Luckily, the doctors agreed: “His return to Libya would, we feel, not only benefit the patient, but would also be advantageous for the family. Mr Megrahi has several children of varying age. If he was returned home, his family could become more involved in his health-care needs. We would anticipate this would benefit them, not only in the short-term, but also when considering any potential long-term psychological impact.” Who knew, when Sigmund Freud was lounging around the Berggasse 19 in his smoking jacket, trying to figure out what women wanted and when, exactly, a cigar was only a cigar, that his work would have this kind of effect on Western society?

Indeed, it is a great day, not just for Libya but also for the entire Muslim world, to which our “Christian” president (who somehow can’t seem to find a church in Washington, D.C.) recently sent a televised Ramadan greeting “on behalf of the American people, including Muslim communities in all 50 states.” Yes, His Serene Highness Barack Hussein Obama II, Lord of the Flies and Protector of the Holy Cities of Honolulu and Chicago, has just nobly urged us to “seek common ground” with Muslims everywhere, including expanding “education exchange programs.”

Now, some of you right-wing lunatics may think that the education exchange programs that brought us Mohammed Atta and his band of merry men were plenty, thank you very much, and that BO2’s call for “increased cooperation in science and technology” hopefully means that next time they will actually land the airplanes we invented and manufactured, instead of crashing them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But surely not even the most paranoid conspiracy theorist among you can quibble with the president’s final wish to Muslims around the world: “May God’s peace be upon you.” And this just eight years since more than 3,000 Americans died in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania after the man-caused disasters of 9/11. Is this a great country or what?

I have to admit, at first I was a little uneasy at this blatant mixing of church and state, until I remembered that there’s no proscription against mixing mosque and state in the Constitution. As the former Barry Soetoro reminded us all in Cairo, Muslims have been part of America since Day One — heck, they practically invented the place. “It was Islam . . . that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment,” Obama said in June. “I also know that Islam has always been a part of America’s story. The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco. . . . And when the first Muslim American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers — Thomas Jefferson — kept in his personal library.” I never knew that Jefferson was one of the Faithful; not only that but, as per Thomas Cahill’s book, I thought it was the Irish who saved civilization. You learn something new from the Dear Leader and Teacher every day.

Anyway, all of this talk about North Africa and Islam got me thinking about General Gordon and one of my great guilty-pleasure movies, Khartoum (1966). You remember — Chuck Heston as General Gordon, ramrod-straight and sporting a fez, and a blackfaced Sir Larry as the Mahdi, smacking his ruby lips and rolling his eyes, as if he were in some Islamic road version of Othello.

Back in 1885, Charles George “Chinese” Gordon, a Scotsman, had the effrontery to mount a spirited defense of Khartoum and its trapped Egyptian garrison against one Muhammad Ahmad ibn as Sayyid Abd Allah, better known as “the Mahdi” (the “Expected One”). Sent to the Sudan to put down the Arab raiders who were enslaving real African Americans from Africa, Gordon found himself defending the lives of the Ottoman Turkish troops of the Khedive of Egypt, who were trapped in Khartoum and sure to suffer horrible deaths at the hands of the Mahdi and his army, who viewed them as degenerate apostates. Instead of submitting peacefully in a spirit of educational exchange and technological cooperation, Gordon, a general in the Royal Engineers who had served with distinction in the Crimea and in China (hence the nickname), decided to fight. Back then, troglodytic Scotsmen were stereotypically stubborn; even worse, Gordon was also a Christian evangelist and religious fanatic, which made him exactly the same as the Mahdi, fundamentalist-wise. (Lytton Strachey had a good deal of mocking fun with Gordon’s shade in Eminent Victorians.)

Defying calls from the British government for his return, Gordon dug in, holding out for nine months during a terrible siege that ended when the Mahdi’s forces finally overran the city. Gordon was struck down by a spear; his head was hacked off, presented to the Mahdi, and later stuck up in a tree so that children could throw rocks at it. Teachable moment: Never fight back, because you’re only going to die anyway.

The jingoistic Brit public, however, became unaccountably enraged and demanded barbaric Christian vengeance for Gordon Pasha. So when General Kitchener arrived in the Sudan on a punitive mission 111 years ago next month and engaged the Mahdi’s forces at Omdurman — the Mahdi himself having died in the interim — he killed more than 10,000 dervishes, wounded another 13,000, and took 5,000 prisoners. His own losses: 48 men killed and fewer than 400 wounded. What kind of a proportionate, measured response was that? Not quite finished, Kitchener destroyed the Mahdi’s tomb, dug up the body, threw the bones into the Nile, and kept the skull for himself as a drinking cup. Oh, there was a fuss when Queen Victoria found out about Kitchener’s trophy, and so the head was hastily popped back into a Muslim cemetery, but oddly enough, Omdurman was the end of the insurgency in the Sudan.

Luckily, today’s British government, under another Scotsman, Gordon Brown, is no longer willing to sacrifice its national principles in exchange for things like ending an insurrection that would have claimed thousands more lives and establishing peace in a whole region for a century. John Bull is properly ashamed of his old empire, ashamed of subjects like Gordon and Burton and Speke and Stanley, ashamed of his very existence. And so he slowly commits suicide as millions around the world cheer — not just in Libya but closer to Whitehall, in Finsbury Park.

What I don’t understand is how a movie like Khartoum ever got made. The imperialists are the “good guys,” the dark-skinned freedom fighters are the “bad guys,” and somehow we’re supposed to feel bad when Gordon gets what’s coming to him. I mean, can you imagine green-lighting a script that ends with a voiceover proclaiming:

The relief came two days late. Two days. And for 15 years the Sudanese paid the price with pestilence and famine, the British with shame and war. Within months after Gordon died, the Mahdi died. Why, we shall never know. Gordon rests in his beloved Sudan. We cannot tell how long his memory will live. But there is this: A world with no room for the Gordons is a world that will return to the sands.

Personally, I like sand. See you at the beach!

— David Kahane can’t understand how a movie like Zulu (1964) got made either. You can explain it to him via e-mail at kahanenro@gmail.com, or via Facebook (look for the Soviet-era poster). But hurry — he’s off to Martha’s Vineyard to work on Rules for Radical Conservatives, coming from Ballantine Books in July 2010.

Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy law, enacted by President General Zia-ul-Haq in1986 and later amended by the parliament in 2004, is one of the most stringent laws. The penalty includes a mandatory death sentence for defaming Prophet Mohammad and life imprisonment for desecrating the Holy Quran. According to official reports, to date, over 500 people have been charged for breaching the Blasphemy Law. Dawn.com traces the history of some of these cases that have been highlighted in the media since 1990.

2009 – August 05: An angry mob attacked the house of an elderly woman in District Sanghar, Sindh, accusing her of desecrating the Holy Quran. A case has not yet been registered but the District Bar Association assured the mob that if the woman – identified as Akhtari Malkani – is found guilty, she will be charged under the Blasphemy Law.

2009 – August 01: Seven people were burnt alive and 18 others injured in Gojra, District Toba Tek Singh in Punjab after fresh violence erupted in the town over the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran three days ago. More than 50 houses were set on fire.

2009 – July 31: A mob burnt 75 houses of members of the Christian community over the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran in the village Azafi Abadi at Gojra-Faisalabad Road. Seventy-five houses and two churches were burnt by the residents of a neighbouring village.

2009 – February: Five Ahmadis in Punjab’s Layyah district were arrested on charges of writing blasphemous remarks in the toilets of Kot Sultan’s Gulzar-e-Madina mosque. No evidence or witness was presented. They were just detained on a ‘presumption of guilt,’ stated the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

2009 – January 28: The Punjab police arrested a labourer and four students for blasphemy, all of whom were Ahmadis. They were accused of writing the name of Prophet Mohammed on the wall of a toilet in a Sunni mosque. Investigations into the case revealed that the accusation was baseless.

2008 – May: The Punjab police jailed Robin Sardar, a Christian physician, upon an accusation of blasphemy from a Muslim street-vendor who wanted to set up his shop in front of Sardar's clinic.

2008 – April 08: Jagdesh Kumar, a 27 year old Hindu worker, was beaten to death by fellow Muslim workers in his factory in Karachi on the charge of blasphemy. The incident took place in the presence of policemen. Some reports suggested that the victim was in love with a Muslim girl that angered the Muslim workers, who decided to teach him a lesson.

2008 – March 06: An elderly man, Altaf Hussain, was arrested for desecrating the Holy Quran in Kabir wala Town of Khanewal District in Punjab. The spokesman for the Ahmadiya community countered that the charges against the 80-year-old were false.

2007 – October 28: The police arrested Muhammad Imran of Faisalabad for allegedly setting the Holy Quran on fire. He was kept in a torture cell for three days and later in solitary confinement without anyone attending to his injuries. He was released in April 2009.

2007 – May 17: The nursing school at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad was shut down and seven Christian staff members suspended after female students of Jamia Hafsa protested over allegations that blasphemy had been committed at the school. Rumours spread that verses from the Quran posted on a wall had been defaced. School authorities denied all such claims.

2007 – April 13: Sattar Masih, a 29-year-old worker at a water pumping station in Kotri city of Sindh, was allegedly attacked by Muslim extremists for uttering blasphemous remarks. An imam of a local mosque, Maulvi Umer, announced some written papers against Prophet Mohammad were found outside the mosque authored by Sattar. Muslim worshipers attacked Masih's house and tried to kill him but the police arrived before that could happen. Masih was later arrested. Later, in January 2009, the accusation was declared baseless.

2007 – April 01: A case against Salamat Masih, 45, and four other Christians was filed for the desecration of Islamic posters and stickers containing the name of Allah, Prophet Mohammad and other Islamic verses in the Toba Tek Singh (Punjab) police station. The SHO allegedly converted the report into an FIR within 20 minutes without initiating any investigation. Subsequently, 80 young Muslims from the neighbourhood ransacked the houses of Christians in the colony.

2007 – January 22: Martha Bibi, a Christian woman from Kot Nanak Singh, District Kasur, was accused of making derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad and defaming his sacred name.

2006 – September 21: Shahid Masih, 17, was jailed on suspicion of ripping book pages containing Quranic verses in Punjab.

2006 – June 03: Christians and Muslims in Pakistan condemned Dan Brown's novel ‘The Da Vinci Code’ as blasphemous. The then Minister for Culture, Ghulam Jamal, banned the promotion of the movie.

2006 – May 24: A Christian, Qamar David, was arrested from Karachi for allegedly sending blasphemous messages to some Muslims via cell phone as revenge for attacks against churches by Muslims in Sukkur, Sindh, and Sangla Hill, Punjab, earlier that year.

2005 – December 23: Five members of the Mehdi Foundation International were arrested in Wapda Town, Lahore, for putting up posters of their leader Riaz Gohar Shahi showing him as ‘Imam Mehdi’. The Anti-Terrorism Court sentenced each to five years of imprisonment under 295-A of PPC. Their prisoners’ records posted outside the cell falsely indicate that they had been sentenced under 295-C – the Blasphemy Law.

2005 – November 12: After receiving frequent death threats, Parvez Aslam Chaudhry, a lawyer who defended many accused for blasphemy, was allegedly charged with flinging a burning matchstick on an Islamic school in the Sangla Hill stadium in Punjab which caught fire. Chaudhry was also physically assaulted outside Lahore High Court.

2005 – August 11: Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the Anti-Terrorist Court found Younus Shaikh guilty of defiling a copy of the Quran, and propagating religious hatred among society. Shaikh was convicted because he wrote a book ‘Shaitan Maulvi’ (Satanic Cleric) in which he mentioned stoning to death as a punishment for adultery was not mentioned in the Quran. The judge imposed a fine of Rs100, 000 rupees and sentenced him to lifetime imprisonment.

2003 - November 20: Anwar Masih, a Christian labourer and resident of Shahdara, Lahore, was charged for insulting the Prophet in front of his neighbour. Masih had converted from Islam to Christianity. He was acquitted by the Lahore High Court in December 2004. Later, in August 2007, he lost his job in a factory when his employer was threatened for employing a ‘blasphemer’. Masih went into hiding.

