tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7687269.post115792028731280695..comments2023-11-03T21:32:33.270+08:00Comments on On the Shoulders of Giants: We're all Lina JoyDavid BC Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16102898507435707042noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7687269.post-1159849068224225552006-10-03T12:17:00.000+08:002006-10-03T12:17:00.000+08:00It would be interesting to read both the religious...It would be interesting to read both the religious and legal perspectives. Thanks for asking.David BC Tanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16102898507435707042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7687269.post-1159815478279425122006-10-03T02:57:00.000+08:002006-10-03T02:57:00.000+08:00Dear David,Sorry, just noticed your response today...Dear David,<BR/><BR/>Sorry, just noticed your response today. Might I first ask whether you wish to be addressed from a religious perspective or a legal perspective?Nizhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02150451831570669769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7687269.post-1158340904189606282006-09-16T01:21:00.000+08:002006-09-16T01:21:00.000+08:00Thanks for the clarification. I suppose what bothe...Thanks for the clarification. I suppose what bothers me is how race and religion became inseparable. We can't choose our ethnicity, but we certainly ought to be able to choose what to believe. While as you say the debate rages on, it does not and cannot alter the fact that freedom of belief is denied Malays. Why should it be so?David BC Tanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16102898507435707042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7687269.post-1158141096853103012006-09-13T17:51:00.000+08:002006-09-13T17:51:00.000+08:00Dear David,Just a note in relation to this paragra...Dear David,<BR/><BR/>Just a note in relation to this paragraph:<BR/><BR/>"BTW, Lina’s quandary raised an interesting thought. Her opponents say her apostasy questions the issue of race as a Malay is constitutionally defined as a Muslim (Article 160:2). Present laws conspire to separate Malaysians into racial categories of Malay, Indian, Chinese, and the ambiguous “lain-lain” (others). If it is true that she has renounced Islam, technically she would not be Malay. If she cannot be allowed to be Malay, then by transcending her racial identity she is perhaps more Malaysian than us all."<BR/><BR/>Actually, Article 160(2) does not define Malay racially but anthropologically and wherein the common characteristics specified thereto being professing the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language, conforms to Malay customs AND:<BR/>(a) born in Malaysia prior to 31.8.1957 or born of parents one of whom was born in Malaysia; OR<BR/>(b) is the child of parents who fit the matters specified in (a).<BR/><BR/>Since Lina is less than 49 years old, she arguably comes under paragraph (b). As her parents conform to the matters specified above, Lina Joy therefore is Malay.<BR/><BR/>In that sense, Lina is far from "technically not Malay".<BR/><BR/>However, to be fair, some counter-arguments have been forwarded that this does not hold water as the definition is said to be only applicable in relation to the special rights or land which are granted to Malays.<BR/><BR/>Still, there are other Articles coming into play and the intellectual debate in this respect continues to rage on.Nizhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02150451831570669769noreply@blogger.com