Is using the Sedition Act and Internal Security Act the best approach to Nasir Safar’s alleged remarks? DATUK Nasir Safar‘s alleged racist remarks have sparked calls by Barisan Nasional component parties for Nasir to be charged with sedition and even detained without trial under the Internal Security Act. Buckling under such pressure, Home Minister Datuk [...]

EC chairperson Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof THE nationwide constitutional law tutorial continues with the latest Kota Siputeh case. The court has had to intervene once again to arbitrate between the speaker of a legislative assembly and the Election Commission (EC). This time, the 16 Nov 2009 High Court decision ruled that the EC [...]

MyConstitution campaign logo (© MyConstitution / Facebook)PERAK. Party-hopping. Frogs. Who by now doesn’t know about the Perak constitutional crisis. Awareness has also been stirred about the right to freedom of association and the rights of voters to choose based on a candidate’s party. Federal-state relations are receiving prominence now that the opposition controls at least [...]

IF we were to believe everything we read, one would think that torture or degrading behaviour, if done differently, would no longer constitute torture or degrading behaviour. Indeed, this is what Pahang’s Mufti Department would want Muslims and non-Muslims to believe. Scan of New Straits Times report on syariah caning On 26 Oct 2009, the [...]

We need more intra-faith dialogue (© arte_ram / sxc.hu) DISCUSSIONS on religious issues, or a lack thereof, are increasingly defining public policy and society in Malaysia. A few key words are enough to jog memories — the cow-head protest, the whipping sentence on Muslims for drinking alcohol, Christians and the word “Allah”, concert banning, and [...]

PERTH, 2 Nov 2009: The focus on punishment of personal sins in Islam is misguided, a professor of Islamic Studies said. SaeedProfessor Abdullah Saeed was partly referring to calls from certain Muslim groups to uphold the caning sentence on Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno in Malaysia for consuming alcohol. Saeed is currently the Sultan of Oman [...]