Politik, Legislatif, Dasar dan Tadbir Urus

By TK Tan Recently, the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) of Malaysia released the half yearly circulation figures as at 31 December 2009 for most major daily newspapers, or colloquially known as the mainstream media (MSM) papers. The omens are certainly disconcerting for many of these MSM paper owners. The traditional mainstays of the English and Bahasa Malaysia dailies i.e. the Star, New Strait Times (NST), Utusan Malaysia (UM) and Berita Harian (BH) all recording drops in their circulation figures, with BH and its weekend edition Berita Minggu recording a staggering 24 and 31 percent drop from 2006 to 2009 respectively. For some, it is a sign of times when the grand dame of MSM papers in Malaysia, the NST, was noted to have commanded less than 90,000 copies daily for those copies sold at full rates, well below most major vernacular dailies. Only Sin Chew Daily (SCD) bucked the trend, when it recorded an 18 percent increase over the same time period. However, the tabloid-like dailies...

Despite the value of religion in moral upliftment, it is also true to say that religion is a fertile soil for the development of superstitions and devotional hypocrisy, wrapped under the the cloak of religiousity. Many people use religion to escape from realities of life and put on the garb of religion and religious symbols. They may even pray very often in places of worship, yet they are not sincerely religious minded and have not understood what their religion stands for. When a religion has been debased by ignorance, greed for power and selfishness, people quickly point an accusing finger and say this religion and that religion are irrational. But "religion" (ritualistic external practice of any teaching) must be distinguished from the teaching itself. Before one criticizes, one must study the original teachings of the founder and see if there is anything intrinsically wrong with it. Religion advises people to do good and be good, but they are not interested to do so. Inst...

One should not honour only one's own religion and condemn the religions of others, but one should honour others' religions for this or that reason. So doing, one helps one's own religion to grow and render service to the religions of others too. In acting otherwise, one digs the grave of one's own religion and also does harm to other religions. Whosoever honours his own religion and condemns other religions does so indeed through devotion to his own religion, thinking "I will glorify my religion". But on contrary, in so doing he injures his own religion more gravely. If you are devoted to your religion or faith, no matter how much distractions from outside, your concentration to your prayers would not be disturbed unless you yourselves are disturbed or there are impurities in your mind. Therefore, should you endure in challenges which regards to the faith and religions of others, we welcome you with open arms and have interfaith dialogues positively. Please do...