Social order & special needs

The number of Southeast Asian women being sent to China illegally, with the false promise of finding work or a rich husband who can help them escape poverty, is on the increase.

As AsiaNews reported, referring to an article published by the China Daily newspaper, girls are actually pushed into prostitution or sold to men who pressure them into forced marriages. Read more »

Human beings have the right to freedom of religion and all people, in every part of the world, should be protected from every form of coercion by individuals, social groups, and every kind of human power," wrote John Paul II, Ecclesia in Europa. Read more »

At 8:30 this morning, dozens of Hanoi Redemptorists led a group of hundreds of parishioners to the City’s People’s Committee to submit their urgent petition which asked for the suspension of a hospital sewage treatment system on a parish’ lot of land.

They could manage to hand in their petition.

However, on the way home, an outnumbered of police and militiamen stopped them and brutally beat, and arrested dozens of priests and parishioners of Thai Ha Parish. Read more »

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) is against the new proposed Bill as it is restrictive, repressive and against Freedom of Assembly and against Freedom of Religion, 2 sacred Fundamental rights guaranteed by the Federal Constitution.

The proposed Bill clearly gives the Police and the Home Minister more powers and is aimed at stifling democratic space. Read more »

For the 3rd consecutive year, Malaysia has shown a decline in its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) score.

Its 2011 score of 4.3 is slightly lower than the 4.4 recorded in 2010, and is significantly lower than the government’s benchmark of 4.9.

Malaysia’s country ranking has also declined to 60th (of 183 countries) from 56th last year. Although the CPI decline for the last two years is marginal (0.1 for 2010 and 2011), the lack of improvement in Malaysia’s CPI ranking is a cause for concern. Read more »

The Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Penang has held a forum to encourage Catholics to exercise their right to vote and to be discerning on issues that affect their rights, as the general election is expected next year.

Several social activists and political scientists spoke to around 400 people who came for the event on November 19. Issues brought up include affordable housing, a widening incomes gap, rising prices of food and rising debt of the central government. Read more »

Taking 300 religious leaders with him on pilgrimage to Assisi, Pope Benedict XVI said people who are suspicious of religion cannot be blamed for questioning God's existence when they see believers use religion to justify violence.

"All their struggling and questioning is, in part, an appeal to believers to purify their faith so that God, the true God, becomes accessible," the pope said Oct. 27 during an interfaith gathering in the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels. Read more »

Catholic Bishop Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing today hailed PAS, PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim and MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek for “taking sane stances in the face of deliberate attempts to stoke anti-Christian hysteria.”

The head of the Catholic Church for the Melaka-Johor diocese, reached in Bangkok where he is attending a meeting of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference, said: Read more »

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) believes that the Hudud debate on the matter should be carried out rationally and within the Constitutional Scheme of things. It cannot be carried out in disregard of the Federal Constitution.

It is not in dispute that Syariah Courts have jurisdiction only over matters as mentioned in 9th Schedule LIST II and the concurrent List (LIST II). Read more »

BERSIH 2.0 cautiously welcomes the motion to form a Parliament Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reform which was passed by the Dewan Rakyat on Oct 3. This is an indication that the government is at long last paying serious attention to the voices of the rakyat.

However, we reiterate that any move towards electoral reform by the government is insincere and deceitful if the 8 immediate demands by BERSIH 2.0 are not implemented before the 13th General Elections (GE-13). Read more »