Fool me twice, shame on you, is the feeling on conversion bill

 When the Government brought to Parliament on Wednesday the most controversial bill in recent times, it not only raised the backs of a lot of people, it also sank their hearts.

Mention the Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Bill to them and they will mention back a new buzzword to describe the Government's motives and it’s not a nice one.

Betrayal. Of non-Muslims. And for some, twice.

And it’s the depth of this feeling that may also inform the election patterns of non-Muslims in the “safe deposit” vote bank of Sabah and Sarawak. Not to mention the already evenly-split Indian vote.

Just examine the facts.

In April 2009, de facto law minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz announced that the Government would ban the automatic conversion of minors to Islam, in a bid to quell unease among non-Muslims in mainly Muslim Malaysia.

He said minors were to be bound by the common religion of their parents at the time they were married, even if one parent later becomes a Muslim. 

And now, this Bill purports to provide that the consent of one parent alone is enough for the conversion of minor children to Islam.

The "Allah" issue is another hot topic, especially now, since the government's appeal is going through its rounds of case management at the Court of Appeal.

The Government is appealing against the 2009 High Court decision that the word “Allah” can be used by the Catholic Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur's weekly newspaper, The Herald, in its Bahasa Malaysia articles.

In April 2011, just before the Sarawak elections, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Idris Jala announced that Christians in East Malaysia can use that word.

However, in April this year, PM Najib Razak in an interview with global news station Al Jazeera took the opposite tack. He clearly expressed support for the appeal to overturn a High Court ruling that said it was all right for non-Muslim groups in Malaysia to use the Arabic term “Allah” for God, specifically in Bahasa Malaysia literature.

Coming back to the conversion bill, there is another thought. Talk is also rife that just the act of tabling the Bill was itself a strategic move by the government to seek out weak links in the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat.

Perhaps PAS parliamentarians may decide to vote in support of unilateral conversion of minors, against the line drawn by their secular partners in the opposition?

A veteran politician, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that if that is what the Government is trying to do, it might backfire.

This is a double-edged sword, as even government coalition partners MCA and MIC have both made their stand clear – that they are against unilateral conversion - let alone their non-Muslim bumiputera coalition partners from Sabah and Sarawak.

"It will expose the weak chains in the Barisan Nasional coalition when issues of race and religion are put to the test like this," the MP said.

Giving credibility to this MP’s observation are the list of government partners who have recently expressed concern over this bill.

MCA vice-president Gan Ping Sieu has expressed shock that the Government tabled a bill that contained controversial provisions that affect the constitutional and religious rights of non-Muslims.

Datuk Jaspal Singh, MIC treasurer-general, has also expressed shock at Section 107 (b) of the bill, saying that it was an attempt to undermine the Federal Constitution, which requires the consent of both parents for a child to convert.

Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, Sabah party UPKO president and a former Cabinet minister said the provision was in contradiction to the 1Malaysia concept of acceptance, inclusiveness and moderation. 

He has suggested a full discussion by Barisan Nasional on the issue and related religious issues before the government proceeds with the Bill. He also expressed surprise and disappointment that this Bill was even approved by the Cabinet to be tabled at Parliament.

Malaysian Consultative Congress of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) deputy president Jagir Singh, who is a member of the inter-religious committee (to promote mutual understanding and harmony among religions) under the Cabinet, also expressed his surprise at the tabling of the Bill.

He said that while issues such as conversion and even "body snatching", were discussed as recently as two months ago at the committee, no decision or conclusion was made.

"Discussions started two years ago and we had a meeting two months ago, but nothing was decided. So we are surprised it was tabled," he said.

Jagir went on to say that if the Bill allowed for one parent to covert a minor, then the other parent can convert the child back, under provisions in the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land.

Jagir, who is also Malaysian Gurdwaras Council president, is equally concerned about another section of the Bill, which gives the Syariah court the power to decide whether a person who died was Muslim or not, saying that this power “has always been and must remain with the civil court”.

Jagir had a few strong last words, which he stressed was his personal opinion. "Usually in the issue of conversion, it is the mother's rights which are trampled on. What I want to say is, beware the mother's curse."

The former president of MCCBCHST and Malaysia Hindu Sangam, Datuk A. Vaithilingam, echoed Jagir's view, in that the civil court must decide the question and issue of children’s conversion.

He said it was very clear in the Federal Constitution that for minors, issues like education, upbringing and religion are the responsibility of the parent, where the word is meant as collective.

