IT so happened that this Ramadan I had to take an 18-hour flight to Vancouver to attend the wedding of a close friend’s only daughter. I wouldn’t normally choose to travel during Ramadan but it was a rare opportunity to see my friend’s happiness as she saw her daughter married off. I did tell a […]
islam
The parade of “Muslim sensitivities”: Where is it taking us?
Shape of a Pocket by Jacqueline Ann Surin
AND so Perkasa has made the news again. And this time by its own doing, not because a media bent on sensationalism tried to cultivate the Malay nationalist group in order to increase readership. In the latest of Perkasa moves, its Petaling chairperson, Zainal Abidin Ahmad, lodged a police report against a Protestant church in […]
Why fast during Ramadan if one is non-Muslim?
Sideways by Deborah Loh
HOW many non-Muslims do you know who fast during Ramadan? And why would they? So far, I’ve found two non-Muslims who are conscientiously fasting the whole of Ramadan. Of these two, one fasts the Muslim way, eating only at sahur and iftar in accordance with the Muslim prayer times. The other doesn’t follow the fasting […]
The BN’s projects
Shape of a Pocket by Jacqueline Ann Surin
“SATU lagi projek Barisan Nasional”. That’s the tagline that often graces billboards announcing projects that the BN government has funded. It’s a tagline often used during elections to help the ruling coalition convince voters of its commitment towards development. But after yet another unnecessary police crackdown on peaceful demonstrators protesting 50 years of the Internal […]
Fear of the cross
By Deborah Loh
IS one vertical line against a horizontal one enough to make Muslims lose their faith? The latest warning to Muslims not to wear football jerseys with a cross isn’t the first time such fears are raised by some Muslims.
PR shies away from Islamic state issue
Translation by Gan Pei Ling
THE Nut Graph started posting six questions to 222 Members of Parliament (MP) in January 2010 for its MP Watch: Eye on Parliament project. The project — a likely first of its kind in Malaysia — aims to record MPs’ positions on key issues of democracy as well as provide MPs a platform for voters […]
Kedah, the Islamic state?
By Shanon Shah
IF a picture paints a thousand words, then one wonders what description of Kedah its billboards are now painting. A drive down Lebuhraya Sultanah Bahiyah in Alor Setar reveals a succession of billboards for a variety of companies and products with slogans in Jawi script. In fact, one of the billboards promoting Media Prima-owned radio […]
The arbitrariness of moral policing
By Shanon Shah
CRITICISMS towards moral policing in Malaysia are nothing new. Back in 2005, the Federal Territories Islamic Department came under fire after its infamous raid of Kuala Lumpur’s Zouk nightclub. After the Muslim detainees’ claims of sexual harassment and other abuse by religious enforcers, the government sought to curb moral policing, in rhetoric at least. In […]
Kartika’s protest
By Jacqueline Ann Surin
ONE thing is really clear about Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor in the video Mencari Kartika, produced and directed by Norhayati Kaprawi: Kartika, who was sentenced to be whipped, fined and imprisoned for drinking beer because she was a Muslim, was angry at the syariah system that had sentenced her. It is a startling revelation, because […]
“Diam, pondan!”
By Shanon Shah
IN Part Three of The Nut Graph’s series of interviews with victims of state-appointed moral police, we speak to a transsexual who works in Seremban, who says she was assaulted by Negeri Sembilan Islamic religious enforcers in March 2010.
