Suara Keadilan: Utusan politics of telling the truth

The politics of telling the truth

Why has the mainstream US media failed to get past the rhetoric of political ads during this presidential campaign?

By the time Americans head to the polls in November, they would have been exposed to $3bn worth of ads. Political ads rarely tell the truth and in this year's election campaign, facts have tended to matter less. This is where mainstream media should step up.
But so far, the US media have not shown the appetite or the stomach to get past the rhetoric and get to the truth. In this week's News Divide, we look at the politics of telling the truth in a heated election campaign.
This week's News Bytes: Julian Assange gives his first televised interview since entering the Ecuadorian embassy three months ago; in Bolivia, the relationship between President Evo Morales and independent media takes another hit; the hijab makes its debut on Egyptian state TV; and Al Jazeera's websites are hacked by a group allegedly supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Here at Listening Post, we regularly profile government-backed news channels. In the past, we have looked at Russia Today, Iran's Press TV and France 24. This week we turn our attention to a channel broadcast out of Venezuela, Telesur.
Inspired by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and jointly funded by other left-wing governments in the region, the channel's aim was to provide an alternative perspective from Latin America's predominantly right-leaning private media.
Depending on what reviews you read, the channel is a much needed news source or the propaganda arm of Hugo Chavez. In this week's feature, Listening Post's Marcela Pizarro on the South American news channel for the South, from the South

WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE ECONOMY? DON’T READ

Utusan’s journalists are supposed to be among the most educated and savvy about the economy. Many have either worked on Wall Street, or have advanced degrees in economics and business.

Over the past few years, their “news hole” has expanded significantly as the financial crisis became a top global news story. As reporting on workers declined, reporting on business surged because it tends to attract corporate and institutional advertising.

And yet is the reporting we are getting on financial issues better than ever? Is it more trustworthy, and better informed?

Unfortunately, some of the same patterns that invariably lead to misunderstandings remain

The National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp)’s management today admitted that money from the federally-funded project was used for credit card expenses, but maintained that these were solely for business purposes.

Earlier today, PKR alleged that Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s family had used nearly RM600,000 from the NFC project funds to pay for their credit card bills in 2009.

The party’s strategic director, Rafizi Ramli, said in a statement today that the Wanita Umno chief’s husband and three children, all of whom sit on the NFC board, used funds from the RM250 million cattle farming project to pay credit card bills averaging over RM10,000 per month each across the year.

In response, NFCorp executive director Wan Shahinur Izmir Salleh said that the credit card expenses were “corporate cards” and used for “business development purposes.”

“There are no personal expenses as alleged. The business development expenses by the four directors reflect the magnitude of its multi-million ringgit sales,” he said in a statement.

Wan Shahinur said that all the relevant facts were with the authorities, and added that the company would soon clarify other “misnomers and distortions that have affected public perception of the company.”

He also denied allegations that NFCorp’s directors had been paid “unjustifiable salaries”, saying that they were earning “nowhere near” the figures alleged by some parties. He also pointed out the authorities had the necessary information and bank statements for verification.

“The highly exaggerated figures first emerged from a mysterious prank blogger who had drawn the media’s attention to it. Since then, the blogger has disappeared and his erroneous post continues to be picked up by the public,” he added.

In the past two months, PKR has repeatedly accused Shahrizat’s family of abusing public funds, including spending at least RM27 million to buy land and property unrelated to cattle farming.

Rafizi said today NFC released RM182,525, RM160,673, RM127,900 and RM122,402 to pay credit card bills belonging to Shahrizat’s husband and NFC chairman, Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh, and her three children respectively in 2009.

The women, family and community development minister took three weeks’ leave last week to allow the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to probe the allegations.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced on Saturday that NFC’s assets have been frozen but Wan Shahinur, who is Shahrizat’s son, yesterday said it was “business as usual”.

Wan Shahinur also pointed out today that the Auditor-General’s report had never stated that the NFC project was in a mess, claiming that it was a false and mischievous allegation.

