Indonesia freed itself from the grip of dictatorship more than a decade ago to become the world's third largest democracy. Corruption and violence remain serious issues, but the country also has a vibrant civil society.
And as the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia offers an example of how Islam and democracy go hand-in-hand.
Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen reports from Jogjakarta on what analysts have called a success story.
Indonesia's flourishing democracy Thirteen years after Suharto was brought down, country blossoms into open society.
Thirteen years after Suharto was brought down, country blossoms into open society.
A TRAUMATIZED MAHATHIR AND UMNO’S HYPOCRISY THE ELITE TRYING TO CLING TO POWER CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE CURRENT ARAB REVOLUTION THE POLITICS OF SURPRISE
Only 140,000 members can vote Over the weekend, Home Minister and Umno vice president Hishammuddin Hussein had announced the party would hold “mock” elections or practise runs in March to prepare for the new system of party polls scheduled to be held next year.Hisham, who is also Najib’s cousin, had said the dry runs were … Read more
You ask for it, and your wish will come true.
Needless to say, these expenses, which range from a few million to hundreds of million ringgit for each constituency, come from the pockets of taxpayers.
And, of course, during the handing out of these goodies, residents never cease to be reminded who they must vote for. In fact, some of these promises are conditioned upon their electoral support and a Barisan Nasional (BN) (ruling coalition) win.
You may ask: aren’t these bribery?
Of course they are. In fact, they are serious breaches of our election laws.readmore UMNO-BARISAN's Bitterest Brews Nothing Immoral About Devastating Dysfunctional election institutions
Needless to say, these expenses, which range from a few million to hundreds of million ringgit for each constituency, come from the pockets of taxpayers.
And, of course, during the handing out of these goodies, residents never cease to be reminded who they must vote for. In fact, some of these promises are conditioned upon their electoral support and a Barisan Nasional (BN) (ruling coalition) win.
You may ask: aren’t these bribery?
Of course they are. In fact, they are serious breaches of our election laws.readmore UMNO-BARISAN's Bitterest Brews Nothing Immoral About Devastating Dysfunctional election institutions
RELATED ARTICLE MAHARTIR : WE UMNO-BARISAN THE BIGGEST SURVIVING DICTATORSHIP GOVERNMENT IF YOU DONT BEHAVE YOU CAN GO BACK TO WHERE YOU BLOODY COME FROM
Posted by muslimmalaysia786 my response to “OutSyed the Box: Is The DAP A Chauvinist Party?”, a reader who signed off as Paul Warren left the following comment (at Hartal MSM): You just wasted a some bytes writing a crtic on this guy SAA. He’s an idiot to have thought that his opnions mattered. Just as … Read more
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dismissed yesterday claims that Malays are immigrants just like Chinese and Indians, arguing instead that Arabs, Indians and Indonesians had become constitutional Malays through assimilation.
“I would not say I am a Malay or Malaysian of ethnic Indian origin. My mother tongue and home language is Malay, my culture and tradition is Malay and I am a Muslim. The constitution defines a Malay as a person who habitually speaks Malay, practices Malay custom and tradition and is a Muslim,” he said in a posting on his blog.
He said it was obvious some Malays were descended from people of the Indonesian islands, India and the Arabian peninsular.
“Having come here they were assimilated after they identified themselves completely with the Malays by adopting the Malay language, their customs and traditions and by being Muslims.
“This is a common phenomenon. In America, Australia, Latin America, the later immigrants accepted the languages of their adopted country as their mother tongue as well as the culture.
“After doing this they no longer think of themselves as being of their original country. They are Americans, Australians and Argentinians period.
“We don’t hear them claiming to be German Americans, Portuguese Australians or Italian Argentinians, even though they or their ancestors came from these countries,” said Dr Mahathir.
The former prime minister wrote in his blog that Malays would only say they are Bugis or Javanese if asked about their ancestry but it would be mischievous to suggest that this was their race.
Dr Mahathir has in recent years stepped up his defence of the constitutional position of the Malays, and has been criticised for lending credibility to right-wing groups like Perkasa.
His strident tone has resulted in accusations that he was playing the race card in an attempt to shore up support for Umno.
In his blog post, Dr Mahathir said that his remarks in defending the Malays were to rebut “the anti-Malay racism of the opposition.”
He said that “those who support racist statements by the opposition are the real racists.”
“They shout racist at others to distract from their own racism,” he said.
