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Saturday, September 18, 2010

The 2nd International SEARCH Conference 2011

The South East Asia Research Centre for Communication and Humanities is pleased to
be organising The 2nd International SEARCH Conference 2011 (SEARCH Conference 2011) on
the 28th and 29th of May 2011.

REGISTER TODAY!

SEARCH Conference 2011

This is multidisciplinary conference aimed at bringing together researchers and practitioners interested in the field of Communication and the Humanities to introduce and discuss perspectives and directions in the area of New Media Effects.

We welcome contributors from all disciplines, field and themes that pertain to the study of Communication and the Humanities to submit papers on one of the topics indicated below, describing original work and/or survey papers.

Conference Theme

New Media Culture and Challenges

Sub-themes

· New Media Governance and Politics
·
Ethical issues and New Media
·
Identity formation and Reality television
· Creative Industries and Knowledge Economy
·
Cyberculture
· Gaming Culture
· Pop Culture
· Marketing Communication in New Media
·
e-Governance and Democracy

We also encourage other varieties related to New Media and its effects or on any sector in the humanities.

For more information on Registration, Fees, Abstracts Submission and other Conference details, please click HERE.



Friday, September 17, 2010

Papal visit: Pope Benedict in London


Click to play

The Pope says that religion is 'marginalised' during his speech in Westminster Hall

The Pope has warned that religion - and Christianity in particular - is "being marginalised" around the world.

His comments came in his keynote speech to UK MPs, senior members of British society, and religious leaders at Westminster Hall in central London.

Pope Benedict XVI warned that there were some people who wanted to see "the voice of religion be silenced".

He called on those in attendance to seek ways to promote faith "at every level of national life".

BBC correspondent Peter Hunt described the speech as "a rallying call, and a plea - for religion not to be squeezed out by secular society".

The Pope was speaking as a sixth man was arrested as counter-terrorism detectives investigate an alleged threat to Pope Benedict XVI's visit.

In his speech, the Pope said: "I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalisation of religion, particularly of Christianity, that is taking place in some quarters, even in nations which place a great emphasis on tolerance.

"There are those who would advocate that the voice of religion be silenced, or at least relegated to the purely private sphere.

"There are those who argue that the public celebration of festivals such as Christmas should be discouraged, in the questionable belief that it might somehow offend those of other religions or none."

The Pope then visited Westminster Abbey for a celebration of evening prayer.

'Deep friendship'

Earlier, he met the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, at Lambeth Palace.

Analysis

Pope Benedict concentrated on what unites Anglicans and Catholics, not what still separates them.

He spoke of the deepening friendship at a personal level between these two very eminent professional theologians who find much in common to talk about at their periodic meetings.

The Pope also paid tribute to the 19th Century former Anglican priest Cardinal John Henry Newman - who perfectly shared both church cultures.

This is an important ecumenical gathering taking place more than 40 years after official talks began about possible reunification of the two churches five centuries after Rome refused to recognise King Henry VIII's divorce.

Lambeth and the Vatican have had a bumpy relationship in recent years as the Anglican Church first ordained women priests and is now considering ordaining women bishops, but both sides are still keen to go on talking.

It comes at a time when Anglican moves towards appointing women bishops have unsettled relations with Rome.

But the Pope said he wanted to focus on the "deep friendship" between the two churches rather than their differences.

The Lambeth Palace meeting marked the first time a Pope has met the Archbishop at his official residence.

It was viewed as an important event more than 40 years after official talks began about possible reunification of the two churches.

Divisions remain over Roman Catholic opposition to the ordination of women priests. Meanwhile the Church of England's General Synod left the way open for appointing women bishops at its meeting in July.

The Vatican angered many supporters of women's ordination by describing it as a "grave crime" to be dealt with in the same process as sex abuse, though it denied it was equating the two.

Dr Williams said in his opening remarks that the Pope was "most welcome" at Lambeth Palace.

He then praised the pontiff's "consistent and penetrating analysis of the state of European society".

As the Pope left Lambeth Palace to travel the short distance to Westminster Hall in his Popemobile, thousands of people lined the streets.

At one point he stopped the vehicle to bless a baby that was handed up to him.

True happiness

Earlier, the Pope led an assembly of 4,000 Catholic school children in west London.

He used his address at St Mary's University College in Twickenham, to say that the safety of children was vital in all schools, an apparent reference to the Church's child abuse scandal.