Prime Minister Najib Razak seems to be savoring the breathing space he won for himself after a complex move by his supporters to oust Women’s Minister Shahrizat Jalil. The move allegedly masterminded by Lembah Pantai Umno chief Raja Nong Chik had created a ripple effect, piling pressure on Najib’s foes in their Umno party which includes deputy premier Muhyiddin Yassin as well as former premier Mahathir Mohamd.

The RM250 million National Feedlot Corp debacle, in which Shahrizat’s family was accused of misappropriating public money, was approved by Muhyiddin in 2006 when he was the Agriculture Minister. The project to raise local beef supply was granted to Shahrizat’s husband and children to manage and oversee. Financed by a government soft loan, the opposition PKR party has alleged that some RM188 million was inappropriately used and needs to be audited with a fine toothcomb.

Given such a ‘hot potato’, Najib lost no opportunity turning the political knife on Muhyiddin. Over the weekend, the PM announced that NFC assets would be frozen, and Muhyiddin and Non Omar – the current Agriculture minister – would decide on the best course of action.

However, while the plodding Muhyiddin has been quick to come to the net with a volley of his own, there is little doubt that the fiasco has burnt a large hole in his campaign to challenge Najib for the Umno presidency and premiership of the country.

“I have discussed it with the PM that the issue has been manipulated by the opposition and it has reached a stage where the government will take action and announce the same in the near future,” responded Muhyiddin.

Warlords made to choose sides

As for Noh Omar, who is also the Selangor Umno deputy chief and regarded as one of its biggest ‘warlord’, he was quick to take the cue from Najib. Noh knows he is not on Najib’s favoured list to become Selangor chief minister if Umno manages to wrest the state government from the Pakatan Rakyat in the coming election.

“This one, you ask DPM,” Malaysian Insider reported Noh as saying twice during a press conference on Monday.

As for Shahrizat Jalil, who is known to be aligned to the Umno faction led by former premier Abdullah Badawi and Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, it is clear her political career has all but finished.

So far, she has taken 3 weeks’ leave to allow investigations to proceed and while Najib assured that NFC assets have been frozen, the NFC board consisting of Shahrizat’s children have issued a press statement that it is “business as usual” at the company.

RM593,500 in just credit card charges alone

Pakatan Rakyat leaders including PKR’s Rafizi Ramli and DAP’s Lim Kit Siang have slammed the asset freeze as inadequate. They want the Shahrizat family to suspended from the NFC board so that they cannot ‘perpetrate’ any further cover-ups.

In the latest PKR expose, Rafizi also revealed the shockingly high credit card charges incurred by the Shahrizat family and charged to the NFC – amounting to RM593,500 during the year 2009. These sums are additional to the fat paychecks that the family already draws.

The breakdown provided by Rafizi in a statement on Monday showed that Shahrizat’s husband Salleh Ismail charged RM182,525, children Wan Shahinur Izan RM160,573, Wan Izzana Fatimah RM127,900 and Wan Shahinur Izmir RM122,402.

“We need to highlight to the public this was the amount they charged to their credit cards which was paid by the people of Malaysia through the NFC,” Rafizi told

“As such, I view with great seriousness, the defiance showed by Izmir Salleh that it is business as usual in NFC. Are Shahrizat’s family trying to show they will not be bound by the government’s order, or is Najib – as usual – giving hollow and empty instructions that are merely for show. We hope that he is not too busy playing internal Umno politics that he cannot be bothered to stop such pilferage of national funds.”

HUDUD WILL EMPTY OUT PAS’S NON-MUSLIM WING, SAYS CHIEF

By Yow Hong Chieh

October 09, 2011

PAS risks losing the support of and triggering an exodus from its non-Muslim wing if the Islamist party does not yield on the hudud issue, says PAS Supporters Congress (PSC) chairman Hu Pang Chaw.