Since making significant gains in Election 2008, the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has been pushing for reforms to the country’s affirmative action policies which is widely seen as favouring the Malay-Bumiputera communities.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is expected to call for general elections in either late 2011 or early 2012, with investors and Malaysians waiting to see if he will implement reforms to match his rhetoric after a series of flip-flops on a goods and services tax and subsidy cuts.
Najib has delivered measures such as granting new bank licenses and cutting the fiscal deficit.
But he has shied away from big subsidy cuts and tax reforms and softened an earlier promise to reform controversial preferential equity ownership rules for the Malays.
Analysts expect Najib may be willing to push through reforms after the next general election, but only if he wins a strong mandate.
If he fails to restore Barisan Nasional’s two-thirds parliamentary majority he will come under pressure from Malay activist groups such as Perkasa who are opposed to some of his economic reforms
Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim recounted his ordeal three years ago when a special squad clad in balaclavas, armed with sub-machine guns forced his car to a halt before dragging him off to the police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, where he said he was illegally detained so as to provide opportunities for the authorities to lift DNA samples from him.
At the police HQ, he was grilled for three hours and then sent off to the government-owned Hospital Kuala Lumpur, where two doctors checked his penis and anus.
"This was very degrading," the 63-year old former deputy prime minister told the court on Thursday.
Fabricating DNA evidence
Anwar is on trial for having sodomized his former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan in June 2008, soon after he announced plans to make a comeback to Parliament.
He has denied the charges and accused his arch rival Prime Minister Najib Razak and wife Rosmah Mansor of hatching the plot with Saiful to derail his political career.
Sodomy is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in jail. Government chemists have said they found two DNA profiles on Saiful’s anus and pants – one belonging to Saiful himself and the other to a yet-to-be-identified ‘Male Y’.
However, few Malaysians doubt Male Y will turn out to be Anwar. During his detention by the police, they had lifted DNA samples from his water bottle, towel and toothbrush.
His lawyers believe that the Najib administration may have ordered the DNA to be planted as three other DNA profiles belonging to three different males were also found on Saiful's anus and pants.
Illegal arrest
The defense team is now applying to the judge to reject the water bottle, towel and toothbrush as evidence as they claim Anwar was illegally arrested and detained.
Anwar himself told the court that he didn’t know he was being arrested on that day, July 16, 2008. None of the police officers had informed him he was being arrested.
"I asked them why are they doing this but they said they wanted my cooperation in this matter although I had indicated I wanted to meet Jude,” Anwar said.
He was referring to Jude Pereira, a senior cop. The arresting officer was one Supt Ahmad Taufik.
The police took three hours to record his statement from 2.30pm to 5.30pm but did not let him leave after that.
"I asked them, 'you asked me to give my statement but what else? They should release me. Instead they brought me to HKL and I arrived there after 8pm on July 16, 2008," Anwar told a mesmerized courtroom.
The doctors at HKL then checked him and asked him about the alleged sodomy case. Anwar also refused to allow them to take his DNA samples.
“I refused to give my blood samples as I followed my lawyers advice,” he said.
“This arrest is to try to trap me," Anwar added.
Fears for Anwar's life
The police brought Anwar back to their headquarters at about 11pm.
"I asked the police and Jude, 'when are you going to release me? And they said, 'you'll be home soon'. Instead, they brought me to the lock-up," Anwar said.
"I asked the police and Jude, 'when are you going to release me? And they said, 'you'll be home soon'. Instead, they brought me to the lock-up," Anwar said.
He had previously complained that the police treated him like an animal and threw him into a filthy and antiquated cell although there were cleaner ones available.
There is speculation the cell was specially chosen because it was not equipped with CCTV cameras and could not capture what happened to Anwar if something unfortunate occurred.
Anwar was beaten up by the Inspector General of Police in 1998 while in remand over his first sodomy trial from which he was acquitted.
In 1998 and even now, there are fears for his life as he poses a real challenge to the current ruling coalition.
On Thursday, he told the court the cell had steel bars on all four sides. Anwar claims one Supt Yahya Abdul Rahman gave him the mineral water bottle, towel, toothbrush, toothpaste and soap.
