・ As for the Bible issues at the BSM (http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily2/archive?word=BSM), I don't think that it will be completely over and peacefully settled. It is only temporary. Other related or similar problems will be repeated again and agian soon. Stay tuned!
・ As for the news articles in 2.(2)"Malay Mail Online" and 3. "Irish Times", the original sources were actually published in 2010. These kinds of 'Islamic something index' are nothing new. In Malaysia, I could find similar unreliable, strange indices here and there at the bookshops since the early 1990s.(See:http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily/20090617)
(1) OriginalSource:http://www.ahmad-juhaidi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/how-islamic-islamic-countries.pdf
“Global Economy Journal”(Vol.10, Issue 2 2010) ‘How Islamic are Islamic Countries?’ by Scheherazade S. Rehman & Hossein Askari
pp.31-37 APPENDIX 2 (Addendum):OVERALL ISLAMICITY INDEX RANK
1.New Zealand, 2.Luxembourg, 3.Ireland, 4.Iceland, 5.Finland, 6.Denmark, 7.Canada, 8.U.K., 9.Australia,Netherlands, 11.Austria, 12.Norway, 13.Switzerland, 14.Belgium, 15.Sweden, 16.Portugal, 17.Germany, 18.Bahamas,France, 20.Czech Rep, 21.Estonia, 22.Costa Rica, 23.Spain,Barbados, 25.U. S., 26.Slove, 27.Hong Kong,China, 28.Latvia, 29.Japan, 37.Singapore, 38.Malaysia, 61.Israel, 207.West Bank and Gaza.(Excerpt)
(2)Original Source: http://relooney.fatcow.com/SI_Expeditionary/0-Important_87.pdf
“Global Economy Journal”(Vol.10, Issue 3, 2010)‘An Economic Islamicity Index’ by Scheherazade S. Rehman & Hossein Askari
pp. 17-22 TABLE II:ECONOMIC ISLAMICITY EI2 INDEX
1. Ireland, 2. Denmark, 3. Luxembourg, 4. Sweden, 5. United Kingdom, 6. New Zealand, 7. Singapore, 8. Finland, 9. Norway, 10.Belgium, 11. Austria, 12. Hong Kong, China, 13. Canada, 14. Australia, 15. Netherlands, 16.United States, 17. France, 18. Cyprus, 19. Chile, 20. Iceland, 21. Japan , 22. Estonia, 23. Switzerland, 24. Lithuania, 25. Czech Republic, 26. Germany, 27. Israel, 28. Spain, 29. Portugal, 33. Malaysia, 34. Italy, 91. Saudi Arabia, 97. India, 129. Egypt, Arab Rep., 139. Iran, Islamic Rep., 145. Pakistan, 148. Iraq, 149. Afghanistan,189. West Bank and Gaza (Excerpt) (Lily)
1. Malaysian Insider(http://www.themalaysianinsider.com)
(1)Seized Bibles: the brave ones and the cowards 11 June 2014
Nothing that Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said in a press statement today on the case of the seized Bibles by Jais qualified as new or news.
Seriously, there was nothing earth-shattering about it. Why do we say this?
Because most right-thinking Malaysians knew that the raid on the Bible Society of Malaysia premises in Petaling Jaya by the storm troopers from the Selangor Islamic Religious Department on January 2 was wrong, done in bad faith and violated the constitutional right of Christians to practise their faith.
The Jais enforcers walked away with some 300 copies of the Malay and Iban Bibles, and relied on a Selangor state enactment that prohibits non-Muslims in the state from using 35 words, including Allah and Injil.
Never mind that the Federal Constitution always trumps state laws and that Putrajaya itself had come out with its 10-point resolution on unresolved issues involving Christians and allowed the import of Malay-language Bibles.
This action by Jais was mean-spirited, plain and simple. It was schoolyard bullying at its worst. Unfortunately, the sometimes prime minister chose to stay on the sidelines and the Selangor menteri besar offered only gibberish.