He said many members were unhappy about PAS’s plans to introduce hudud law in Kelantan and warned this could cause non-Muslims to desert the congress en masse, damaging the party’s chances at the polls.

“We have to admit in politics anything can happen,” Kelantan-born Hu told The Malaysian Insider.

The current flap began a fortnight ago when former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dared PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat (pic) to enact the Islamic law in Kelantan. — file pic

“When you fall in love with somebody, by hook or by crook, you’ll get together. But when the love is gone, when the feeling is not there anymore, you go your way, I go mine.”

Hu said this was especially true of PAS’s Chinese supporters, who were prepared to abandon the party if they felt they were not getting returns on their “investment”.

“When they think this party … can no longer be considered the best party, they will walk away. PAS has to bear this in mind,” he said.

PAS should accept that Malaysia is a multiracial country and forgo its attempt to impose hudud on non-Muslims as this would backfire on the party, Hu added.

He said PAS should shed its “phobia” of non-Muslims and embrace this relatively new vote bloc instead of holding on to outmoded ways of thinking by championing purely Malay causes, he added.

“My sincere advice to PAS leaders is, if they really want to take over Putrajaya, they must get used to this way of life,” he said.

The PSC, formerly known as the PAS Supporters Club, was formed in 2004 to help build non-Muslim support for PAS, just a week before the party suffered a rout in the 11th general election.

It was elevated to a non-voting wing of PAS in May last year to help recruit non-Muslim party members, mainly in Kedah, Perak and Selangor.

The 20,000-strong PSC has been credited with bridging the gap between PAS and non-Muslims, and softening the Islamist party’s hardline image among the Chinese and Indians.

The current flap over hudud began two weeks ago when former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dared Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat to enact the Islamic law in Kelantan now that the Umno veteran was no longer in power.

Dr Mahathir had previously written to the Kelantan mentri besar in 1993 to inform him that the state did not have the right to introduce hudud, which prescribes stoning, whipping and amputation as punishment for criminal offences.

Nik Aziz, who is also PAS spiritual leader, however, dismissed the suggestion as laughable and instead challenged Prime Minister Datuk Najib Razak to withdraw any objections Putrajaya still had over Kelantan’s plans to implement hudud.

PAS has drawn flak from Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) allies over its plans to implement hudud, with the DAP central committee threatening to quit if Kelantan goes ahead as planned.

PAS, which has assured that any introduction of hudud will be done slowly and in phases, said yesterday it would kick off a series of talks in Kelantan to explain hudud law to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

FRANCE’S FIRST LADY CARLA BRUNI – NUDE PORTRAIT

Auction: France’s First Lady Carla Bruni, in the portrait to be auctioned off by Christie’s.

France has banned the public wearing of face-hiding burqas and niqabs. After traveling there for a fellowship project, Times editorial columnist Joni Balter has changed her mind about earlier opposition to the ban, concluding it is too much a barrier.

By Joni Balter

Paris: I was against the French ban on full-faced veils before I was for it.

If that sounds like a mushy effort to have it both ways, it’s not. I changed my mind after spending time in the first European country to ban the traditional religious garb in public places.

Plenty of Muslim women here wear headscarves — you can see the face and eyes — but the French banned the public wearing of face-hiding burqas and niqabs.

Certainly, in a perfect world, women of all religious faiths would be able to express their religious beliefs wherever they are.

That drove one of my recent editorials against the ban months ago. I blamed the monochromatic nature of France for its jitters about the veils.

But a reporting fellowship to France and numerous interviews convinced me otherwise. First of all, with 5 million Muslims, likely the largest population in Europe, this country is more of a melting pot than people realize. France these days is in a pitched battle for its soul.

The country has a rule of law that imposes strict separation of church and state. It’s deeply embedded in French culture and supposedly is imposed fairly. The French do not allow big crosses or other overt expressions of religion in public either. Considering the overbearing religiosity that seeps far too often into American public life and politics, I rather like it.

