American Buddhist Net

By Manirajan Ramasamy

July 4 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia's Deputy Premier Najib Razak disputed allegations that he had an affair with a woman before she was killed two years ago, calling them a ``desperate attempt'' by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to divert attention from charges he faces.

``Absolutely not,'' Najib told reporters at a press conference at his parliament office yesterday. ``I never, never met her at all.''

Anwar is being investigated by police for alleged homosexual relations, a crime in Malaysia. He had said earlier yesterday there was a conspiracy to cover up ``shocking'' evidence linking Najib to the slain woman and called for an inquiry.

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June 28, 2008

Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian opposition leader who once was the country's deputy prime minister, has been accused of sodomising a male aide.

Police are investiagting the complaint, Ku Chin Wah, Kuala Lumpur's police chief for criminal investigations, said on Saturday.

Anwar's lawyer has denied the allegation and Anwar himself called it a "complete fabrication".

The opposition Keadilan party said that Saiful Bahari, one of Anwar's aides, had been arrested on Saturday and "forced" to make a statement saying Anwar had sodomised him.

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Thursday 26th June, 2008

A Malaysian Indian has challenged the conversion to Islam of his half-brother, who allegedly committed suicide earlier this week, claiming his body from hospital authorities for funeral as per Hindu rites.

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June 17, 2008

KANGAR: A Malay woman who died in Kampung Guar Musang, near here, on June 12 was buried according to Buddhist rites in the village. This followed the Perlis Religious Affairs Department's decision that the woman, Selimah Mat, 78, was no longer a Muslim at the time of her death although her identity card states her religion as Islam.

Perlis Syariah High Court judge, Zaini Abd Rahim, confirmed that the woman did not profess the Islamic faith and could be buried according to Buddhist rites.

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June 17, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR - A MALAYSIAN gynaecologist accused of running a baby-selling racket has been charged with cheating and forgery over the creation of false identities for the newborns.

Robert Luk was slapped with eight counts in two courts in Johor Baru on Monday, including falsifying information about the biological parents of four babies to obtain birth certificates, said Malaysian media reports.

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June 7, 2008

Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Christian shrines in Malaysia's Selangor state will be allowed to utilise more space than currently permitted as the state governmnet proposes to lift curbs on the size of non-Muslim communities' places of worship.

The religious minorities in the Muslim majority state are currently required to build their shrines within 10,000 square feet. The state's health, plantation workers, poverty and caring government committee Chairman A. Xavier Jayakumar said this limit was "impractical".

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http://tsemtulku.com/V03/media/gallery.php

H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche's spiritual lineage begins with one of the eight main disciples of Manjushri Je Tsongkhapa, the founder saint of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism. Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), most famous for his crystal clear teachings on "The steps on the path to Enlightenment", initiated a complete revival of the Dharma, today as relevant as then, and is called "the second Buddha" by Tibetans.

Monday May 26, 2008

PALOH: There is nothing sexy about the school uniform now worn by girls in government schools, says Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

He said he personally felt it was unfair to blame the students or their uniform for sexual crimes.

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Monday May 26, 2008
By STEPHEN THEN

MIRI: Some 700 native folks from a remote longhouse called Rumah Banyang in northern Sarawak have been left homeless after a predawn fire razed their entire longhouse - a wooden structure that have 41 family quarters built joined together one after another.

The fire that occurred between 12am to 1am early Monday destroyed the Iban longhouse that measures about 200m long from one end to the other.

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By Alexis Madrigal EmailMay 22, 2008 | 4:07:22 PMCategories: Bioethics, Biology, Disease

Dengue_mosquito Male mosquitoes genetically engineered to produce offspring that die in the larval stage are nearing a release into the wild.

As we first reported back in January, Oxford spin-out Oxitec was nearing a deal with the Malaysian government to release millions of GM bugs to help kill off the mosquito population that carries dengue fever.

Now, Nature is reporting that within the month, the country's Academy of Sciences could recommend the release of the mosquitoes.

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May 20, 2008

Kuala Lumpur : Concerns over the shortage of Buddhist monks to lead prayers and perform rituals in shrines across Malaysia were voiced as the country observed the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha.

"Followers could not shake off concerns that there are today fewer qualified Buddhist monks and nuns to lead the community in temples and centres around Malaysia," The Sun said Tuesday.

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2008/05/18

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made an unannounced visit to the Buddhist Maha Vihara in Brickfields yesterday.

...Abdullah, recalling that his late wife, Datin Seri Endon Mahmood, attended cultural events here, said he hoped all Malaysians would live in peace and harmony.

"No religion asks its followers to create trouble or problems for people of other faiths. Everybody has a right to live in peace and to practise the religion he professes."

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Kuala Lumpur, IANS:

The Malaysian government has said it would challenge a court decision allowing Tan Ean Huan, a Chinese woman who called herself Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah as a Muslim , to renounce Islam and revert to Buddhism.

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May 16, 2008

PENANG (Malaysia) - A GROUP of Muslims in Malaysia's northern Penang state staged a protest on Friday to denounce an Islamic sharia court's rare ruling allowing a Chinese convert to renounce her faith.

Last week the Penang Sharia Court allowed 38-year-old Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah, or Tan Ean Huang, to renounce Islam and return to Buddhism.

