FROM SARS TO AVIAN FLU

The deadly bird flu has moved from Asia to Sibera-Russia and it was only yesterday (August 27th) that experts commented that the bird flu will not be able to spread westward of the Urals in 2005. Unfortunately they were wrong, there have been reports that it has spread to Finland though there is a possibility that it could be the low-pathogenic avian influenza and not the high pathogenic ones.
Whilst, there is a "very remote" possibility that the virus in its current form could be introduced to poultry or people, it has not stopped the UK to push for the early adoption of a new Europe wide initiative to combat the threat. Australia will also initiate an early warning system and allow quick access to the vaccine in the event of an outbreak there.
Nearer to Malaysia, Vietnam's capital has been warned that 50 percent of water fowl transported into the city and 10 percent of those being raised there have tested positive for bird flu. Bird flu has killed 42 people in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand 4 in Cambodia and 3 in Indonesia. According to the World Health Organization "The expanding geographical presence of the virus is of concern as it creates further opportunities for human exposure. Each additional human case increases opportunities for the virus to improve its transmissibility, through either adaptive mutation or reassortment. The emergence of an H5N1 strain that is readily transmitted among humans would mark the start of a pandemic" Experts have previously warned that future pandemics, or worldwide outbreaks, could kill up to 70 million people

The Malysian Health Ministry is only expected to START stockpiling Tamiflu as part of it's strategy under the National Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan.This plan should have been initiated and activated months ago. Apart from the stockpile, there must be a national contigency plan to prevent the spead of this flu pandemic into and within the country. As for the limited supply of Tamiflu, will this be only for the elites or will this be for the ones that need it most ? Transparency will be the catch-word.

Malaysian Ministry to stockpile drug for possible bird flu outbreak
Annie Freeda Cruez

KUALA LUMPUR, Fri.

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Malaysia will stockpile the drug Oseltamivir for a possible outbreak of bird flu which has hit humans in Thailand and Indonesia. This follows a World Health Organisation call for nations in the region to prepare themselves for a bird flu pandemic. Malaysia is expected to obtain its supply from Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, which has agreed to reserve three million courses (30 million capsules) for the world market until 2010. The first million courses (10 million capsules) will be ready early next year with the remainder before the middle of next year. The Health Ministry’s surveillance unit in the Communicable Disease Control Division has been entrusted with the task of stockpiling the drug. Division director Dr Ramlee Rahmat confirmed that the ministry would stockpile the drug as part of the strategy under the National Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan.

INFILTRATE, OVERWHELM AND THEN DEVOUR

Darul Uloom (House of Knowledge) fatwa on allowing women to canvass for votes only behind the veil is but another step backward for women and a reinforcing step forward for Islamic fundamentalists to preserve the political power they exercise in society, a cornerstone of which has always been power over women. The 33% reserved seats for women is seen by these fundamentalist as an immediate threat to the political power that they have held sway over the decades. This is a complete turnaround of what was clearly expressed by Marghoob Ur-Rehman, vice-chancellor of Darul Uloom immediately after the 9/11 incident "At Darul Uloom we do not preach that women should be forced to cover themselves; we recommend it for their own protection and comfort,” he says. “Nor do we see television as inherently un-Islamic. We simply dispute its content.”
Unfortunately, there are many Muslim women who will continue to ensure that these elitist fundamentalist remain entrench in their seats of power by abiding to the fatwa of wearing a veil while canvassing for votes.
Darul Uloom is the world's second largest center of Islamic study, the largest being Cairo's al-Azhar university. Various fatwas have been passed by this group and has shown the tendency of being political and militant in nature. When the US declared war on the Talibans Darul-Uloom issued a fatwa against Muslims using Western products and declared "the Taliban brought peace to Afghanistan and took the correct steps to protect Islam that is under assault by Christians and Jews," In an earlier fatwa, Darul Uloom's scholars suggest that Jews were responsible for the outrages of September 11. This June, a fatwa was issued on a rape case where a woman allegedly raped by her father-in law must separate from her husband.
Today Darul Uloom students from Malaysia may now very well occupy places of influences and they will unveil their brand of political Islam.

Seek vote, but be behind the veil
Link : Times of India

MUZAFFARNAGAR: In yet another controversial fatwa evoking sharp reactions from the political parties, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom has ruled that Muslim women should not contest elections, and if they do, they must do it under veil.

“Muslim women are not allowed to appear before men without a veil and under the Islamic law only “pardanashin’’ women are allowed to contest elections,’’ the Darool Uloom of Deoband said in an edict issued on Tuesday.

Various political parties have reacted sharply to the edict with Congress leader and Law minister H R Bharadwaj saying that the edicts coming from the religious groups have no significance under the Constitution and it is up to the people whether they want to abide by them or not.

CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury condemned the edict by saying the Constitution has given women equal rights as their male counterparts and we will not let this right be infringed.