Vaithilingam added that Muslims had nothing to worry about as they were well protected under Malaysian laws.

"For instance, non-Muslims cannot propagate their faith to Muslims. But the non-Muslims don't have this protection," he pointed out.

Head of the Catholic Church in the Melaka-Johor diocese, Bishop Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing SJ, while refusing to call it a betrayal by the government, was no less sharp with his rebuke.

"I understand this amendment contravenes a decision by the Cabinet announced on April 23, 2009, that a single parent cannot convert a minor," said the Bishop.

"If so, this would not be the first time that the Cabinet is overridden by civil service functionaries – the main drivers of creeping Islamisation in this country.

"Truly, it does not come as a surprise to me that a Cabinet undertaking on a matter of this importance has been shown to be not worth the vapour it takes to avow it." – July 2, 2013.

 

Online scams drop thanks to joint policing efforts

Phishing crimes, commonly suffered by online banking and e-commerce users, have decreased significantly due to joint cooperation between the police, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and Bank Negara.

Phishing is an online scam where personal information is stolen through emails. MCMC chairman Datuk Mohamed Sharil Mohamed Tarmizi said the significant reduction in the number of phishing cases has helped to restore consumer confidence in the security of online banking services and e-commerce.

"Last year, MCMC successfully took down a total of 2,611 phishing sites in Malaysia," he said. The total of phishing sites taken down between Jan and May this year is 652, compared with 835 during the same period last year. The reduction in phishing cases shows that enforcement efforts have been effective.

"At the same time, it also shows that public awareness has risen with more users being careful in their online banking and e-commerce activities," Mohamed Sharil said.

The MCMC network security centre, which is responsible for mitigating the phishing reports, functions 24 hours daily and takes no more than four hours to shut down a phishing site. The length of time for a site to be pulled down depends on the location, whether it originates locally or abroad.

Besides working with the police and BNM, the centre also reports phishing instances to other international agencies such as CERT or cyber security engineering. Browsers such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox also use this phishing information in their in-browser phishing protection.

Personal information obtained through phishing is used by the perpetrator to steal money from the victim's bank account.

In 2009, losses reported from phishing cases in Malaysia stood at RM215,131 but the following year, it skyrocketed to RM3.3 million as scam artists took advantage of gullible online bank users.

In 2012, losses had been reduced to almost RM2 million while this year, as of May, the losses were RM17,000. – July 2, 2013.

Ditegur Hakim, anak Karpal gunakan isu berat sebelah untuk selamatkan anak guam

Dalam pertarungan undang-undang, serangan peribadi hakim terhadap seorang peguam dalam kes jenayah telah dijadikan alasan untuk mengkaji semula sabitan rasuah terhadap bekas pegawai kanan kerajaan.

Peguam itu adalah Ramkarpal Singh, anak kepada Karpal Singh.

Ramkarpal dalam afidavit mendakwa Hakim Mahkamah Rayuan Datuk Mohamad Apandi Ali yang mengetuai panel tiga hakim, bersikap peribadi apabila didakwa secara lisan menyerang Ramkarpal semasa prosiding.

Beliau berkata hakim itu telah berkompromi kesaksamaan dan sikap objektif apabila dua kali di mahkamah terbuka mengisytiharkan dia memohon maaf untuk mengatakan Ramkarpal tidak setanding dengan bapanya, Karpal, dan secara tersirat mengatakan dia telah membuang masa mahkamah.

Ramkarpal berkata serangan peribadi Mohamad Apandi itu bermakna dia berkelakuan tidak patut sebagai seorang hakim, berat sebelah dan ini dengan serius memudaratkan kepentingan anak guamnya, Mahmad Faisaal Fadzil.

Ramkarpal menambah sikap berat sebelah Mohamad Apandi menyebabkan rayuan terjejas kerana merit kes itu tidak diendahkan.

Datuk Linton Albert dan Datuk Wira Mohtarudin Baki adalah hakim-hakim lain yang bersidang bersama Mohamad Apandi pada 23 Mei.

Ramkarpal turut mengatakan Mahkamah Rayuan tidak menerima permohonannya secara penuh semasa pendengaran rayuan untuk menukar keputusan dua mahkamah lebih rendah.

Malah, kata Ramkarpal panel hanya pertimbangkan satu alasan dan Mohamad Apandi gelisah dengan prospek perbicaraann panjang, menjadi kurang ajar dan tidak sopan apabila Ramkarpal berkeras mengemukakan isu-isu secara terperinci.

