According to George Makdisi and Hugh Goddard, "the idea of academic freedom" in universities was "modelled on Islamic custom" as practiced in the medieval Madrasah system from the 9th century. Islamic influence was "certainly discernible in the foundation of the first deliberately-planned university" in Europe [Boisard, Marcel A., 1980].
* Selected REFERENCES / Sources:
Amnesty International: Annual Reports: URLhttp://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aireport/index.html Andrew Puddephatt & Hodder Arnold. (2005). Freedom of Expression: The Essentials of Human Rights. United Publishers. Boisard, Marcel A. (July 1980), "On the Probable Influence of Islam on Western Public and International Law", International Journal of Middle East Studies 11 (4): 429–50. Goddard, Hugh. (2000). A History of Christian-Muslim Relations. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Kumar, Ambika. (2006). ‘Using Courts to Enforce the Free Speech Provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.’ Published by Chicago Journal of International Law. Summer 2006. URLhttp://www.allbusiness.com/corporate-governance/4082846-1.html United Nations: ‘International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.’ Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16th December 1966: Entry into force 23 March 1976, in accordance with Article 49. URLhttp://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm (United Nations) Wikipedia. (2010). ‘Freedom of Speech.’ Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. URLhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_expression .
Denmark to end North Sea oil and gas production by 2050
Denmark's decision to end oil and gas production by 2050
Denmark, the EU's biggest oil producer post-Brexit, said Friday it will halt all North Sea oil and gas production and exploration by 2050 in line with its bid to become an energy transition role model.
Following an agreement reached between the Social Democratic government and a majority in parliament, "Denmark becomes the biggest oil and gas producer to set a date for a definitive end" to oil production, the energy ministry said in a statement.
While Denmark produces far less oil than neighbouring Norway, which produces around 1.4 million barrels per day, and the UK with around one million per day, since Britain's exit from the EU it has become the bloc's largest producer with around 100,000 barrels per day, according to oil giant BP's annual figures.
The decision means an eighth tender offer for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea will now be cancelled.
Danish oil production, which began in 1972, has been on the decline for several years, and has been halved in the past decade.
Its gas production has also become minimal, at 3.2 billion cubic metres last year.
"We are now putting an end to the fossil fuels era and tying our North Sea activities to the 2050 climate neutral goal outlined in our climate law," Energy Minister Dan Jorgensen said.
The Nordic country, which aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent within 10 years, aims to "use the decision as a starting point to take on the role as world leader in the progressive elimination of oil and gas" as an energy source, the ministry said.
The decision was hailed by environmental organisations.
"Denmark has a moral obligation to end the search for new oil to send a clear signal that the world can and must act to meet the Paris Agreement and mitigate the climate crisis," Greenpeace Denmark said in a statement to AFP.
Denmark's oil fields are located about 150 kilometres (95 miles) off its west coast, near its maritime borders with Britain and Norway.
Putrajaya’s discrimination in citizenship laws causing Malaysians’ children to be stateless, advocacy group says
Maalini Ramalo speaks during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur July 25, 2018. — Picture by Razak Ghazali
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 — Malaysia’s gender discrimination in its citizenship laws is one of the main reasons why children born to Malaysians end up being stateless or not a citizen of any country in the world, the Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas (DHRRA) Malaysia said today.
The non-profit organisation DHRRA Malaysia, which has carried out extensive work helping stateless individuals in Peninsular Malaysia, said urgent action is needed by the government to avoid Malaysia turning into a country populated with stateless individuals.
Stressing that children who are born stateless is also a security issue that the government should address, DHRRA’s director of social protection Maalini Ramalo said that evidence collected in Malaysia shows that “gender discrimination in nationality laws is a root cause of childhood statelessness in Malaysia”.
Maalini said Malaysia is among the few countries in the world that discriminate against Malaysian women and men in different aspects of the country’s citizenship laws, even though Malaysians have the constitutional right to not be discriminated against based on their gender.
Maalini Ramalo speaks during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur July 25, 2018. — Picture by Razak Ghazali
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 — Malaysia’s gender discrimination in its citizenship laws is one of the main reasons why children born to Malaysians end up being stateless or not a citizen of any country in the world, the Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas (DHRRA) Malaysia said today.