After more than six months, we have some closure but make no mistake, damage has been done.
The Malaysian Insider assesses the main players in this sorry episode.
Brave ones
・Bible Society of Malaysia
The past and present leaders of the society have behaved with honour and dignity throughout the past few months, always relying on legal arguments and constitutional guarantees to hammer away at Jais's case.
Sandwiched in between has been their call to their followers to show Christian charity towards their persecutors.
・Mujahid Yusof Rawa
The Parti Islam SeMalaysia man was one of the first Muslim politicians who came out openly and urged Islamic authorities across the country to act sensibly and respectfully towards non-Muslims. He deserves kudos for always putting principle before political grand-standing.
・Bernard Dompok, James Masing and other politicians from Sabah and Sarawak
These men have not flinched in their fight against religious zealots.
They saw the Jais raid for what it was: a dangerous attempt by a religious authority to narrow the constitutional freedom of religion.
Cowards
・Jais
They owe the Bible Society of Malaysia an apology for behaving like thugs and treating a legitimate organisation like an underworld outfit. They owe Christians an apology for speaking and handling the holy book like a national security threat.
Are they going to say sorry? That is probably as likely as Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan or Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi saying anything intelligent.
For Jais, arrogance courses through their veins like blood. Just look at how they showed up at a wedding in a Hindu temple to question the bride about her religious status.
・Najib Razak, Idris Jala and their ilk
When they needed the Christian vote in the Sarawak elections in 2011, Najib and gang put on such a charm campaign. They rolled out the 10-point solution, made all sorts of promises on the use of the word Allah. Anything for a vote.
But precious little was said or done in the wake of the raid. A sighting of Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Datuk Seri Idris Jala anywhere near this issue was as rare as sighting the yeti.
・Khalid Ibrahim and his exco
The main apologists of Jais. Just how disappointing was the protection afforded to the BSM by the Selangor menteri besar and his exco and the limp initial comments about the raid?
Enough for the BSM to move its headquarters from Selangor to the Federal Territory.
(2)A-G says Jais erred in seizing Bibles, orders case closed,11 June 2014
Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail today said the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) had erred in seizing Bibles from the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) and ordered the case closed, bringing an end to a contentious issue, which had dragged on for the past six months. The A-G also noted that the 321 copies of the Alkitab...
Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail today said the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) had erred in seizing Bibles from the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) and ordered the case closed, bringing an end to a contentious issue, which had dragged on for the past six months.
The A-G also noted that the 321 copies of the Alkitab (Malay Bible) and Bup Kudus (Iban Bibles) were not a threat to national security.
Gani further said in a statement there would be no prosecution and appeared to have ordered Jais to return the seized holy books to the BSM.
"On the issue of the seized Bibles, I expect Jais to do the necessary according to the law," Gani said.
He said they had reviewed the facts and statements in the investigation papers on the raid and seizure of the holy books.
"We also took into consideration the Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation among Muslims) Enactment 1988.
"In conclusion, it was decided that the seized books did not run afoul of Section 9 (1) of the 1988 Enactment.
"The statements recorded made it quite clear that the seized books are Bibles in the Malay language.
Gani said statements recorded from Home Ministry officials also indicated that the books did not fall under their purview and, thus, did not involve national security.
The saga of the seized Bibles began on January 2 when a Jais team raided the BSM offices in Damansara Kim and seized 321 Malay and Iban Bibles.
Then BSM president Lee Min Choon and office manager Sinclair Wong were detained and taken to the police station. They were released on bail.
Last month, Lee had said that Jais was refusing to return the seized Bibles as to do so, would be an admission that it had erred in both deed and manner.
"Returning the Bibles will amount to an admission that Jais was wrong in carrying out the raid and seizure and that they wrongly arrested BSM officers and they wrongly interpreted the law," Lee had said in a blog posting.
