[SunStar] An Abu Sayyaf rebel was killed and two others surrendered after Philippine troops clashed with the militants around 2 a.m. Friday in Bangalaw Island, Banguingui, Sulu. The rebels were under the late sub-leader Alhabsy Misaya, who was killed in a clash with marines last month in Indanan, Sulu. The gun battle resulted in the death of Misaya's follower identified only as Imbo.
There were no reported casualties on the government side while the Abu Sayyaf militants were believed to have suffered more casualties as bloodstains were found on their retreat path.
Sobejana said, "Imbo is an ASG/KFRG (Abu Sayyaf Group/Kidnap-for-ransom-group) member and trusted contact on Bangalaw island of the late Misaya. He is a KFR contact and facilitator in the island and a keeper of Misaya's firearms and pump boats used in kidnapping ventures."
The two Abu Sayyaf militants who surrendered were identified as Janatin Mudjaral Madjakin, and his son, Aldaside.
Continued on Page 47
[SCMP] Cathy Chin left Malaysia for Australia feeling she had been treated as a "second-class citizen" because of her ethnicity.
"Malaysia is a beautiful country but the politics is sickening. Religion is put first, scholarships given on religion and ethnicity," said the registered nurse, who is ethnically Chinese.
"Every country has its own political and welfare issues, Australia included, but I feel that I get more rights as a second-class citizen here in Australia. My religion and ethnicity do not come into play."
Unfortunately for Malaysia, Chin, a 28-year-old with two degrees, is far from alone in feeling this way. According to Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the home minister, of the 56,576 Malaysians who renounced their citizenship between 2006 and 2016, 49,864 were Chinese.
Those figures were underlined by a recent study that found almost half of ethnic Chinese had a strong desire to leave Malaysia. Not only that, but the researchers from Oxford University found that across ethnicities, the Malaysians with the strongest desire to emigrate were those who had at least completed secondary education ‐ 17.3 per cent for Malays, 52.6 per cent for Chinese and 42 per cent for Indians. The survey also found that only 7.2 per cent of Chinese respondents felt the government’s economic policies were "very fair".
For Clementine Lee, 26, another ethnic Chinese Malaysian, moving to Shanghai meant better work opportunities, more money, and the kind of preferential treatment often bestowed upon expats. Lee is a public relations manager. Like Chin, she has two degrees.
"Malaysia is getting more backwards and religious," she said, citing the persecution of transgender women by Islamic authorities, laws governing conversion and apostasy, and the recent tabling of a bill in parliament that would enable sharia courts to hand out harsher punishments.
Ethnic Chinese in Malaysia have long complained of discrimination. Various politicians have exhorted the Chinese to "return to China", pro-Malay groups have urged them to "be grateful", and state-linked media have produced advertisements depicting the Chinese behaving inappropriately during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. And, in 2013, when the last general election saw increased support for the opposition, one newspaper ran a headline asking apa lagi Cina mau (what more do the Chinese want?) With another election looming, there is a danger both race and religion could again be exploited as politicians court the ethnic Malay vote.
Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese and Indians are generally crowded out of the education system. Up until 2001 a quota system kept most university places for Malays. Now universities have internal quotas. There is a widespread belief that non-Malays cannot get government scholarships due to race.
Analyst Hwok-Aun Lee, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, said the disparity between groups, with Chinese indicating a much greater inclination to emigrate, was not healthy for Malaysia. "Chinese Malaysians on average have greater means to emigrate and have largely ingrained the ethos of self-reliance. They are also more likely to have emigrant family and friends who may encourage the decision and provide moral and practical support," Lee said. He said that academic high-achievers who head abroad "often express the sentiment they were not given a fair chance, or felt undervalued".
However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt...
the deputy home minister Nur Jazlan Mohammed said: "Brain drain is about many factors. But with many countries being more closed about immigration policies, those who emigrate from Malaysia may find fewer opportunities and more discrimination in other countries."
Professor Rajah Rasiah, of the University Malaya’s Department of Development Studies, said peoples’ feeling of being politically disadvantaged was one reason driving migration, while perceptions of creeping Islamisation, as well as the nature of politics in Malaysia, may also have an influence. He said there needed to be opportunities for people with skills and experience to return to Malaysia and work. He said state-run firms "must emphasise merit and be subject to performance standards". Rajah said Malaysians in successful positions overseas were willing to consider returning. "However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves...
they have made it clear that unless the state shows a passion to welcome them back as real Malaysians, and offer the same privileges as for the others, they will not return when they are still productive," he said.
