Only Muslims can call their deity Allah, Malaysian court rules
Malay Muslims in Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur, cheer an appeals court decision that only the Islamic deity can be referred to as Allah. A Christian newspaper had challenged a 2008 ban on non-Muslims using the name Allah for their god, as has been the practice in the region for more than a century. (Shamshahrin Shamsudin / European Pressphoto Agency / October 14, 2013)
By Carol J. Williams October 14, 2013, 4:41 p.m.
Only Muslims have the right to refer to their god as Allah, a Malaysian appeals court ruled Monday, setting off angry outcries among Christians and opposition political leaders that the government is oppressing minority faiths.
The name of Allah has been used for more than a century in the Malay language, having been adopted from Arabic long before Malaysia became a state and the Malay people were legally obliged to follow Islam.
But in 2008, the government Interior minister banned use of the Muslim deity's name by other religions, arguing that it was justified on the basis of public order. A lower court ruled in 2009 that the minister had overstepped his authority and ordered the ban abolished, which triggered religious violence that left dozens of churches and several Muslim places of worship destroyed.
"It is our judgment that there is no infringement of any constitutional rights" by restricting the use of Allah to Islam, wrote the appellate court's chief judge, Mohamed Apandi Ali. He added that the name Allah was "not an integral part of the faith and practice of Christianity."
A commentary in the Malaysia Chronicle .. http://tiny.cc/htzy4w .. called the court decision "flawed," noting that the panel of three Muslim judges grounded their ruling in an unsolicited interpretation of what is or isn't integral to Christianity, rather than making a decision based on law.
"Hence the court has clearly overstepped its boundaries into the realm of theological discourse, and more critically, breached the Article 3 of the Federal Constitution where other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony," the commentary stated.
A challenge to the 2008 ban was brought by The Herald, the newspaper of the Roman Catholic Church in Malaysia that has long referred to God as Allah in its Malay-language weekly publication.
Herald editor Lawrence Andrew called the ruling "a retrograde step in the development of law in relation to the fundamental liberty of religious minorities," the Associated Press reported. He said he would appeal to the nation's highest judicial body, the Malaysian Federal Court.
The ruling and its implications drew worldwide coverage, including reports on Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, two widely read news sites in the Muslim world.
"We are of the view that this decision affects fundamental religious rights of the minorities in Malaysia," Viola De Cruz, president of the Catholic Lawyers Society, told Washington-based The Christian Post .. http://www.christianpost.com/news/christians-banned-from-using-allah-in-malaysia-protest-decision-106620/ . "To find that the minority must yield to the majority also sends a frightening message that the minorities' rights are subject to the whims and fancies of the majority."
Asian media called the ruling a further reflection of religious politicking by Prime Minister Najib Razak and his United Malays National Organization.
The appeals court decision "coincides with heightened ethnic and religious tension in Malaysia after a polarizing May election in which the long-ruling coalition was deserted by urban voters," the South China Morning Post observed in its report.
Razak narrowly held on to power in the May election, and he has continued to press affirmative action for ethnic Malays to bolster his position ahead of a party assembly later this month, the newspaper said.
“There was no problem nor did it create tension between Muslims and non-Muslims," the Borneo Post .. http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/10/15/manyin-accept-court-of-appeals-decision/ .. said of the traditional reference to Allah by all faiths in Malaysia. The newspaper quoted a Christian minister, James Masing, as saying he was saddened by the ruling and warned that the Malaysian government "must not politicize religion."
--- Meanwhile the Western Mindanao Command centre said their assets were on alert to preempt possible landing attempts by the abductors. ---
UPDATED
[ photo NUR MISUARI ]
KOTA KINABALU: The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has described attempts to link their guerillas to the kidnapping of a China tourist in Semporna on Wednesday as “black propaganda”.
MNLF spokesman Absalom Cerveza said they were not hostile.