He had said the return of the 321 Bibles would be a massive blow to Jais's image and prestige.
"Too many sins have been committed. It is better to hold on to the Bibles and tell the public that they are waiting for the A-G to say something.
"Hopefully, if they hold out long enough, everybody will forget about it," Lee said.
Jais conducted the raid under the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation among Muslims) Enactment 1988, which was passed by the then-Barisan Nasional state government.
It prohibits non-Muslims in Selangor from using 35 Arabic words and phrases, including “Allah”, “Nabi” (prophet), “Injil” (gospel) and “Insya'Allah” (God willing).
On April 15, Lee had announced that the BSM planned to move its operations out of Selangor to Kuala Lumpur, a federal territory, and was waiting for approval from the Registrar of Societies.
Lee had said the move was necessary as Putrajaya offered better protection to religious minorities.
Meanwhile, Gani, who had been accused of "dragging his feet" on this issue, today said in the statement that his office had received the investigation paper (IP) on the case for the first time on February 6.
The IP was returned to Jais on February 20 along with requests for additional information.
On February 25, the IP was once again returned to the A-G's Chambers by Jais.
Gani himself advised Jais to refer to the Home Ministry in connection with the issue of the seized Bibles.
On June 5, Jais once again returned the IP to the A-G's Chambers.
A day before that, Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, after facing tremendous pressure from his lawmakers, said he would give the A-G one month to decide once and for all, on the status of the seized Bibles.
He further said if there was no word from the A-G, he would go to Putrajaya personally and resolve the issue.
(3)Sabah church fails to challenge seizure of religious books after court cites ‘Allah’ ruling, 5 May 2014
by Jennifer Gomez
The High Court today rejected the bid by Christian denomination Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) to get leave application for judicial review to challenge the seizure of its religious books in 2007, saying the word "Allah" was not integral to Christianity.
Judge Datuk Zaleha Yusof said she was bound by the Court of Appeal ruling in the case of Catholic weekly Herald, that the word "Allah" cannot be used in the Christian publication.
In an immediate reaction, one of SIB's lawyers Annou Xavier said that this was a dangerous situation for freedom to practise one's faith in Malaysia.
He said that when the Court of Appeal ruled against Herald in October, Christian cabinet ministers from East Malaysia had come out to say that the ruling was limited to the use of the word "Allah" in Herald in Peninsular Malaysia.
"So the fact the High Court judge has ruled against this Sabah body today is a very dangerous precedent which is using the Court of Appeal decision that the word Allah is not integral to Christianity as a benchmark," Annou said.
Although the seized books, which were brought in from Indonesia, had been released, SIB had sought a declaration from the court that its congregation has the constitutional right to use the word “Allah” in all its religious publications and materials.
SIB also wanted a declaration that its congregation, a majority of whom are Bahasa Malaysia-speaking natives, is entitled to own, possess, use and import materials including those which contain the word “Allah”.
SIB (Sabah) president Rev Datuk Jerry Dusing said in view of the importance and wide implications of the case, he has instructed the church’s lawyers to appeal against today's decision.
The controversy over the use of "Allah" by non-Muslims dates back to the 1980s, when several states and their Muslim fatwa committees passed laws forbidding several Arabic terms by non-Muslims.
These include the 1988 Selangor enactment and the 1986 decree by the National Fatwa Council.
However, the laws were not widely enforced until 2008 when the Home Ministry banned Herald from using the word "Allah" in the Bahasa Malaysia section of the publication.
The term is used by Christians who worship in Bahasa Malaysia and Iban language, such as the indigenous groups in Sabah and Sarawak.
In January 2009, the High Court overturned the Home Ministry's ban, but was later upheld by the Court of Appeal in October last year when it ruled that "Allah" was not integral to Christianity.
The church then appealed to the Federal Court, which has reserved judgement.
