A Parliamentary Roundtable to reaffirm the Merdeka social contract and Malaysia Agreement that Malaysia is a secular state with Islam as the official religion and not an Islamic State will be held in Parliament on Friday, August 10, 2007 at 10 am.
All political parties, professional and civic organizations, NGOs and NGIs are invited to the parliamentary roundtable to give special meaning and significance to the 50th Merdeka anniversary celebrations.
For over four decades in the history of nation, there had been no doubt or question whatsoever, whether in Parliament, Cabinet, government or outside about the secular basis of Malaysia as spelt out by the Merdeka social contract reached by the forefathers of the major communities on the attainment of independence in 1957 and the Malaysia Agreement which brought Sabah and Sarawak into the federation in 1963.
That fundamental nation-building cornerstone of Malaysia conceived as a secular state with Islam as the official religion, is not only to be found in the constitutional documents and the highest judicial pronouncements of the land, it also represented the life-work and commitment of the first three Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein.
However, in the past few years, the secular basis of Malaysian nation-building has come under repeated challenge.
On the occasion of the 50th Merdeka anniversary, the time has come for all Malaysians to reclaim their national legacy and heritage by reaffirming the Merdeka social contract and Malaysia Agreement that Malaysia is a secular state with Islam as the official religion and not an Islamic State.
Or have the fundamental basis of Malaysian nation-building suffered such a serious erosion that we cannot find sufficient Malaysians, whether NGOs or NGIs, to reaffirm the Merdeka social contract and Malaysia Agreement that Malaysia is a secular state with Islam as the official religion and not an Islamic State.
Organisations, NGOs and NGIs, interested in attending the Parliamentary Roundtable, plse contact and register with Lau Weng San, 016-3231563.
#1 by Jeffrey on Monday, 30 July 2007 - 12:21 am
Revathi Masoosai, an ethnic Indian born to Indian Muslim family but was raised as a Hindu and married to a Hindu husband in 2004, was detained for 6 months by the Islamic Religious Department in southern Malacca in an Islamic rehabilitation center after applying in an Islamic Syariah Court in Malacca to have her Muslim name and religion changed. During ‘rehabilitation’ she said that officials subjected her to extensive counseling, tried to make her pray as a Muslim, wear a head scarf and eat beef, a practice sacrilege to Hindus. She said that the Islamic authorities also seized her daughter from her husband and handed the child to Revathi’s Muslim mother.
Was her fundamental constitutional right under articles 5 (personal liberty) and 8 (freedom of religion) of Federal Constitution violated or would one consider it not violated for being “in accordance with the law” – and if so whose law?
#2 by undergrad2 on Monday, 30 July 2007 - 5:42 am
Jeffrey QC,
You took the wrong flight! That flight took you to Bangkok when what you really want to do is to take the other flight that should take you to Qatar. You cannot accuse MAS for flying you to the wrong destination! You boarded the wrong flight!
Revathi is a Muslim and by being a Muslim, like all Muslims irrespective of their ethnicities, she puts herself (or her mother did and what do they say about the sins of the parent coming to visit their children?) under the jurisdiction of syariah law. Islamic law scholars and judges in Malaysia have not found a way to release people like Revathi from the grasp of syariah law. Until they do she will have to remain legally a Muslim – thanks to Art. 121(1A).
Islam is only less than 2,000 years old. We need to give them time to work it out.
We have to be patient.
#3 by Jeffrey on Monday, 30 July 2007 - 6:56 am
It is extraordinary why if a person were put on a wrong flight to Bangkok instead of Qatar that he intended, he should blame himself or bad luck and not MAS and its management/crew!
It’s not only problem of wrong flight in isolation. If you follow recent reports including this link http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/index.php?itemid=6857 in RPK’s Malaysia Today, it is the common experience of many Malaysians as well as international commuters alike – for over 3 weeks now – of daily delays in take off , some as long as eight hours, not to mention mixed up of seats under its flight booking system that left passengers stranded. (Last week my Indonesian guests were at KLIA at 7.30 am for a scheduled 9 am flight but could take off for Jakarta only at 3 pm! And they sms me Mana Ada System?)
[Even the Minister of Transport, Dato’ Seri Chan Kong Choy and three other MCA Minister/Deputy Ministers failed to show up on time at Sabah MCA Convention last Sunday. Then the Minister of Information, Dato’ Zainuddin Maidin was delayed at Kuala Terengganu. According to latest rumours, even the BN Senators’ Club called for the sacking of Idris].
Some say it was sabotage. The recently concluded clandestine reward scheme (including ESOS) for very selected employees based on the much tauted Performance Management System (PMS) evaluation system generated rampant unhappiness of 20,000 MAS workforce suspected of the sabotage.