America also has separation of church and state, though it’s sometimes hard to tell. The Constitution would never allow a ban in the U.S. because of its obvious interference with freedom of religious expression.

The laws of France work for France. What’s more, any feminist must realize the wearing of the burqa and niqab is something only women do. It may be grounded in centuries of tradition, but it’s blatantly sexist.

Muslim guys prance around Paris in super-tight jeans and slinky shirts. Why support something that only limits activities of women? That’s hard to support. Plenty of Muslims don’t.

Salem Belgourch, 25, a highly educated first-generation Frenchman, whose family comes from Morocco, told me his mother does not favor the burqa and niqab.

“My mother, a Muslim woman, thinks it is a bad tradition,” said Belgourch. “It’s not a Muslim obligation to not have communication with other people. My mom, we came into this country, she says, ‘We have to respect the law, We don’t have to come with our way of life.’ “

His family bought into the idea that assimilation is best, not to wash away one’s tradition, but to adapt to a new country’s laws and culture so newcomers and their children succeed.

Emmanuel Barbe, the French deputy secretary-general of European affairs, said the veil ban was tricky at first but now there is considerable national support for it: “It’s something only women are obliged to do so it is contrary to the fundamental principles of the Republic.”

Some experts raise a troubling question: If a Muslim man is not willing to allow his wife to be seen in public without a veil, why would he let his wife out at all?

How about when that Muslim man needs groceries or someone to take the children to school or go to work at their own jobs?

Like so many immigration and integration debates in Europe, the battle over the burqa and niqab is loaded with other questions. Does Europe need — can it manage — so many immigrants? What is the responsibility of immigrants who seek asylum and inevitable government aid?

Many Muslim women wear the burqa and niqab because they want to. So who is France to tell them what is good for them? Reasonable questions.

Women and men moving to new countries need all the help they can get learning the language and adapting to their new country.

This is not about picking on Muslims. As many politicians and observers have said, the full-faced veil is too much a barrier. It stands squarely in the way of communication and long-term success in France and Belgium, which both have banned the face-hiding veils. The Netherlands and perhaps Switzerland may be next.

[Joni Balter is the 2011 journalist fellow of the European Union Center of Excellence at the University of Washington's Jackson School of International Studies. Her columns appear regularly on the editorial pages of The Times. Her email address is jbalter@seattletimes.com]

(Courtesy: The Seattle Times)

It’s not the look you would normally associate with a First Lady. And the photographer who captured this image the new Mrs Nicolas Sarkozy – former model Carla Bruni – claims he has photos that are even more explicit. The print, taken during her modelling days by photographer Michel Comte in 1993, will go under the hammer at Christie’s in New York next month. But Mr Comte, 53, said he took hundreds of pictures of the stunning Italian model over ten years of working together.

And he revealed: “I have many more nude pictures of Carla much more explicit than that one.

“But she need not worry as I would never put them on sale.” He refused to give details of the nature of his more explicit photos of the former model, only adding: “I can assure you there are many more.” Even so, the First Lady is understandably furious that a nude photo of her went on sale on the eve of her State visit to Britain with her husband. Experts say the renewed interest in her is likely to send its price up to £2,000.
But an aide to 40-year-old Mrs Sarkozy said: “Carla is very angry, not to say deeply upset, that a commercial organisation has chosen to release this print at such an important time.

“Her priority is to establish herself on the world stage as a first lady France can be proud of.”

As well as being the first time that an image of a naked wife of a serving head of state has been sold for profit, it is being touted at a time when Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy and her husband President “Bling Bling” Nicolas Sarkozy are desperately trying to moderate their racy image.

The couple are due to arrive in the UK tomorrow for a two-day state visit. With the president’s popularity ratings sliding at home, he hoped that rubbing shoulders with royalty and discussing high politics with Prime Minister Gordon Brown would help the process of restoring some of his fading popularity back home.
With that in mind, he has reportedly ditched his shades and Rolex watch – but the nude photos of his first lady might set the couple’s battle for respectability back a notch.

Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, whose long list of past lovers includes English rock stars Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, had pledged to use the state visit to establish herself as a serious consort.

It’s always struck me that French President Nicolas Sarkozy knew what he was getting into when he married Carla Bruni. It is either pure stupidity or blind lust. There’s something almost admirable about Carla’s refusal to be embarrassed by her extensive sexual past, and her two decades of bohemian life. Carla never lied about who she was or what she did – and I, for one, appreciate that. She understands that once a whore, always a whore. Just that there higher level and lower whores. The highest level ones go with Presidents and Prime Ministers.

When she was a model, Carla posed nude many, many times. And before she even met Sarkozy, she had a relationship with a married man, Raphael Enthoven. When they broke up, apparently Raphael still had many photographs and videos of Carla – many of them nudes, or perhaps even a few sex tapes. What to do with a sex tape of yourself with an ex? Raphael decided to hand these items over to his brother, Julien. He must have announced to the world when he did this.

Julien’s Paris apartment was just burgled – and the thieves got away with the photographs and the sex tapes. Police are investigating, but people feel strongly that sometime soon, a Carla Bruni sex tape will be leaked. It is strange that the burglar only interest is the sex items, and even stranger that the burglar knew the tape is with Julien.

France’s Nicolas Sarkozy has banned the scarf aind burqa. Many were wondering if he plans to continue the banning ’till all women in France (un)dress like his wife Carlo Bruni. Carla Bruni is known for here lewd poses and her frontal nudity before she married Sarkozi. The world knows that Mr. Sarkozi does not mind. The issue is not Islam, but Mr. Sarkozi’s sagging popularity. The poor and vulnerable populations of France’s former colonies are a great victim to make the world think that he is a tough guy.

It’s been almost three weeks since French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that burqas imprison women and would not be tolerated in France. In a speech at the Palace of Versailles, Mr. Sarkozy said that the head-to-toe Islamic garment for women, the burqa, “is not a sign of religion”, but rather “a sign of subservience.”

The burqa is the most concealing of all Islamic veils as it covers the entire face and body, leaving only a mesh screen to see through. It should not be confused with the niqabwhich is a face veil that sometimes leaves the eyes clear and is sometimes worn with a separate eye veil.

French legislators in Paris had recently begun to look into the spread of Muslim women wearing these full-body robes and veils, such as burqas and niqabs, with a debate ensuing ranging from an immediate ban to a gradual one. Sarkozy’s statement served to escalate the debate into a burqa polemic with politicians and analysts all over Europe weighing in for and against it, effectively eclipsing a multitude of other issues of more immediate concern in France, such as the economic crisis, rampant unemployment and a bloated system of social services. Human Rights Watch, and several Muslim groups and clerics have criticized the ban and asked Sarkozy to reconsider his statements citing that the proposal “stigmatized” Islam.

France is home to Western Europe’s largest Muslim population of about 6 million.
In 2004 the country passed a controversial law purportedly introduced to support the Republic’s principles of Laïcité, with which France insures separation of church and state. This argument was considered a disingenuous one whose real purpose was to forbid female Muslim students from wearing headscarves, designated to be a “conspicuous” display of religious affiliation, while other symbols, such as the wearing of crosses and stars of David were seen as “discrete” and therefore exempted from the ruling’s enforcement. As a result, Muslim students were overwhelmingly impacted.

By framing the wearing of burqas and other body veils under the guise of showing concern for women’s rights, Sarkozy has also found a roundabout way of targeting Muslims and putting them in the human rights’ defendant’s seat, engendering another religious debate. The number of French Muslim women who wear the burqa or the niqab is minuscule, and one would have to go out of his way to visit les banlieues(Paris’s poor suburbs) to spot one or two. So why is Sarkozy proposing the ban and stirring all these emotions?