He said in the past, MNLF have been instrumental in negotiating the release of several hostages in kidnapping incidents in Sulu, including a tourist who was kidnapped in Sipadan, Sabah a few years ago.
MNLF is helmed by Nur Misuari. Its breakaway Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was involved in the recent inking of a peace pact with Manila. MNLF was left out.
MNLF, MILF and Abu Sayyaf are islamic groups marauding in Mindanao.
The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) pact signed on March 27 before Prime Minister Najib Razak and Philippines President Benigno Aquino III while bringing to an end a decades-long civil unrest in Mindanao which had led to tens and thousands of Sulus seeking asylum in Sabah creating what has now become Umno’s “fixed deposit”, is being weighed in with skepticism by political observers on both sides.
Sabah and the Sulu sultanate have a long history. The Sulu sultanate believes it ‘owns’ North Borneo, Sabah’s former name and that the land was only leased to Malaysia.
Last February the armed Sulus claiming to be soldiers of the Royal Sulu Army ‘invaded’ Kpg Tanduo and staked their claim to the land. Their argument was that Malaysia was still paying the sultanate a lease fee.
Many have alleged that Nur Misuari had stoked this Sulu incursion at the behest of political leaders in Kuala Lumpur who were desperate to harness the Malay votes and rev up patriotism and Islamic brotherhood.
But Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) chief Lt Gen Rustico Guerrero told Philstar.com that the MNLF were “peace-loving people”.
Guerrero said the MNLF members’ only objective was to help the Sultanate of Sulu reclaim Sabah, which they believe is “illegally” occupied by Malaysia.
Meanwhile earlier this afternoon Philippines said that that the abductors were suspected to be members of the Abu Sayayaf Group led by a former MNLF leader Murphy Ambang Ladia, also known as Haji Gulam.
Ladia is a native of the Pandami Island in Sulu, according to Malacanang’s presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda.
No official report yet
On Wednesday’s kidnapping, Reuters News Agency meanwhile reported that the Western Mindanao Command centre had placed all its naval assets on alert to preempt possible landing attempts by the abductors.
Command Centre spokesperson Capt Rowena Muyuela said they still have no information on whether the suspects were Filipinos.
“We are still to receive official reports regarding that,” Muyuela said.
She added that they are also coordinating with the Mindanao police to intensify their security arrangements.
On Wednesday seven armed men stormed Singgahmata Reef Resort in Semporna and kidnapped 29-year-old Gao Hua Yuan, from China and a Filipina worker aged 40 years.
The attack comes at a time when Malaysia’s image has been tarnished in China by negative publicity over its handling of the March 8 disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 with 239 people aboard, most of them Chinese nationals.
Sabah has become a popular tourist destination for Chinese in recent years, but has faced security problems due to its proximity to the restive southern Philippines.
Last November, 58-year-old Taiwanese national Chang An Wei, was abducted and her husband Hsu Li-min was killed during an attack on a holiday resort on Pom Pom Island.
Chang was release in December, 36 days after she was kidnapped, after a ransom was paid to the Abu Sayyaf, according to reports.
The kidnapping occured in Semporna which is a district under the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom).
Esscom and Esszone was established in April last year following the Sulu incursion.
The Sultanate of Sulu Dar al-Islam (Jawi: [...] (Arabic: [...] was an Islamic Tausug state that ruled over many of the islands of the Sulu Sea, parts of Mindanao and certain portions of present-day Sabah (then North Borneo).
The sultanate was founded in 17 November 1405. by a Johore-born Arab explorer and religious scholar Sayyid Abu Bakr Abirin after he settled in Banua Buansa Ummah (ummah is an Arabic term for "community"), Sulu. After the marriage of Abu Bakr and local dayang-dayang (princess) Paramisuli, he founded the sultanate and assumed the title Paduka Mahasari Maulana al Sultan Sharif ul-Hashim.
