on the verge of being invaded.</div>
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Even Special Branch plays to this sort of anti-Christian messaging by participating in Muslim-only seminars that discuss the so-called Christian threat. And this at a time when real jihadists and terrorists are threatening our security and well-being.</div>
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Whatever it is, those who make much of the Christian threat ignore the obvious reality: after nearly 500 years of Christianity in Malaysia, after decades of educating countless millions of Malaysians of all faiths and all walks of life in Christian schools, Malaysia remains as Muslim as ever.</div>
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Clearly, groups like JMPP do their fellow Muslims an enormous disservice when they make them out to be weak, vulnerable and frivolous in their faith. Let me suggest, if I may be permitted to, that Muslims in Malaysia are a lot more resilient than they are given credit for.</div>
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The only ones who appear to profit from all the scaremongering are the politicians and the extremists who cynically exploit religion for their own nefarious ends to the detriment of all Malaysians.</div>
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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;">A leadership vacuum</strong></div>
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Thankfully, Christians in Malaysia, unlike Christians in the Middle East, do not have to stand alone. It is heartening that several moderate Muslim NGOs and leaders are challenging the rising tide of extremism and intolerance in our land.</div>
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What’s missing, however, is leadership from the government itself.</div>
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The Prime Minister, in particular, has allowed things to drift for too long. His silence, indifference even, on many of these sensitive issues has created a leadership vacuum which fringe groups and extremists, including some from his own party, are now rushing to fill. His abdication of responsibility only allows sensitive issues to fester and infect our society as a whole.</div>
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Each day, our values, culture, politics, and religion are being reshaped and redefined by extremists; the longer it goes on, the harder it will be to get back on track again.</div>
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The Sultan of Johor has shown what inspired leadership can do in curbing extremism and intolerance. By firmly and decisively taking a stand on intolerance in his state, overruling even his own religious officials, he quickly nipped in the bud a dangerous trend.</div>
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Little wonder why Johoreans, and a great many other Malaysians as well, look up to him.</div>
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If only all our politicians would follow his courageous example.</div>
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<em style="user-select: auto !important;">Dennis Ignatius is a former ambassador.</em></div>
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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;"><em style="user-select: auto !important;">The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.</em></strong></div>
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Are Christians a threat to the nation?

By Dennis Ignatius Yet again, a Muslim group is raising the specter of a Christian threat to the security of the nation and the position...

MACC lacks the moral authority to ask for candidates list

0 Breaking News, News update, 热点新闻 Hot News, 热门话题 Hot Topics 7:57:00 AM

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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;">By P Ramasamy</strong></div>
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The MACC chief’s request to opposition political parties to submit the names of their possible candidates for the next general election is really much ado about nothing.</div>
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The MACC might give the impression it is an active public agency embarked on mitigating the scourge of corruption in the country. But, sad to say, the MACC hardly has the moral position to combat corruption or to request opposition political parties for their list of possible candidates.</div>
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There is nothing in the law that states that political parties must submit the names of their candidates to be screened by the MACC before elections. Yes, the Barisan Nasional might have done so, for whatever reasons, but then the MACC cannot use this as an example.</div>
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Unfortunately, the MACC has neither the moral legitimacy nor the power of public persuasion to force something on the Malaysian public.</div>
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If the MACC is regarded as a fearless agency in combating the scourge of corruption, and even if there is no law, political parties in the country would have no option but to submit to the will of public pressure in giving the names of the candidates.</div>
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It might be a good idea for political parties to submit the list of their candidates for public scrutiny, but the MACC is hardly in a position to ask for this.</div>
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Right now, unfortunately, the MACC is not regarded as a fearless public agency combating corruption but merely an agency of the executive. Yes, the agency might have received much publicity recently by going after certain individuals both in the public and private sectors for their involvement in corruption, but it lacks the teeth to go after the “sharks,” especially those involved in mega corruption scandals. It is sad to see that it is only going after the “small fish”. Even some of the recent arrests have been questioned as being politically motivated.</div>
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There have been a number of mega scandals in the country but unfortunately the MACC has not given them importance in terms of arresting those involved in the scandals. To this date, it could be anybody’s guess as to why the MACC is rather reticent about those involved in the 1MDB mega scandal. This is even after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) had named certain Malaysian individuals.</div>
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Now if the MACC lacks the courage to deal with those who have ruined a sovereign fund like the 1MDB, then what moral authority does the agency have to ask for a list of possible candidates, especially from the opposition front?</div>
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DAP leader Lim Kit Siang is right in saying that he would support the efforts of the MACC provided the public agency is ready to forbid BN candidates from contesting the next general election if they are found to have been involved in major financial scandals such as the 1MDB. Is the MACC ready to do this?</div>
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A recent poll gave extremely low marks to the MACC. Of those interviewed, 90% said the MACC was not a neutral agency but one that was a “tool” of the Prime Minister’s Office.</div>
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If this is the public perception of the MACC, then what hope have we in combating and eradicating corruption in the country?</div>
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<em style="user-select: auto !important;">P Ramasamy is Penang deputy chief minister and DAP deputy secretary-general.</em></div>
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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;"><em style="user-select: auto !important;">The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.</em></strong></div>

