Some people just don’t understand dialogue… SO now the government wants a formalised interfaith dialogue mechanism? Going by the history of the state’s response to attempts by civil society to initiate interfaith dialogue, I am not holding my breath. In 2005, various members of civil society had a conference proposing a statutory Interfaith Commission (IFC) [...]

KUALA LUMPUR, 30 June 2009: Most Malaysian youths keep up to date with the news, but almost half say they mistrust the sources they get it from, according to the Merdeka Center‘s 2008 National Youth Survey. Ibrahim Suffian “There is skepticism over the news they are getting in the mainstream media as well as the [...]

ON 23 October 2008, the National Fatwa Council of Malaysia issued a fatwa saying that tomboyism, where a girl behaves or dresses in what is seen as a boyish manner, is forbidden by Islam. According to the council chairman, Datuk Dr Abdul Shukor Husin, this decision was made because — in their reasoning — young [...]