religious rights Archives

Mukhayyam: Honour the Religious Rights of LGBTQ People

05 Aug 2020359 Views0

We refer to your report https://m.malaysiakini.com/news/537178 where the Islamic Development Department (JAKIM) had lodged a police report against a Twitter account owner (Nicole Fong) who made false and baseless allegations about the Mukhayyam programme tailored for the Muslim lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community. We regret that the author had deliberately juxtaposed Mukhayyam programmes with western’s Conversion Therapy practices namely the electric shock therapy, forced marriage, and even corrective rape which, in our opinion has triumphantly painted a sinister picture of the religious programmes organized by JAKIM and other state religious authorities. The picture implies that JAKIM’s goals and their programmes with the LGBTQ community are in line with “co...

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Demand for Tahfiz Schools – Hajah Asral Widad Ahmad Asnawi

Administrator

04 Oct 2018307 Views0

I am a mother of seven children, five boys and two girls. Two of my children are huffaz, which means that they have completed memorization of the entire Qur’an and one is in progress of memorization. My three youngest children are being trained in Raudhatul Huffaz, a non-governmental tahfiz and tuition organization I founded in 2014. Raudhatul Huffaz currently has 53 branches nationwide including rural Sabah and Sarawak, catering to more than 987 primary level students per year. 50% of the total students are funded by the surplus income of Raudhatul Huffaz. Raudhatul Huffaz was set up with the objective of producing future leaders inculcated with the culture of excellence and love for the Noble Qur’an. We aim to inspire children to achieve high standards, emulating the intellectual gian...

Press Statements

WAO is Missing the Points on Modest Clothing

Administrator

08 Aug 2018286 Views0

We would like to refer to a letter to the Star dated August 8, 2018 from the Women’s Aid Organization (WAO) headlined “More to focus on than policing women’s clothing”. The WAO seems to miss some rather important points. Firstly, study by the Women's Alliance For Family Institution and Quality Education (WAFIQ) in collaboration with Centre for Human Rights Research & Advocacy (CENTHRA) and Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) has shown that as many as 5.7% female Muslim respondents reported that they're not allowed to wear hijab, and out of this, 60.9% is from the private sector. There is a substantial number of women in the workforce in Malaysia who are very distressed that they are not able to choose what they want to wear which happens to be Shariah-compliant clothing. They

Press Statements

Advocating Atheism Is Against The Constitution

Administrator

30 Nov 2017259 Views0

The right to freedom of expression, as protected under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution, is accompanied by both the implicit and legal responsibility to exercise that right responsibly and in ways that do not disrupt the peace and harmony of our Malaysian society. In a country like Malaysia, where all religious faiths coexist and are respected, the Atheist Republic movement has decided that it should be free to malign and dishonour these faiths in the name of freedom of expression. They are gravely mistaken. Atheism, unless they are willing to admit otherwise, is not a religion; it has no rituals, no obligations, no places of worship and no practices. It does not qualify for the protections afforded to religious communities. An Atheist can be an Atheist privately, and there is not...

Press Statements

Ministries Must Intervene to Change Pervasive Hijab-Ban Policy

Administrator

12 Nov 2017260 Views0

In a recent statement, Cheah Swee Hee of the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) claimed that the ban on frontline hotel staff from wearing hijab was an International Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for “all hotels”;[1] yet in the same article, hotel manager Syukri mentions that he left working at one hotel and opted to start working in another hotel that does not have such ban. And, of course, any international traveler will know that Cheah Swee Hee’s claim is inaccurate. Staffs wear hijab in hotels all around the world; the Gulf States, Turkey, Indonesia, the UK, the US, do not impose restrictions against religiously mandated attire for their employees; and clearly, many hotels in Malaysia do not either. In short, there is no international SOP banning the hijab; and yes, it is si...