Calling the edict wrong, BJP vice president Venkaiah Naidu said that women should get equal rights in every sphere. When the world is progressing, this kind of edict is wrong.

The fatwa has come at a time when hundreds of Muslim women are contesting panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh and 33% seats have been reserved for women in the local bodies.

... AND THE WORLD WATCHES.

Remember the tea kettle - it is always up to its neck in hot water, yet it still sings! ~Author Unknown

Once again, Malaysia is in the lime light for the wrong reason.The demolition of the Sky Kingdom commune certainly does not promote Malaysia as "the model of a modern Islamic country" nor that of Islam Hadhari. Our Prime Minister addressed audiences in Wellington on the 31st of March and in Sydney on 8th Of April with these encouraging words "ISLAM HADHARI WOULD ENCOURAGE “MUSHAWARAH” (CONSENSUS BUILDING) AS AN APPROACH TO SOLVING PROBLEMS AND WOULD ACCEPT THE “SHURA” (CONSULTATIVE PROCESS) AS THE BEST WAY OF DEALING WITH VARIOUS SOCIETAL ISSUES" and "ISLAM HADHARI PROMOTES TOLERANCE AND UNDERSTANDING, MODERATION AND PEACE, CERTAINLY ENLIGHTENMENT".
Oops! Apparently the Besut district office did not agree with the "shura" and tolerance part of Islam Hadhari. As we all know, bulldozers and heavy machinery were sent in to finish what the "storm troopers"could not do days earlier. So now, while the world watches Ayah Pin's prophecy that SELURUH DUNIA AKAN TERTUMPU KESINI would not be too far off track.

Malaysia: Respect Rights of Religious Community

"The Malaysian government is targeting this religious community simply for their beliefs. The government is violating international standards by destroying the Sky Kingdom’s religious structures and now threatening to throw the members in jail without a fair trial. "

Sam Zarifi, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Link : Human Rights Watch

(New York, August 4, 2005)—In its persecution of the Sky Kingdom, the Malaysian government is now denying members of the religious community basic due process rights, Human Rights Watch said today.

Sky Kingdom members who will appear today before a Shariah court in Terrengganu province on charges of practicing a “deviant religion” do not have legal defense counsel or the opportunity to prepare a defense. On July 31, government officials violated a court order by demolishing the community’s religious structures.

Forty-nine members of the Sky Kingdom are charged with violating Islamic precepts under section 10 of Malaysia’s Shariah Criminal Offenses Enactment 2001. If convicted, they could be fined and jailed up to two years.

“The Malaysian government is targeting this religious community simply for their beliefs,” said Sam Zarifi, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government is violating international standards by destroying the Sky Kingdom’s religious structures and now threatening to throw the members in jail without a fair trial.”

Lawyers from Terrengganu province who are accredited to appear in Shariah (Islamic law) courts have refused to represent Sky Kingdom members. At least some of them have expressed fears of reprisal from religious extremists or loss of their accreditation. A Shariah lawyer from Selangor, appointed by the Malaysian Bar Council, will inform the Shariah court on August 4 that the Sky Kingdom defendants have no legal representation.

Malaysia’s federal constitution recognizes three parallel court systems—civil, shariah, and, in the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak, native courts. Shariah is a state matter under the Federal Constitution. Shariah courts have jurisdiction over persons professing the religion of Islam in matters of personal and family law, including offenses such as apostasy, blasphemy and heresy.

“Due process rights cannot be selectively enforced. The Terengganu Shariah court must enforce the right to a fair trial enshrined international law,” Zarifi said. “The right to counsel to prepare a defense in a penal proceeding is an integral component of a fair trial and a fundamental mandate of international human rights law.”

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that “[e]veryone charged with a penal offense has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to the law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.” Legal representation is an essential component of defense for anyone facing penal sanctions, including those under shariah law.

The Sky Kingdom was founded by Ayah Pin (whose real name is Ariffin Muhammad), who claims to be the reincarnation of the holy figures of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. The community was one of 22 declared as “deviant sects of Islam” by the Malaysian government last month.

On July 31, officials from the land office, state religious affairs department, and the police began demolishing religious structures—including a giant teapot and an umbrella-shaped building—at the Sky Kingdom compound in Terangganu. The destruction commenced despite a ruling staying the demolition by the Kuala Terengganu High Court on June 21.

On July 18, a mob composed of 30 to 35 individuals, who were masked and dressed in robes, launched a pre-dawn attack on the Sky Kingdom. The mob reportedly tossed Molotov cocktails, slashed car tires with machetes, broke the windows of several homes, and partially scorched religious structures. Malaysian police have failed to arrest anyone involved in the attack. Instead, 58 members of the religious group, including 30 women and five children, were arrested on July 20 by the state religious affairs department and the local police.