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Kuszczak denies saying he is a ‘slave’ at United Posted: 10 Nov 2011 07:45 AM PST LONDON, Nov 10 – Polish goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak denied using the word "slave" to describe his relationship with Manchester United after claiming that manager Alex Ferguson refused to sanction a loan move to Championship side Leeds United until January. Kuszczak, 29 (picture), was widely quoted to have used the term when talking about the move but said he was mis-quoted by the British media and highlighted his interview with a Polish newspaper, where he said he had "become Manchester's prisoner". Kuszczak, has slipped to fourth choice goalkeeper at Old Trafford and has not played, or even been on the substitutes bench for United all season. In a statement issued today he said: "I did not use the word 'slave' in an interview I gave to the Polish newspaper SuperExpress, about my current position at Manchester United. "At no point during the interview did I use the word 'slave', or imply that the club was treating me like a 'slave'. "What I did say has either been misinterpreted or misreported. "It is important to clear this misinformation up because I have the utmost respect for the club and have not described my relationship with the club in this way because it is simply not the case." Although he did not use the word slave, the goalkeeper was still critical of the way the club has handled his loan request. He told SuperExpress that when he asked for a transfer Ferguson showed no interest in the idea, "he couldn't care less about it" he said. He added: "I have become Manchester's prisoner. I want to leave but the club won't agree to that. I'm frustrated but I have no intention of slinging mud or criticising Ferguson. That's not my style. "I respect him because to me he is a great manager but I am counting on the fact that in the winter transfer window he'll let me leave and that we will part in a normal atmosphere." Kuszczak believes that if he stays with United he will have little or no chance of making the Polish squad for the Euro 2012 finals which his country are jointly hosting with Ukraine next year. – Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Court dismisses Kaneria petition against PCB Posted: 10 Nov 2011 07:31 AM PST KARACHI, Nov 10 – Leg spinner Danish Kaneria's hopes of playing for Pakistan were dealt a blow today when his appeal against the PCB's refusal to consider him for selection was dismissed by the Sindh High Court. The Pakistan Cricket Board has not selected Kaneria (picture) since his involvement in a spot-fixing investigation held in England last year which resulted in his contract with English county side Essex being terminated. Kaneria was questioned by Essex police over a Pro-40 match between Essex and Durham in 2009, but was cleared of any wrongdoing. However, the PCB have refused to consider him for international matches. "The court has said that it does not have the jurisdiction to rule on our petition. We have been told to seek redress from either the Lahore High Court or go to the Supreme Court," Kaneria's lawyer Faroog Naseem said. Kaneria, who has taken 261 wickets in 61 tests, last appeared for Pakistan against England in Nottingham in 2010. "I am disappointed over today's decision but I have still not given up my fight to get clearance for national selection," Kaneria told reporters. "It has been a hard last one year for me and I still want this stigma cleared from my name." Kaneria said he would consult his lawyer and decide whether to file a petition in the Lahore High Court or appeal in the Supreme Court. – Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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Madonna ‘very upset’ at new song leak: Manager Posted: 10 Nov 2011 06:27 AM PST LONDON, Nov 10 – Madonna's manager Guy Oseary has said the US singer was "very upset" that a demo of her new song "Give Me All Your Love" had leaked onto the Internet. The song, which hit the web yesterday and has been listened to by fans around the world, is expected to be the debut track from Madonna's upcoming album, her first studio release since leaving Warner Bros to join Live Nation. "Madonna (picture) told me this morning 'my true fans wouldn't do this'... whoever is responsible for this leak, we ask that you please stop!" Oseary wrote via Twitter. "Im very happy with the positive reaction to the demo, but we are very upset with whoever leaked the song!!!!!!!!" he added. Addressing questions tweeted by fans, Oseary said the new album should be finished "in the next month or so", and that it did not yet have a title. He added that the 