MACC lacks the moral authority to ask for candidates list

By P Ramasamy The MACC chief’s request to opposition political parties to submit the names of their possible candidates for the next gen...

Nasib festival F&B Jerman di Klang belum pasti

0 Breaking News, News update, 热点新闻 Hot News, 热门话题 Hot Topics 8:32:00 PM

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFMisrrpqfREHLNzgTSFuZn_gQmSjkEkpMjRXo8V9_5x6aXFTvziyK9QB8KMdHM-G_Kyd9vusDoqdktY6yMRZPReI6xWaV6gsw_l2hRqSNXDkQbfy6Th2O7kcnUhAuP8BBadfvlAdiKRUk/s1600/centro-mall-oktoberfest-1-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="648" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFMisrrpqfREHLNzgTSFuZn_gQmSjkEkpMjRXo8V9_5x6aXFTvziyK9QB8KMdHM-G_Kyd9vusDoqdktY6yMRZPReI6xWaV6gsw_l2hRqSNXDkQbfy6Th2O7kcnUhAuP8BBadfvlAdiKRUk/s640/centro-mall-oktoberfest-1-1.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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KLANG: Penganjur Festival F&B Jerman Centro Mall belum memohon permit polis, kata Ketua Polis Klang Utara ACP Mazelan Paijan.</div>
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Di tengah-tengah liputan mengenai Majlis Perbandaran Klang (MPK) membenarkan acara itu, Mazelan berkata MPK menambah syarat penganjur perlu mendapatkan permit polis untuk menganjurkan acara tersebut.</div>
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“Sebaik sahaja polis terima permohonan permit, kami akan mendapatkan nasihat daripada ibu pejabat polis Selangor dan Cawangan Khas Bukit Aman sebelum membuat keputusan,” katanya kepada FMT.</div>
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Semalam, Sin Chew Daily melaporkan MPK memberi kebenaran untuk Festival F&B Jerman Centro Mall tetapi melarang penggunaan perkataan “Oktoberfest” dan penyertaan orang Islam.</div>
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Lampu hijau itu diberi kerana festival itu merupakan acara persendirian yang diiadakan di tempat persendirian.</div>
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Terdahulu, PAS Selangor bertemu Mazelan untuk menyerahkan memorandum membantah penganjuran acara itu di Centro Mall.</div>
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Di luar perkarangan balai polis, Ketua Pemuda PAS Selangor Syarhan Humaizi Abdul Halim yang mengetuai kumpulan itu berkata PAS membantah sebarang pesta arak, walau apapun nama acara itu.</div>
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<img alt="Syarhan" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-825355" height="364" sizes="(max-width: 648px) 100vw, 648px" src="http://s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Syarhan.jpg" srcset="http://s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Syarhan.jpg 648w, http://s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Syarhan-300x171.jpg 300w, http://s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Syarhan-550x313.jpg 550w, http://s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Syarhan-218x124.jpg 218w" style="clear: both; display: block; margin: 10px auto; position: relative; user-select: auto !important;" width="640" />“Saya harap MPK akan mengkaji balik keputusannya dan mengambil kira pandangan polis dalam perkara itu.</div>
