End the smear campaign — Islamic Renaissance Front

November 08, 2012

NOV 8 — We at the Islamic Renaissance Front condemn and lament the irresponsible mischaracterisation of Nurul Izzah Anwar’s statement on religious freedom.

She merely summarised the gist of the well-known Quranic verse in Surah al-Baqarah which clearly stressed that there is to be no compulsion in matters of faith, for truth and error has already been clearly stated. 

Because of that she has been subjected to the crudest level of character assassination from those seeking to stoke controversy and gain political mileage for the upcoming elections.

Islam is not an ethnicity

In particular, the danger lies in the unmistakably ethnic nature of the sentiments that are motivating the on-going smear campaign against her. The erroneous assumption being encouraged is that Malays can only be Muslims.

This, to be sure, goes against the elementary confusion of an ethnicity with a religion. Here, we should pause to reflect on how that very confusion is also discernable in conservative Zionist thinking, which some Malay Muslims who are so enraged by Nurul Izzah’s statement are also supposed to oppose.

More importantly, the smear campaign is un-Islamic in how it particularly contravenes a clearly stated principle in the Quran which calls for the freedom of conscience: no human being is to be forced to believe in something he or she does not want to.

The evidence is plain for all to see. Consider another example in the following passage:

“And [thus it is] had thy Sustainer so willed, all those who live on earth would surely have attained to faith, all of them: dost thou, then, think that thou couldn’t compel people to believe”. [Quran,10:99] 

In other words, the belief that Malays must be made to remain Muslim goes against the principle of reason and justice — the cornerstone of Islamic epistemology. 

It thus makes no sense to believe that the principle of non-coercive assent is to be upheld only for non-Muslims and it would be null and void once a person converts to Islam. Those who believe that are mistaking Islam for Hotel California, where you can check out anytime you like, but can never leave.

More worryingly, that outlook all too easily assumes that Islam is morally inconsistent; never mind the problem that it would also require a strong Islamic state to force Muslims into conformity.

Freedom matters

Virtue is only virtuous — and not opportunistic, accidental, foolish or political — when it is done out of free will.

Thus, rather than police and threaten others into good behaviour and belief, much time, effort, cost, conflict and ill will can be spared through compassionate and transparent communication whereby our convictions and the ethical choices we make, emerge from out of a clear grasp of the principles and values that colour our moral horizons.

This — seeing the straight path after the seriousness, honesty, patience and labour of inner reflection — is enlightenment. 

We believe it takes no moral, social or political cost at all to err on the side of charity and trust, and let every individual set on his or her journey to arrive to that very point of self-consciousness. After all, no one forced Muhammad to the cave.

All this, very sadly, is far from the minds of Muslims today. Muslims all too easily react in anger, without taking any time to consider the ethical ramifications of their demands. They mistake self-righteousness for injustice; the suppression of freedom for happiness and in the process they cannot tell the difference between on one hand, the inner monologues of victimisation that has shaped their egos and on the other, their conscience.

In that frenzy of rage, the personal has been drowned by the political. There is no Muslim condition to speak of, just enraged mobs. The only “winners” to speak of in the meantime are those seeking to exploit religion for ethnocentric ends.

The Islamic Renaissance Front calls upon all our friends and comrades who believe in the freedom of conscience to speak out against the rising tide of religious chauvinism and speak truth to power.

* This letter bears the names of Ahmad Farouk Musa, Ahmad Fuad Rahmat, Rizqi Mukhriz, Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, Ehsan Shahwahid, Muhammad Anas Daniel and Shawn Syazwan of the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF).

Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/end-the-smear-campaign-islamic-renaissance-front/

民联：花数万报章打广告‧“SEDA逃避购电关键疑点”

2012-07-24 09:47

• 
  努鲁依莎（左）展示大马永续能源发展机构在报章上刊登的回应广告；右：潘俭伟。（图：星洲日报）

（吉隆坡23日讯）儘管大马永续能源发展机构（SEDA）昨日在报章刊登广告，针对太阳能再生能源配额和电力收购制所引起的爭议作出解释，但行动党全国宣传秘书潘俭伟与人民公正党副主席努鲁依莎却批评当局耗费数万令吉刊登的广告，並没有针对他们提出的关键问题作出回应。

质疑8公司进行电力研究

潘俭伟和努鲁今日在行动党总部召开新闻发佈会说，该机构为前政府首席秘书丹斯里莫哈末西迪的女儿苏兹苏丽娜与夫婿托麦可莫拉斯，获得45.9兆瓦或32.4%配额生產太阳能再生能源的12家公司辩护时，却引发了更多疑问。

潘俭伟说，2011年再生能源法令阐明，公司申请电力收购制之前，必须要求授权单位如国能进行电力系统研究（PSS）。

他披露，根据大马永续能源发展机构网站，清楚註明电力研究系统的费用与完成期限，1兆瓦以上至10兆瓦需耗资4万令吉，费时30天完成。

“成功取得太阳能再生能源配额的12家公司，特別是在申请截止日期前21天才设立的8家公司，是否已进行电力系统研究？”

促陈华贵指示冯镇安解释

另外，努鲁依莎也直斥大马永续能源发展机构花费金钱在报章打广告，却没有真正回答到他们所挑起的问题。

鑑於此，她促请能源部长拿督斯里陈华贵，指示该机构主席丹斯里冯镇安，亲自讲解这当中的疑问与爭议。

缴足资本仅100令吉
9公司应被撤销资格

潘俭伟说，虽然大马永续能源发展机构指成功申请的公司必须拥有至少20万缴足资本或2%的计划成本，否则將被撤销资格，他无法理解的是，12家公司获得这项计划已超过6个月，但他两週前向大马公司委员会（SSM）查询时，至少有9家的缴足资本只有100令吉，而且未被撤销资格。

来源：http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/255309?tid=1

Anwar Ibrahim's moment of truth looms

Malaysia's most controversial politician wants to become prime minister – but to achieve that he will have to unseat a party that has ruled for 60 years, writes Kate Hodal

• Kate Hodal in Kuala Lumpur
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 July 2012 02.07 BST

Anwar Ibrahim with supporters after being cleared of sodomy charges in January 2012. Photograph: Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters

He is the man many Malaysians love to hate. Once considered his nation's political tour de force, Anwar Ibrahim has spent the greater part of the past two decades in jail, wrapped up in court proceedings and enduring what he calls a long-standing smear campaign – from being labelled a chauvinist and Zionist to facing accusations that he is homosexual, guilty of sodomy and anti-Muslim.

Now Anwar is fighting his last fight: to be Malaysia's next prime minister, a battle for which he has been preparing for a very long time. 

At speeches and rallies Anwar is vibrant, compelling, persuasive. In person he is slight, ageing and soft-spoken, sipping black tea with honey as he outlines why his opposition alliance expects to usurp the prime minister, Najib Razak, and the incumbent Barisan Nasional (National Front), which has governed Malaysia for nearly 60 years.

"The mood is there, the mood for change," Anwar says from his office at the multi-storeyed headquarters of his People's Justice party in central Kuala Lumpur. "I'm very optimistic that we will wrest control and make major inroads."

Anwar has long been a contender to rule Malaysia but his political career has suffered vertiginous highs and lows. The spectacular ascent that saw him grace the cover of Newsweek as Asian of the Year and become the heir apparent of then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad was met with an equally spectacular crash in 1998, when the two fell out and Anwar was imprisoned for six years on corruption and sodomy charges, claims he repeatedly dismissed as politically motivated.

Times have not been easy since his release in 2004. Despite leading an opposition coalition to a famous result in the 2008 general election, when it stole one-third of the parliamentary seats and five states from the National Front, Anwar soon found himself facing new sodomy charges, accusations that were only dismissed this January due to lack of evidence. 