"I did not expect VIP treatment but the conditions were deplorable while conditions at the washroom were unclean,"
Finally, he was released the next day at 12.30pm on July 17, 2008. He told the court that he had to seek medical treatment for his back because of the incident.
| TRUE STORY MUSLIM IN AMERICAN PRISON | for everyone |
HERE IS A VIDEO OF OUR MUSLIM BROTHERS IN GUANTANAMO PRISON CAMP OF AMERICANS...WE CAN SEE IN THIS VIDEO HOW THEY STRUGGLE TO KEEP THERE FAITH IN ALLAH AND CONTINUE TO PERFORM PRAYERS..WE PRAY TO ALLAH TO GIVE THEM MORE STRENGTH AND BLESS THEM MORE AND WE PRAY ALSO TO GIVE US MORE FAITH AND FEAR OF HIM RABUL ALAMIN...AND GUARD OUR FAITH AND PRAYERS...AMEEN (KATAYA SO VIDEO O MGA PAGARI TANO A MUSLIM SA GUANTANAMO PRISON CAMP O MGA AMERIKANO...APIYA E KAREREGENI KIRAN NA MATATAYOD IRAN SO MGA SIMBA IRAN KO ALLAH.PHANGNIN TANO KO ALLAH A UMANAN IYAN KIRAN SO MGA LIMO IYAN AGO UMANAN IYAN REKTANO SO SIMBA AGO KALEK REKANIAN A RABUL ALAMIN....A METENDEG TANO MAMBO SO MGA SIMBA TANO KO ALLAH AMEEN....)
Fresh photographs and video footage of prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq were broadcast yesterday by an Australian television channel, raising fears that the revelations could further stoke Muslim fury.
Australia's Special Broadcasting Service showed the disturbing footage as Pakistani rioters attacked western businesses in Peshawar, spurred by the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Europe.
At one point in the video a chained Iraqi prisoner, apparently mentally disturbed, was shown repeatedly beating his head against a wall.
In another, a naked inmate appeared to be being squeezed between two stretchers.
Many of the pictures - depicting prisoners hooded, naked, standing in "stress" positions, threatened by a dog, showing wounds on their buttocks or dead - were similar to the photographs of abused prisoners that provoked international outrage in 2004.
But the network said it had also received other material too graphic to broadcast.
Feb 2006
Shocking pictures have come to light revealing the extent of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib - and it's much worse than anyone imaged.
The photos depict new incidents of homicide, torture and sexual humiliation and indicate a broader pattern of abuse than was previously understood. "We now know there was systemic and widespread abuse", states ACLU lawyer Amrit Singh. She hopes the photos release will lead to a proper inquiry
Feb 2006
Shocking gambar sudah ketahuan mengungkapkan banyak sedikitnya makian tawanan di Abu Ghraib - dan begitu lebih jelek daripada siapa saja menggambarkan.
Foto menggambarkan insiden baru pembunuhan, penyiksaan dan penghinaan seksual dan menunjukkan pola penyalahgunaan yang lebih lebar daripada dulunya dimengerti.
"Kami sekarang tahu ada penyalahgunaan sistemik dan tersebar luas", negara bagian ACLU pengacara Amrit Singh.
Dia berharap foto pembebasan akan menuju ke penyelidikan
daksa
Fresh photographs and video footage of prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq were broadcast yesterday by an Australian television channel, raising fears that the revelations could further stoke Muslim fury.
Australia's Special Broadcasting Service showed the disturbing footage as Pakistani rioters attacked western businesses in Peshawar, spurred by the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Europe.
At one point in the video a chained Iraqi prisoner, apparently mentally disturbed, was shown repeatedly beating his head against a wall.
In another, a naked inmate appeared to be being squeezed between two stretchers.
Many of the pictures - depicting prisoners hooded, naked, standing in "stress" positions, threatened by a dog, showing wounds on their buttocks or dead - were similar to the photographs of abused prisoners that provoked international outrage in 2004.
But the network said it had also received other material too graphic to broadcast.
Feb 2006
Shocking pictures have come to light revealing the extent of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib - and it's much worse than anyone imaged.
The photos depict new incidents of homicide, torture and sexual humiliation and indicate a broader pattern of abuse than was previously understood. "We now know there was systemic and widespread abuse", states ACLU lawyer Amrit Singh. She hopes the photos release will lead to a proper inquiry
Feb 2006
Shocking gambar sudah ketahuan mengungkapkan banyak sedikitnya makian tawanan di Abu Ghraib - dan begitu lebih jelek daripada siapa saja menggambarkan.
Foto menggambarkan insiden baru pembunuhan, penyiksaan dan penghinaan seksual dan menunjukkan pola penyalahgunaan yang lebih lebar daripada dulunya dimengerti.
"Kami sekarang tahu ada penyalahgunaan sistemik dan tersebar luas", negara bagian ACLU pengacara Amrit Singh.
Dia berharap foto pembebasan akan menuju ke penyelidikan
daksa
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