Panel tidak mempertimbangkan dengan teliti enam hujah yang lain, dengan alasan mahkamah mempunyai perkara-perkara lain pada hari itu, katanya.

Menurut Ramkarpal, permohonannya untuk mendapatkan salinan video prosiding tersebut telah dinafikan sebanyak dua kali.

“Disebabkan itu, Faisaal telah dinafikan hak untuk mendapatkan perbicaraan adil yang dijamin oleh Perlembagaan,” kata peguam itu.

Panel lain hakim Mahkamah Rayuan akan mendengar permohonan Faisaal mendakwa perbicaraan sebelum ini gagal memberikan keadilan kepadanya.

Ramkarpal memfailkan afidavit bagi Faisaal yang berusia 56 tahun untuk menyokong permohonan semakan oleh kerana bekas pengarah Lembaga Perindustrian Nanas Malaysia cawangan Kedah di penjara Kajang menjalani hukuman tiga tahun.

Saman RM150,000 terhadapnya juga dikekalkan.

Faisaal meminta dan menerima RM15,000 daripada seorang sub-kontraktor pada tahun 2009 dan didapati bersalah oleh mahkamah sesyen dua tahun kemudian. – 2 Julai, 2013.

RM1,200 BR1M payments will last only two months, says minister

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan (pic) told the Dewan Rakyat today that the increased BR1M payment of RM1,200 will be able to sustain a household for only two months.

This contradicts Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak statement previously that the original BR1M payment of RM500 can last a whole year.

During the BR1M 2.0 payments issued in February, Najib said that RM500, spread over 12 months, will provide RM41.60 per month for household expenses, and that was enough.

"With the BR1M increase to RM1,200, this will help cover household expenses for two months. The people will need to find their own means for the remaining 10 months," Ahmad Maslan said when answering a question in Parliament this morning.

A total of 6.8 million households and unmarried individuals - 88.1 percent of all applications - were beneficiaries of the BR1M 2.0 aid early this year, with up to RM2.9 billion disbursed by the government. This was an increase of RM300 million from the first BR1M last year.

However, Ahmad Maslan failed to give an answer when Sibu MP Oscar Ling Chai Yew questioned the government over the alleged declining poverty rate when there are so many people still needing financial assistance.

"The view that the poverty rate has declined seems to conflict with the BR1M aid being given out. Can the minister please explain this?" Ling said.

Ahmad Maslan replied: "I don't have the statistics for that."

In March, the prime minister stressed that the poverty rate continues to drop from 60 percent in the early years after independence to just 1.7 percent last year.

Pakatan Rakyat has been critical of the Najib administration over what they called "vote buying" with various public expenditure, including BR1M, prior to the general elections on May 5.

Furthermore, as part of its GE13 manifesto, BN also promised to increased the BR1M aid in stages, giving up to RM1,200 for households and RM600 to unmarried individuals. - July 1, 2013.

Several local websites hacked, Dell targeted by “Bangladeshi Hacker”

Several local website domains registered under the "com.my" have been hacked by irresponsible parties, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said today.

MCMC chairman Datuk Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi said initial investigations revealed that the hacking had been confined to registered websites, which had the "com.my" prefix.

"MCMC was notified that the websites of several prominent companies in Malaysia had been compromised by the hackers," he said in a statement.

"Quick action by the website operators prevented further damage by hackers but we are very concerned about the issue," Mohamed Sharil said.

He said most of the affected websites were up and operating again and a special team has been formed to investigate the intrusion.

The team comprises personnel from MCMC and the police, Mohamed Sharil said, declining to elaborate further.

It is understood that one of the prominent websites, which had been hacked, was that of US computer manufacturer Dell. 

Unidentified parties hacked into the Dell website today, voicing their support for Bangladeshi workers working at its manufacturing plant in Penang.

Dell was not available for comment but reports of the hacking spread fast on social media.

On the popular lowyat.net forum, users were abuzz when news of the 2pm hacking broke out and the provocative message left on the Dell website.

The hacker identified himself as Tigerm@te who claimed to be a Bangladeshi.

The provocative message left was "Hello Malaysia, you think you are more advanced than us? Respect our workers, we will respect you! Running it since 2007". - July 1, 2013.

 

SUARAM desak kerajaan terima keputusan kes Kugan dan mulakan pembaharuan polis

Badan bukan kerajaan Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) hari ini mengingatkan Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi agar menerima keputusan Mahkamah Tinggi mengenai A. Kugan dan memulakan pembaharuan terhadap pasukan polis.

