KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Some of the world’s top pop stars are facing growing pressure to keep skimpy outfits and steamy dance moves off the stage during their concerts in Muslim-majority Malaysia, event organizers said Wednesday, citing protests by conservative Islamic critics who believe such Western performers can corrupt youths.

Gwen Stefani made what she called “a major sacrifice” by wearing clothes that revealed little at a Kuala Lumpur performance Tuesday. Muslim students and political activists had called for her concert to be scrapped because of her sexy reputation.

Promoters have announced that Beyonce is scheduled to perform Nov. 1 in this Southeast Asian country — but with caveats.

“We’ve informed Beyonce’s management about this issue of clothes, but it takes some of the fun out of it,” said Razlan Ahmad Razali, chairman of Pineapple Concerts, which is organizing Beyonce’s concert.

“Beyonce won’t be able to do the kind of show here that she does elsewhere,” Razlan told The Associated Press. “She’s a fashion icon, and we know that she often wears miniskirts and clothes that expose her navel during her performances. It’s a pity to restrict her, because her costumes are all tasteful and glamorous.”

Kanye West faced a different problem when he came to Kuala Lumpur in April because government officials said he should not perform one of his biggest hits, “Jesus Walks,” because of religious sensitivities about the title, Razlan said.

A Pussycat Dolls concert last year caused its Malaysian organizers to be fined ($2,857) after the group was accused of flouting decency regulations.

Such concerns have made Malaysia less appealing to some stars. A concert promoter, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the hassle about clothes was one of the reasons that Christina Aguilera skipped Malaysia during a recent Asian tour that included neighboring Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.

The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, the country’s biggest political opposition group, which opposed Stefani’s appearance, says it will probably protest further if Beyonce or others like Justin Timberlake perform here.

“Even with Gwen Stefani, we’re not satisfied just because she covered up at the concert,” said party official Kamarulzaman Mohamed. “Outside, she still wears sexy clothes and influences teenagers who idolize her. It’s bad to have immoral artists visiting Malaysia.” 

© 2007 The Associated Press.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - The makers of one of the world's best known fruit cordials were fined by a New Zealand court on Tuesday after two schoolgirls exposed them for misleading consumers over vitamin C levels in their Ribena blackcurrant drink.

High school students Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo in 2004 tested the drink against advertising claims that "the blackcurrants in Ribena have four times the vitamin C of oranges".

Instead, the pair found the syrup-based drink made by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) contained almost no trace of vitamin C, and one commercial orange juice brand contained almost four times more.

GSK had paid little attention to the claims of Devathasan and Suo until their complaints reached the New Zealand's consumer watchdog Commerce Commission.

But appearing in an Auckland court on 15 charges of breaching the New Zealand's Fair Trading Act, GSK pleaded guilty and admitted its ads may have left consumers with a wrong impression of the health benefits of Ribena.

The judge fined the company a total NZ$227,500 (83,200 pounds) for misleading advertising.

The Commerce Commission said GSK's behaviour was a "massive" breach of trust with the New Zealand public.

"As a multinational company specialising in pharmaceuticals and health products, they should have had robust testing and quality assurance systems in place to ensure its product was delivering what it promised," Commission chair Paula Rebstock said in a statement.

GSK told the court it had not deliberately set out to mislead consumers, and the fault lay with its testing methods.

"The fact that some of our products had incorrect labelling is to us, unacceptable, and we sincerely regret any confusion caused to customers who feel they may have been misled," GSK said in a statement.

The court also ordered the company to place advertisements in major metropolitan New Zealand newspapers to correct its mistakes.

"We're just blown away that anything we could have started as a consumer could have blown up into something so huge," Devathasan told Radio New Zealand.

Ribena, first made in the 1930s and distributed to British children during World War Two, is now sold in 22 countries.

(c) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/latest_odd.cfm?id=469632007

Malaysia braces for ruling on Islam conversion

April 15, 2006

Malaysia: Highest Court To Decide Powers Of Islamic Courts

We described in January the case of Lina Joy, a woman who was classified under Malaysia's bizarre religious profiling as a Muslim. She decided in 1998 to convert to Christianity, but found herself unable to legally call herself a Christian. She had been named Azlina Jailani, when she was a Muslim, but changed her name to Lina Joy when she converted.

She took the case to a Syariah Court (Sharia or Islamic court) but was told she could not become a Christian, as reported in NECF Malaysia and Religioscope. A pdf document on her case can be downloaded HERE. Her cases are described in a graphic, available by clicking HERE.

The problem for Lina Joy stems from a flaw in Malaysia's constitution, which in effect makes it impossible for anyone to convert out of Islam, and is in breach of acceptable standards on human rights. The flaw is created by Article 121 (1A) of the constitution, which was introduced as an amendment in 1988. This article declares that "civil courts have no jurisdiction on "any matter" which falls within the jurisdiction of the Syariah (Sharia, Islamic Law) courts.