“It is my choice alone,” said Aamina (her name was changed per her request), “when did I ask Sarkozy to liberate me?” she added.Many critics to Sarkozy’s proposal claim that he deliberately initiated a burqa polemic to distract from his low approval rating of 32 percent down from 60 percent for the six months following his election. The burqa is Sarkozy’s nationalistic prop, and its emotional appeal temporally outweighs his unfulfilled promises on such issues as guaranteeing workers five weeks of paid leave annually and the 35-hour workweek which Sarkozy had to get rid of once the economy started to sink. All the while maintaining a flashy lifestyle, which have earned him the title, “le Président Bling-Bling.”

Aamina, a soft spoken Afghan widow, immigrated to France in 2005 to join her brother who works as a janitor in the Métro after her husband was killed in an attack by the Taliban. She said that she had not expected that her burqa would become the subject of controversy in France.

“Ou est la Liberté, Égalité, et Fraternité?”
“Sarkozy has turned me into a freak of nature…that I’m not” she sobbed.

Many Muslim women have been complaining that these new laws have been driven by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiments. In June 2008, the Council of State — the country’s highest administrative court — refused to grant French citizenship to a Moroccan woman wearing a burqa, because it went against “the values of a democratic society and the principle of equality of the sexes.”

Meanwhile, Huda Benkaran, a French Algerian social worker who has been involved in helping Muslim women to integrate in France thinks that outlawing the burqa is a “stupid proposal” made by a “an imbecile.”

“What does Sarkozy think? Outlawing burqas is going to make these women walk outside in a sundress? They just won’t leave home as often. He is sentencing them to prison!” Benkaran says in anger.

By Abdul Hannan Siwani Nadvi

Lecturing Muslims, targeting Islamic Shariah, and making a mockery of Muslims and their lifestyle has become a fashion of this era. Everyone wants to kill Muslims. Everyone wants to damage the image of Muslims and Islam.

There are hundreds of thousands of organizations, sites, educated personalities, volunteers, workers and activists whose work is only to put always Muslims and Islam on target.

They are being paid for this work, and sometimes they have been awarded in open ceremony by Western and European countries.

Indeed, Islam and Muslims are under attack from all corners. Military operations led by United States are underway in most Muslim countries. Cultural and educational hatred campaign against Muslims and Islam is being carried out by so-called educated and contractors of democracy in non-Muslim world.

Someone is making cartoons on Prophet Mohammad (Sallallaho Alaihe wasallam), someone is supporting bans on veil, and someone is burning the Qura’an and destroying Masjids. It seems, it is all-out war against Muslims, Islam and their messenger.

Mr. Khushwant Singh is also one of them. He is known as an educated and prominent writer but his thoughts and thinking is very ridiculous. His thoughts about Burqa and Muslims show that he is still away from the real sprit of knowledge.

Mr. Khushwant Singh in his article published in Hindustan Times on April 30, 2011, says lot of things about Burqa. He seeks a Fatwa from Darul Uloom (Deoband) for abolishing Hijab, such as, he wants a Fatwa from Azhar University to support French government’s decision slapping ban on veil, and even he prays for returning of Kamal Ata Turk who had banned veil in Turkey. He says Turkey is the most advanced Muslim country because it had banned Burqa. According to him, lower middle class is only use Naqab or veil etc.

According to him, abolishing of Burqa is a sign of advancement and wearing of Burqa is a sign of ignorant.

Reading his article about Burqa, I had been thinking how a person who has written various books and has a place in all classes in the country can discuss such kind of ridiculous and ludicrous ideology.

Mr. Khushwant Singh; or anyone has no right to lecture Muslims, or interfere in Islamic Sharia. Who allowed him, or them to do so?

Is he not adopting double standards? He demands ban on Burqa, while the people of his community had been expressing its concerns when the Turban was banned in America after 9/11.

Traditions of other communities are respectable, but, traditions of Islam and Muslims are not acceptable; why? Nuns in Christians use special dress that covers her body from head to toe. Is this not an old tradition? Why no one raises the voice to ban on Christian veil?