53 year-old star, whose hits include "Like a Virgin", "Vogue" and "Hung Up", had penned a "beautiful ballad" for her movie "W.E.". The picture, Madonna's second feature film as director, follows the life of Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee whose relationship with King Edward VIII sparked a constitutional crisis in Britain and led to his abdication. The film, which had its world premiere at the Venice film festival, hits US theatres in December and British cinemas in January. Madonna's new record will be her first studio album since 2008's "Hard Candy," which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. In 2007, Madonna dropped her long-time music label Warner Bros and signed a deal with concert promoter Live Nation reported to be for 10 years and worth US$120 million. The deal, part of a recent trend in the struggling music industry, involved not only record sales, but also touring and merchandising. – Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Madonna ‘very upset’ at new song leak, says manager Posted: 10 Nov 2011 05:15 AM PST LONDON, Nov 10 — Madonna's manager Guy Oseary has said the US singer was "very upset" that a demo of her new song "Give Me All Your Love" had leaked onto the Internet. The song, which hit the web yesterday and has been listened to by fans around the world, is expected to be the debut track from Madonna's upcoming album, her first studio release since leaving Warner Bros to join Live Nation. "Madonna (picture) told me this morning 'my true fans wouldn't do this'... whoever is responsible for this leak, we ask that you please stop!" Oseary wrote via Twitter. "Im very happy with the positive reaction to the demo, but we are very upset with whoever leaked the song!!!!!!!!" he added. Addressing questions tweeted by fans, Oseary said the new album should be finished "in the next month or so", and that it did not yet have a title. He added that the 53-year-old star, whose hits include "Like a Virgin", "Vogue" and "Hung Up", had penned a "beautiful ballad" for her movie "W.E.". The picture, Madonna's second feature film as director, follows the life of Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee whose relationship with King Edward VIII sparked a constitutional crisis in Britain and led to his abdication. The film, which had its world premiere at the Venice film festival, hits US theatres in December and British cinemas in January. Madonna's new record will be her first studio album since 2008's "Hard Candy," which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. In 2007, Madonna dropped her long-time music label Warner Bros and signed a deal with concert promoter Live Nation reported to be for 10 years and worth US$120 million (RM372 million). The deal, part of a recent trend in the struggling music industry, involved not only record sales, but also touring and merchandising. — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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Future development of Mecca aims to fit heritage Posted: 10 Nov 2011 01:54 AM PST MECCA, Nov 10 — Future development in the Muslim sacred city of Mecca will be more in tune with traditional architecture, the mayor says, but for now residents worry that Islam's holiest sites are disappearing behind skyscrapers. The historic city, the birthplace of Islam, is studded with dozens of yellow and red cranes and metal scaffolding aimed at increasing hotel space and improving facilities to make the annual haj pilgrimage safer and easier. Muslim pilgrims pray at the Grand Mosque in Mecca in this November 7, 2011 file photo. Future development in the Muslim holy city will be more in tune with traditional architecture, the mayor says. — Reuters pic As more than 2.5 million Muslims from across the world flood Mecca's narrow streets for the annual pilgrimage, however, many visitors and residents point to a government-owned 600m tower surmounted by an extravagant clock as evidence development has moved too quickly. "The building regulations in the city take into consideration the width of the streets, central locations and do not allow the building of skyscrapers... what was built was that," Mayor Osama al-Bar told Reuters when asked about the tower. Future projects "will be far from the grand mosque by 300 metres ... The buildings will have reasonable heights between eight and 10 floors and will have the Meccan style," he said. Within six years, the government hopes to reinforce the infrastructure surrounding Mecca's Grand Mosque, home to the cube-shaped Kaaba towards which Muslims the world over turn in prayer, replacing congested narrow roads with new ones, installing foot bridges for pedestrians