Issues of conversion and apostasy are covered by the Syariah courts, and therefore, no court can challenge any decision made by Syariah courts. These courts are run by fanatical Muslims, who regard apostasy as something they refuse to endorse. In fact, no living person has ever been able to be declared a "convert" by their rulings.

The only person ever to be allowed to officially apostasise is Nyonya Tahir, aged 89 years, (pictured above), who had lived as a Buddhist for more than sixty years. During her lifetime, Nyonya had tried repeatedly to be allowed to call herself a Buddhist, but her requests had been refused. It was only after she died on January 19 that the Syariah courts relented, and following an appeal by her family, she was allowed to be buried as a Buddhist. Her request to be allowed to be identified as a Buddhist was something she was never able to see during her lifetime.

Disingenuously, Muhamad Burok, president of the Malaysian Syariah Lawyers Association stated after Nyonya's case: "It shows that our two court systems - the Civil Court and Syariah Court - can exist in harmony, so the issue that the Constitution should be amended does not arise. The decision shows that everyone can get protection from all the courts."

As well as having a constitutional article, which pushes all decisions into the hands of the extreme fanatics of the Syariah courts, the problems for converts are compounded by the Malaysian system of identity cards, which are issued to people from the age of 12 onwards. These state which religion a person follows. The body which authorises the cards is the National Registration Department, and any changes to a person's stated faith on one's cards must be dome with approval from the Syariah courts.

Lina Joy first applied to the National Registration Department to have her status as "Muslim" altered to "Christian" in February 1997. In August that year, she was told that she could not change her status, and that she was still a "Muslim", because she did not have the necessary permission from the Syariah courts. In 1998, she was allowed to change her name to Lina Joy, but could not change her official status as a "Muslim."

In 2001, when she made her first case to the Syariah courts, High Court Judge Datuk Faiza Tamby Chik told her "As a Malay, the plaintiff exists under the tenets of Islam until her death." Malays are automatically deemed to be Muslim, and the ruling is obviously racist. Judge Faiza stated that he could not make a ruling on the case, and the issue had to be dealt with by the Islamic courts. This is because of Article 121 (1A). Only Syariah courts can rule on issues of apostasy, marriage, divorce and inheritance. It also can rule on issues of burial.

In October 2004, Lina again took her case to the Court of Appeal once more, to try to have the name "Muslim" removed from her card.

With the Islamofascism rampant in Malaysia, Lina Joy cannot marry anyone outside her faith. And as her faith is officially "Muslim", she cannot marry a Christian under the law.

Malaysia pretends to be a moderate Muslim nation, propagating the concept of Islam Hadhari, or "progressive Islam". In practice, the case of Lina Joy and others proves that its version of Islam is totalitarian and inflexible. The 1988 amendment which created Article 121 (1A) is in total contradiction of other Articles in the constitution. Article 3(1) of the constitution states that 'other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation. Article 11 of the constitution guarantees Malaysian citizens the right to adopt the religion of their choice.

The issue of whether an Islamic court can make a ruling on a person who refuses to profess Islam is perhaps not even legal, as Malaysia's Constitution, Schedule IX, List II, limits the scope of the Syariah courts to "persons professing the religion of Islam."

Lina Joy had argued in 2001 that she did not "profess" Islam, and therefore was not subject to Islamic Law. Islamic law professor Shad Faruqi stated in the Straits Times on October 11, 2004 that "the requirement for official approval of conversions was a legal safeguard. Without it, Muslims could evade sharia law by leaving their faith whenever they were charged with a religious offense".

Now, according to a ruling made on Thursday (13 April) in relation to Lina Joy's case, there may be some hope on the horizon. Malaysia's highest court, the Federal Court, has agreed to take up the issue of whether those who renounce Islam are still to be subject to Islamic Court rulings. The news is carried by CBS News, from Associated Press sources, and carried by the Guardian and numerous other press outlets.

The decision of the court has stemmed directly from the case of Lina Joy, She is now 42, and has been wanting to marry a Christian for some time, but the Catch-22's of Malaysia's legal system have prevented her from marrying her sweetheart.

On Friday her lawyer, Benjamin Dawson, said: "This case should be viewed in the larger context of Islamization and the erosion of constitutional rights." He said that the constitution does not state that a person needs approval to convert out of Islam. He said that if a Shariah court did have that authority, it would never allow a Muslim to convert because it does not "believe that anyone can change from Islam."

That much is true. The case of Nyonya Tahir is the only time anyone has been allowed out of the clutches of Islam, as it is dictated by the Syariah courts. And Islamification of the country is a very real fear. In January, even a Senator, Kamaruddin Ambok, was hauled before the Islamic courts, for not divorcing his wife under the aegis of the Syariah Courts.

On December 22 last year, a controversial Islamic Family Law Bill was pushed through parliament. This law made it easier for a man to divorce his wife, and also to bring in extra wives in Islamic polygamy. It even allows a man to gain control of funds belonging to his wives and offspring if he is planning a new marriage or a divorce.