Pope's visit

  • 17 September: Meets Archbishop of Canterbury; Address at Westminster Hall; Service at Westminster Abbey
  • 18 September: Mass at Westminster Cathedral; Open-air vigil in Hyde Park
  • 19 September: Beatification Mass at Cofton Park Birmingham; Meets bishops of England, Scotland and Wales; Leaves for Rome.

He also warned against the limitations of celebrity and science.

The pontiff told the crowd young people were often encouraged to model themselves on celebrities.

He said: "My question for you is this: What are the qualities you see in others that you would most like to have yourselves? What kind of person would you really like to be?'

"I'm asking you not to be content with second-best."

He went on to say having money or a successful career was not enough to make people happy, but true happiness could be found in God.

Tight security surrounded the event, called The Big Assembly, and monks and nuns who had waited in long queues were frisked by police.

Around 100 protesters against the Vatican's record on gay rights, equality and birth control had gathered ahead of his arrival, amid tight security.

The Church saw it as an opportunity to celebrate the work of more than 2,000 Catholic schools across the UK, in partnership with the state.

But critics said it could fuel hostility to faith schools and serve as a painful reminder of the child abuse scandal within the Catholic Church.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11347073

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Utusan Malaysia Online - Berita Utama

Utusan Malaysia Online - Berita Utama

Muhyiddin beri amaran individu persenda agama

KUALA LUMPUR 4 Sept. - Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin hari ini memberi amaran bahawa individu yang terbukti mempermainkan agama Islam atau agama lain serta perkara yang termaktub di dalam Perlembagaan Persekutuan tidak akan terlepas daripada tindakan undang-undang.

Tegas Timbalan Perdana Menteri, kerajaan tidak pernah bertolak ansur terhadap perbuatan tidak bertanggungjawab itu yang boleh membangkitkan kemarahan rakyat, mengeruhkan hubungan antara kaum dan sekali gus menjejaskan keselamatan negara.

Sehubungan itu katanya, kerajaan telah mengarahkan polis serta agensi penguat kuasa lain supaya bertindak segera dan tegas terhadap mereka yang terbukti melakukan perbuatan itu mengikut peruntukan undang-undang negara.

"Dalam apa jua keadaan sekalipun kita tidak boleh membiarkan sesiapa sahaja baik orang Islam atau bukan Islam mempermainkan-mainkan soal agama kerana ia boleh memberi padah kepada negara.

"Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak sendiri telah memberi amaran bahawa perbuatan-perbuatan yang boleh menimbulkan masalah dalam soal keselamatan dan hubungan antara kaum hendaklah dielakkan,'' katanya.

Beliau bercakap kepada pemberita selepas menyempurnakan Majlis Pelancaran Operasi Bersepadu Keselamatan Jalan Raya Sempena Musim Perayaan Hari Raya Aidilfitri 2010 di Stesen Sentral di sini hari ini.

Beliau mengulas tindakan beberapa individu yang menggunakan saluran Internet seperti Youtube dan laman sosial Facebook untuk menghina Islam, orang Melayu serta Perlembagaan Persekutuan.

"Tindakan tegas dan keras perlu diambil kerana kita tidak mahu ia berlarutan sehingga mendatangkan masalah besar kepada negara.

"Saya juga percaya penganut agama lain seperti Sikh, Hindu atau Buddha pasti tidak mahu ada tindak balas daripada orang Islam seperti mewujudkan satu lagi laman Facebook yang menyentuh sensitiviti agama mereka,'' katanya.

Dalam perkembangan sama beliau yakin dengan kepakaran siber pihak berkuasa untuk membuktikan dalam konteks undang-undang mengenai kesahihan individu yang terlibat sama ada menerusi media alternatif atau laman sosial seperti Facebook.

"Kita serahkan kepada pihak berkuasa dan yang paling penting hal sebegini sepatutnya tidak timbul. Kita telah sekian lama duduk di sebuah negara yang aman dan tenteram kerana kita saling menghormati antara agama.

"Mengapa satu agama lain harus mencemarkan agama yang lain. Banyak peristiwa yang berlaku di beberapa negara lain, apabila berhadapan dengan konflik antara agama, padahnya amat besar,'' katanya.

Beliau berkata, kerajaan tidak mahu Malaysia menjadi kancah krisis yang bertembung atas soal agama kerana kesannya amat berbahaya.

"Negara kita adalah negara pelbagai agama dan pelbagai latar belakang serta budaya dan pertembungan ini mesti dielakkan,'' katanya lagi.