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“Kita harap festival itu tidak akan diadakan di sini atau di mana sahaja di negara ini,” katanya, dan menambah penganjur perlu mengambil kira sensitiviti mereka yang “tidak selesa” dengan acara itu.</div>
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Syarhan berkata tidak kira sama ada acara itu diadakan di tempat persendirian kerana kebimbangan utama ialah keselamatan awam, seperti yang disebut pihak berkuasa semasa menolak penganjuran acara Festival “Better Beer” 2017 di Kuala Lumpur.</div>
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Festival F&B Jerman Centro Mall dirancang diadakan pada 12 & 13 Oktober dari 5.00pm hingga 11pm.</div>
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Difahamkan pusat beli belah itu pernah menganjurkan acara seperti itu pada tahun-tahun sebelum ini tanpa sebarang masalah.</div>
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Kunjungan ke pusat beli belah itu menemui paparan kecil mempromosikan acara itu, namun dalam risalah acara itu digelar “Oktoberfest”.</div>
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<img alt="centro-mall-oktoberfest-1" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-825354" height="364" sizes="(max-width: 648px) 100vw, 648px" src="http://s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/centro-mall-oktoberfest-1.jpg" srcset="http://s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/centro-mall-oktoberfest-1.jpg 648w, http://s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/centro-mall-oktoberfest-1-300x171.jpg 300w, http://s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/centro-mall-oktoberfest-1-550x313.jpg 550w, http://s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/centro-mall-oktoberfest-1-218x124.jpg 218w" style="clear: both; display: block; margin: 10px auto; position: relative; user-select: auto !important;" width="640" />Centro Mall enggan mengulas.</div>
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Festival “Better Beer” 2017 dijadualkan diadakan pada 6 & 7 Oktober di Galeri Beli Belah Publika di ibu negara.</div>
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Namun DBKL menolak permohonan penganjur walaupun acara itu pernah diadakan di Kuala Lumpur sebelum ini.</div>
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Ketua Polis Negara Datuk Seri Fuzi Harun dalam satu kenyataan berkata acara itu dibatalkan atas sebab keselamatan.</div>
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“Terdapat maklumat yang mendedahkan wujud perancangan oleh pihak militan yang akan melakukan sabotaj ke atas festival berkenaan, kerana menganggapnya sebagai sesuatu yang bertentangan dengan perjuangan mereka,” katanya.</div>
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Penganjur, MyBeer Malaysia, sebelum itu berkata pihak berkuasa memaklumkan pesta bir itu “sensitif dari segi politik”.</div>
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Pembatalan itu menyusuli bantahan daripada PAS, di mana Ahli Jawatankuasa Pusatnya, Riduan Mohd Nor melabelkan acara itu sebagai “pesta maksiat” yang boleh menyebabkan Kuala Lumpur dikenali dunia sebagai pusat maksiat terbesar di Asia.</div>
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Nasib festival F&B Jerman di Klang belum pasti

KLANG: Penganjur Festival F&B Jerman Centro Mall belum memohon permit polis, kata Ketua Polis Klang Utara ACP Mazelan Paijan. Di ten...

