Malays need larger table, not big umbrella
COMMENT | Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, you've once again reminded us that Malays must unite under a 'big umbrella.' That they are weak, their future hangs on the hinges of political protection and communal shelter.
It's a familiar script, one you've authored for decades. But Mahathir, respectfully, times have changed and so have the people.
Let me tell you a different story. A real one. It didn't happen in a marble-floored ministry office or at a political rally. It took place in a regular schoolyard during recess.
Two girls - one Malay-Muslim, another Tamil-Hindu - sat side by side. One packet of nasi lemak between them, unwrapped and shared.
They ate with their fingers, through mouthfuls of rice and sambal. There were no speeches, no policies, no slogans. Just...
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The Star
8 hours ago
- The Star
Blow one's cover
ON the outskirts of Paris, 44-year-old French Muslim weightlifter Sylvie Eberena concentrates hard and pushes 80kg of bar and weights clean over her veiled head. The single mother made her four children proud when she became the French national champion in her amateur category last year, after discovering the sport aged 40. But now the Muslim convert fears she will no longer be able to compete as the French government is pushing for a new law to ban the headscarf in domestic sports competitions. 'It feels like they're trying to limit our freedoms each time a little more,' said Eberena, a passionate athlete who trains five days a week. 'It's frustrating because all we want is to do sport.' Under France's secular system, civil servants, teachers, pupils and athletes representing France abroad cannot wear obvious religious symbols, such as a Christian cross, a Jewish kippah, a Sikh turban or a Muslim headscarf, also known as a hijab. Until now, individual national sports federations could decide whether to allow the hijab in domestic competitions. But the new legislation aims to forbid the head covering in all professional and amateur competitions countrywide. Backers say that would unify confusing regulation, boost secularism and fight extremism. Critics argue it would be just the latest rule discriminating against visibly Muslim women. The bill passed in the Senate in February and is soon to go to a vote in the lower house of the French parliament. Some proponents want to stop what they call 'Islamist encroachment' in a country that has been rocked by deadly jihadist attacks in recent years. But critics point to a 2022 interior ministry report finding that data 'failed to show a structural or even significant phenomenon of radicalisation' in sport. The French football federation are among those that have already banned the headscarf. — AFP French Olympic judo champion Teddy Riner, a star of the 2024 Paris Games, said France was 'wasting its time' with such debates and should think about 'equality instead of attacking a single and same religion'. Right-wing Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau responded that he 'radically disagreed', describing the headscarf as 'a symbol of submission'. Eberena, who converted aged 19, said her head attire – allowed by the weightlifting federation – had never been an issue among fellow weightlifters. She said the sport has even allowed her to make friends from completely different backgrounds. 'Sport brings us together: it forces us to get to know each other, to move beyond our prejudices,' she said. France's football and basketball federations are among those that have banned religious symbols, including the headscarf. The country's highest administrative court in 2023 upheld the rule in football, arguing the federation was allowed to impose a 'neutrality requirement'. United Nations experts last year called the rules in both sports 'disproportionate and discriminatory'. It is difficult to estimate how many women might be prevented from competing if such legislation passes. But AFP spoke to several women whose lives had already been affected by similar rules. Samia Bouljedri, a French 21-year-old of Algerian origin, said she had been playing football for her club in the village of Moutiers for four years when she decided to cover her hair at the end of high school. She continued playing with her team, but after her club was fined several weekends in a row for allowing her on the field, they asked her to take off her hijab or quit. 'That they ended my happiness, just like that, over a scarf made me really sad,' she said. France's brand of secularism stems from a 1905 law protecting 'freedom of conscience', separating church and state, and ensuring the state's neutrality. The country's constitution states that France is a secular republic. French Olympic judo champion Teddy Riner said France was 'wasting its time' with headscarf issues and should think about 'equality instead of attacking a single and same religion'. Rim-Sarah Alouane, a researcher at University Toulouse Capitole, said the 1905 law, intended 'to protect the state against potential abuses from religion', had been 'weaponised' against Muslims in recent years. French secularism 'has been transformed into a tool in its modern interpretation to control the visibility of religion within public space, especially, and mostly, targeting Muslims,' she said. Sports Minister Marie Barsacq last month warned against 'conflating' the wearing of a headscarf with radicalisation in sport. But Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said that if the government did not 'defend secularism', it would empower the far right. In the Oise region north of Paris, Audrey Devaux, 24, said she stopped competing in basketball games after she converted to Islam a few years ago. Instead, she continued training with her former teammates and began coaching one of the club's adult teams, she said. But when she goes to weekend games, she is not allowed onto the courtside bench with a headscarf – so she is forced to yell out instructions from the bleachers. 'At school I learnt that secularism was living together, accepting everyone and letting everybody practice their religion,' Devaux said. 'It seems to me they're slightly changing the definition.' — AFP
The Star
8 hours ago
- The Star
India intensifies expulsion of suspected foreigners to Bangladesh
