Apparently, the Malaysian High Court did rule on Thursday (contrary to another report) that local Roman Catholics can resume referring to God as Allah in Malay-language publication. The Wall Street Journal claims that the decision partially halted the steady Islamization of the majority-Muslim nation in recent years.
A lot has been made recent of how Malaysia is fast losing its status as one of the last bastions of moderate Islam, and every single political issue recently involving Islam has been scrutinized to see which way it will go.
However, the editor of the Malaysian Roman Catholic Church’s Herald newspaper described the decision as a “landmark case for our nation,” and said it upholds constitutional guarantees for freedom of speech and religion. The article ends with PM Najib Tun Razak’s promise that the government would resist efforts by Islamist hardliners to turn Malaysia becoming a more faith-based nation. But shouldn’t the media actually address the case at hand by analysing the argument put forward by supporters of the ban (if only to pick it apart) that the use of the word “Allah” could lead possibly to confusion, rather than simply questioning whether Malaysia is becoming more Islamist or not based on every single issue.
Filed under: Malaysia, Media | Leave a Comment
Tags: Malaysia, Media
The 7th ASLI Conference 2010
The purpose of this annual conference is to bring together scholars of Asian law from within and outside Asia to interact, share ideas and build collegial networks which may facilitate ongoing dialogue and research collaborations. In addition to the paper presentations and Distinguished Lecture, there will be a Research Forum, Poster Presentation and Young Scholars Workshop. We hope that the research forum will be widely used in the 7th conference to bring together collaborators of various projects as discussed at the previous conference. Presenters and non-presenters are encouraged to connect with fellow academics before the conference and start thinking about potential research projects.
Two new initiatives this year are the Poster Presentation and the Young Scholars Workshop. The Poster Presentation is modeled on the life sciences and presenters are expected to prepare a poster outlining the key ideas they wish to discuss. Conference delegates will be free to wander around the room and discuss posters that interest them with the respective authors on Day Two of the conference. The Young Scholars Workshop will be run as a seventh parallel session with two senior academics acting as chair and commentator.
The conference format remains broadly the same as last year: there will be five rounds of six parallel sessions over two days. The broad theme of the conference is “Law in a Pluralist Asia: Challenges and Prospects.” Asia is arguably the most pluralist region in the world and law has a critical role in accommodating and managing this plurality, which exists at so many levels.
Within the broad conference theme of “Law in a Pluralist Asia: Challenges and Prospects”, five of the parallel sessions will focus on selected sub-themes: (1) religion/religious laws (studying aspects of various religious laws, for example, Islamic(Shariah), Jewish, Hindu, Biblical in their historical contexts and application to modern life, as well as examining the place of religion in national legal systems); (2) norms, values and law (exploring competing social, cultural, religious, traditional norms as well as the balancing of minority and majority interests in society); (3) legal pluralism (examining the historical and contemporary phenomenon of the coexistence of different legal systems within various jurisdictions in Asia ); (4) law and economic development (examining different models of economic development in Asia and how law has a role to play in facilitating economic development and international trade taking into account the different stages of social and political development in Asia; (5) regionalization and law (looking at the role of law in developing regional institutions and common standards as well as the harmonization of legal and regulatory regimes. Session (6) will be a general one to include presentations that address the broad theme but may not fit comfortably within the subthemes, or may cut across subthemes, for example, conflict of law or comparative law.
Call for papers
There will be four papers per panel to give presenters and discussants adequate time for fruitful engagement. We encourage participants to focus their papers and address the conference theme and sub-themes. In addition to the general call for individual papers, we would also like to encourage individuals to organise their own panels by coordinating with colleagues, preferably from other ASLI institutions. This will allow for the panels to be more cohesive and will also foster greater collaboration between academics, which is one of the key aims of ASLI.
http://law.nus.edu.sg/asli/7th_asli_conf/index.html
Filed under: CFP | Leave a Comment
God or Allah
Malaysian High Court has postponed a decision (due yesterday) on whether the government can ban Christian groups can use the word “Allah” for God to Wednesday.