The Islamic courts have recently been on an offensive, attempting to set up vigilante snitch-squads, ready to inform on people caught kissing in parks, or breaking Islamic rules in other ways. The Federal Territory Islamic Department in Putrajaya state announced in January that it had formed a 75-member "Islamic Council Volunteer Squad" whose duty was to snoop on Muslim citizens and report their activity to the Islamic Department. The government moved to disband the vigilante squad.

As well as having federal law and Islamic law governing people's lives, there is also State Law. As we mentioned in March, many states have adopted a controversial Control and Restriction Bill, which allows fines of 10,000 ringit or $2,653 and terms of imprisonment for up to one year for anyone guilty of "persuading, influencing a Muslim to leave Islam for another religion."

Islam, rather than Western culture’s focus on sexual freedom, shapes day-to-day reality for a third of the world’s Anglicans. Malay women who convert to Christianity are forced to live a double-life. KATRIN ARNHOLZ spoke to one of them.

Under Kamariah’s* photo on her Malaysian identification card is her ethnicity. Right under that her gender, and to the left: Islam. But the 28-year-old woman with the angular eyeglasses and the broad smile is Christian. She belongs to the largest ethnic group in Malaysia—the Malays. According to the official census, Malays number 65 per cent of the population. In Malaysia, Kamariah says, a Malay is a Muslim by definition. “A Malay is a Muslim. Full stop,” she says. Few dare to go public if they convert to Christianity.

One man who has publicly converted is the well-known yachtsman, Azhar Mansor, who in 1999 sailed around the world in 190 days without the aid of an engine. The main mast of his yacht broke around Cape Horn. He managed, nevertheless, to reach the Faulkland Islands to repair the mast. What happened on the way between the cape and the islands is subject to speculation. The internet is full of questions by Muslims as to whether Mansor – who no longer lives in Malaysia – is really converted. And there is much discussion among Christians as well. Kamariah’s version is that Mansor, about to drown in the sea, was saved by a dolphin, and that Jesus appeared to him soon after.

Lina Joy did not intend to become famous when she requested officially to leave Islam in 2001. She succeeded in changing her name, Azlina Jailani, to Lina Joy, but the government’s National Registration Department refused to delete ‘Islam’ from her identification card. For such decisions, it is not the government departments that are responsible, but the Syariah Court – the court in Malaysia which supervises Muslims’ adherence to Islam. To the disadvantage of Lina Joy, the judge ruled, ‘As the plaintiff is a Malay, she is subjected to the laws of Islam until she dies’.

She has appealed the decision several times, and her latest appeal will appear soon before the High Court in Kuala Lumpur. Then it will be determined whether the Syariah Court has jurisdiction over those people who want to convert out of Islam. Article 11 (of the Malaysian Constitution) promises freedom of religion. “It is true for all the other faiths, but not for Muslims who want to leave Islam”, says Kamariah.

She and the 34-year-old Natasha* are the only ethnic Malays in the international church they visit. “Many Malay Christians hide themselves and meet secretly”, explains Kamariah. They are still registered as Muslims. In two months, Kamariah will start a business which plans weddings. But the business intends to do much more: it will also offer free pre-marital counselling. The counselling will be based on the principles of the Bible. Kamariah had to negotiate this plan with the relevant authorities - and the plan was approved.
The identification card of converted Muslims becomes a problem when they want to marry, because by Islamic law, a Muslim can only marry another Muslim.

“The only way to get legally married is to marry a Malay Christian who is also still on paper a Muslim”, says the young woman. “But then our children will also be Muslims on paper, and their children, and the circle is never broken. But if we want to change our identification cards, it won’t happen without problems.” The Syariah Court can decide to put me in prison”, explains Kamariah. Therefore she does not think now of marrying or of changing her identity card, and she lives – like most single adults in Malaysia – with her Muslim parents. They do not know that their daughter is a Christian. “Here I must be careful whom I confide in”, Kamariah says. “Some Malays are tolerant, but others would not hesitate to turn me in to the Syariah Court. If they didn’t turn me in, then others might think that they were cooperating to hide me – and that is not good at all in Islam.”

Kamariah became a Christian in 2000 after being in a two-year relationship with a Chinese Christian. “I was always envious; he had a relationship with his God. My God was far away, unattainable,” she remembers. “His prayers were answered. Mine were not.” So Kamariah decided one day to entrust her life to Jesus. Since then much has changed. Even though she does not speak with her parents about Christianity, she prays in her house. “Suddenly my mother took the Koran verses off the wall and instead hung up a picture of some flowers”, she says happily. One day, she hopes, she will not have to hide her faith any longer. “I wish that more Malay Christians would come out publicly and go to church and not meet secretly. That would be a break-through in our society.”

*Names have been changed

Thursday, April 13, 2006