At its peak, it stretched over the islands that bordered the western peninsula of Mindanao in the east to Palawan in the north. It also covers the area in northeastern side of Borneo, stretching from Kimanis Bay in Sabah which is also overlap with the boundaries of the Bruneian Sultanate, to Tepian Durian in now Kalimantan.
[...]
Map showing the extent of the Sultanate of Sulu in 1822. Date: 18 August 2013, 12:25:47
Philippines Has The Highest Use of Shabu in the World
===
Crystal Meth and Cartels in the Philippines: The Shabu Trap (Trailer)
December 8, 2015 | 11:35 pm
At the start of 2015, Mexican national Horacio Hernandez Herrera, allegedly third in command of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel, was arrested in the Philippines' capital, Manila, at the center of a 12 million peso ($255,000) drug bust.
Herrera's arrest came as Philippine authorities confirmed that not only were Mexico's cartels vying for a piece of the country's rapidly growing drugs trade, but forming an alliance with Chinese syndicates to do so.
The Philippines drug of choice? Shabu: A local name for crystal meth, present in over 90 percent of the capital's neighborhoods.
While shabu's popularity has skyrocketed in the last decade — partly for its ability to allow the poorest of Filipinos to work longer hours — the drug's grip on Manila has reached crisis point, as unemployment rates remain high and the collusion of gangs with police and local government becomes an every day occurrence.
So, as Herrera awaits trial in the capital, VICE News takes a look at the Philippines drug trade. We visit the Tondo district of Manila, a port area overwhelmed by shabu, to speak to dealers defending their turf and police officers trying to contend with porous borders, stunted judiciary power, and – their most challenging enemy – corruption within their own forces.
Jorge Cariño, ABS-CBN News Posted at 01/22/16 12:08 AM
MANILA – The Philippine military said it will support government agencies in their investigation of a ranking military officer arrested in a clandestine drug laboratory discovered by police in Santa Cruz, Manila on Thursday morning.
At a press briefing on Thursday afternoon, Col. Noel Detoyato, chief of the AFP Public Information Office, told reporters that the AFP was informed early Thursday about the arrest of an active duty officer, identified as Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino of the Philippine Marines.
"We assure the public that our agencies involved in this investigation will have the full unequivocal support of the AFP, but the due process that needs to be followed will be implemented," said Col. Detoyato.
Detoyato assured that the AFP will fully cooperate with investigating agencies.
Marcelino is a member of Philippine Military Academy Class Bantay-Laya of 1994. He was catapulted into the limelight during his stint in the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
Among his accomplishments were the arrests of the so-called Alabang Boys, the Chinese chemists behind the manufacture of shabu in Metro Manila and Marawi City, and prominent members of the West African drug syndicate employing Filipinos as drug mules overseas.
Detoyato refused to reveal to reporters the details of Marcelino's career with the military and his current assignment other than saying that the Marine colonel recently graduated from the Command and General Staff College and is presently assigned with the Navy School.
Detoyato explained that any active military officer who commits a felony will face the full force of the law.
"Any active officer na mapatunayang may ginagawang labag sa batas will face the full force of the law. But as of this moment, in the case of Lt. Col. Marcelino, we cannot assume anything. Let us leave it to the investigating agency," he said.
During the raid at the corner of Felix Huertas and Batangas streets, authorities discovered some P320 million worth of shabu in the clandestine laboratory.
Also arrested was Chinese national Yan Yi Shou.
Marcelino insisted he was not involved in the drug syndicate, and was engaged in a legitimate operation.
But the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) denied authorizing him to be inside the shabu laboratory, noting they were surprised to see him there.
PDEA added it does coordinate with the Intelligence Service-Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) in their anti-drug operations.
According to some PDEA agents, back in 2010, Marcelino was implicated in a drug operation where two Chinese drug personalities named him as one of their protectors. But no charges were filed against him due to lack of evidence. - with Raffy Santos, ABS-CBN News
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