Robert Crane of The American Muslim, thinks that Christians in Malaysia should be allowed to use the word “Allah” to denote God. He quotes Muhammad Asad who writes that:
‘Although, by their deification of Jesus they are guilty of the sin of shirk (“the ascribing of divinity to anyone or anything beside God”), the Christians do not consciously worship a plurality of deities inasmuch as theoretically their theology postulates belief in One God, Who is conceived as manifesting Himself in a trinity of aspects or “persons”, of whom Jesus is supposed to be one… ‘The mystical doctrine of the “trinity,” in the Christian view, does not conflict with the principle of God’s Oneness inasmuch as it is supposed to express a “three-fold aspect” of the One Deity’.
Filed under: Definition of Islamic terms, Malaysia, multiculturalism | Leave a Comment
Tags: Malaysia, Name of God
Update: Law report of the case here
In Singapore, in a case which is reminiscent of the colonial period, two members of the Alsagoff family, Syed Abbas and Syed Omar Alsagoff, have lost their bid to oust MUIS (Islamic Religious Council) as the trustee of a Muslim trust (wakaf or waqf) worth millions. The trust, known as the Raja Siti trust, was responsible for building the Hajjah Fatimah mosque near Arab street and a madrasah. It also includes several shophouses in North Bridge Road. These assets were held for community benefit. It was named after the wife of Syed Ahmad Alsagoff. She created the trust of out of her own estate in November 1883.
Syed Omar and Syed Abbas Alsagoff were not appointed as beneficiaries or trustees which makes their case untenable. Halfway through the trial, the plaintiffs sought to be appointed mutawallis or co-managers or the trust under the Trustees Act, but the judge explained that the Act does not empower courts to appoint mutawallis to a Muslim wakaf that is governed by the Administration of Muslims Law Act (AMLA).
(Source: Straits Times, 25th December 2009)
Filed under: Arabs, Singapore, Trusts, inheritance | Leave a Comment
Tags: Singapore, Arabs, trustee, Trusts, endowments
Justin Holbrook has published a working paper on Legal pluralism in Mindanao and Sulu Archipelago in southern Philippines in SSRN. He discussed the steps taken by the Philippine government to formally recognize Muslim normative obligations, including the adoption of Presidential Decree 1083, the Muslim Code of Personal Laws. I’ll post more when I’ve read it.
Filed under: Legal pluralism, Mindanao, The Philippines | Leave a Comment
Tags: The Philippines, Legal pluralism, Mindanao
A Malaysian lawyer weighs in on the issue of transsexuals which has been a topic of discussion in Malaysia lately revolving around the status of Fatine Min Bahari. The writer usefully points out the difference between laws affecting a hermaphrodite and a transsexual:
If he is a hermaphrodite, no issue arises as Syariah laws recognise hermaphrodites as a natural phenomenon and even enable them to opt for sexual reassignment surgery (“SRS”) – if they elect to do so.
The reverse, however, is true if Fatine is a transsexual – that is to say someone who identifies with a physical sex different from his biological one. He would not be entitled to SRS and may even be subject to prosecution for “cross-dressing” especially when “cross dressing” is coupled with “immoral purposes”. That is how the law stands for Muslim transsexuals in Malaysia.
He points out that in Iran, transsexuals are allowed to go to SRS and are saved from persecution, though this does not mean that he is urging Malaysia to follow Iran’s example.
He ends by asking some important practical questions on how life would be for the pre-op and post-op transsexual such whether he or she could adopt a child, which restroom the transsexual should go to and what religious rites apply to him or her.
Filed under: Malaysia, Transsexual, human rights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Malaysia, Gender, Transsexual, hermaphrodite
Banggarma Subramaniam, who is a Hindu, but recognised as a Muslim in Malaysia, is now seeking a court declaration that the conversion process to Islam that she underwent was unlawful as she was then a child of seven. She argued, rightfully, that she did not and could not have, at that time, understood the contents and meaning of the words in the Declaration to Convert into Islam certificate which she was asked to recite, utter and execute. To reverse her conversion is out of the question, for she would be labelled an apostate, a crime in Shariah court in Malaysia, which meant that she would have to be punished.