2003 – July 09: A journalist in NWFP was sentenced to life imprisonment for blasphemy. Munawar Mohsin, a sub-editor at the Frontier Post newspaper, was convicted of publishing a blasphemous letter in the editorial section that led to violent protests across the country.

2002 – July 18: Additional sessions judge in Lahore imposed death penalty and a fine of Rs500,000 on Anwar Kenneth, a former officer of the Fisheries Department, in a blasphemy case registered with the Gawalmandi police. He was arrested on June 15, 2001, while distributing a pamphlet (Gospel of Jesus).

2002 – June 11: A 55-year-old Muslim cleric, Mohammed Yousaf Ali, convicted of blasphemy was shot dead in the Lahore prison. The murderer was another prisoner, Tariq Mota, a member the banned Sunni militant group Sipah-e-Sahaba. Ali had been sentenced to death for blasphemy on August 5, 2000, in a case filed by another militant group who disapproved of his religious views. Ali had been vocal in condemning religious extremism.

2000 – October: Pakistani authorities charged Younus Shaikh, a teacher at a medical college in Islamabad, with blasphemy on account of remarks that students claimed he made during a lecture. The students alleged that Shaikh had said Prophet Mohammed’s parents were non-Muslims because they died before Islam existed. A judge ordered that Shaikh pay a fine of Rs100,000, and be hanged. In November 2003 he was acquitted after which he left Pakistan.

1998 – May 6: Roman Catholic Bishop John Joseph of Pakistan shot himself in the Sahiwal courthouse to highlight the case of Ayub Masih, a Christian sentenced to death for allegedly uttering blasphemous remarks against Prophet Muhammad. The death of the 66-year-old led to protests by Christians. Subsequently, the Lahore High Court ordered a stay of execution for Masih. His fate remains undecided.

1997 – October 19: Judge Arif Iqbal Hussain Bhatti was assassinated in his Lahore office after acquitting two people who were accused of blasphemy.

1996 – October 14: Ayub Masih, a Pakistani Christian bricklayer, was arrested for violation of Section 295-C. The complaint was filed by Masih’s neighbour who claimed that Masih had invited them to accept Christianity and recommended that they read Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. He later made legal history when his appeal against the death penalty was turned down by the High Court in 2002.

1995 – July: Catherine Shaheen, a teacher in Lahore, Punjab, was denied her salary on grounds of blasphemy. Since then she has been in hiding because of threats against her life made by some fundamentalists.

1993 – November 21: Riaz Ahmad, his son, and two nephews from the Ahmadi community were arrested in Mianwali District for their blasphemous remarks. The rivalry over Ahmad's position as village headman was the real motivation for the complaint against him. The Sessions Court rejected the bail applications of the accused, however, the Supreme Court granted him bail in December 1997.

1993 – May: Twelve-year-old Salamat Masih, Manzoor Masih, 37, and Rehmat Masih, 42, were charged with writing derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed on the wall of a mosque in Ratta Dhotran village of district Gujranwala - where they lived. All the three were in fact illiterate and did not know how to write.

1993 – February: Anwar Masih, a Christian from Samundri in Punjab, went to jail upon a Muslim shopkeeper's allegation that, during an argument over money, Masih had insulted the Prophet Mohammed.

1992 – November: Gul Masih, a Christian, was sentenced to death after having remarked to his Muslim neighbour in Punjab that he had read that ‘Prophet Mohammed had 11 wives, including a minor.’

1992 – Bantu Masih, 80, and Mukhtar Masih, 50, were arrested on the allegation of committing blasphemy. Both died in the Lahore police station. Bantu Masih was stabbed eight times by a fundamentalist in the presence of policemen. He later succumbed to his injuries, whereas Mukhtar Masih was tortured to death in police custody.

1992 – January 06: Christian teacher Naimat Ahmar, 43, was butchered by a young member of a militant religious group, Farooq Ahmad, on the office premises of the District Education Officer in Faisalabad while on duty. Ahmad killed him because the deceased had reportedly used highly insulting remarks against Islam and Prophet Mohammed and by killing a blasphemer he had won his way into heaven. No case of blasphemy was registered against him nor was he tried by any court. Ahmar left behind a widow and four children.

1991 – December 10: Gul Masih of Faisalabad was charged for using sacrilegious language about the Prophet and his wives. The complainant, Sajjad Hussain, had a quarrel with him over repair of a street water tap. Masih was sentenced to death by the Sessions Court, Sargodha, on November 02, 1992. Years later he was acquitted but continued to receive death threats. He is now in Germany on asylum.

1991 – October 08: Chand Barkat, 28, a bangle stall holder in Karachi, was charged with blasphemy by another bangle vendor, Arif Hussain, because of professional jealousy. Hussain decided to teach Barkat a lesson by accusing him of using derogatory language against Prophet Mohammed and his mother. Barkat was charged under section 295-C of PPC, however, he was acquitted by the Sessions Court for want of evidence.

1990 – December 07: Tahir Iqbal, a Christian convert from Islam and resident of Lahore, was accused of abusing Prophet Mohammad at the time of Azaan and imparting anti-Islamic education to children during tuitions. The sessions judge in July 1991 turned down his bail application after he learnt that Iqbal had converted to Christianity, which, he stated, was a cognisable offence. Later on July 21, 1992, before Iqbal’s defence lawyer could appear in court, he was poisoned in police custody. Dawn

Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy law, enacted by President General Zia-ul-Haq in1986 and later amended by the parliament in 2004, is one of the most stringent laws. The penalty includes a mandatory death sentence for defaming Prophet Mohammad and life imprisonment for desecrating the Holy Quran. According to official reports, to date, over 500 people have been charged for breaching the Blasphemy Law. Dawn.com traces the history of some of these cases that have been highlighted in the media since 1990.

2009 – August 05: An angry mob attacked the house of an elderly woman in District Sanghar, Sindh, accusing her of desecrating the Holy Quran. A case has not yet been registered but the District Bar Association assured the mob that if the woman – identified as Akhtari Malkani – is found guilty, she will be charged under the Blasphemy Law.

