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It will never happen in <b>Sarawak</b> - The Borneo Post Online Berita Sarawak - News 2 Sarawak

It will never happen in <b>Sarawak</b> - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 03 Jan 2014 11:00 AM PST

by Mahathir Haroun, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on January 4, 2014, Saturday

Daud assures Christians Bibles will not be seized in the state, calls on politicians not to use the issue to score political points

KUCHING: The Sarawak government will not seize Christians Holy Bibles, assured Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister's Office (Islamic Affairs) Datuk Daud Abdul Rahman yesterday.

"I can assure you that the government will not seize Bibles in the state because we really appreciate the spirit of tolerance.

"Christians in the state have been using Bibles for more than a century, and the government has never seized them," he said when contacted.

Daud was asked to comment on an incident in Damansara, Petaling Jaya, where Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) personnel and the police seized 350 Bibles from the premises of the Bible Society of Malaysia.

The seized materials comprised 310 copies of Bibles in Bahasa Malaysia, or Al-Kitab, 20 copies in the Iban Language (also known as Bup Kudus), and 20 copies of Luke's Gospel in Bahasa Malaysia.

Daud hoped Christians in the state would not be influenced by what was happening in Peninsular Malaysia.

He urged the people of various races and religions to stay away from any activities that could destroy racial harmony and religious tolerance.

At the same time, he also called on the Opposition not to stir the issue for political mileage.

"We don't want what is happening there (Peninsular Malaysia) to spread to the state. What is happening there (Bibles seizure) does not involve the state (Sarawak) government."

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Politicians transcend party lines in denouncing Jais&#39; raid on premises

Posted: 03 Jan 2014 11:21 AM PST

KUCHING: Several politicians in the state set aside their political differences in condemning the raid by Islamic Affairs Department of Selangor (Jais) on the premises of the Bible Society of Malaysia.

Describing the act as a disappointment, Bengoh assemblyman Datuk Dr Jerip Susil said invading the premises of any religious group should not happen in Malaysia as it was in violation of the Federal Constitution.

"The act is in violation of the Federal Constitution. The Constitution protects the rights of all religious groups and no group is to invade into the premises of another religious groups. This is a right enshrined in the Federal Constitution," said the Assistant Health Minister.

Describing the raid as "high-handed and aggressive", state PKR chairman Baru Bian said the act had confirmed his prediction that "the religious authorities would use the Herald judgment to extend their insidious and strangling tentacles over other aspects of Christian and non-Muslim practices".

"This raid and seizure was a clear breach of the 10-point solution, which was highly publicised as the answer to every Christian's concerns about the increasing infringement of their rights.

The Ba'Kelalan assemblyman said the ban on the use of the 32 words in the Syariah Criminal Enactment of Selangor earlier was already clearly a violation of our rights to religious freedom as enshrined in Article 11 of the Federal Constitution.

"One of the banned words 'Injil' is an integral word in the name of the Church to which I belong – the Sidang Injil Borneo. There are several SIB churches in Peninsular Malaysia to cater to the many Sarawak Christians working over there. Should the church leaders in Selangor expect to be ordered by the Islamic agencies to change the name of their church?"

Baru also questioned how the Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Christians could pray, and read their Bibles after the government has banned 32 fundamental words from Christian Scripture and worship since Bahasa Malaysia is the primary language of the nation.

"The planned demonstrations by Umno Selangor and Muslim groups in front of churches on Sunday are potentially dangerous and explosive. The Prime Minister must not allow groups of extremists to harass people who will be performing their religious obligations, as they are entitled to under the Federal Constitution," cautioned Baru.

Sarawak Workers Party president Larry Sng also made a statement questioning the exclusiveness of the use of the word 'Allah' by the Muslims.

"Even neighbouring countries like Indonesia don't practise such policies.

"I believe that as a diverse nation we should work together to create unity and harmony, by building on the trust of the people and work together for a common goal. We should not antagonise minority groups, by showing the world that might is right," said the former Pelagus assemblyman.

Meanwhile, Sarawak Dayak Graduates Association (SDGA) also issued a statement in support of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president's statement on Jais' raid yesterday.

"We need a kind reminder that the Federal Constitution reigns supreme. When it comes to religion, the constitution is very clear in that we Malaysians have religious freedom but the very act of Jais runs contrary to this.

"In this respect, SDGA fully supports the statement issued by Masing on this matter," said SDGA president Dr Dusit Jaul.

Masing in responding to the Jais issue had said that Malaysian leaders must decide once and for all the interpretation of religious freedom enshrined in the constitution.