The non-profit organisation DHRRA Malaysia, which has carried out extensive work helping stateless individuals in Peninsular Malaysia, said urgent action is needed by the government to avoid Malaysia turning into a country populated with stateless individuals.
Stressing that children who are born stateless is also a security issue that the government should address, DHRRA’s director of social protection Maalini Ramalo said that evidence collected in Malaysia shows that “gender discrimination in nationality laws is a root cause of childhood statelessness in Malaysia”.
Maalini said Malaysia is among the few countries in the world that discriminate against Malaysian women and men in different aspects of the country’s citizenship laws, even though Malaysians have the constitutional right to not be discriminated against based on their gender.
“Out of 205 countries in the world, 25 countries deny women the right to pass their nationality to their children on an equal basis with men and three countries discriminate against men in their ability to pass their nationality to their children born out of wedlock with Malaysia contributing to both the counts despite being contradictory to Article 8(2) of Federal Constitution of Malaysia that prohibits discrimination based on religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender,” she said in a statement today.
citizenship, and his claim that other countries have the practice where most children born overseas follow their father’s nationality.
Maalini said such a practice however needs to be immediately reviewed, especially due to cross-country marriages and a non-straightforward system to legalising marriage in Malaysia.
Acknowledging that children born to a Malaysian and a non-Malaysian may in theory have access to dual citizenship, Maalini noted the reality where there are actually many such children who are not a citizen of any country in the world.
“While dual citizenship provides the privilege of protection to children with parents of two nationalities, we must acknowledge that more children do not have access to any citizenship despite being born to at least one Malaysian parent, which renders them stateless,” she said, later adding that a child who is stateless is not given a choice to choose his or her citizenship.
“While the government’s concern on nationality security may be valid, a review must be carried out on the processes as the number of childhood statelessness is in the high rise.
“The action must be immediate or else we will be a nation populated with stateless persons,” she said.
Maalini said stateless children in Malaysia cannot be blamed for their status of not having citizenship in any country.
“It is important to recognise that stateless children in Malaysia are not stateless due to the fault of their own,” she said.
What the Malaysian government can do ?
Maalini noted that there has yet to be heightened awareness and political will in Malaysia to solve the issue of stateless children, and suggested Malaysia introduce a statelessness determination procedure as a solution.
“Perhaps it’s time the government recognises the status of stateless children and implement Statelessness Determination Procedure (SDP) to determine if a person is stateless and provide him or her the right avenues to access nationality based on the strongest link established to Malaysia,” she said.
In the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) 10-year plan named Global Action Plan to End Statelessness 2014-2024, stateless determination procedures (SDPs) are explained as being a mechanism for countries to determine whether a person is stateless and which would then typically enable them to have a legal status to stay on legally in the country and to facilitate naturalisation by accumulating the necessary number of years of residence. The UNHCR said evidence has shown that having an SDP does not increase the migration of stateless persons to a country.
Based on a UNHCR Good Practices Paper issued in July 2020, about 20 countries worldwide have already established SDPs, including France, Italy, Hungary, Latvia, Spain, Moldova, Georgia, the Philippines, Costa Rica, Brazil, Uruguay, UK, Kosovo, Turkey, Bulgaria, Ecuador, Montenegro, Paraguay, Panama, Argentina and Ukraine, while other countries such as Australia and the US have pledged to introduce SDPs.
In its statement today, DHRRA said it has had positive engagement with the Home Ministry over the years with several standard operating procedures addressed at the National Registration Department (NRD).
“Positive developments are also visible from the many straightforward pre-independence stateless cases being awarded citizenship to the most recent commitment of shortening of time of an application as well in the reasoning provided for rejected applications during Tan Sri Muhiyiddin’s tenure as the former Minister of Home Affairs,” she said, adding that DHRRA remains optimistic that the Home Ministry will continue to address gender discriminative practices in nationality issues.
Previously, news reports have shared the arduous process faced by Malaysians who apply for citizenship recognition for their biological or adopted children, with the government sometimes taking two or three years to reply to the applications and usually with no reasons given for rejections of the applications, while renewed or subsequent applications also face the same fate.