2009 – August 01: Seven people were burnt alive and 18 others injured in Gojra, District Toba Tek Singh in Punjab after fresh violence erupted in the town over the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran three days ago. More than 50 houses were set on fire.

2009 – July 31: A mob burnt 75 houses of members of the Christian community over the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran in the village Azafi Abadi at Gojra-Faisalabad Road. Seventy-five houses and two churches were burnt by the residents of a neighbouring village.

2009 – February: Five Ahmadis in Punjab’s Layyah district were arrested on charges of writing blasphemous remarks in the toilets of Kot Sultan’s Gulzar-e-Madina mosque. No evidence or witness was presented. They were just detained on a ‘presumption of guilt,’ stated the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

2009 – January 28: The Punjab police arrested a labourer and four students for blasphemy, all of whom were Ahmadis. They were accused of writing the name of Prophet Mohammed on the wall of a toilet in a Sunni mosque. Investigations into the case revealed that the accusation was baseless.

2008 – May: The Punjab police jailed Robin Sardar, a Christian physician, upon an accusation of blasphemy from a Muslim street-vendor who wanted to set up his shop in front of Sardar's clinic.

2008 – April 08: Jagdesh Kumar, a 27 year old Hindu worker, was beaten to death by fellow Muslim workers in his factory in Karachi on the charge of blasphemy. The incident took place in the presence of policemen. Some reports suggested that the victim was in love with a Muslim girl that angered the Muslim workers, who decided to teach him a lesson.

2008 – March 06: An elderly man, Altaf Hussain, was arrested for desecrating the Holy Quran in Kabir wala Town of Khanewal District in Punjab. The spokesman for the Ahmadiya community countered that the charges against the 80-year-old were false.

2007 – October 28: The police arrested Muhammad Imran of Faisalabad for allegedly setting the Holy Quran on fire. He was kept in a torture cell for three days and later in solitary confinement without anyone attending to his injuries. He was released in April 2009.

2007 – May 17: The nursing school at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad was shut down and seven Christian staff members suspended after female students of Jamia Hafsa protested over allegations that blasphemy had been committed at the school. Rumours spread that verses from the Quran posted on a wall had been defaced. School authorities denied all such claims.

2007 – April 13: Sattar Masih, a 29-year-old worker at a water pumping station in Kotri city of Sindh, was allegedly attacked by Muslim extremists for uttering blasphemous remarks. An imam of a local mosque, Maulvi Umer, announced some written papers against Prophet Mohammad were found outside the mosque authored by Sattar. Muslim worshipers attacked Masih's house and tried to kill him but the police arrived before that could happen. Masih was later arrested. Later, in January 2009, the accusation was declared baseless.

2007 – April 01: A case against Salamat Masih, 45, and four other Christians was filed for the desecration of Islamic posters and stickers containing the name of Allah, Prophet Mohammad and other Islamic verses in the Toba Tek Singh (Punjab) police station. The SHO allegedly converted the report into an FIR within 20 minutes without initiating any investigation. Subsequently, 80 young Muslims from the neighbourhood ransacked the houses of Christians in the colony.

2007 – January 22: Martha Bibi, a Christian woman from Kot Nanak Singh, District Kasur, was accused of making derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad and defaming his sacred name.

2006 – September 21: Shahid Masih, 17, was jailed on suspicion of ripping book pages containing Quranic verses in Punjab.

2006 – June 03: Christians and Muslims in Pakistan condemned Dan Brown's novel ‘The Da Vinci Code’ as blasphemous. The then Minister for Culture, Ghulam Jamal, banned the promotion of the movie.

2006 – May 24: A Christian, Qamar David, was arrested from Karachi for allegedly sending blasphemous messages to some Muslims via cell phone as revenge for attacks against churches by Muslims in Sukkur, Sindh, and Sangla Hill, Punjab, earlier that year.

2005 – December 23: Five members of the Mehdi Foundation International were arrested in Wapda Town, Lahore, for putting up posters of their leader Riaz Gohar Shahi showing him as ‘Imam Mehdi’. The Anti-Terrorism Court sentenced each to five years of imprisonment under 295-A of PPC. Their prisoners’ records posted outside the cell falsely indicate that they had been sentenced under 295-C – the Blasphemy Law.

2005 – November 12: After receiving frequent death threats, Parvez Aslam Chaudhry, a lawyer who defended many accused for blasphemy, was allegedly charged with flinging a burning matchstick on an Islamic school in the Sangla Hill stadium in Punjab which caught fire. Chaudhry was also physically assaulted outside Lahore High Court.

2005 – August 11: Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the Anti-Terrorist Court found Younus Shaikh guilty of defiling a copy of the Quran, and propagating religious hatred among society. Shaikh was convicted because he wrote a book ‘Shaitan Maulvi’ (Satanic Cleric) in which he mentioned stoning to death as a punishment for adultery was not mentioned in the Quran. The judge imposed a fine of Rs100, 000 rupees and sentenced him to lifetime imprisonment.

2003 - November 20: Anwar Masih, a Christian labourer and resident of Shahdara, Lahore, was charged for insulting the Prophet in front of his neighbour. Masih had converted from Islam to Christianity. He was acquitted by the Lahore High Court in December 2004. Later, in August 2007, he lost his job in a factory when his employer was threatened for employing a ‘blasphemer’. Masih went into hiding.

2003 – July 09: A journalist in NWFP was sentenced to life imprisonment for blasphemy. Munawar Mohsin, a sub-editor at the Frontier Post newspaper, was convicted of publishing a blasphemous letter in the editorial section that led to violent protests across the country.

2002 – July 18: Additional sessions judge in Lahore imposed death penalty and a fine of Rs500,000 on Anwar Kenneth, a former officer of the Fisheries Department, in a blasphemy case registered with the Gawalmandi police. He was arrested on June 15, 2001, while distributing a pamphlet (Gospel of Jesus).

2002 – June 11: A 55-year-old Muslim cleric, Mohammed Yousaf Ali, convicted of blasphemy was shot dead in the Lahore prison. The murderer was another prisoner, Tariq Mota, a member the banned Sunni militant group Sipah-e-Sahaba. Ali had been sentenced to death for blasphemy on August 5, 2000, in a case filed by another militant group who disapproved of his religious views. Ali had been vocal in condemning religious extremism.