It is very old tradition in Hindus where Hindu women cover her face with their sari. Are these things not ridiculous and anti-advancement?

All communities in the world can practice according to their tradition and religion; if Muslims do same thing, so it is called an un-civilized exercise. What nonsense is this?

What Muslims or Muslim women do or not do, it is not related to anyone. Who gave the right to such people to blame on Muslims and mocking at Muslim women for wearing Burqa?

Why he, or others, like him, have objection over Islamic traditions? Why he wants Fatwa from Deoband and Azhar University to abolish wearing veil?

They scream seeing Burqa clad women; while they keep their mouth shut when Muslim women demand justice and equality.

What he and others, like him, did for the justice of women who have been subjected of rape in Gujarat in 2002? Why he does not raise the voice for punishing to those who destroyed the dignity of women?

Such kind of people knows only how to blame Muslims and target of Islam, because it brings fame, money and attention of world. This kind of thoughts confirms awards for him and for others, like him.

How can he compare wearing of Burqa with retrogression, while Sikh men too use Turban and sport beard as a religious tradition. Does this mean that the Sikh men wearing Turban are uneducated?

How can a veil become a symbol of retrogression? The women in France, who are insisting on wearing veil and using it in their daily life, are most educated women and they are aware about all ups and downs of the society.

These women, who had been called educated and civilized before Islam; turned a threat to the country by embracing Islam. What nonsense is this?

In Punjab, in some instances it has been seen that the wife of elder brother also becomes wife and object of sexual desire to all younger brothers in a family just to save the huge property from getting into other hands. Just see how materialistic is such a society who doesn’t give a damn respct to women at all. Why Mr. Khushwant Singh and others of his like keep silent over such issues and do not raise their voices against such inhuman practice?

There are hundreds and thousands of women in other religions where they have been subjected of rape, live like animals, and face every kind of harassments by their own husbands, brothers and family members; why he does not say about them, about their culture and traditions?

The situation of non-Muslim women is more dangerous than Burqa clad women. Rape of sister by father or brother called incest is common. Is this not true? Then, how Mr. Khushwant Singh, or others, like him, can lecture us?

In a culture where women work as prostitutes or act as sexual objects is acceptable is acceptable to Mr. Khuswant Singh and others in the western world, then how can this western culture can accept burqa clad women who cover their body and protect their dignity from the people who figure them just a sex machine.

When Ulema, Muslim scholars, and Muslim countries raise no objection over dress, traditions and prayer of non-Muslims, then why, and, how people from different religions advice and lecture Muslims on what they should do or not do?

It is better for Mr. Khushwant Singh not to write anything about Muslim women, as well as, keep himself away from interfering in Islamic Shariah. If he is very keen in writing about the conditions of women, so he is free to write about the women, who belong to other communities. Or, if he wants to write something about Islam and Muslim women, so, he must first study Islamic Shariah, rules and Islamic teachings before passing any comment about Muslim women or Islam.

[Abdul Hannan Siwani Nadwi is based at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Source: GutterUncensored.com

Yasmine Latiffe want everyone to know she is not wearing any panties. Here isYasmine Latiffe at the Cannes Film Festival. Yasmin gives everyone a look at her growler spreading her dress like a pair of curtains… its a good thing she didnt spread her beef curtains in the same way. I’d say that French actress Yasmin Latiffe most definitely gave the photographers this upskirt on purpose. See how she carefully pulls her dress away to frame her crotch just so? Those French chicks really know how to do an upskirt. Flashing your goodies uglies on the red carpet is a major no no, but would we really expect anything less from French “actress” Yasmine Lafitte? We might be more forgiving if this was an accidental flash, but the smile on Yasmine’s face (not to mention the lack of undies in a open front dress!) just makes us, well, a little sick. And they say Americans are tacky! I am so sick I want to pay this skank a visit and straighten her out. Here are the pics of Yasmine pantyless upskirt while she flashes her bush. Click on pictures to enlarge.