In December 2019, then home minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the ministry has improved the SOP for citizenship applications of individuals below age 21 to be conducted in a faster and fair manner unlike previously where it could take up to 10 years, with the timeline under the SOP from 2020 onwards to be three months and a half months at the NRD and eight months at the Home Ministry.
He had also said the updated SOP would now provide reasons for rejection of citizenship applications.
During the 2013 to 2018 period, the NRD reportedly recorded 111,142 citizenship applications with 26,222 of them rejected, while 54,222 were being processed including 27,835 applications under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution for children without citizenship.
Article 15A states that the federal government may register any children aged below 21 as Malaysian citizens in “such special circumstances as it thinks fit”, with applications on behalf of stateless children by their biological or adoptive parents often made through this constitutional provision.
Don’t push forward sexist practices, Batu Kawan MP tells Home Ministry and its deputy minister amid citizenship furore
Keertan Ayamany
Batu Kawan MP Kasthuriraani Patto speaks during a press conference at Parliament in Kuala Lumpur July 14, 2020. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 — Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto today chastised Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Mohamed Said for his statement yesterday that Malaysian women cannot confer nationality on their children due to national security as an archaic and discriminatory law.
In a statement today, Kasthuri said the decision — that Malaysian women, unlike Malaysian men, will still not be able to automatically pass on their citizenship to their children who are born of foreign husbands — is sexist.....
PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) arrested another four people who caused a serious breach in the country's borders.
The four, aged between 28 and 52, were the latest syndicate members nabbed by the graftbuster yesterday.
Sources said one of the four nabbed was an Immigration officer while the other three were foreign worker agents.
"Following investigations, it was found that the syndicate involved an international crime smuggling syndicate from China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
"The counter setting process at the Kuala Lumpur International Arport (KLIA) and klia2 was done by international syndicate who comprised agents in their respective countries," he said.
It was reported recently that the MACC had busted a syndicate involving Immigration Department officers which caused a serious breach in the country's borders.
So far, MACC has arrested 28 Immigration officers for facilitating the movement of illegal immigrants and foreign workers.
Also nabbed were 17 foreign worker agents and five civilians.
All of them were arrested following a sting operation codenamed Ops Selat by the MACC, with the help of the Immigration Department.
The suspects before this, aged between 21 and 46, were arrested at various locations in Putrajaya, Selangor, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak
Elaborating, the source said any visitor who had been blacklisted and wanted to enter Malaysia would be managed by the syndicate, where their details such as name, passport number and travel itinerary will be handed over to the agents here.
"These agents will then contact the Immigration officers in KLIA and klia2 for the counter setting to help the blacklisted foreign workers and foreign visitors to easily enter Malaysia.
"This also applies to those who are leaving the country, including those blacklisted, those with expired social visit passes and forged passports.
"Only selected counters at KLIA and klia2 will be used by these foreign workers and visitors," he added.
The source said more than RM800,000 in cash was seized along with 26 luxury vehicles and four high-powered motorcycles.
Also seized were houses, land, jewelleries and others.
"What is shocking from our probe is that an Immigration personnel, with a KP 19 grade, is able to possess four luxury vehicles such as a Roll Royce Phantom, a Mustang, a Range Rover and an Audi.
"The vehicles were registered under the names of two Chinese nationals, believed to be agents operating in Malaysia and two local agents," he said, adding that they have been identified.
The source also said that one of the local agents helped to keep the vehicles, and only used by the Immigration personnel as a repayment for handling the counter setting at klia2.
MACC Investigations director Datuk Norazlan Mohd Razali did not discount the possibility that there will be more arrests.
"All those detained will be investigated under Section 16 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 and the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti- Terrorism Financing Act 2001," he added.
Bella says that she and Emran have agreed to part on good terms. ― Picture via Instagram/@laudya_cynthiabellaa
KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 ― Popular Indonesian actress Laudya Cynthia Bella has confirmed that her marriage to Malaysian husband Engku Emran has officially ended after weeks of speculation.