and a four-line metro. On Tuesday, Crown Prince Nayef, whose ruling Al Saud family bases its legitimacy in part on its guardianship of Islam's holiest sites, said the development that had already taken place would "be little compared to what will happen." "We want to evolve Mecca, not change it," said Sami Angawi, founder of Hajj Research Center and an expert on Mecca. Angawi, who is originally from Mecca, has not stepped into his city for the past two years because he is unhappy about the way that it is being transformed. "I love Mecca and cannot see the beloved (sanctuary) of the Prophet being destroyed and handled this way," said Angawi, who shares a belief with many Muslims that Mecca is a holy place where change must be made in a delicate manner. An hour before evening prayer, the marble floor around the Grand Mosque is hardly visible as millions of worshippers stand side-by-side, lining their prayer mats outside the overflowing mosque to reserve a spot in anticipation for the call to pray. The pilgrimage was once the culmination of an arduous desert journey over perilous weeks or months, but with the advent of modern transport, the number of hajis, or pilgrims, has risen to millions, gridlocking the city's roads and compromising safety. Deadly stampedes, tent fires and other accidents have several times caused hundreds of deaths, forcing the government to spend lavishly on new infrastructure. "For sure (the expansion) will be good for pilgrims because usually there are huge numbers of pilgrims, especially during prayer times," Ahdab Seif, an Egyptian pilgrim, said outside the Grand Mosque. Long-term projects around the mosque will include hotels, malls and cafes. Developments in the suburbs include housing estates and a park for residents who have been made to relocate from the city centre. "Mecca is known to be an old city ... it has some old haphazard buildings located near the Grand Mosque and this project will reshape the face of Mecca and raise the capacity and services of the city," Bar said. "By 2020 we hope that results will be visible as major parts of the projects will be complete," he said, sitting behind his wooden desk at the Mecca municipality. Among the announced projects, which will cost more than US$30 billion (RM93 billion), is a historic expansion of the Grand Mosque to add 400,000 square metres and add shaded areas to shelter worshippers from the scorching desert sun. The clock tower of the King Abdulaziz Endowment, which is visible for miles around and stands next to the Grand Mosque, has been the focal point of criticism. "What is not nice is that the outside design is not traditionally Arabic... What they created looks like the buildings in Australia, it does not give a feel of Arabs and Mecca," said Wafa Sbbet, 50, who came from Sydney for the haj. The tower, which overlooks the Kaaba, was built over a demolished 18th-century Ottoman fort on a prominent Mecca hillside, now flattened to the ground. "This is a sanctuary ... My objection is not about expansion, or increasing capacity for pilgrims or developing Mecca. My objection is about how it is done," Angawi said. "This tower does not respect the dignity, sanctity and culture of the Kaaba ... it has demolished a whole mountain." Mecca residents, who once lived a few steps from the Grand Mosque, say they are being pushed away from the city centre to make way for hotels and restaurants that will cater to visiting pilgrims. A square foot of land around the Grand Mosque has in some cases reached up to US$18,000, Bar said, significantly higher than average prices of around US$4,420 in Monaco. Property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle could not corroborate those prices but confirmed that the land around the Grand Mosque is the most expensive real estate in the world. "Mecca is the heart of the Islamic world... what we are doing is changing the heart from a natural heart to a mechanical one," Angawi said. "Now we should review and stop any project that does not respect the scale of the Kaaba and the environment of the holy sanctuary ... Take the bulldozers and dynamites out of Mecca." — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Religious minorities put faith in Tunisia’s democracy Posted: 10 Nov 2011 01:43 AM PST TUNIS, Nov 10 — Minority Jews and Christians are putting their faith in Tunisia's nascent democracy to ensure its new Islamist-led leadership respects their rights in this traditionally secular state. Religious minorities in the Arab world have mostly lost out when dictators are toppled and radical Islamists exploit the power vacuum to attack non-Muslims. The targeting of Christians in Iraq and Egypt constitutes a