FILE PHOTO. Police officers stand next to men they believe to be undocumented Bangladeshi nationals after detained during raids in Ahmedabad, India, April 26, 2025. - Photo: Reuters file GUWAHATI, (India): India has started to push people it considers illegal immigrants into neighbouring Bangladesh, but human rights activists say authorities are arbitrarily throwing people out of the country. Since May, the northeastern Indian state of Assam has "pushed back" 303 people into Bangladesh out of 30,000 declared as foreigners by various tribunals over the years, a top official said this week. Such people in Assam are typically long-term residents with families and land in the state, which is home to tens of thousands of families tracing their roots to Muslim-majority Bangladesh. Activists say many of them and their families are often wrongly classified as foreigners in mainly Hindu India and are too poor to challenge tribunal judgements in higher courts. Some activists, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal, said only Muslims had been targeted in the expulsion drive. An Assam government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Assam, which has a 260 km (160 mile) border with Bangladesh, started sending back people last month who had been declared as foreigners by its Foreigners Tribunals. Such a move is politically popular in Assam, where Bengali language speakers with possible roots in Bangladesh compete for jobs and resources with local Assamese speakers. "There is pressure from the Supreme Court to act on the expulsion of foreigners," Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the state assembly on Monday. "We have pushed back 303 people. These pushbacks will be intensified. We have to be more active and proactive to save the state." He was referring to the Supreme Court asking Assam in February why it had not moved on deporting declared foreigners. Bangladesh's foreign affairs adviser, Touhid Hossain, did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment. Last week, he told reporters that people were being sent to his country from India and that the government was in touch with New Delhi over it. Aman Wadud, an Assam-based lawyer who routinely fights citizenship cases and is now a member of the main opposition Congress party, said the government was "arbitrarily throwing people out of the country". "There is a lot of panic on the ground - more than ever before," he said. Some brought back Sarma said no genuine Indian citizens will be expelled. But he added that up to four of the people deported were brought back to India because appeals challenging their non-Indian status were being heard in court. One of them was Khairul Islam, a 51-year-old former government school teacher who was declared a foreigner by a tribunal in 2016. He spent two years in an Assam detention centre and was released on bail in August 2020. He said police picked him up on May 23 from his home and took him to a detention centre, from where he and 31 others were rounded up by Indian border guards and loaded into a van, blindfolded and hands tied. "Then, 14 of us were put onto another truck. We were taken to a spot along the border and pushed into Bangladesh," he said. "It was terrifying. I've never experienced anything like it. It was late at night. There was a straight road, and we all started walking along it." Islam said residents of a Bangladeshi village then called the Border Guard Bangladesh, who then pushed the group of 14 into the "no man's land between the two countries". "All day we stood there in the open field under the harsh sun," he said. Later, the group was taken to a Bangladesh guards camp while Islam's wife told police in Assam that as his case was still pending in court, he should be brought back. "After a few days, I was suddenly handed back to Indian police," he said. "That's how I made my way back home. I have no idea what happened to the others who were with me, or where they are." It is not only Assam that is acting against people deemed to be living illegally in the country. Police in the western city of Ahmedabad said they have identified more than 250 people "confirmed to be Bangladeshi immigrants living illegally here". "The process to deport them is in progress," said senior police officer Ajit Rajian. - Reuters
The Sun
10 hours ago
- The Sun
MADANI govt committed to reforms, but needs time
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim says the MADANI unity government is deeply committed to tackling corruption and abuse of power but the reforms to combat these menaces will take time to materialise. 'There's no turning back. What I am certain is that every month and every year there must be some progression in addressing these issues,' he said. Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, said there are those who are impatient and want reforms fast, but they are 'blinded to the facts and reality.' He said there must be wisdom (hikmah) in the way the MADANI government goes about undertaking such reforms. He cited how Pakatan Harapan does not even have a simple majority in Parliament, which is why as a coalition government, 'we have to work together.' 'And we are fortunate, because UMNO and Barisan Nasional have now turned to be one of the core pillars committed to this reform and support,' he said in his keynote address at the launch of the Centre of Excellence for Research and Innovation in Islamic Economics (i-RISE) here today. 'But you can't take things for granted, because the process of negotiations, discussions and engagement is important,' he said. He said it is vital to work gradually and get the consensus between the key parties including those from Sabah and Sarawak. He also highlighted that proper governance is essential to ensure economic growth and progress whether a country practices Islamic or conventional banking or both banking systems like in Malaysia. He said that there should be sustainability and clarity in a country's macroeconomic policies and in governance which promotes development but avoids financial leakages and endemic corruption. 'Almost without exception, Muslim countries are not poor, but the poverty is because of the tendency to either condone and use power and privilege to squander wealth,' he said. He also lamented over gender poverty in Muslim countries, but said Malaysia is fortunate as the problem is relatively absent. He said that the MADANI unity government remains committed to support studies and research and allow Islamic economics and Islamic instruments to be practiced, supported and expanded. To this end, he called on bankers, academicians, intellectuals, scholars, professionals and Islamic scholars 'not to ignore the importance of what proper and good governance entails' when undertaking reforms in related disciplines. 'Through good governance with clear policies and instruments, institutions must protect the system from excesses,' said Anwar. In this way, the country would grow and possess the capacity to attract foreign direct investments and penetrate new markets as a trading nation. He described the global halal industry as having massive potential of up to US$3 trillion (US$1 = RM4.23), but said this means nothing if 'you don't engage, penetrate and expand into new markets.' On an encouraging note, he said, Malaysia has emerged as a major centre of halal certification envied by other countries wanting to learn and share its expertise, which in the process would help develop linkages with halal ventures globally.