...'We outrightly disagree with the court decision as it is against Islamic laws. In Islam, a person who insists on leaving the religion must be punished with death,' president [of Hizbut Tahrir Malaysia, an Islamic hardline group] Abdul Hakim Othman told reporters.

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2008-05-12

Malaysia's Islamic court late last week made a landmark ruling allowing a Muslim convert to return to Buddhism. The move may set a precedent that could ease religious minorities' worries about their legal rights. It was the first time in the country's recent history that the Shariah High Court permitted a convert to legally renounce Islam in the Muslim-majority country. Historically, the courts have always ruled against people seeking to leave Islam. But, last Thursday, Penang's Shariah court granted Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah's request to be declared a non-Muslim. She embraced Islam in 1998 because she wanted to marry an Iranian, but claimed she never truly practised the religion.

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Thu, May 8, 2008

A Malaysian Islamic court allowed a Muslim convert Thursday to return to her original faith of Buddhism, setting a precedent that could ease religious minorities' worries about their legal rights.

Lawyers said the Shariah High Court's verdict in the northern state of Penang was the first time in recent memory that a convert has been permitted to legally renounce Islam in this Muslim-majority nation.

A rising number of disputes about religious conversions has sparked anxiety among minorities _ predominantly Buddhist, Christian and Hindu _ because in the past courts virtually always ruled against people seeking to leave Islam.

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April 29, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR - ISLAMIC authorities have rejected a proposal by Malaysia's prime minister that would require non-Muslims to inform their families before converting to Islam.

The decision was made at a weekend meeting of top Islamic authorities, including legal and spiritual advisers, the Malaysian Islamic Development Department's director-general, Mr Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abdul Aziz, said in a statement received on Tuesday.

The department's rejection was a setback for the proposal, which minority religious groups had hoped would alleviate interfaith tensions in the Muslim-majority nation.

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LONDON: Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has called for an international tribunal to try Western leaders with war crimes over the war in Iraq.

In a speech at Imperial College, Mahathir called for a tribunal to try US President George W Bush plus former prime ministers Tony Blair of Britain and John Howard of Australia for their part in the conflict, said a spokesman for the Muslim group the Ramadhan Foundation, which set up the event.

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Thu, 24 Apr 2008

The Penang Syariah High Court today fixed May 8 to decide on an application by Muslim convert, Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah, to renounce Islam.

Cousel Ahmad Munawir Abdul Aziz, representing the Penang Islamic Religious Council (MAIPP), told reporters here that the verdict would be read out by former Penang Syariah High Court Judge, Othman Ibrahim, who presided over the case.

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Monday April 21, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- The Olympic flame was carried through blistering sun, torrential rain and isolated protests in Malaysia on Monday, completing another segment of its global relay that has become a magnet for demonstrations against China.

A Japanese man, his sister and her 5-year-old son were heckled and roughed up by Chinese nationals when they unfurled a Tibetan flag before the start of the heavily guarded relay in Kuala Lumpur.

Police detained the Japanese but released them without charges after about six hours. The Chinese were not detained.

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April 21, 2008
By JULIA ZAPPEI

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Runners carried the Olympic torch through Malaysia's capital Monday after police detained a Japanese family carrying a pro-Tibet banner and took a Buddhist monk into custody as a "preventive" measure.

There was no immediate information that the monk, whose nationality was not known, had done anything wrong, said Kuala Lampur police chief Muhammad Sabtu Osman. The monk was detained on the route as a "preventive" measure, the police chief said, without elaborating.

The Japanese family of three unfurled a pro-Tibet banner about an hour before the president of the Olympic Council of Malaysia, Imran Jaafar, set off with the torch. Jaafar was the first of 80 runners who planned carry it through the capital.

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By VIJAY JOSHI • ASSOCIATED PRESS • April 20, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The Olympic flame arrived in Malaysia today ahead of a relay in which it will be guarded by 1,000 police watching for protests against China's Tibet crackdown and human rights record.

The flame arrived from Bangkok on a plane dedicated to carry it to all 19 international destinations on the torch relay before it lands in Beijing for the Olympic Games' opening ceremony in August.

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19 April 2008

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia will deploy an elite police squad along with 1,000 police officers to protect the Olympic torch relay amid fears that protesters will disrupt the leg, a report said Saturday.

The torch arrives early Sunday, Malaysian Olympic officials said, ahead of Monday's relay. It will be kept at an undisclosed location.

...The beefed-up security comes after 30 Falungong supporters demonstrated outside the Chinese embassy on Friday, alleging that the Chinese government was using the Beijing Games as a reason to persecute the group's practitioners.

China outlawed the Falungong, which combines meditation with Buddhist-inspired teachings, as an "evil cult" in mid-1999.

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April 15, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA on Tuesday said it would renew or issue new visas for Indian priests, temple musicians and artisans after a ban earlier this year stirred concern among non-Muslim groups.

Religious groups were up in arms in January over the sudden immigration ban on the three groups, mainly Hindu and Sikh, amid a series of rows over race and religion in recent months.

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Friday, April 11, 2008
Julia Zappei

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia will soon require non-Muslims to inform their family before converting to Islam, a move welcomed on Friday by minority religious groups who said it will help ease ethnic and inter-faith tensions.

The planned rule is aimed at preventing religious disputes of the kind that have frequently erupted in this multi-religious country after the death of ethnic Chinese or Indian converts. In many cases families were unaware of the conversions, and were angered when Islamic authorities seized the bodies for Muslim burial.

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