"Religious policies should not be decided based on political expediency but rather it should be decided on sound religious principles tempered by centuries of divine wisdom," said Masing, who believed that the constitution defined "in no uncertain terms 'freedom of religion' and not 'limited freedom of religion'.

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Jeffrey: Why no tweet of federal flood aid for <b>Sarawak</b>? – BorneoPost <b>...</b>

Posted: 03 Jan 2014 08:19 AM PST

KOTA KINABALU: If the treatment of flood victims in Sabah and Sarawak is any test, then it is confirmed that Sabahans and Sarawakians are treated as step-children by the Prime Minister and the Malayan/Malaysian federal government.

"It also shows that Najib is only a prime minister for the Malays in the peninsula and not for the whole of Malaysia and his 1-Malaysia means only 1-Malaysia for Malays only," said Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah chief, noting that the PM only tweeted his hope that Sarawak flood victims would persevere and pray that God would ease and relieve the flood victims there.

The treatment of Sabah and Sarawak flood victims is a sharp contrast to the treatment of the flood victims in the Peninsula.

In the peninsula, the PM not only announced that the flood victims were to be given RM500 flood aid by the federal government, but after visiting the flood-hit areas in his home state, the PM announced that the government would provide additional assistance to help lighten the burden of flood victims, other than the RM500.

During the floods in Sabah, the PM came for a wedding reception but failed to find the time to visit the flood-hit areas during his visit.

He came and went without even so much as saying a word about the flood situation in Sabah at that time, let alone announce any flood aid. This speaks volume of how much or rather how less the PM cares for Sabahans.

The PM's tweet for God to help Sarawak flood victims is no less convincing that he cares less for Sarawakians.

Given the federal stand on preventing Christians from using the Allah word, one wonders which God is the PM referring to in seeking to pray for aid for the Sarawakians!

To rub salt into the wound, not only are victims in the peninsula given flood aid, farmers and fishermen were to be given further aid for their losses of crops, livestock and fish in cages.

The Minister of Agriculture even announced that the aid would be given within two weeks.

In Sabah and Sarawak, hundreds of villages were inundated during the floods.

Did the PM and the Minister of Agriculture not think that the floods in Sabah and Sarawak had also destroyed many crops, livestock and fish in cages in addition to destruction of homes and caused other untold losses?

Flood victims in Sarawak at least had the support and assistance of the Chief Minister and his band of merry
ministers who were on the ground attending to the flood victims and ensuring food and other aid from the state agencies reached the victims.

Unfortunately for Sabahans, the state government were doing the disappearing act with absentee ministers nowhere to be seen near the flood-hit areas.

Perhaps, the difference between the Sabah and Sarawak governments could be the attitude of their leader, the Chief Minister.

Or, it could be that the Sarawak government is headed by a local party leader while in Sabah, the leader is subservient to his political masters in Putrajaya.

There are plenty of lessons to be learnt from the way the flood victims in Sabah and Sarawak are treated, compared to their counterparts in the peninsula.

Sabahans and Sarawakians alike should remember these lessons come the 14th general election and vote to oust the sitting Umno/BN federal government.

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Medals for those serving during state of emergencies – BorneoPost <b>...</b>

Posted: 03 Jan 2014 11:17 AM PST

by Johnson K Saai, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on January 4, 2014, Saturday

KUCHING: Those who served the country during the state of emergencies will be awarded the Pingat Jasa Pahlawan Negara (PJPN) medals in stages starting this year, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar announced here yesterday.

"It has been approved by the Cabinet and endorsed by the King," he said at a media conference after chairing a meeting at the State Police Headquarters officers' mess here.

He said that the medals will be bestowed on those who served in any of the emergencies, based on merit, as recognition and honour for their spirit of heroism, including the police, armed forces and civilians.

Wan Junaidi, who is Santubong MP, said that the PJPN however will be without monetary allowance unlike SP and PGB gallantry awards which were given monthly monetary reward.

He disclosed that Sarawak has been given the honour to launch the medal bestowment on a date that was yet to be fixed but expected to be within this month.

"Our ministry which is in charge of the distribution of medals has invited the Head of State Tun Datuk Patinggi Muhammad Salahudin Abang Barieng to give away the medals to between 100 and 150 recipients during the launching," he pointed out.

According to him about 1,000 medals would be given out in the state for the first phase starting this year.

"Based on our list we have 146,888 people throughout the country who are eligible to receive the medals and for the first batch we are going to give out 10,000.