2000 – October: Pakistani authorities charged Younus Shaikh, a teacher at a medical college in Islamabad, with blasphemy on account of remarks that students claimed he made during a lecture. The students alleged that Shaikh had said Prophet Mohammed’s parents were non-Muslims because they died before Islam existed. A judge ordered that Shaikh pay a fine of Rs100,000, and be hanged. In November 2003 he was acquitted after which he left Pakistan.

1998 – May 6: Roman Catholic Bishop John Joseph of Pakistan shot himself in the Sahiwal courthouse to highlight the case of Ayub Masih, a Christian sentenced to death for allegedly uttering blasphemous remarks against Prophet Muhammad. The death of the 66-year-old led to protests by Christians. Subsequently, the Lahore High Court ordered a stay of execution for Masih. His fate remains undecided.

1997 – October 19: Judge Arif Iqbal Hussain Bhatti was assassinated in his Lahore office after acquitting two people who were accused of blasphemy.

1996 – October 14: Ayub Masih, a Pakistani Christian bricklayer, was arrested for violation of Section 295-C. The complaint was filed by Masih’s neighbour who claimed that Masih had invited them to accept Christianity and recommended that they read Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. He later made legal history when his appeal against the death penalty was turned down by the High Court in 2002.

1995 – July: Catherine Shaheen, a teacher in Lahore, Punjab, was denied her salary on grounds of blasphemy. Since then she has been in hiding because of threats against her life made by some fundamentalists.

1993 – November 21: Riaz Ahmad, his son, and two nephews from the Ahmadi community were arrested in Mianwali District for their blasphemous remarks. The rivalry over Ahmad's position as village headman was the real motivation for the complaint against him. The Sessions Court rejected the bail applications of the accused, however, the Supreme Court granted him bail in December 1997.

1993 – May: Twelve-year-old Salamat Masih, Manzoor Masih, 37, and Rehmat Masih, 42, were charged with writing derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed on the wall of a mosque in Ratta Dhotran village of district Gujranwala - where they lived. All the three were in fact illiterate and did not know how to write.

1993 – February: Anwar Masih, a Christian from Samundri in Punjab, went to jail upon a Muslim shopkeeper's allegation that, during an argument over money, Masih had insulted the Prophet Mohammed.

1992 – November: Gul Masih, a Christian, was sentenced to death after having remarked to his Muslim neighbour in Punjab that he had read that ‘Prophet Mohammed had 11 wives, including a minor.’

1992 – Bantu Masih, 80, and Mukhtar Masih, 50, were arrested on the allegation of committing blasphemy. Both died in the Lahore police station. Bantu Masih was stabbed eight times by a fundamentalist in the presence of policemen. He later succumbed to his injuries, whereas Mukhtar Masih was tortured to death in police custody.

1992 – January 06: Christian teacher Naimat Ahmar, 43, was butchered by a young member of a militant religious group, Farooq Ahmad, on the office premises of the District Education Officer in Faisalabad while on duty. Ahmad killed him because the deceased had reportedly used highly insulting remarks against Islam and Prophet Mohammed and by killing a blasphemer he had won his way into heaven. No case of blasphemy was registered against him nor was he tried by any court. Ahmar left behind a widow and four children.

1991 – December 10: Gul Masih of Faisalabad was charged for using sacrilegious language about the Prophet and his wives. The complainant, Sajjad Hussain, had a quarrel with him over repair of a street water tap. Masih was sentenced to death by the Sessions Court, Sargodha, on November 02, 1992. Years later he was acquitted but continued to receive death threats. He is now in Germany on asylum.

1991 – October 08: Chand Barkat, 28, a bangle stall holder in Karachi, was charged with blasphemy by another bangle vendor, Arif Hussain, because of professional jealousy. Hussain decided to teach Barkat a lesson by accusing him of using derogatory language against Prophet Mohammed and his mother. Barkat was charged under section 295-C of PPC, however, he was acquitted by the Sessions Court for want of evidence.

1990 – December 07: Tahir Iqbal, a Christian convert from Islam and resident of Lahore, was accused of abusing Prophet Mohammad at the time of Azaan and imparting anti-Islamic education to children during tuitions. The sessions judge in July 1991 turned down his bail application after he learnt that Iqbal had converted to Christianity, which, he stated, was a cognisable offence. Later on July 21, 1992, before Iqbal’s defence lawyer could appear in court, he was poisoned in police custody. Dawn

There was no vote taken because no other Fatah member challenged Abbas' five-year rule of the party. Hundreds of delegates cheered and clapped as Fatah leader Tayib Abdul Rahim announced that Abbas was chosen to lead the party.

Technically Abbas can only lead the party for five years, until a new conference is announced, but this is the first time Fatah members have met in 20 years, so it isn't clear how long his mandate will last.

Also Saturday, Ahmed Qureia, also known as Abu Alla, told reporters that delegates meeting in Bethlehem would elect a new Central Committee and a Revolutionary Council on Sunday or Monday.

Qureia said the convention would hold the elections for both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank at the same time, adding that "some Gaza members will contest the elections."

He said the modalities of the election were still under discussion. Changes to Fatah's platform were being discussed during Saturday's sessions, he said.

Abbas Zaki, a Fatah representative from Lebanon said "100 candidates are running for membership of the Central Committee and 646 for the Revolutionary Council.

Voting by the some 2,500 delegates for the 18-member Central Committee, and 120-member Revolutionary Council had originally been expected to start on Saturday morning.

The convention is meeting for the first time in 20 years to elect a new leadership for the organization founded by Yasser Arafat.

However, Fatah rival Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since June 2007, banned scores of Fatah members there from traveling to the West Bank to attend the gathering.

On Friday, Central Committee member Nabil Shaath announced an agreement reached with the convention's leadership that would allow Gaza delegates to vote by telephone.

Fatah said in a statement that Hamas security forces had placed several Gaza convention delegates under house arrest and prevented them from leaving their homes.

