Posts Tagged ‘malaysia’
August 9th, 2010
Police
arrested 38 people in Selangor, Penang and Kelantan who were part of a nationwide candlelight vigil which was held to denounce the 50
th year of the Internal Security Act (ISA) on 1 August.
The ISA targets any person who “has acted, is about to act, or is likely to act in any way manner prejudicial to the security of Malaysia.” According to the act, the police can detain anyone for up to 60 days without trial without access to a lawyer.
July 28th, 2010
On 27 July, a
Selangor court imprisoned a man for a week and fined 11 others after they protested against the construction of a Hindu temple with a severed cow’s head. All 12 pleaded guilty to the charge of “illegal assembly” and were fined 1000 ringgit (£202) whilst two men were also
convicted of sedition and fined a further 3,000 ringgit (£606) for stamping and spitting on the cow’s skull. The rally took place in August 2009, in response to a proposal to build a Hindu temple in a Muslim neighbourhood. An alternative site was eventually chosen for the place of worship.
July 26th, 2010
On 21 July 2010, clerics
announced that Malaysian Muslims should not wear
Manchester United football shirts because the devil emblazoned on the badge is un-Islamic. Condemnation also extended to the strips of Brazil, Norway, Serbia, Portugal and Barcelona, because their crests contain crosses. Prominent Islamic cleric Nooh Gadot described the jerseys as “very dangerous” adding that Muslims “should not worship the symbols of other religions or the devil”.
Fans
reacted angrily on social networking sites, accusing the clerics of supporting United’s arch rivals Liverpool. However, despite their disapproval, Islamic authorities have stated that there are
no plans to issue an edict making the shirts illegal.
July 16th, 2010
A
fourth newspaper has been forced to close in Kuala Lumpur following the government’s crackdown on publishing licenses. The suspension of Hakhah’s printing office follows the closure of the newspapers Suara Keadilan, Kabar Era Pakatan and Rocket on 30 June. Suara Keadilan, a leading critical voice in Malaysia, is reported to have been shut down for
“publishing false news that could incite public unrest”. Local activists claim that Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government is attempting to silence critical publications ahead of national elections. Media regulators state they are applying broadcasting law uniformly.
March 30th, 2010
The Malaysian Home Ministry website has just
published new censorship guidelines for films this week. Restrictions around profanity and displays of intimacy between adults have been relaxed, if they are “appropriate” to the context of the film. However the Board still remains firm on nudity, sex and negative depictions of Muslims, unless the filmmaker is wishing to “depict a person’s transformation from being evil to good”.
August 26th, 2009
In Kuala Lumpur, copies of the inaugural issue of Gedung Kartun magazine have been confiscated by officials due to a “lack of publication permit” as well as for “content checking.” The magazine’s editor-in-chief and well-known cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Haque aka Zunar disputes this and claims to have verbally obtained a license serial number. Read more here
August 13th, 2009
Malaysian rights activists have welcomed the government’s decision not to implement a controversial plan to create an Internet filter blocking “undesirable” websites. The proposal had been described as a “horror of horrors” by the opposition which said it would destroy the relative freedom of the Internet in Malaysia, where the mainstream press is tightly controlled. Read more here
June 24th, 2009
Human Rights Watch has called for the district police in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia to free the 14 Burmese asylum seekers arrested on 19 June at a peaceful celebration of the 64th birthday of the Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Read more
here