"Apart from giving the medals to surviving recipients posthumous medals will also be given to those who have passed away since under the statute the father, wife or children can also receive the medals on behalf of the recipients," he asserted.

He earlier explained that the nation was under state of emergencies between 1948-1960 and 1960-1989 in Peninsular Malaysia and 1962-1990 in Sarawak.

Among those present at the media conference yesterday was State Commissioner of Police SDCP Dato' Wira Muhammad Sabtu Osman.

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Bible seizure violates constitution - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 03 Jan 2014 11:22 AM PST

by Lian Cheng, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on January 4, 2014, Saturday

KUCHING: Chairman of Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS) Archbishop Bolly Lapok branded the act of raiding Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) which resulted in two arrests and the seizing of more than 300 copies of Bibles as 'an act of treason'.

"If an action assumes such arrogance that violates the Federal Constitution and pays total disregard to the Prime Minister's directive is not treason, I do not know what is," said ACS in a statement yesterday.

ACS was responding to the Selangor State Islamic Affairs Department (Jais)'s raid of BSM which took place on Jan 2 where two arrests were made and 320 copies of Al-Kitab as well as 10 copies of Bup Kudus (Bible of Iban Langauge) were seized.

Describing the raid as 'shocking', ACS reminded those involved in the 10-point agreement issued by the Federal Cabinet on April 2011 to address Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia Bible and other related issues.

The first two points being – "Bibles in all languages can be imported into the country, including Bahasa Malaysia/ Indonesia" and "These Bibles can also be printed locally in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak".

ACS said the dispute over the use of the word "Allah" had poisoned the nation's inter-religious relation and tearing the fabric of Malaysian plural society.

"In the face of the unrelenting dispute, a voice of reason among us has called for all citizens to respect, honour and abide by the guarantee of religious freedom as enshrined in the Federal Constitution and which was agreed to when Sabah and Sarawak joined Malaya to form Malaysia.

"I would urge that in our handling of such a sensitive issue, it is imperative that we exercise maximum restraint and without undue prejudice. Our action will either convict or commend us before men and God. JAIS has much to answer for its action," said the Archbishop for South East Asia.

Meanwhile, the Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM) called on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and other Christian lawmakers to act immediately to stop the seizure of Bibles.

In a statement dated yesterday, CCM also called upon the churches in the country to stay calm and pray that the proper authorities would act with wisdom and sensitivity and protect religious rights as provided under the Federal Constitution.

Expressing alarm over the raid at the beginning of 2014, CCM pointed out that the Islamic authorities did not have the authority in law to enter the premises of non-Muslim religious establishments for inspection, search or raid.

"The Federal Constitution guarantees by Article 11 (3) the right of religious communities of Malaysia to establish and maintain institutions and premises to freely profess and administer their affairs," said the statement.

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Credible performance by <b>Sarawak</b> juniors in Sports Excel track meet <b>...</b>

Posted: 02 Jan 2014 09:01 AM PST

by Marshall Tiong. Posted on January 3, 2014, Friday

KUCHING: The Sarawak junior track team put up a credible showing in the final race of the Sports Excel Junior Circuit at Kuala Lumpur's Cheras Velodrome.

In the tourney held from Dec 29-31, the fledging team competed in the 200m match sprint, individual pursuit, team sprint, scratch race and points race.

In the men's draw were Saxon Racing's Awang Adib, Viking's Mahathir Norsman and Mohd Fitri with Pahang SUKMA mountainbike XC gold medallist Rosnina Minggu and Viking's Norismieza Azeman competing in the women's section.

Rosnina had the best chance of an individual medal but had to settle for the fourth spot in both the match sprint and points race.

SMK Kuching High's top Sarawak junior Norismieza had to settle for fifth place in the individual pursuit when she failed to make the finals.

The Rosnina and Norismieza combination proved to be a boon for the team when they unexpectedly advanced to the finals of the team sprint where they had to be contented with a silver.

It would have been shocking if they had managed to beat their national juniors opponent.

The bronze medal went to Selangor.

The men's team were in tough fight against top flight competitions from the Malaysian junior team as well as those from top states Selangor, Terenganu and Johor.

The three inexperienced Sarawak riders put up a brave performance to earn several top 10 finishes.

Noting that the wet weather had wrecked their training for the meet, Sarawak track coach Faisal Dzulkaflee, who was assisted by Affendy Kadri, was nonetheless happy with the team.

"I am pleased with how the team responded against some of the top juniors in Malaysia, even though this was just an exposure trip for them," said Faisal.

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