I do wonder how Malaysian religious authorities will try to counter this argument. The court’s reluctance to grant Banggarma her wish could be symptomatic of a larger concern. Perhaps they’re worried about opening the floodgates to similar wishes in future, some of which might be as tenable as Banggarma Subramaniam’s case.
Filed under: Conversion, Malaysia, State authorities, Women, multiculturalism | Leave a Comment
Tags: Malaysia, shariah court, Hindu, apostasy, Conversion
Ghost oath
Sumpah pocong, or ghost oath, is often referred to as the ultimate oath and used as a last resort. It involves a person being wrapped in white cloth — resembling a shroud that Muslims are buried in — and then swearing their innocence. If the oath-taker lies about his innocence while wearing the shround, he is said to risk death or chronic illness.
Now ulama in East Java are asking for the oath to be included as a valid alternative legal avenue..
At the same time however, authorities are trying to address the problem of black magic and sorcery, which is is hard to prove in the first place. The inclusion of Sumpah pocong as a legal alternative to settle disputes would definitely send mixed signals.
Filed under: Indonesia | Leave a Comment
Tags: black magic, Indonesia, sorcery
Dress code in Aceh
More on West Aceh’s ban on trousers for women. It seems that ostracization awaits repeat offenders.
“…once the new regulation was implemented, the district-level government would strongly recommended that government and private offices refuse services for Muslims who violate the dress code. Of course, for the first time, the person [who violates the dress code] should just be reprimanded, not ignored,” he said. But the next time they come back and still do not follow the dress code, they should be sanctioned by not being given any service.”
Filed under: Aceh, Dress code, Women | Leave a Comment
Tags: Aceh, Dress code, Indonesia, Women
Shariah policewomen
Acehnese policewomen are out on the streets haranguing young women wearing tight jeans. In West Aceh, women are already forbidden to wear trousers. Snippets from the article below.
Women caught in breach will have their trousers torn up and they will be forced to wear “loose fitting” attire. Ramli Mansur, the district chief of West Aceh, has already placed an order for 14,000 long skirts, and sent a stern edict to schools and colleges warning against violating the law.
“It will reduce crime,” said Ayub Ahmad, the secretary of Dinas Syariat Islam, who went on to explain: “Bill Clinton decided to have an affair with Monica Lewinsky only after he saw her in seductive dresses.”
Filed under: Aceh, Indonesia, State authorities, Women | Leave a Comment
Tags: Aceh, Indonesia, police
Recent Entries
- God or Allah – ruling issued in M’sia
- CFP: Law in a Pluralist Asia (Kuala Lumpur)
- God or Allah
- Descendants of Arab family lose bid to oust Religious Council as trustee in Singapore
- Article: ‘Legal hybridity in the Philippines: lessons in legal pluralism from Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago’ by Justin Holbrook
- Article by M’sian lawyer probes status of transsexual
- Hindu woman attempts to declare conversion unlawful
- Ghost oath
- Dress code in Aceh
- Shariah policewomen
- Black magic in Islamic court
Categories
- Aceh (6)
- Adultery (3)
- Africa (1)
- alcohol (1)
- Arabs (1)
- Books (2)
- Britain (2)
- Brunei (1)
- CFP (1)
- constitution (2)
- Conversion (2)
- Definition of Islamic terms (3)
- Divorce (1)
- Dress code (1)
- Education (2)
- Europe (1)
- Haj (1)
- human rights (2)
- Indonesia (8)
- inheritance (2)
- Islamic Finance (5)
- Legal pluralism (1)
- Madhhab (2)
- Malaysia (21)
- Marital (4)
- Media (3)
- Mindanao (1)
- multiculturalism (6)
- Polygamy (1)
- shariah court (3)
- Singapore (3)
- State authorities (6)
- Thailand (1)
- The Philippines (1)
- Transsexual (2)
- Trusts (1)
- Women (8)
