Claudia Theophilus

Panelists make good case for the necessity to restore local government elections, made more urgent by the recent spate of blunders by state authorities.

Data is being collated on the rightful needs of senior citizens for inclusion into the Ninth Malaysia Plan to provide for a better social security system and to harness and turn the massive human resource potential into national assets.

The national journalists union tells the police not to bark up the wrong tree and to stop intimidating reporters over their stories.

While refusing technical assistance offered by a world labour body, Malaysia continues to deny workers their right to freedom of association. Instead, plans for additional control is underway.

The organiser of the national interfaith conference rebuts assertions that proceedings were generally manipulated and motivated by ulterior motives.

Marzuki Mohamad, who was one of the participants, envisages a bleak future for the initiative unless the 'warring' parties decide on working together within the constitutional framework, in toto.

Discussion on the proposed interfaith commission revealed gaps in understanding of the core issues, although there was little argument with the need to move forward on this initiative.

Accin, a coalition of Muslim groups, makes the request for fear that any minor allowance given now will weaken Islam in the long term.

It's steering committee will submit the draft bill on the proposed commission to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi with an explanation to counter criticisms on the alleged insensitivity of the initiative.

Ending their two-day talk, the participants say there is an 'urgent need' for an interfaith body dedicated to strengthening national unity and called for the draft bill on the controversial commission be tabled in Parliament.

Calling it a 'milestone event', the minister notes that any attempt to make mankind more cooperative towards understanding each other was worth the effort.

Pemuda PAS akan mengikuti secara dekat persidangan kebangsaan mengenai cadangan penubuhan suruhanjaya antara-agama selama dua hari mulai esok.

The Islamic opposition party will follow closely the proceedings of a national conference on the proposed interfaith commission which it believes to be detrimental to Islam and its followers.

The villagers in Sarawak want the state government to honour an agreement to issue them land titles in an oil palm scheme and to replace ancestral land lost during resettlement.

This is the first positive move by the government after more than 20 memoranda submitted against the incinerator that residents do not want.

Opponents to the interfaith commission proposal are being urged to use next week's national conference as a sounding board for their arguments instead of attempting to pre-empt the outcome of deliberations.

As for the absence of government lawyers at the hearing, the attorney-general attributes it to miscommunication between his office and the Selangor department.

The MIC wants Malaysian Indians to identify opportunities to uplift the community as part of a report to be included in the 9th Malaysia Plan.

Broga residents can heave a temporary sigh of relief pending the outcome of their application to permanently stop the incinerator project.

Many Muslim groups are opposed to the interfaith commission proposal due to their perception of bad faith among the proponents in undermining Islamic teachings and meddling in its practice.

A statutory body may be the long-awaited solution to resolving religion-based problems in pluralistic Malaysia.

If the proposed statutory inter-faith commission gets the official nod, Malaysia will be the first nation in the world to adopt such a spiritual body.

Those involved in spreading Islam among the Orang Asli community in Kelantan have attributed the force conversion charges to frustrations among new converts.

Broga sub-committee gets to 'date' Selangor MB Dr Mohd Khir Toyo on Valentine's Day, all geared up to grill him over vital information regarding the multi-billion ringgit incinerator project.