frightening example. File photo of Tunisians chanting slogans during a demonstration against Ennahda in Tunis on November 2, 2011. The moderate Ennahda won almost 42 per cent of the vote in the October 23 election for a constituent assembly. — Reuters pic Tunisia, birthplace of the first Arab Spring uprising, stands as a cautious exception. Minorities are staying here and hoping for the best. "The Tunisian people, including the Jews, have understood that democracy is the best solution for everybody," said Khelifa Attoun, a Tunis businessman who is vice-president of the local Jewish community. "The democratic spirit is there," said the Jordanian-born Roman Catholic Archbishop of Tunis, Maroun Lahham. "This is not Iran, Pakistan or Saudi Arabia — it's not Switzerland or Sweden either," he said. "This will be a real Arab democracy, with a Muslim colouring." Their cautious optimism echoed comments by Muslim analysts who expect Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party that won 41.7 per cent of the October 23 vote for a new assembly, to substantiate its claim that Islam and democracy are compatible. "Ennahda is not going to throw away this opportunity that history has given it," said Sofiane Ben Farhat, a senior editor at the daily La Presse de Tunisie. Tunisia's religious minorities are tiny. There are only about 30,000 Christians, almost all foreigners of European and sub-Saharan African origin, and fewer than 2,000 Jews in a community that dates back to the Roman Empire. The outlook for them was not reassuring in the weeks after autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fell on January 14. A synagogue in the southern city of Ghabes was set ablaze on February 1. Two weeks later, several dozen radical Muslims massed outside the Tunis Grand Synagogue chanting "Allahu Akbar" and "The army of Mohammad is returning." Four days after that, a Polish priest was found murdered at his Catholic school in Tunis. But civil society responded with a 15,000-strong protest march down Tunis's main avenue on February 19 chanting "Terrorism is not Tunisian" and "Religion is personal." Police were posted behind barbed wire at the Tunis synagogue and at a Jewish nursing home in a Tunis suburb. It eventually emerged that Rev Marek Rybinski was murdered by a staff member after a wage dispute. Jewish leaders said the Ghabes synagogue attack looked like a provocation by supporters of the deposed dictator. "There was unrest for the first two months, but then the government was able to calm things down," said Tunis jeweller Yonathan Rakkah after an evening prayer in the synagogue. In early April, Israel announced a financial aid package for Tunisian Jews it said were in distress and eager to emigrate. Tunis Jews said only a handful took up the offer. Still, security concerns persisted. In May, only about 100 Jewish pilgrims visited the famous synagogue in Djerba for Lag BaOmer, a holiday following Passover that usually attracts 5,000 Jews from Tunisia, France, Israel and other countries. During the campaign for the October 23 election for Tunisia's new democratic assembly, moderate Islamists in the Ennahda party promised to maintain the country's secular state and respect human rights, women's rights and other freedoms. Among the 10,000 candidates was one Jew, kosher restaurant owner Gilles Jacob Lellouche from the Tunis port area of La Goulette, where many Jews live. "I wanted to break the taboo that someone from a minority can't get involved in politics," said Lellouche, who was not elected. "People saw me as a citizen who was getting involved. It all went very well." The Ennahda candidate in La Goulette visited the Jewish nursing home to reassure the residents and party leader Rachid Ghannouchi met the Tunis community's leader. The smooth voting process and the fact that Ennahda fell short of a majority, forcing it to seek a coalition with two secular parties, seem to have reassured the minorities. "Ennahda will have to follow the moderate Tunisian tradition. Jews have no problem with Ennahda, only with the salafists," Attoun said, referring to the minority of radical Islamists. "But Ennahda won't let them do what they want." "Everybody is watching Ennahda and knows what they have promised," Lahham said. "If they want to change anything, the street is there to protest." A senior Western diplomat in touch with Jewish communities around the country said they were not getting ready to leave. "Ennahda has gone out of its way to reassure the Jewish community," he said. "It's in Ennahda's interest both as a political party and as the leader of the next government of Tunisia to show that this tradition of tolerance