It said that on Friday and Saturday, Hamas security personnel detained several Fatah leaders for questioning before releasing them. Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein denied there were any detentions.

U.S. to demand Israel, Palestinian deal with borders

The U.S. administration will demand that Israel and the Palestinians address the issue of borders as the first step in the Middle East peace plan, senior Palestinian officials said Thursday.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday that Washington will present its new plan for a comprehensive Middle East peace soon.

The Americans will also outline proposals for an Israeli peace with Syria and Lebanon, the Palestinian officials said Thursday.

The American plan will not specify step-by-step actions for an Israeli-Palestinian solution, but will address final status issues - borders, Jerusalem and refugees.

The Americans will set a timetable of about a year and a half for the negotiations and demand the sides first solve the border issue, under the belief that this will lead to solutions for other issues, such as the settlements and water. After that the sides will discuss the other fundamental issues - Jerusalem and the refugees.

The negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians probably will be conducted in the presence of American officials, the sources said. The American administration is likely to present its plan before or during the UN General Assembly set for September. Haaretz

Now, issuing hijabs as part of uniforms in Great Britain is nothing new – the London police led the way in 2001, followed by other police forces, at least one fire brigade, and even the furniture chain Ikea. What sets the Avon and Somerset hijabs apart from these others is their being intended not just for pious Muslim female staff but also for non-Muslim staff, in particular for their use upon entering mosques.

[Rashad Azami of the Bath Islamic Society finds it "highly pleasing" that the constabulary took this step. One of the seven non-Muslim officers to receive a hijab of her very own, Assistant Chief Constable Jackie Roberts, calls it "a very positive addition to the uniform and one which I'm sure will be a welcome item for many of our officers."

[Dhimmitude is the term Bat Ye'or coined to describe subservience to Shariah by non-Muslims. Assistant Chief Constable Roberts' enthusiasm for the hijab might be called "advanced dhimmitude."]

"Hijab bullies" (as David J. Rusin of Islamist Watch calls them) who coerce non-Muslim females to cover up are just one stripe of Islamist imposing Shar'i ways on the West. Other Islamists focus on impeding the uncensored discussion of such topics as Muhammad and the Koran or Islamist institutions or terrorist financing; still others exert to bring taxpayer-funded schools, hospitals, and jails into conformity with Islamic law, not to speak of taxi cabs and municipal swimming pools. Their efforts don't always succeed but in the aggregate, they are rapidly shifting the premises of Western, and especially British, life.

Returning to pork: both Islam and Judaism abominate the flesh of pigs, so this prohibition offers a direct and revealing comparison of the two religions. Simply put, Jews accept that non-Jews eat pork but Muslims take offense and try to impede pork consumption. That, in brief, explains why Western accommodations to Halakha have no relevance for dealing with Shariah. And why Shariah as public policy must be opposed. The Source-Daniel Pipes

"Din O Din....you can only call for calm and not able to take any action? What is your stand as a DPM? If you don't condemn it, then you are for it. Silence does not make you neutral.

If you said the non-Malays are challenging the Malays right and Malay rulers, then prove it. The rights of the Malays and the rights of the Malay rulers are enshrined in the constitution and nobody is challenging that. But that does not make the Malay supreme over the others...so what is this malay supremacy?
I respect your rights by the fact that you are Malay and the position you hold but I will not accept the fact that you are supreme over me base on race.

The preaching of this supremacy ideology is no different from the Nazis. And it should be stop at all levels." written by straightvoice, August 04, 2009

By Adib Zalkapli
PUTRAJAYA, Aug 4 — Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today urged all Malaysians not to raise sensitive issues or to incite racial hatred.

He was responding to a question about an article published in today’s Utusan Malaysia, calling the Malays cowards for not reacting appropriately to the demands made by the non-Malays.

“It is the media’s right to do so, maybe because other parties have started challenging Malay supremacy, Malay rights, Malay rulers, and things that have already been enshrined in the Constitution, definitely the various statements made by those parties cannot be forgotten, and they are more dangerous, the media only responded to the situation,” Muhyiddin told reporters insisting that he was not specifically commenting on the article.

“Most importantly, all parties must stop making challenges. I am not commenting directly, I am only giving my advice and view to hold on to this principle,” he added.

Muhyiddin said that the government will not side with any party on the issue.

“If somebody started to issue a challenge, maybe because other parties have raised matters that should not be raised, but we should not jeopardise the future of our country,” he added.

Utusan Malaysia today published a commentary written by journalist Noor Azam accusing DAP of exploiting Malay leaders in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to achieve its own agenda.

The article also claimed that the Malays would lose their power if PR wins the next general election.

The writer added that the Malays have lost their political power in PR-controlled states of Penang, Selangor and Perak. Malaysian Insider

"I found this Utusan article to be very seditious, filled with racial hatred, broiled with prejudices and unbecoming of a Malaysian, if he thinks he is truly one. The writer's comments were largely unsubstantiated, based on feelings and not on facts. If more of these type of articles are published unchecked, it will cause more disharmony and suspicion among all the races who's main desire is to live in peace with themselves and with their neighbours in this country.

The writer's opinion only reflects a deep feeling of inferiority, insecurity and blame others for their plight. In my almost 50 years living in this country, born and bred here, I have not really known or read of other races fighting to take away the rights of the Malays. All I know is that people of all races wanted to be treated fairly, justice be righteously implemented and a good governance that would benefit all Malaysians.

I urge all Malaysians of all races to build themselves to be better with knowledge, skills, right attitude and build this nation. And we can only achieve it by coming together as Malaysians, and not as Malay or Chinese or Indian, or whatever and not to lord over others. Can we do this? I challenge the Utusan writer to write an article to promote the breaking down of racial barriers and create call for more racial harmony." Written by straightvoice, August 04, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 — The Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia appeared set to raise the temperature on the race debate when the newspaper published an opinion today calling on the Malays not to be cowards anymore and rise up to face the challenges being posed by the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia.

In an opinion piece written by journalist Noor Azam, the newspaper also continued singling out the Chinese-dominated DAP as the main party manipulating the Malay leaders in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) into achieving its own agenda.