Earlier when Idis took over, there was unhappiness with the Voluntary Separation Scheme. They said a lot of lazy and unproductive staff were rewarded by handsome pay offs whilst the productive sector were not availed to the benefits of VSS so that they are retained to slog it out.
Now those suffering would make no distinction who’s at fault – whether the 20,000 MAS workforce suspected of sabotage or its group MD Datuk Idris Jala. All the same MAS has been blamed – even if it was formed only in 1971 – and they are beginning to take other airlines. How to be patient?
#4 by sotong on Monday, 30 July 2007 - 7:37 am
The problem is not the Koran, Bible or other religious books. It’s the misguided faithful with narrow minds and decades of damaging politics of religion.
#5 by bystander on Monday, 30 July 2007 - 8:53 am
According to the Sun and RPK, Tun Razak, Harun and UMNO are responsible for May 13. Pl reject and do not vote for Najib/BN/UMNO.
#6 by Godfather on Monday, 30 July 2007 - 10:08 am
Undergrad2:
To use your analogy, if we boarded the flight to Bangkok when we really wanted to go to Qatar, then it cannot be our fault, and MAS must rectify its error and put us on another flight from Bangkok to Qatar. Leaving us stranded in Bangkok is a complete breach of our fundamental right – even though Bangkok may be a preferable destination to Qatar for most people.
#7 by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on Monday, 30 July 2007 - 10:17 am
There is no true statesman in BN who would stand up to Najib’s nonsensical declaration that Malaysia is an Islamic state and not a secular state.
What UMNO and BN is trying to do is just to change the label and still remain secular, hoping to please everybody – the Islamists and the secularists. BN’s silly attempt is akin to calling a lemon a papaya. The problem is a new crop of BN leaders can easily forget (and Tun Mahathir will promptly attest to the short memories of all UMNO followers!) and will forget why a lemon was called a papaya. Then when extremism and intolerance breeds in the backyards of parochialism, the nation will slip very fast into an Afghan-PAkistan milieu.
It takes statesmen to say, ‘Heck, we can’t put a leg each on a boat that’s ideologically drifting further and further apart’. A lemon by any other name will be just as acidic. And there is no stateman in UMNO, MCA, MIC, PPP, GERAKAN etc… And all BN’ers seem to have lost their mind at the same time their pants are splitting from the drift!
#8 by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on Monday, 30 July 2007 - 11:57 am
Should read as “It takes statesmen to say, ‘Heck, we can’t put a leg each on two different boats in two different streams that are ideologically drifting and pushing further and further apart’.
#9 by Jong on Monday, 30 July 2007 - 12:57 pm
Sorry guys, there are no “jantans” left in UMNO, BN for that matter. Find them in the cemeterys!
#10 by AhPek on Monday, 30 July 2007 - 1:04 pm
Further to art-upon-mu’s and trashed’s comments on the seemingly infallible parties like KMT of Taiwan,LDP of Japan and Congress Party of India, those countries are not mired in race and religion issues.Here these issues top the list in their election agenda.Besides the political parties are not formed along racial lines like here.Thus under this unfortunately unique situation in Malaysia I honestly think even to deny BN a two thirds majority is an impossible task given the current political climate prevailing here.The opposition parties don’t see the need to form a united opposition front against the mighty machinery of the BN.Also the general populace are not angry enough to show their anger thro the ballot box.They are quite happy getting the crumps thrown off the UMNO table.We are likely to get another 50 years of UMNO era.
#11 by undergrad2 on Monday, 30 July 2007 - 1:26 pm
Hey, I don’t mind about being stranded in Bangkok. If ever I find myself stranded in Bangkok I’d visit my favourite “No hands restaurant” and if Phatpong is still the place it once was for foreign visitors, I’d would like a piece of that action too.
#12 by Jong on Thursday, 2 August 2007 - 2:51 pm
Ooops sorry, one senior minister just found his “bola” ie Bernad Dompok, Minister in the PM Dept. At last he picked up courage to speak his mind. In his speech at the launching of ‘The Merdeka Statement’ in KL today, Dompok said, ” For all intents and purposes, I think Malaysia was not meant to be an Islamic state†.
Good for you Dompok! At least you can sleep well tonight., I am sure of that. Malaysiakini.com has a full report on his speech.
Anymore “Jantans” around? Speak out and be counted. If you don’t, just remember that when they come for you, there will be no one left to speak out.
#13 by Godfather on Thursday, 2 August 2007 - 4:34 pm
Undergrad2: Be careful what you wish for. You might end up in the capable hands of the katoey i.e. the lady-boys. Then you’d wish you had gone to your original destination !
#14 by ktteokt on Thursday, 20 September 2007 - 10:27 am
Sitting on the fence – When they want non-Malay votes, it is secular, when they want Malay votes, it is Islamic. Double-headed snake!!!!