Kata beliau, pihaknya menyerahkan kepada pihak berkuasa menangani kes dua pengetua yang didakwa mengeluarkan kenyataan berbaur perkauman.

Terbaru, Gerakan Pemuda Prihatin Putrajaya (Gempur) membuat laporan polis berhubung satu akaun laman sosial Facebook yang dikesan menghina Islam dan Allah menggunakan kata-kata kesat.

Presidennya, Mohd. Hisamudin Yahya menggesa polis menjalankan siasatan segera ke atas akaun Facebook yang didaftarkan dengan nama Katy Lim Li Lian kerana pemilik akaun itu telah memaparkan komen yang menimbulkan kemarahan umat Islam.

Sebelum ini Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS) Selangor membuat satu laporan polis pada 1 September lalu berhubung kewujudan satu akaun Facebook menggunakan nama 'Melayu Babi'.

Baru-baru ini pula, seorang pemuda dari Muar, Wee Meng Chee atau dikenali sebagai Namewee sekali lagi mencetuskan kontroversi apabila menghasilkan klip video berbaur perkauman.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Paint splashed on surau

The Star, Tuesday August 24, 2010

By JOSHUA FOONG
joshuafoong@thestar.com.my

SEREMBAN: Splashes of red paint and broken pieces of liquor bottles at a surau have shocked residents of a housing estate nearby Sikamat.

“I am sad that this has happened as it smeared a place of worship and the sanctity of Ramadan,” said Taman Pulai Impian surau committee chairman Mohd Hasbi Ismail.

Irresponsible act: Men removing the red paint from the surau’s wall and glass doors at Taman Pulai Impian, Sikamat yesterday. Broken pieces of liquor bottles were also found in front of the vandalised place of worship. — Bernama

He said the right portion of the front wall as well as the floor and glass doors of the surau were splashed with red paint while broken pieces of four liquor bottles were found in front of the surau.

The incident was discovered by Muslim residents who arrived there to perform their subuh (dawn) prayers.

“I believe the incident could have occurred between 3.30am and 4am,” Mohd Hasbi told Bernama, adding that he had lodged a police report on the matter.

“I hope the police will nab those responsible and find out the motive of the attack,” he said.

The new surau was opened on July 24.

As news of the vandalism act spread, political leaders came out to condemn the culprits.

MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said a strong message must be sent out to prevent such acts from being repeated.

“This is an action that must not be condoned, particularly at places of worship,” he said.

Dr Chua also called on the police to take the case seriously and reprimand those responsible.

MCA Youth chief Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong tweeted that the wing was saddened by the incident and condemned the culprits.

He urged that stern action be taken by the police against those responsible.

MIC Youth chief T. Mohan described the attack as “an act against the practices of Malaysians.”

“This is not our culture.

“MIC Youth condemns such vandalism,” he said.

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang also joined the foray by calling all Malaysians to protest the red paint vandalism on the surau.

Rasah MP Loke Siew Fook said such an irresponsible act of attacking places of worship, especially a surau in the holy month of Ramadan, ought to be condemned.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/24/nation/6906224&sec=nation

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Shaykh Seyyed Fadlallah’s death a great loss to the Ummah


By Yusuf Dhia-Allah

The death of Shaykh Seyyed Hussain Fadlallah, a leading Islamic scholar of the Muslim world, in Beirut on July 4 has created a huge vacuum not only in Lebanon but also in the wider Muslim world. The 75-year-old alim and a leading ayatullah who was a strong supporter of Muslim unity and equally staunch opponent of US imperialism and Zionist colonialism, died of internal bleeding, according to his doctor Hashem Noureddine. He was in poor health and had been in the hospital for two weeks.


In announcing Shaykh Fadlallah’s death at a Beirut news conference, Bahraini scholar Abdullah al-Ghuraifi, described him as a “father, religious authority and spiritual leader to all Islamic movements in the Arab and Islamic world.” No doubt, Shaykh al-Ghuraifi was speaking for most scholars and activists in the Islamic movement. Black banners were hung in a sign of mourning outside the hospital and at the Al-Hassanayn mosque in Beirut’s suburb of Haret Hreik, where Shaykh Fadlallah gave religion lessons and delivered khutbahs before leading Jumu‘ah Salah. Tens of thousands of his supporters including women, wept openly. Al-Bashaer radio station that was run by his organization and, Hizbullah’s Al-Manar TV, broadcast Qur’anic verses. Not surprisingly, his funeral procession attracted more than a million people on July 6.