continues." — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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If Jane Austen lived today, she’d be a blogger Posted: 10 Nov 2011 04:41 AM PST TOKYO, Nov 10 — Dear reader, if Jane Austen lived today, she'd be an avid blogger, she'd be on Facebook, and of course she'd also be tweeting away — but mostly about other people, not herself. That's because Austen had a passionate fascination with people and what made them who they were, an interest that keeps the modern world fascinated by the woman who wrote novels set in small villages nearly 200 years ago, said Laurel Ann Nattress (picture), editor of an anthology of Austen-inspired stories. "She would definitely be on Twitter, out there having fun. Blogging, connecting with people. Facebook," said Nattress in a phone interview about her book "Jane Austen Made Me Do It". "She loved understanding how people ticked, and you see that in her characterisations and her plots. So I think that the whole social networking thing would fascinate her too, because you learn more about people." Nattress first read Austen as a schoolgirl, but her passion for the writer who gave the world "Sense and Sensibility" and a handful of other novels didn't truly begin until 1980, when a television production of "Pride and Prejudice" made the world of Regency England come alive for her. "I loved the era, I loved the gentility, I loved the respect that the characters had for each other. I love their dialogue — that sharp, witty, funny dialogue," she said. "I wasn't really pleased with what life was happening around me, and so I saw this fabulous world 200 years ago. It was just amazing how civil these people were, the gentility and civility were really striking, I think, (compared) with what we were seeing on television." Nattress immediately re-read "Pride and Prejudice," although she said she struggled a bit with the language at first, and then the other books. It was the start of a love affair that has led her to read the book again every year. Though for years Nattress said she merely "worshipped in silence," the advent of the Internet in the mid-90s opened up a new world of sites where other Austen fans gathered. In 2007, she began a blog, "Austenprose," (http://austenprose.com/) to share her passion for all things Austen, including a growing body of "Austen sequels" and other Austen-inspired tales. These days this includes some with touches of vampires, zombies and hammerhead sharks. Amidst this literary outpouring, Nattress suddenly realised there wasn't an anthology of Austen-inspired short stories. With the help of a literary agent who phoned to thank her about a review she'd done, she set out to rectify that. "I think Jane Austen was looking down on me," she said. Within a week of starting to sell the book, they had an offer. Within a month, they had 20 authors lined up, eager to write new Austen-inspired stories. The resulting collection contains tales by seasoned authors in a variety of genres as well as one debut piece, chosen from among 88 in a short story contest. There is one about a modern-day Austen giving her niece advice ahead of her wedding and another in which Mr Darcy, the romantic hero of "Pride and Prejudice," sues all the writers of sequels and spin-offs. Nattress, who said she now automatically associates anybody she meets with an Austen character, attributed her heroine's lasting appeal mainly to her take on human nature. "She writes very astute observations of human personalities, foibles and things that are wonderful. It's universal and it still touches us today," she said. And what would a modern Jane be doing, besides blogging? "I think she would be a journalist because she loved the cutting edge of society. She loved talking about people, about human dynamics, about personal relations," Nattress said. "If she wasn't a journalist I think she'd be a psychologist, because she was just so observant. I learn so much about life from Jane Austen." — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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Jamil Khir:  Haji Najib lengkap, mesej Twitter disalah tafsir Posted: 10 Nov 2011 02:56 AM PST SEPANG, 10 Okt – Kenyataan Twitter Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak Ahad lalu bahawa beliau telah selesai menunaikan ibadah haji sedangkan masih ada rukun haji yang belum dilaksanakan ketika itu telah disalah tafsir, kata Senator Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom. Sambil menolak sebarang andaian kononnya Najib dan isterinya Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor serta beberapa kenamaan lain tidak selesai mengerjakan ibadah haji, Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri berkata, sebagai tetamu diraja kerajaan Arab Saudi, Perdana Menteri serta jemputan yang lain dapat menjalankan ibadah dengan baik. Bercakap kepada pemberita sejurus tiba dari Tanah Suci di KLIA di sini hari ini, Jamil Khir (gambar) dipetik Bernama Online berkata, Perdana Menteri dan rombongan telah mendapat kawalan yang baik dan teratur bagi menyempurnakan semua ibadah semasa mengerjakan haji. "Yang dimaksudkan (dalam Twitter Perdana Menteri), bukan selesai ibadat haji (tetapi) selesai wukuf. Wukuf ini dari Zohor 9 Zulhijjah sehingga Maghrib hari yang sama. Jadi yang dimaksudkan selesai itu, selesai wukuf. "PM selesai (menunaikan ibadah haji). Haji ialah kita mesti pergi di Arafah. Kalau kita tidak berada di Arafah, maka tiadalah haji itu. "Jadi pada petang itu mungkin... barangkali soalan itu ditanya petang itu... selesai itu, selesai arafah. Haji itu belum selesai lagi. "Kita masih ada untuk nak melontar selama tiga hari pada hari-hari Tasyrik. Jadi ini yang mungkin disilap faham," kata beliau. Bernama dalam laporannya Ahad lalu berkata, Najib dan Rosmah selesai menunaikan ibadah haji bersama jutaan umat Islam lain. "Alhamdulillah urusan haji kami sudah selesai," kata Perdana Menteri menerusi laman Twitternya. Beliau turut mengambil kesempatan mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha kepada umat Islam di Malaysia. Najib dan Rosmah ialah antara 28,000 rakyat Malaysia yang menyempurnakan ibadah haji tahun ini. Menunaikan rukun Islam kelima itu bersama Perdana Menteri ialah ibu beliau, Tun Rahah Mohamad Noah dan adik Najib, Datuk Mohamed Nazim serta Menteri Besar Perak Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir. Isu itu timbul apabila Mufti Perlis Dr Juanda Jaya melahirkan rasa agak terkejut dengan laporan berita bahawa seorang pemimpin kanan negara bersama isterinya serta orang kenamaan lain telah selesai ibadat haji. Juanda berpendapat bahawa sedangkan paling awal jemaah haji akan menamatkan ibadat mereka adalah pada waktu Zohor Selasa lalu, itupun jika mereka melakukan nafar awal iaitu setelah selesai bermabit di Mina malam 11 dan 12 Zulhijjah dan melontar tiga jamrah pada dua hari berkenaan. "Haji hanya akan selesai paling awal pada 12 Zulhijjah atau Selasa 8 November. Bagi yang melakukan Nafar Thani dan mahu melengkapkan tempoh bermabit dan melontar  di Mina mereka akan selesai haji pada 9 November bersamaan  13 Zulhijjah. "Melainkan kalau yang berkenaan tidak mahu menyelesaikan urusan wajib haji yang dua di atas dan hanya mahu membayar dam atau denda akibat tidak selesaikan wajib haji. Itu hal lain," kata mufti itu. Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Ambiga antara individu, pertubuhan temu PSC esok Posted: 10 Nov 2011 02:46 AM PST KUALA LUMPUR, 10 Nov – Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan merupakan antara mereka yang awal akan memberi pandangan kepada jawatankuasa pilihan khas Parlimen yang sedang mengkaji pembaharuan sistem pilihan raya apabila panel khas itu memulakan pendengaran awam esok. Pengerusi jawatankuasa Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili memberitahu pemberita bahawa ketua Bersih 2.0, MCA dan Transparency International (TI) akan memberi pandangan mereka kepada panel sembilan anggota itu esok. "Seramai 11 individu dan organisasi dijadual hadir esok. Ini termasuklah Datuk Ambiga, MCA dan TI. "Orang ramai atau badan-badan berdaftar juga boleh datang dengan memorandum dan kami mungkin akan memberi 10 atau 20 minit untuk merumuskan idea mereka," katanya lagi. Pendengaran awam akan berlangsung mulai pukul 9.30 pagi hingga 5.30 petang. Ongkili berkata Ambiga tidak boleh bercakap atas kapasiti mewakili Bersih tetapi akan dibenar memberi pandangan sebagai orang perseorangan. Ini kerana menurut beliau, Bersih 2.0 telah pun diharamkan awal Julai lalu. Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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Ugutan buat Aziz Bari belum berdosa Posted: 09 Nov 2011 03:52 PM PST [unable to retrieve full-text content]10 NOV — Prof Dr Aziz Bari yang digantung jawatannya di UIAM dengan tali reput, kini menerima pula surat ancaman ke atas jiwanya bersama sebutir peluru. Kes itu telah dilaporkannya ke balai polis. Semua bersetuju bahawa surat ancaman beracun itu adalah satu jenayah oleh pengirimnya baik seorang mahu pun secara berkumpul. Laporan itu perlu untuk ...