The case has added to growing concerns over issues of religious freedom in the country. Malaysia has been recently placed on a watch list by an advisory body of the US government over concerns about its limitation on freedom of religion.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom said in its 2014 annual report that the intertwining of religion, ethnicity, and politics in Malaysia complicated religious freedom protections for religious minorities.
2.Malay Mail Online (http://www.themalaymailonline.com)
(1)Gospels are ‘fake’ as Jesus was ‘human slave to Allah’, don claims, 6 May 2014
by Melissa Chi
SHAH ALAM, May 6 — The teachings of Jesus are not the words of God as he was a “human slave” and not divine, an Indonesian lecturer asserted at a forum on “Allah” here today. In an hour-long lecture on the history of Christianity to more than 1,000 students from the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) here, Masyud S.M also argued that the parts of the Bible based on his teachings should simply be called “Tales of Jesus” instead of the “Gospel”. “Jesus is only a human slave to Allah. So his words should not be treated as gospel,” Masyud insisted, claiming that gospel was an amalgamation of the words “god” and “spell”.
He also argued that books in the Bible written by Christ’s disciples such as Matthew, Mark, and Luke were considered hearsay and similarly should not be considered the Word of God. “The so-called gospel is only Jesus’ words, speech, hence should not be called gospel,” he said, adding that it should be called Jesus’ bible or the tales of Jesus instead.
“The Christian gospel is a fake gospel.” Citing experts he did not name, Masyud claimed that experts on the New Testament have said 82 per cent of the words ascribed to Jesus in the gospel were not actually spoken by him. Tension between majority Muslims and Minority Christians in the country has been simmering in recent years, since the Home Ministry banned a Catholic weekly, Herald from publishing the word “Allah” in the paper, back in 2008.
Although a Court of Appeal decision prevented only the Catholic weekly from using the word, the court decision yesterday demonstrates that the higher court’s ruling can be used more broadly. The Kuala Lumpur High Court had struck out Sabah SIB’s 2007 lawsuit against the Home Ministry for confiscating three boxes of Malay-language Christian publications that contained the word “Allah”. The High Court said it was bound by the decision of the Court of Appeal, which ruled in October last year that the Arabic word “Allah” is not an integral part of the practice and faith of Christianity. –
(2)Israel, Singapore more Islamic than Malaysia, study suggests, 11 June 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 — Malaysia is behind Israel and Singapore in a ranking measuring the “Islamicity” of countries in which no Muslim country managed to break into the top 25 of the ladder. But the Southeast Asian nation is also the best-ranked among Muslim countries in the world, coming in at 33rd; the next highest-placed was Kuwait (42nd) while Saudi Arabia — the birthplace of Islam — was 91st. No Arab nation breached the top 50. Ireland came in at the head of the index, followed by Denmark, Luxembourg and Sweden. Singapore was 8th and Israel 27th.
Dubbed the “Overall Islamicity Index” and conducted by Hossein Askari, a professor of International Business and International Affairs at George Washington University, the survey applied the ideals of Islam in the areas of a society’s economic achievements, governance, human and political rights, and international relations.
“We must emphasise that many countries that profess Islam and are called Islamic are unjust, corrupt, and underdeveloped and are in fact not ‘Islamic’ by any stretch of the imagination,” Askari said during an interview with BBC World. According to the scholar, this was due to the use of Islam as an instrument of power and politics in Muslim countries.
“If a country, society, or community displays characteristics such as unelected, corrupt, oppressive, and unjust rulers, inequality before the law, unequal opportunities for human development, absence of freedom of choice (including that of religion), opulence alongside poverty, force, and aggression as the instruments of conflict resolution as opposed to dialogue and reconciliation, and, above all, the prevalence of injustice of any kind, it is prima facie evidence that it is not an Islamic community,” he said.