The actress, affectionately known to many as Bella, broke the news to Indonesian media outlets earlier today.
“Regarding the current news about my household, I want to explain that the two of us have agreed to part on good terms,” Bella said.
Bella admitted she has been trying to save her marriage for a long time but fate decided otherwise for the couple.
The 32-year-old Surga Yang Tak Dirindukan star from Bandung married Emran, a Malaysian media strategist in September 2017.
“We have tried everything and this is God’s will that our marriage ends here.
“We’ve been through all the processes and as of this moment, it’s all over,” said Bella.
Looking back on her marriage of two years as Emran’s wife, Bella said she had plenty of fond memories.
“He has been my husband of two years, there’s a lot of good, wisdom and lessons that I learned.
“I hope I can use these lessons to be a better woman,” she said.
The actress and singer hoped the announcement would answer any questions that the public had about her marriage.
“I hope I’ve answered all the media’s questions.
“I’m sorry if I offended anyone, I need all your support,” she added.
According to Indonesian news site Kompas, cracks began showing in the couple’s marriage late last year when Emran’s photo was no longer seen on Bella’s Instagram account.
The couple also unfollowed each other on Instagram, further fuelling rumours of a shaky union.
By the end of June, Emran deleted photos of Bella from his Instagram account, also removing a profile picture of Bella and his daughter Aleesya from a previous marriage.
The former Suria FM chief operating officer, whose real name is Engku Emran Engku Zainal Abidin was previously married to Malaysian beauty queen-turned-actress Erra Fazira from 2007 to 2014.
Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin speaks during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur June 30, 2020. — Picture by Firdaus Latif
KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 — The mass exodus of PKR members is a clear indication that party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has failed to strengthen the party, sacked former vice president Zuraida Kamaruddin said today.
She said Anwar would never be a prime minister (PM) if he still has problems of unifying the party.
“I think this should be a learning lesson and a sign for the party president to look into what he should do in order to improve the party, as I have said before I left the party. The party president should look into strengthening the party first instead of focusing on becoming the prime minister.
“If the party is not strong, how would you become the prime minister? That’s basic. That is very basic, actually,” she said during a press conference in Cheras today.
Zuraida was sacked in February along with former deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and several other PKR MPs for playing a part in the “Sheraton Move” which become an impetus that led to the collapse of Pakatan Harapan government.
PETALING JAYA: UMW Holdings Bhd today announced the passing of its president and group CEO Badrul Feisal Abdul Rahim, who was 50 years old at the time of his death.
In a Facebook post, the company said Badrul had died on May 31 (2020).
“May he be placed among the pious,” it added.
Badrul was appointed as president and group CEO on Oct 1, 2015.
He initially joined the company as a senior general manager in December 2010.
Prior to that, Badrul served in senior positions in Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Proton, Lotus, DRB-Hicom and Tenaga Nasional Bhd, among others.
GEORGE TOWN: Three deputy public prosecutors in Penang were arrested by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission today after receiving a complaint that they had demanded half a million ringgit in bribes to fix a commercial crime case.
The three men are to be taken to the magistrates court in Alor Setar for a remand order on Tuesday morning.
A source close to the case said the MACC had moved in to lay a trap on one of the prosecutors, by pretending to be an interested party willing to offer RM100,000 for his services.
The prosecutor, who is believed to hold the rank of senior federal counsel, is alleged to have accepted the money, in marked currency notes, from the undercover MACC officers, which led to his immediate arrest.
Two other prosecutors were arrested at the Kedah MACC office in Alor Setar, after they were called in to have their statements taken.
The two men are part of the Attorney-General’s Chambers in Penang. One of them holds “a very senior role”, the source said.
MACC officers later seized items from the prosecutors’ offices and found an undisclosed amount of cash at their homes and other items that could be used against them in the case.
The source said the three could have been running a syndicate to fix cases for “a very long time”.
The MACC received a complaint on May 16 alleging that a prosecutor had asked for RM500,000 “to ensure a successful prosecution” of a particular person.
Kedah MACC chief Shaharom Nizam Abd Manap did not want to comment on the case but confirmed that the three persons had been arrested.