Anyone for PM? Posted: 09 Nov 2011 03:47 PM PST NOV 10 — Not so very long ago, a couple of my relatives came to stay with me whilst on holiday. This was in July, and unsurprisingly, our conversation soon drifted into Malaysian politics. Naturally enough, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim soon cropped up. We all agreed that he would, in all likelihood, not become one of our country's prime ministers, but what really got the debate going was his alleged sexual misconduct. I was (and remain) firmly of the opinion that so long as the person who is prime minister does the job well and honourably, his or her sexual preference is of no consequence. So what if they are gay? If they can do the job and serve us and the nation well, why should we care? "Farah," my relative said to me, shocked, "you've been away too long! We can't have a PM who is gay, we're a Muslim country!" Recent events reminded me of that conversation. A lot has been said about the Seksualiti Merdeka festival. And of course, the usual suspects couldn't help getting all hot and bothered about Elton John coming to Malaysia. Of course, from a religious standpoint, one must condemn sex outside marriage and be doubly censorious if one even hears a whisper of "seks luar tabii." However, a lot of things are tolerated in our country that are even more injurious to our society (corruption, for one) compared to pre-marital sex (gay or otherwise) and adultery (gay or otherwise). Personally, what consenting adults get up to behind closed doors is none of my business, and nor should it be any business of the state's. Why should we care if a person decides that they love someone who is of the same sex as himself/herself? So long as they are not harming themselves or others, then really, what does it matter? I know there are plenty of people in our country who abhor homosexuals, but a person's sexuality should have no bearing on their ability to do their job. Similarly, a person's race and religion shouldn't have any bearing on their ability to do their job either, don't you think? A recent article in Berita Harian asks "Andai ada bukan Melayu dipilih jadi Perdana Menteri nanti, dapatkah dijamin individu itu bersedia menerima dan mempertahankan dasar dalam Perlembagaan dan menjadi bangsa Malaysia setulen-tulennya. Bersediakah individu itu mempertahankan hak Melayu dan keistimewaan diperuntukkan kepada bangsa terbesar itu?" It is simultaneously enlightening and discouraging that Berita Harian has posed that question. Enlightening because even Berita Harian can acknowledge a future in which we would get the services of a non-Malay PM, but discouraging because, well, "hak Melayu dan keistimewaan" towards the Malays is seen as something that will continue in perpetuity. Malays are to be fettered by the chain of "special rights" forever. I have always been of the opinion that we handle our race relations better than the Thais or the Indonesians. I don't believe in forced assimilation, and I have always been proud of the fact that Malaysia allows its minorities to practise their culture and religion as they see fit. I would be the first to admit that we do not always get it right in our race relations, and I see nothing wrong in questioning the status quo. It is perfectly within Berita Harian's rights to pose the question above, of course. However, the converse must also be true, that is, others also have the right to question the assumptions behind our society. I don't expect to see a non-Malay PM in my lifetime (or a gay one, for that matter), but I used to think it would happen one day, because one day, we will move beyond racial politics and elect leaders because we think they are capable, not because we think they will defend our respective communal rights. And yet that day is long in coming, isn't it? I can't think of a single leader right now who can go beyond communal politics. Even our PM is held hostage by the way we do politics by virtue of the fact that he needs support to maintain and bolster his position. It's easy to blame the politicians for this state of affairs. It would take a very strong politician indeed to break out of the communal mindset and (crucially) garner enough support to push through a non-communal agenda. So who is to blame really? Well, maybe we are. Maybe we aren't ready for non-racial politics. Maybe we fear change; better the devil you know and so let's elect the same people again and again. In the developed world there are protests against capitalism, high taxes and cuts in social programmes. In our country, there are protests against a sexuality awareness festival. Meanwhile, our Auditor-General releases a report that shows government overspending by over RM3.7 billion last year, and no one bats an eyelid.  We are supposed to attain developed country status in less than a decade. At the rate we're going, are we really going to reach that goal in 2020? * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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