SUARAM mengingatkan Ahmad Zahid mengenai hak asasi manusia seperti yang termaktub dalam artikel 3 Deklarasi Hak Manusia Sejagat (UDHR) dan artikel 5 Perlembagaan Persekutuan yang dengan jelas menyatakan “Tiada orang yang boleh diambil nyawa dan hartanya melainkan berdasarkan peruntukan undang-undang”.

“Adakah polis dan menteri yang bertanggungjawab mengambil berat berhubung hak asasi ini?," kata Koordinator SUARAM R. Thevarajan dalam satu kenyataan hari ini.

“Kes kematian Kugan sewaktu dalam tahanan polis jelas melambangkan polis telah bertindak ganas dan menyalahgunakan kuasanya.Gambar dan video Kugan sewaktu di bilik mayat kini tersebar luas di Internet di mana terdapat darah dan buih keluar daripada mulutnya,” tambah beliau.

SUARAM turut menggesa kerajaan bertanggungjawab dan melakukan pembaharuan kepada Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM).

“Kredibiliti kerajaan bakal terjejas di mata rakyat apabila mengemukakan rayuan terhadap keputusan penghakiman berkenaan.

Kerajaan dan polis harus menerima keputusan mahkamah dan mengambil sepenuh tanggungjawab menyebabkan kematian tahanan semasa pengawasan mereka.

Minggu lalu, Ahmad Zahid memberitahu kerajaan akan mengemukakan rayuan terhadap keputusan mahkamah yang diputuskan oleh Hakim Mahkamah Tinggi Datuk VT Singham berhubung dengan kematian Kugan.

Singham dalam penghakimannya berkata Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar yang menjadi Ketua Polis Selangor pada ketika itu bertanggungjawab atas kematian Kugan empat tahun lalu.

Mahkamah telah mengarahkan pihak yang berkenaan membayar sejumlah RM851,700 kepada ibunya, N. Indra atas penderitaan dan kesakitan yang dialami oleh keluarga mangsa. - 1 Julai, 2013.

Puluhan Laman .COM.MY, .MY Kena Godam

Puluhan laman web yang mempunyai alamat domain .MY dan .COM.MY mengalami gangguan setelah digodam pagi tadi sehingga 2.30 petang yang disasarkan oleh kumpulan penggodam TiGER-M@TE. Malah, ada yang masih terjejas dan belum dipulihkan.

Ia menjejaskan pelbagai nama besar seperti Google, Dell,Microsoft, Skype, MSN Malaysia,Bing, Kaspersky yang terkena tempias godaman pada terjejas.

Penggodam berjaya menukar antaramuka laman-laman tersebut kepada skrin berwarna hitam atau anda tidak dilencongkan ke alamat antarabangsa.

Namun, kebanyakannya kini kembali pulih seperti sediakala. Meluahkan kekecewaan di Twitter dan Facebook, pengguna dari Malaysia melaporkan tidak dapat mengakses masuk ke laman web itu kira-kira tiga jam dari jam 10 pagi hingga 3 petang.

Salah satu laman yang terjejas dan enggan dikenali mengakui mereka mengalami masalah itu pada waktu pagi: "Hari ini, sesetengah pengguna mengalami gangguan sementara ketika mengakses laman ini. Kami meminta maaf atas sebarang masalah yang timbul."

Reaksi dari Dell Malaysia:

Penganalisis ‘software’ Dell Malaysia telah mengesahkan ‘serangan’ siber dan menyatakan bahawa ianya tidak meninggalkan apa-apa kesan pada operasi perniagaan mereka.

“The incident has been logged,” (insiden tersebut telah dapat dikenalpasti),” kata jurucakap syarikat itu. 

Buat masa ini, pihak Yahoo! Malaysia sedang berusaha untuk mendapatkan reaksi dari syarikat lain yang terbabit.

Kalau anda tidak boleh mengakses beberapa laman dengan alamat domain .MY dan .COM.MY menggunakan DNS queries (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) jika anda menggunakan Google DNS, anda boleh menukarnya kepada OpenDNS atau pelayan ISP DNS anda yang spesifik.

Baik pulih paling cepat adalah menukar pelayan DNS anda kepada:

OpenDNS Home: 208.67.222.222/208.67.220.220
Level3 : 209.244.0.3/ 209.244.0.4
TMnet/Unifi:202.188.0.133/202.188.1.