Metro Tabernacle in Kuala Lumpur, the first church thatwas attacked on 8 Jan 2010 (Pic courtesy of Sivin Kit) GENERIC term? Noun or pronoun? Conversion conspiracy or copyright? What exactly are Malaysians fighting over with regard to the “Allah” issue? And how is it all being played out in cyberspace? A check on Facebook, Twitter, […]
Columns
Understanding separation of powers
By Deborah LohTHE Bar Council’s Constitutional Law Committee (ConstiLC) is back with the second phase of its public education campaign MyConstitution or PerlembagaanKu. It will be launched tomorrow, 15 Jan 2010, and will discuss the separation of powers. Part one of the campaign was on knowing the Federal Constitution. ConstiLC deputy co-chair Mahaletchumi Balakrishnan and committee member […]
Najib’s options with Allah
By Wong Chin Huat(Corrected at 7:25pm, 15 Jan 2010) How will Najib put out the fires? (Fire pic by straymuse / sxc.hu) COMMENTATOR Manjit Bhathia is right to say that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak “is starting to look every bit as useless as his predecessor, (Tun) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.” After the divisive rule of Tun Dr […]
Tales from a Councillor: Barricades and racial quotas
By KW MakUPHOLDING the law should be what government is all about. But there are times when I find that majority rule throws out all those law books I have been reading. There are no morals to these stories, save those that readers interpret for themselves. Barricades (Pic by Laura Leavell / sxc.hu) A group of residents […]
“Allah” issue: Who started it?
By Jacqueline Ann SurinLEST we forget, the source of the Allah controversy that resulted in churches, and a Catholic school, being torched and threatened did not begin on the streets. It did not begin with narrow-minded and ignorant Muslim pressure groups threatening to spill blood to assert their sole right to use “Allah”. Lest we forget, it began […]
FAQs on climate change
By Gan Pei Ling(Pic by Spekulator / sxc.hu) COP15 was a failure. Does this mean Planet Earth is doomed? No. Planet Earth will survive even if we cross our climate system’s tipping point and trigger runaway climate change. In tackling climate change, it’s not the earth we’re trying to save. It’s ourselves and other species that could possibly […]
Demi Allah?
Oleh Shanon ShahSAYA ada seorang teman rapat yang, pada awal persahabatan kami, mengakhiri e-melnya kepada saya dengan ucapan “salam”. Dalam e-mel yang lain pula, pernah dia menggunakan ungkapan “insya Allah” dengan saya. Saya keliru — kawan saya ini berketurunan Malayalee, dan namanya pula nama Inggeris. Adakah dia beragama Islam? Kalau ya, saya seronok — mungkin kita boleh […]
Beyond Apcet II
By Jacqueline Ann SurinFOURTEEN years ago, I was arrested. I was among more than 100 local and foreign participants who were detained because we were involved in the Asia Pacific Conference for East Timor II (Apcet II) that was held in Kuala Lumpur in November 1996. Mind you, there was nothing illegal about Apcet II. Many would even […]
Stay or go?
By Deborah Loh(Pic by dljt / sxc.hu)THERE seems little to look forward to, having just come out of 2009, which ended with religious tension that’s spilling over into the New Year. All over what to call God. The dispute over “Allah” dates back to the 1980s. But last year, it was just one event in a string […]
Bonuses in peril
By Wong Chin HuatDESPITE all the madness in 2009, it was a year in which Malaysians saw positive changes on two important fronts: ethnic relations and good governance. A good example, notwithstanding the initial flip-flopping, is the federal government’s decision to revamp the racist and fascist content of the Biro Tata Negara courses after being forced to by […]