Shaykh Fadlallah’s death also evoked bizarre reaction in the West. When Octavia Nasr, a 20-year CNN veteran based in Atlanta, wrote on Twitter: “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah … One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot,” she was fired from her job. Israel-firsters pressured CNN to fire Nasr. Parisa Khosravi, senior vice president for CNN International Newsgathering, was quoted as saying in an internal memorandum that she “had a conversation” with Nasr and that “we have decided that she will be leaving the company.”

It was also Zionist pressure that forced Frances Guy, Britain’s ambassador to Lebanon, to remove her blog posting in which she called Shaykh Fadlallah “a true man of religion.” The bizarre reaction of CNN and British Foreign Office has not only exposed the myth of media freedom in the West yet again but also the myth of independence of the British government and the limits imposed on freedom of thought of its ambassadors. Robert Fisk, the veteran British journalist who has reported from the Middle East for more than three decades, could not resist taking on CNN. In a report published in the British daily, The Independent on July 10 under the headline: “CNN was wrong about Ayatollah Fadlallah,” Fisk wrote: “CNN has fired one of its senior Middle East editors, Octavia Nasr, for publishing a twitter — or twatter in this case, I suppose — extolling Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah of Lebanon, calling him ‘one of Hizbollah’s giants whom I respect a lot’. Well, he wasn’t Hizbollah’s man, but no matter. He was definitely a giant. A man of immense learning and jurisprudence, a believer in women’s rights, a hater of ‘honour crimes’….” Given his stature, Fisk does not risk losing his job but he has shed light on the cowardly CNN and the British government’s craven attitude to Israel over its own ambassador Frances Guy. He wrote: “But Ms Guy has incurred the anger of the Israeli foreign ministry, whose spokesman says it would be ‘interesting’ to know what the British Foreign Office thinks of her remarks. Personally, I would be far more ‘interested’ in what the Israeli foreign ministry knows of the British passports its government forged in order to murder a man in Dubai not many months ago. But it just goes to show that Fadlallah — who was also a poet — can get people’s backs up, even in death.”

While not directly involved in day-to-day politics, he was a towering personality dominating the religious scene in Lebanon for decades. Author of numerous scholarly works, his multi-volume tafsir, Min Wahy al-Qur’an (From the Revelation of the Qur’an), ranks among one of best tafsirs produced in contemporary times. He was a brilliant scholar and applied his vast talents to addressing some of the burning issues of the day. He was also a staunch defender of women’s rights and in one of his famous fatwas, had declared that wives had the right to hit back if their husbands hit them. In another fatwa, he banned smoking.

He had followers in many parts of the world including Lebanon, Iraq, the Persian Gulf region, and Central Asia. He established a number of institutions such as orphanages and hospitals for children and the poor and oppressed people of Lebanon. A grandfatherly figure, Shaykh Seyyed Fadlallah’s guidance at the spiritual as well as political levels will be sorely missed in Lebanon. It will be difficult for any single person to live up to his towering personality in Lebanon.

Seyyed Fadlallah was born in Iraq in 1935 and lived in the holy city of Najaf, where he studied and was considered one of the leading scholars even at the relatively young age of 30. He was one of the first backers of the Iraqi Dawa Party of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. He moved to Lebanon in 1966 and began lecturing in the southern Lebanese village of Ainata, where his family hailed from. Soon his scholarship and charisma attracted a very large following.

He was instrumental in mobilizing Lebanon’s Shi‘i community that constitutes the country’s majority, to struggle for their socio-political and economic rights. Because of the confessional nature of Lebanese politics based on a French-imposed constitution that continues to sour relations between different groups, the Muslims were divided into Shi‘is and Sunnis. Major levers of power, such as the presidency and head of the army, were handed over to the Maronite Christians who despite being a minority were granted equal powers with Muslims. The Shi‘i community began to get organized and under the guidance of charismatic and muttaqi leadership provided by Shaykh Seyyed Fadlallah, the martyr Shaykh Ragheb Harb (martyred February 1984) as well as the martyr Shaykh Seyyed Mussawi (martyred February 1992), they began to assert themselves to demand their rights.

