Social order & special needs

The recent upheaval in Selangor over the post of Menteri Besar (MB) has suddenly led the country to a situation where we might soon be witnessing a major breakthrough for women in politics.

Over the years we have seen women slowly occupy positions in the political arena.

Data from the Ministry for Women, Family and Community Development shows that in 2013 women made up only 13.1% of local councillors, 28.8% of senators, 11.3% state legislative assembly members, 10.4% members of parliament and 12.3% of cabinet ministers and deputy ministers. Read more »

Two leaders from Sabah and Sarawak, one from the Opposition and another from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN), found common ground on the Sept 16, 1963 Federation of Sabah and Sarawak with the peninsula.

Sarawak Minister of Land Development James Masing and Penampang MP Darell Leiking told a book launch at a university in Petaling Jaya on Fri that the celebration of the independence of the peninsula on 31 Aug, 1957 should not take precedence over Malaysia Day. Read more »

Human Rights Watch (HRW) today urged the Singapore government to “immediately and unconditionally” abolish caning as a punishment for crimes.

The call came just hours before the Singapore Court of Appeal was to hear the case of Malaysian national Yong Vui Kong. Yong was found guilty of drug trafficking in 2008.

His death sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment and caning. His lawyer is in court today to challenge the caning part of the sentence. Read more »

In April 2013, the parents of slain U.S. journalist James Foley attended a prayer vigil at Marquette University in Milwaukee to pray for their son who, at that time, had disappeared in Syria.

Before Diane and John Foley had confirmation that spring that their son was missing, Diane said she just felt it -- he had missed one of his usual phone calls home -- and once they knew for sure, the couple said they were relying on their Catholic faith to cope and leaning on prayer to bring him home. Read more »

Malaysia is prepared to lose its talent through its race-based policies in order to maintain the dominance of one race, said Lee Kuan Yew in his new book which was launched tonight in Singapore.

And although Malaysia has acknowledged the fact that they are losing these talents and is making an attempt to lure Malaysians back from overseas, such efforts may be too little too late, he said.

"This is putting the country at a disadvantage. It is voluntarily shrinking the talent pool needed to build the kind of society that makes use of talent from all races. Read more »

Pope Francis has met with the young Sudanese who was imprisoned and sentenced to death for marrying a Christian.

The Holy Father met with Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, 27, at 1 p.m. in Casa Santa Marta at the Vatican, reported the Sismografo.

Ibrahim arrived in Rome this morning on an Italian government plane. Meriam was accompanied by her husband, Daniel Wani, and their two young children, Martin, 18 months old, and Maya, born in prison two months ago. Read more »

“We need more than words now, we need concrete actions; we need the solidarity of Christians worldwide not to be afraid to talk about this tragedy”, says Archbishop Amel Nona of Mosul speaking to Vatican Radio over the phone from Nineveh province, Northern Iraq.

As if in response to this plea, over the past 24 hours, a campaign has been mounting in the global twitter sphere to stand with Iraqi Christians under the hashtag #WeAreN: This refers to the Arabic letter ن, or "n", which Islamic State militants have left on some doorways in areas under their control to indicate that the inhabitants are "Nazarene" or Christian. Read more »

An interview with Brandon Vogt, whose new book examines Catholic social teaching through the lives and witness of fourteen Blesseds and Saints

“Catholic social teaching has explosive power for changing not just individuals, but whole societies. And it's the saints who light the fuse,” writes Brandon Vogt, author of Saints and Social Justice(Our Sunday Visitor, 2014). In this newly released book, Vogt introduces us to saints both familiar and unfamiliar and demonstrates how their lives offer a living model to putting the Church’s social teaching in action. He spoke with Catholic World Report recently about the true meaning of “social justice” and how it can be better learned and lived today. Read more »

Christians are not alone in their struggle to use the word "Allah" in Malaysia, as Muslim non-governmental organisations (NGO) have taken it upon themselves to educate fellow Malays that the word predates Islam. Islamic NGOs, such as Sisters in Islam (SIS) and the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF), have taken to social media to spread awareness on the issue, bringing with them views that are a far cry from the threats and exclusivity espoused by groups such as Perkasa and Isma. Read more »

The National Unity Consultative Council’s (NUCC) proposed anti-discrimination law contravenes the Rukunegara’s principle of belief in God by recognising atheism, a coalition of Muslim groups have said. In a column in Malay newspaper Mingguan Malaysia today, MuslimUPRo chief Azril Mohd Amin noted that the NUCC’s National Harmony and Reconciliation Bill 2014 defined “religion” as “any religion and includes any belief or lack of a religious belief”, which he said would include atheists and the freedom to renounce a faith. Read more »