Shame on Jawi for targeting champion of Islam

0 Breaking News, News update, 热点新闻 Hot News, 热门话题 Hot Topics 8:22:00 PM

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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;">By G25</strong></div>
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We, the members of G25, join our friends and colleagues in Suhakam and the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF), as well as the lawyers and academicians, who have spoken out criticising the detention of Turkish author and journalist Mustafa Akyol at the KLIA on Sept 25, as he was about to leave the country after completing his speaking engagements in KL.</div>
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He was accused by Jabatan Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan (Jawi) of violating Section 11 of the 1997 Federal Territories Syariah Offences Act which requires that a person teaching Islam must get the prior approval of Jawi.</div>
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We consider the action by Jawi as heavy handed, extreme, and arbitrary.</div>
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Mustafa Akyol was in the country for the fifth time and had developed a special liking for Malaysia.</div>
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Although he was aware that Islam is highly-politicised in Malaysia, he felt it to be a model Muslim country which has done well in providing for the economic and social development of its people.</div>
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He was here, like on the previous four occasions, to conduct an academic discourse on Islam, and not, as accused by Jawi, to “teach “or “preach” Islam for which he would require a “tauliah”.</div>
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Mustafa is a Turkish national residing and teaching in the United States and has written several books and articles on Islam.</div>
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Teaching in prestigious universities, including Oxford, he is also a leading speaker at international conferences and is a regular columnist in major newspapers including the New York Times.</div>
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He often appears on international TV networks in well-known talk shows.</div>
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Akyol is one of the few Islamic scholars who has been effective in speaking in the West against Islamophobia.</div>
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In fact, he is a highly-respected figure in the West for his positive views on Islam.</div>
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He has always been a champion of Islam as a religion of peace, tolerance and moderation, and that democracy and Islam are compatible.</div>
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But the misguided and overzealous Jawi officials chose to arrest this well-known peaceful, moderate, and democratic advocate of Islam and kept him in detention for 17 hours without proper sleep, which is tantamount to gross mistreatment, if not torture.</div>
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This will leave him with a lasting impression on how a religious law in Malaysia can be used selectively by the religious authorities on any person that they pick on to show their power, and shows that the administration of Islam in the country is not based on justice but on the whims and fancies of the religious authorities.</div>
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We, in the G25 also fully support the statement by Suhakam which inter alia states: “Such extreme action in our multi-religious, multi-racial and moderate Malaysia in our view is repressive, undemocratic and intended to be intimidating.</div>
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There is no question that this must stopped by the government and such actions that reflect hostility, narrow mindedness and intolerance of civil, intellectual and religious discourse should not be committed again”.</div>
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We, in the G25, are particularly concerned that this action by Jawi is part of an increasing series of views and actions by Islamic authorities, groups, and individuals which are becoming more and more intolerant and disrespectful towards other Muslims and non-Muslims alike.</div>
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Arbitrary actions like these, in the name of religion, threaten the very foundation of the multi-racial and multi-religious character of Malaysia as a nation.</div>
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This incident further strengthens the belief, as a result of the perceived rise in extremism in this country, that Malaysia is fast losing its reputation as a moderate and democratic Islamic country.</div>
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Ironically, right now the Malaysian government is pushing its initiative on moderation at the United Nations General Assembly.</div>
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Many Malaysians are seriously concerned that the rise of extremism and intolerance by various groups is the result of a perceived ambivalent attitude, if not tacit countenance, by the government.</div>
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We, in the G25, therefore call on the government to take a clear and firm stance to urgently put a stop to the rise of religious extremism and intolerance, and to take definitive and urgent action to promote unity and harmony in this beloved nation of ours through moderation and renewed commitment to the Rukun Negara and the Federal Constitution, beginning in schools, colleges and universities, and with local communities.</div>
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<em style="user-select: auto !important;">G25, otherwise known as Group of 25, comprises prominent Malays who have served as senior civil servants and diplomats.</em></div>
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<strong style="user-select: auto !important;"><em style="user-select: auto !important;">The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.</em></strong></div>
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Shame on Jawi for targeting champion of Islam

By G25 We, the members of G25, join our friends and colleagues in Suhakam and the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF), as well as the lawye...

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