It was the Zionist invasion of Lebanon in June 1982 that proved a catalyst for change. The Zionist military machine armed to the teeth with lethal weapons by the Americans as well as their blessings invaded Lebanon to crush fighters of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The Zionists were led by General Arial Sharon, who rightly earned the title of the Butcher of Beirut for the massacres he perpetrated there. The Zionist army went all the way to Beirut and the Americans then forced the PLO to withdraw its forces from Lebanon. The US gave assurances that Palestinian families left behind in Lebanon would be protected from Zionist and indeed the Phalange militia attacks. The Phalangists are a fascist outfit that model their operations on Hitler and Mussolini’s ideology. No sooner had the PLO fighters sailed out of Beirut to Nicosia on their way to Tunisia, that the Phalangists backed by the Israelis perpetrated the Sabra and Shatilla massacres. Estimates about the number of unarmed Palestinian civilians — women, old men and children — butchered by the Phalangists vary between 3,000 and 10,000. What is indisputable is that the Zionists facilitated this genocide of unarmed innocent Palestinian civilians over a three-day period in September 1982. Sharon blessed this act of butchery.

As if this was not enough, the Zionists started to terrorize Lebanese civilians, especially in the south where the population is predominantly Shi‘i. In one particularly gruesome episode on October 16, 1983 in the town of Nabatiyah, the Zionists attacked an ‘Ashura’ procession killing two persons and injuring scores of others. This acted as a powder keg that sparked the uprising against the Zionist occupiers. In their customary brutality, the Zionists drew an Iron Curtain around the south in hopes of terrorizing the population into submission. While the total closure of the Southern Lebanon imposed great hardships on people — their vegetables and fruits on which they depended rotted in the burning Sun unable to transport them out of the area, and grain was deliberately contaminated by the Zionists with mud and filth making it unfit for consumption — they did not lose faith. Their leadership provided spiritual as well as political guidance in those very challenging and difficult times. Hizbullah gradually emerged on the scenes although it did not officially declare its formation until 1985 when it announced the establishment of al-Muqawwammah al-Islamiyyah (The Islamic Resistance) to confront the Zionist occupiers. It was in such trying times that the charismatic leadership of Shaykh Seyyed Fadlallah proved instrumental although he was not directly involved in the day-to-day operations of Hizbullah. It was his spiritual guidance and enormous prestige that enabled people to withstand Zionist brutalities that were fully underwritten by the US.

The Americans understood the important role Shaykh Fadlallah played in Lebanese society. They, therefore, plotted to assassinate him using their close links with Saudi intelligence. CIA director Bill Casey approached Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador in Washington, to become a partner in crime. Bandar, ever a stooge of the Americans, eagerly agreed and joined the criminal plot. Bandar put up the $3 million to hire the assassins led by a former British SS man. In March 1985, a car rigged with massive amounts of explosives blew up outside an apartment building near the Hasanayn Mosque soon after Seyyed Fadlallah completed Jumu‘ah Salah. This was the time when maximum number of worshippers were present, including late comers for salah. Miraculously, Shaykh Fadlallah survived the assassination attempt jointly planned and carried out by the American CIA and Bandar.

More than 80 civilians were killed and another 200 were badly injured. Shaykh Fadlallah survived the assassination attempt because he had left the Jumu‘ah Salah (Friday congregational prayers) a little earlier than usual to attend a meeting in another part of the city. Had he followed his usual schedule of staying back to meet people and answer their questions, he would surely have been assassinated by that massive explosion. The Lebanese immediately accused CIA of the dastardly crime, hanging a huge banner outside the damaged apartment building that read: “Made in America.” The Americans denied involvement but few people anywhere took such denials seriously.

In his book, The Veil (1987), Bob Woodward writes that when Bandar heard the news on television that Shaykh Fadlallah had survived the assassination attempt, he panicked and sent word through intermediaries that he would be willing to pay compensation to the victims. Seyyed Fadlallah, a big hearted person, forgave this heinous crime and asked instead that Bandar pay compensation to the victims’ families that amounted to a mere couple of million dollars. Bandar and then CIA-director, Bill Casey, should have been arrested and tried for mass murder. Casey died of brain haemorrhage in 1987 but Bandar is alive and believed to be under house arrest for plotting to overthrow King Abdullah’s government in 2009 in Saudi Arabia. It would be a good opportunity to deal with this pesky son of a concubine of Prince Sultan by putting him on trial for murder.

In Shaykh Fadlallah’s death, Lebanon has lost the spiritual as well as political guidance of an intellectual giant. It will be difficult for any single person to replace his towering personality.