The number of Malaysian professionals overseas returning home has dropped by more than half since 2013, according to statistics from national talent enhancement agency TalentCorp. One of its initiatives, the Returning Expert Programme, facilitates the return of professionals abroad, to address Malaysia’s shortage of technical experts. In 2016 there were only 398 returners, 55.8 per cent lower than the 900 in 2013 and far below the target of 800 returners. In 2015 and 2014 there were 616 and 606 returners respectively.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11132 views]
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#1
For those of you who have never been to Malaysia, Chinese = whites, Malays = blacks. Malaysian law heavily favors Malays and considers Chinese can do everything themselves. Kind of like American law.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
05/21/2017 4:17 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Since Malays are a majority - it would be more like South Africa, nyet?
#5
The Malayan Emergency... from 1948 until 1960. Support for the MNLA was mainly based on around 500,000 of the 3.12 million ethnic Chinese then living in Malaya.
The tl;dr...The Chinese are foreign trouble makers.
[SCMP] Indonesia has moved to disband the decades-old hardline group Hizbut Tahrir ...an al-Qaeda recruiting organization banned in most countries. It calls for the reestablishment of the Caliphate... Indonesia (HTI).In a speech on May 8, retired general Wiranto, now a government minster, listed three grounds: that HTI had not assumed a positive role in the country’s efforts to achieve national goals; that its activities contradict the country’s principles and constitution; and that it had caused conflict in society, which may threaten security.
Wiranto said the group’s aim of establishing a caliphate was a threat to the nation state of Indonesia and that it would be disbanded legally.
What if Ahok’s loss in the Jakarta election wasn’t all about Islam and anti-Chinese feeling?
Rejecting the plan, the officially registered organization maintained that for 20 years it has mainly proselytised and preached about Islam, which is not against the law.
HTI is the Indonesian branch of Hizbut Tahrir, an international, pan-Islamic, political organization established in Paleostine in 1953, aiming to unify all Moslem countries under an elected ruler, or caliph.
It began its activities in the 1980s, by proselytising and recruiting members at campuses.
In 2007, at a large meeting organised by HTI in Jakarta, tens of thousands expressed support for the caliphate.
In 2016, Indonesian police found that Bahrun Naim, the alleged planner of the Jakarta bombing that year, had previously studied with Hizbut Tahrir.
Aside from Indonesia, Hizbut Tahrir is banned in 16 other countries, 14 of them Moslem states.
The disbandment announcement came only two days before outgoing Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Purnama, an ethnic Chinese Christian, was sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy against Islam.
HTI, like many hardline groups, had supported the blasphemy charges.
Some Islamic organizations welcomed the move to disband HTI as a step toward curbing hardliners.
Even the Indonesian Ulema Council, the country’s top Moslemholy manal body, whose ruling went against Purnama in court, agreed that HTI should be banned.
The move against HTI would seem like a blow for hardliners, but Purnama’s imprisonment still signals the growing presence of Islamist influence in the court.
And other violent intolerant groups ‐ such as the Islamic Defenders Front and National Movement of MUI Fatwa Defenders, the main supporters of the blasphemy charges ‐ have not been banned.
Some speculate the Islamic Defenders Front still enjoys support from some elements in the military. Its leader Rizieq Shihab, himself under investigation for contradicting the nation’s founding principles, now hides in Malaysia.
One of the dilemmas of democracy is that its protection of individual rights and emphasis on pluralism let fundamentalist groups exist freely, even when such groups advocate undemocratic values. But in the end the survival of a diverse nation such as Indonesia depends on the preservation of its initial consensus to respect and protect such diversity from intolerant elements.
As the polarisation between hardline and moderate Moslems grows, it is crucial for the government to stay firm in upholding these core values.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11136 views]
Top|| File under: Hizb-ut-Tahrir
#1
But in the end the survival of a diverse nation....depends on the preservation of its initial consensus to respect and protect such diversity from intolerant elements.
Amen.
Sorry Muslims, we can't tolerate your beliefs being above those of our own Constitution, and our conscious.
#6
Around sept 11 I read something (Christopher Hitchens I think) suggesting one main thrust of our response should be to finance non-Saudi churches and work with Muslim nations outside the Arab world to eliminate the corrupting Saudi influence.
We didn't but Saudi money is getting tight so it might not be a bad policy try to somehow create and support an Eastern Orthodox Islam (from India east). One that might be able to live with the rest of the world.
#7
As Muslim Split Deepens, Indonesia Creaks Under Weight Of Intolerance
Here is the corrected headline:
As The Islamists Feel Their Oats, Indonesia Cracks Under Soul-Destroying Weight Of Islam
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/21/2017 14:11 Comments ||
Top||
#8
HTI is the Indonesian branch of Hizbut Tahrir, an international, pan-Islamic, political organization established in Paleostine in 1953, aiming to unify all Moslem countries under an elected ruler, or caliph.
You mean like the European Union?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/21/2017 15:00 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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