But his movement is full of hope. Elections are expected to be called any time in the next nine months, and even those who do not openly back Anwar often support what he stands for: relief from an autocratic and out-of-touch government they say has ruled Malaysia for too long. In April many tens of thousands of Malaysians took to the nation's streets to demand electoral reform at rallies organised by Bersih, an opposition-backed coalition of civil-society groups whose name means "clean" in Malay.
 
According to political columnist Art Harun, Bersih has thrown "a massive spanner in the [government] works" as increasingly informed activists point to numerous corruption scandals and police brutality as proof that government reform is necessary. But when it comes to voting they will have to contend with a determined ruling party that has been accused of playing dirty to win. "The electoral roll is our Achilles' heel and their way of winning," sighs opposition MP and Anwar's 31-year-old daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar, herself a participant in April's rally. "Before it was just small instances … Now we've unearthed a whole pool of data." She claims that in her constituency alone she has 10,000 voters who suddenly 'appeared' on electoral lists.

Anwar's greatest task will be proving that he can actually instigate the change Malaysians have long been calling for, says Malaysia expert Bridget Welsh of Singapore Management University. "Four months after Bersih there are two important issues: the management of the economy and who can manage the economy best, and who can offer more options in democratic governance," she says. "The third aspect is whether this election will be free and fair ... so what we have is a situation where the integrity of the [electoral] process is as important as the process itself." 

Matters are complicated by new charges that Anwar faces of opposing a court order at the Bersih rally. If convicted he would not be able to stand for office in the next election. He denies the allegations.

If elected Anwar knows that his will be a tricky balancing act in a nation that sells itself as "Moderate Malaysia", where even his own opposition alliance spans his People's Justice party, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic party and the ethnic Chinese Democratic Action party.
 
"We have discussed economic policies, social policies and religious positions, and we have come to agreements," he says of his own alliance. "But there's a big, huge internal battle" – he strikes every word with his finger on his desk – "among the [wider] Malaysian community between the fanatics and the extremists to petition broader, more liberal tolerance. We call ourselves liberals … [but] we must put in check, not through brute force, but through active and vibrant intellectual discourse, these [extremist] aberrations."

Voters may be hoping for change at the next general election but they know they can't expect it. "What we want to see is a multi-party democracy where, every two or three years, the [leading] party will change," explains Bersih leader Ambiga Sreenavasan. "We're not averse to Barisan coming back but if parties think they're going to lose power, they behave a lot better. [This] is about power coming back to the people. It's about us being in charge."

If Anwar is unsuccessful in what is very likely his last bid at the prime ministership, many of those on the ground expect his daughter to one day carry the torch. Young, articulate and popular, Nurul Izzah personifies all of her father's promise, without, perhaps, the residual baggage. "I think she'll be the first woman prime minister of this country," says Ambiga. "I've said it so many times, I hope it comes true."

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/11/anwar-ibrahim-moment-truth-looms?INTCMP=SRCH

民联揭获32%太阳能发电固打，称西迪哈山女儿公司无经验

这就是国阵55年治国带给人民的效绩 -- 国家财富都往朋党人士袋子塞，而人民却要付上吃西北风的代价。
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作者／刘伟鸿 2012年07月10日 2:22 pm 【本刊刘伟鸿撰述/摄影】 民联国会议员潘俭伟和努鲁依莎（Nurul Izzah Anwar） 揭露， 由前政府首席秘书西迪哈山（Mohd Sidek Hassan） 女儿通 过Sun Energy Ventures公司拥有的12间子公司， 获得介于1兆瓦 和5兆瓦（MW）发电领域的32.4%总太阳能发 电固打，违反永续能源 发展机构（SEDA）的透明、公平竞争 指南。 潘俭伟表示，在介于1兆瓦和5兆瓦发电领域中，“纸面上没有 任何 公司获得超过10%固打。”，但西迪哈山女儿苏兹哈山 （Suzi Hassan） 通过12间子公司，获得32.4%或45.9兆瓦 的固打。 他说，令他震惊的是，上述12间生产再循环能源公司，都是 在2010年 之后设立，而且都没有任何的相关发电经验。 来源： http://www.merdekareview.com/news_v2.php?n=25731