Askari's conclusions regarding the use of Islam as a political instrument is observable in Malaysia, where the two largest Muslim political parties and staunch rivals — Umno and PAS — are engaged in a religious auction to court the support of the majority Malay-Muslim electorate. Each has vied with the other to be “more Islamic” in the eyes of the public and inculcated a “siege mentality” in the Malay community that has strained race relations in multi-racial and multi-cultural Malaysia. Putrajaya has also been accused of persecuting Malaysia's religious minorities in a bid to appeal to its traditionally rural Malay-Muslim voter base.
Among others, it has outlawed Shiah — the second-largest denomination in Islam — and pursued the Catholic Church over the use of “Allah”, the Arabic word for God, in a Christian newsletter. Umno and PAS are also now engaged in apparent attempts to introduce hudud, the Islamic penal code that prescribes stoning and the amputation of limbs as among its punishments, in the country.
While prevalent over the decades, the use of religion as a political platform accelerated after Election 2008 when the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) lost its customary parliamentary supermajority in a so-called “political tsunami”. The shift has also seen the rise of Malay-Muslim pressure groups such as Perkasa and Isma, who are increasingly vocal in their demands for the government to prioritise the community over all others in Malaysia. Muslims make up 61.3 per cent of the Malaysian population, followed by Buddhists at 19.8 per cent, and Christians at 9.2 per cent, according to the latest census data from 2010.
3.Irish Times(http://www.irishtimes.com)
Ireland ‘the most truly Muslim country in the world’, 9 June 2014
Israel more compliant with ideals of the Koran than any predominantly Muslim country according to study
The country in the world most faithful to the values of the Koran is Ireland according to Hossein Askari, an Iranian-born academic at George Washingon University in the US.
by Patsy McGarry
The country in the world most faithful to the values of the Koran is Ireland according to an Iranian-born academic at George Washingon University in the US. Next are Denmark, Sweden and the UK.
In a BBC interview, Hossein Askari, Professor of International Business and International Affairs at George Washington University said a study by himself and colleague Dr Scheherazde S Rehman, also rates Israel (27) as being more compliant with the ideals of the Koran than any predominantly Muslim country.
Not a single majority Muslim country made the top 25 and no Arab country is in the top 50.
He said that when their ‘Islamicity index’ was applied only Malaysia (33) and Kuwait (42) featured in its top 50 countries, compared to the US at 15, the Netherlands also at 15, while France is at 17.
Saudi Arabia rated 91st, with Qatar at 111st.
In carrying out the study, they applied the ideals of Islam in the areas of a society’s economic achievements, governance, human and political rights, and international relations, he said.
On that index “Muslim countries do very badly,” he said and accused them of using religion as an instrument of power.
Last November Prof Askari said that “we must emphasize that many countries that profess Islam and are called Islamic are unjust, corrupt, and underdeveloped and are in fact not ‘Islamic’ by any stretch of the imagination.”
“Looking at an index of Economic Islamicity, or how closely the policies and achievements of countries reflect Islamic economic teachings - Ireland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Singapore, Finland, Norway, and Belgium round up the first 10”.
In their ‘Overall Islamicity Index’, a measure that encompasses laws and governance, human and political rights, international relations, and economic factors, “the rankings are much the same: New Zealand, Luxembourg, Ireland, Iceland, Finland, Denmark, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Netherlands; and again only Malaysia (38) and Kuwait (48) make it into the top 50 from Muslim countries,” he said.
“If a country, society, or community displays characteristics such as unelected, corrupt, oppressive, and unjust rulers, inequality before the law, unequal opportunities for human development, absence of freedom of choice (including that of religion), opulence alongside poverty, force, and aggression as the instruments of conflict resolution as opposed to dialogue and reconciliation, and, above all, the prevalence of injustice of any kind, it is prima facie evidence that it is not an Islamic community,” he said.
“ Islam is, and has been for centuries, the articulation of the universal love of Allah for his creation and for its unity, and all that this implies for all-encompassing human and economic development,” he concluded.
(End)
