Wong Chun Wai, here’s your litmus paper test!
May 10, 2008
“This is a historic decision. It is a major step for a progressive, multi-racial and multi-cultural Malaysia”.
“It was Siti Fatimah’s right to embrace Islam and likewise, it is also her right to return to her original faith. This is a matter for her to decide and no one else”
“It is hoped that with this decision, the cases of affected Malaysians would be resolved”.
So says Ong Ka Ting, as reported in the online Star yesterday under the heading ‘MCA hails court decision’.
No surprise that MCA is in the cesspool that it is today!
On the one hand, Ka Ting proclaims that this was a matter for Tan alone to decide and no-one else.
Yet in the same breath he declares that her having to submit to a judicial process where she could only formally exit Islam upon the ‘yes, go ahead, you may go’ order of the Syariah court, as ‘a major step for a progressive, multi-racial and multi-cultural Malaysia’ .
And this decision, he hopes, will provide the solution for the Lina Joys and Revathis!
Missing altogether the point that some judge was deciding whether Tan could or could not renounce Islam!
This, for Ka Ting and MCA, amounts to “a matter for her to decide and no one else” ?
Could somebody in the MCA think-tank shake this man up from his slumber?
Or else tell him that it would help if he put on his thinking cap before he shoots off his mouth!
Glad to see that Wong Chun Wai, at least, has not missed the inherent difficulties in the Siti Fatimah decision.
In his blog, WCW says this ( the emphasis in red is my own and not WCW’s :
‘The Syariah High Court in Penang may have allowed the application by Muslim convert Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah to renounce Islam and revert to her original faith but that’s not the end of her problems. Or the problems of others in the same situation. The court did not grant her application to change the religious status on her IC from Muslim to Buddhist, saying that it did not come under the court’s jurisdiction and she had to pursue the matter with the National Registration Department. Let’s hope the NRD would be kind to her. Unlike the civil courts, Syariah Courts are not bound by the principle of judicial precedents. The Syariah court judges exercise their own judicial findings. The Penang Syariah Court’s decision maybe unprecedented but other states may not necessarily follow suit. For that matter, the next case that comes up in Penang, the judge is not bound to make a similar decision. The concept of precedent is for the purpose of consistency which is normally followed, unless the facts and circumstances being tried are different. But lawyers and court reporters have told me that the gates have not been opened. The Penang decision is a victory for the freedom of religion but don’t jump for joy too fast’
Wong, kudos to you.
However, given that your paper has given such prominence to the idiotic views of Ka Ting on this very important issue, how’s about your devoting an op-ed on your take as articulated in your blog on the Siti Fatimah decision?
In the print version of the Star, please.
May 10, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Religious freedom becomes a total natural farst
If I can’t freely anytime let go or hold fast
Religion is never meant to be kept in an iron cast
And then kept strung up high on a permanent mast
(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng - 100508
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
Sat. 10th May 2008.
May 10, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Religious freedom becomes a total natural man-made farst
If I can’t freely on my own anytime let go or hold fast
Religion is never meant to be locked up in an iron cast
And then kept strung up high on a permanent display mast
(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng - 100508 (Updated)
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
Sat. 10th May 2008.
May 10, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Bro
I’m amazed you are giving so much publicity to this much discredited disgrace to journalism called WCW. I will never ever forget his implied threat to M’sians to ‘vote wisely.’ You expect a leopard to ever change its spots? Now he’s a Blogger, where not so long ago he would not be seen within 10 feet of one. What credibility does WCW have anymore with us?
If you read his article on Karpal, he seems to be egging the AG to charge Karpal with sedition.
With ‘friends’ like this, do you need enemies?
May 10, 2008 at 9:22 pm
bro,
for ur info, i rarely read his stuff except the headlines, this editor is a propogandist and a spin tale doctor .he has got a blog and its not worth visiting a political dog’s blog.as matter of fact , this dog barks at different tune and let the dog has its day.doggone it
May 10, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Hi Haris,
Sorry for keeping quiet in your blog. Been busying myself in Malaysia Today.
I really hope the Syariah institutions would not ‘black list’ the courageous Syarie Lawyer.
I would suggest that you keep in touch with that fine lawyer. If he is blacklisted in one way or another, let’s give him justice. He deserve it. He might be paid, yes but his effort to ensure justice for his client is remarkable.
Bro,
Before you start to sing praises, I suggest you watch these 2 video clips first.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=echaEOz0OrU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axt5CLbPb04&feature=related
And, no, I’m not even talking about what he’s said about Imtiaz and myself. That’s a secondary issue.
May 11, 2008 at 12:03 am
WCW may sits comfortably in a nice position with a nice title to his name, but in the eyes of the rakyat, he has totally lost our respect.