But the article focused heavily on scare-mongering and warned the Malays that they stood to lose if the PR alliance came to power.

“Based on the number of non-Malay candidates which could win the next general elections, it can be imagined which ministries they will want.

“Who will hold the position of Chief Secretary. Secretary-generals, department director-generals. Senior officers and district officers? Who will be senior officers in the police and military?”

“Witness what has happened in Penang, Perak and Selangor. The Malay special rights and the NEP is no more.”

The article does not, however, explain how Malay rights have been eroded in the three states won by PKR and DAP in last year’s general elections.

It goes on to claim that the strategy of the opposition was to stir up racial issues to cause the public to be angry towards whatever powers the Malays have left in Malaysia.

The article claimed that Malays held power over the monarchy, the courts, the police and the military.

“Strangely there are many Malay-Muslims who are also expressing hatred for the powers held by their own race. The Malay race has become a race of stupid cowards, and people who are cowards will die before even their deaths.”

The writer points out that “what the Chinese and the Indians want now is more political and administrative power, not justice and democracy.”

He also equated Malay political power with the power held by Umno which he claimed is what the Chinese and Indians wanted to erase. The writer argues that the erosion of Malay political power by the non-Malays could only be achieved with the help of PAS and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

“The attacks and the hatred shown by the opposition and Chinese and Indian political activists towards the Malays has worsened. They are purposely showing their bravery and rude actions. Except they have not started marching and unzipping their trousers as they did during the May 13 tragedy.”

The writer laments, however, that the Malays have become a race of cowards by not reacting to the Chinese and Indians. Malaysian Insider

OGOS 4 2009 — Apa yang dikehendaki oleh orang Cina, India dan PAS ketika ini ialah kuasa politik dan pentadbiran yang lebih besar. Bukannya keadilan dan demokrasi.

Maka kerana itu, kuasa politik Melayu yang dipegang oleh Umno sejak merdeka mestilah dihapuskan. Ini boleh dicapai apabila Pas dan Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim menyokong DAP.

Saya mulai dengan imbas kembali beberapa tajuk besar muka depan Mingguan Malaysia dan Utusan Malaysia:

1. “Ketuanan Melayu Tercabar” — 13 April 2008.

2. “Henti Guris Melayu — Peringatan Sultan Azlan Shah kepada semua pihak” — 6 November 2008.

3. “Jangan Persoal - Ketuanan Melayu bukan jenaka yang boleh dipermainkan” — reaksi beberapa menteri kanan UMNO terhadap kenyataan Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek — 30 November 2008.

4. “Bangkitlah Melayu - Bersatu hadapi tuntutan kaum lain yang makin keterlaluan” — 15 April 2009.

5. “Peringatan Sultan Azlan — Tindakan cemar institusi raja seperti menyalakan api dalam sekam” — 20 April 2009.

6. “Jangan Melampau - Pakatan pembangkang didesak hentikan tuduhan terhadap SPRM” — 20 Julai 2009.

Banyak lagi seruan dan desakan — dalam bentuk berita, komentar Awang Selamat dan pelbagai bentuk tulisan yang sangat keras dan tajam.

Semuanya merangsang bangsa Melayu bertindak mempertahankan maruah dan keutuhan bangsa.

Orang Melayu, Raja-Raja Melayu dan Kumpulan Utusan Melayu yang selama ini sangat bersabar dan sentiasa sangat berhati-hati menjaga hati orang Cina dan India, sudah tidak boleh tahan lagi.

Kata Awang Selamat, “Hati Awang semakin hari semakin ditoreh-toreh oleh tuntutan pelbagai pihak bukan Melayu yang bersikap terlalu rasis selepas PRU Ke-12.”

Akan tetapi semua seruan dan amaran hanya tinggal dalam lipatan akhbar Utusan Malaysia sahaja. Orang Melayu tidak bangun bangun juga.

Pertubuhan Melayu — yang lama dan baru — hanya sekadar mengeluarkan kenyataan marah-marah dan membuat laporan polis sahaja.

GAPENA yang menganjurkan Kongres Perpaduan Melayu yang sangat besar dan penuh bersemanga pun, sampai sekarang tidak nampak sebarang tindakan.

Pemimpin Umno, termasuk Pemuda pun sekadar mengeluarkan kenyataan dan amaran sahaja.

Serangan dan penghinaan pembangkang dan aktivis politik Cina dan India terhadap Melayu semakin menjadi-jadi. Mereka sengaja menunjukkan keberanian dan tindakan kurang ajar. Cuma mereka belum berarak dan membuka butang seluar seperti sewaktu Tragedi 13 Mei.

Melayu kini sudah jadi bangsa yang takut bertindak. Sultan dan Raja Muda Perak telah melangkah tradisi diraja, tampil ke muka menyampaikan beberapa titah yang sangat berani, tegas dan terus terang.

Memberi amaran kepada Melayu-Islam akan situasi politik kita yang sangat kritikal dan masa depan yang gelap.

Sultan Selangor dan Tengku Mahkota Kelantan menyertai tindakan Sultan dan Raja Muda Perak itu.

Majlis Raja-Raja Melayu mengeluarkan “Kenyataan Akhbar Khas”. Suatu amaran keras, yang belum pernah dibuat sebelum ini (Utusan Melayu, 17 Oktober 2008). Tetapi tiada apa-apa tindakan susulan. Maka kita pun jadi lupa.

Benarlah seperti peringatan Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dalam Perhimpunan Agung UMNO beberapa tahun lalu: “Orang Melayu mudah lupa”. Penglibatan istana ini menunjukkan kemelut politik di negara kita sudah sangat serius. Memerlukan tindakan segera. Bukan hanya retorik kata-kata.

Situasi politik yang tergambar dalam imbasan akhbar inilah, saya rasa, membuat Dr. Mahathir pun tidak boleh tahan lagi.

Lalu dalam blognya pada 20 Julai lalu, beliau menyiarkan tulisan “Kaki Dalam Kasut”. Artikel itu diserang oleh aktivis dan pejuang politik pembangkang Cina dan India sebagai suatu pemikiran yang rasis.