May 11, 2008 at 12:09 am
Don’t be conned thinking that Ong Ka Ting wrote the MCA’s piece, it’s probably one of his publicity slaves or the CEO think tank “baby elephant called “Fui”. As usual shooting off in paper without much thinking. Ong probably read through the draft. Believe me, that”s the way it works for his publicity stunts.
Fui K Soong is the CEO of MCA’s think tank who was hammered left and right in a blog on her piece published in the SUN recently.
Madmonk
May 11, 2008 at 1:05 am
.
mca is 15 years behind time.
too little too late.
morons at its best.
.
May 11, 2008 at 1:50 am
The Star and their editors have played ball with BN and UMNO for so long that they have completely lost credilbility.For a Star editor to make a 360 degree turn and now trying to say things the vast majority of Malaysians have been saying the last 30 years just prove that the Star have lost touch with its readers.I have not bought the paper for more than a decade.WCW is now blogging for the simple reason the HQ of Star is in Penang and less and less people are buying the paper.He’s just playing “Yes!.Boss”.No one in the Star in their wildest dream thought the new boss in Penang would be the one wearing a rocket badge.
Now that it is a reality, let us consign the Star to join up with another relic of the past-New Straits Times-which I have not bought for 2 decades.
Right on bloggers
May 11, 2008 at 8:33 am
Donplaypuks,
My observation: People generally do value honest attempts to set out the truth for our common knowledge and for the common good … if we had had more intellectual honesty amongst Malaysian’s paid and licensed writers, the BN’s 50-plus years reign and rein would have been curtailed much earlier.
I appreciated your effort in explaining ‘Parameswara didn’t convert’ in Malaysiakini Letters – it cleared up my understanding of that little slice of history which all my years of schooling under the Malaysian syllabus never made clear at all – so I remembered your byline. And as such, I think it’s worth now taking this bit of time and trouble to clarify (I wouldn’t bother for Avtaran, for example), seeing as to how you’re perplexed.
Firstly, while you may view WCW as the “much discredited disgrace to journalism”, like it or not, we have to grant that the man is formidable. He sits at the apex of the Star editorial set-up and his paper is the largest circulation English rag and the most lucrative print ad raker.
WCW has the power to make or break careers in his organisation, and to shape young reporters, not to mention shape his paper’s coverage. And we might as well allow this interpretation too – to shape the national narrative, and to influence more susceptible minds than yours and mine.
Let’s face it … how many people read Star, how many People’s Parliament? Star is very popular!
Staff in WCW’s office address him as Datuk, with a degree of ampu-bodek for sure as comes with the title (and he has two Datukships by the way) and territory. People outside curry his favour to get a favourable write-up in his paper.
I’m not sure if you or others are aware but Star Online has a bigger readership/wider reach than Malaysiakini – significantly ahead before March 8 and though the tsunami has helped mKini narrow the gap, Star is still ahead in Internet traffic volume, if not in credibility.
And even if WCW carries no credibility with you, he does with other folks (just like theSun has little with me but it has nonetheless its supporters and my Sun-stroke project, its detractors).
WCW has had stints at Stanford University and the University of Southern California, and also won the ‘prestigious’ Malaysian Press Institute award for best news feature. While you may be none too impressed, who’s to say other folks might not be.
You also note: “Now he’s a Blogger, where not so long ago he would not be seen within 10 feet of one.” Ya lor.
He’s not the only one from MSM to do this sudden turnaround parachuting into cyberspace, and certainly not the only one either to prominently display such ‘credentials’ and a ‘prestigious’ trophy shelf in Biodata, and some folks do buy into such self-promotion.
The crux of the issue lies in your rhetorical question: “You expect a leopard to ever change its spots?”
Haris has given WCW kudos for his blog post on the Penang Syariah court decision. Admittedly, it IS an incisive post, to give credit where credit is due.
Now isn’t it a pity that such an incisive take is only accessible to readers of WCW’s blog?
This piece of good commentary (no sarcasm intended, Wong truly deserves the kudos … at least for this one) should go out to all readers who’re not online, and to all Star readers in all those areas without Internet penetration.
There’s no reason why this material – WCW’s op-ed on conversion in and out of Islam – should not see print in his paper. Unless WCW has a split personality, one in his blog and one in his national column.
May 11, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Haris, you wrote “In the print version of the Star, please.”
Actually if this appears in the online version of The Star and not just on WCW’s blog, that will already be a big deal.
These guys cleverly differentiate the treatment of reports according to target audience. Not everything that is posted on StarOnline finds its way to the print copy.
May 11, 2008 at 4:32 pm
It would seem to me he does have a split personality, Helen. I for one would have expected him to run his article in the Star newspaper and subsequently carry it in his own blog. Or do it simultaneously.
Is it a case of different strokes for different folks then, as someone said earier? I can never trust such a messenger!
May 11, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Damn!
I was too quick. My bad.
Sorry. Looks like more work has to be done.