Tidak pelik beliau dituduh rasis. Meski pun Dr. Mahathir hanya menyatakan fakta-fakta sejarah yang benar.

Tuduhan rasis kepada pemimpin Melayu adalah salah satu senjata politik parti pembangkang yang amat berkesan untuk membunuh kuasa politik Melayu, yang sejak merdeka di tangan Umno.

Apakah sebenarnya cita-cita orang Cina dan India — khususnya DAP yang disokong kuat oleh Pas dan Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)? Malah mereka turut mendapat sokongan Mursyidul Am Pas, Datuk Seri Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, Presiden Pas, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang dan Anwar sendiri.

Kumpulan ini berdemonstrasi dan memekik-mekik menuntut “hak, keadilan dan demokrasi”.

Berpuluh-puluh tahun Anwar memegang kuasa besar dan menjalani kehidupan amat mewah dan berpengaruh dalam BN. Ketika itu tidak pernah pun beliau mempersoalkan hak, keadilan dan demokrasi.

Malah beliau menyokong Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) dikekalkan. Ini baru beberapa tahun lalu. Tentu Anwar belum lupa.

Akhbar rasmi Pas, Harakah pada 5 Julai lalu menyiarkan tajuk besar “Pakatan ganti BN” dengan berita megah: “Himpunan perdana perpaduan 100,000 anjuran pakatan rakyat (pembangkang) di Petaling Jaya, 30 Jun lalu menjadi saksi betapa gabungan Pas, Keadilan (PKR) dan DAP terus mantap dalam usaha meneraju perubahan dan seterusnya menggantikan BN.”

Turut dipaparkan ialah foto pemimpin kanan DAP, Lim Kit Siang bersalaman amat erat dengan Abdul Hadi sambil diperhatikan dengan penuh teruja dan megah oleh rakan lama saya, Anwar Ibrahim.

Memang patut benar dimegahkan kerana Anwar yakin tidak lama lagi beliau akan menjadi Perdana Menteri. Musuh lamanya dalam politik lama, sudah dipeluk erat dan mesra.

Bagi Nik Abdul Aziz, musuh yang berkekalan sehingga kiamat adalah “Umno yang kafir”. DAP dan Kit Siang tidak kafir! Pas sanggup memeluk Kit Siang. Juga kerana hendak mendapat kuasa memerintah. Demokrasi dan Islam hanya alat kempen sahaja. Siapakah yang munafik?

Menjadi parti pemerintah adalah hak semua parti yang menang pilihan raya. Berdasarkan jumlah calon Cina dan India dari pakatan pembangkang yang menang pada PRU 12 kita sudah dapat melihat betapa besar kuasa politik yang boleh mereka capai.

Buktinya jelas di Pulau Pinang, Perak, Selangor dan Kuala Lumpur. Dan apabila mereka berkuasa dan meminda Perlembagaan supaya Wilayah Persekutuan juga mengadakan pilihan raya, pastilah mereka akan memerintah ibu negara kita.

Datuk Bandar dan pegawai-pegawai kanan Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur seperti yang ada sekarang akan bertukar tangan.

Berdasarkan jumlah calon bukan Melayu yang akan menang pada PRU 13 nanti, sudah dapat dibayangkan berapa kementerian penting yang akan mereka pegang.

Siapa akan jadi Ketua Setiausaha Negara, Ketua Setiausaha Kementerian, Ketua Pengarah Jabatan, pegawai-pegawai kanan dan Pegawai Daerah.

Siapakah akan jadi pegawai kanan dalam pasukan polis dan angkatan tentera.

Saksikan apa yang telah berlaku di Pulau Pinang, Perak dan Selangor. Hak Istimewa Melayu dan Dasar Ekonomi Baru pun tidak akan ada lagi.

Strategi yang mereka pergunakan sekarang sudah nyata berjaya. Terus menyemarakkan isu rasis untuk menimbulkan “kemarahan dan kebencian” rakyat kepada apa juga kuasa yang ada kepada orang Melayu, termasuk kuasa mahkamah, polis dan tentera. Dan kuasa Raja-Raja Melayu.

Oleh itu, apa pun yang telah dan akan dilakukan oleh kerajaan BN sukar sekali mengatasi “kemarahan dan kebencian” yang terus mereka bakar setiap hari. Mereka menggunakan kesempatan daripada apa juga isu, termasuk isu orang mati.

Anehnya ramai juga orang Melayu-Islam yang ikut benci kepada kuasa bangsa sendiri. Bangsa Melayu sudah menjadi bangsa yang tolol dan bacul. Dan “orang yang bacul, akan mati sebelum mati”.

Walaupun bekas Menteri Besar Perak, Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin memberikan hak milik tanah selama 999 tahun kepada kaum Cina, ramai juga orang Melayu mengundi beliau pada Pilihan Raya Kecil Parlimen Bukit Gantang.

Abdul Hadi pula berikrar “akan terus mengukuhkan pakatan pembangkang”.

Benarlah bangsa Melayu yang memerintah sudah nak mati! Dan saya ingin bertanya Anwar Ibrahim: “Di manakah nanti duduknya kuasa politik Melayu dalam kerajaan pakatan pembangkang?”

Dalam artikel “Kaki Dalam Kasut”, Dr. Mahathir mengingatkan: “Apabila Semenanjung Tanah Melayu dicantum dengan Singapura, Sarawak dan Sabah, perkataan Tanah Melayu digugur dan cantuman negeri-negeri ini dinamakan Malaysia.

Dengan itu hilanglah identiti Melayu dalam nama negara sendiri dan orang bukan Melayu yang menjadi tuan yang sebenar.”

Apakah tindakan politik yang perlu kita buat sekarang? Demonstrasi atau laporan polis lagi? — Utusan Malaysia Malaysian Insider

OGOS 4 2009 — Sekali lagi segelintir orang Melayu menjadi 'kuda tunggangan' pihak tertentu. Sekali lagi Melayu ditipu kerana mahu memenuhi perjuangan kaum lain.

Pada Februari lalu, kita dapat saksikan bagaimana orang Melayu yang menjadi penyokong fanatik pakatan pembangkang di Perak sanggup tunjuk perasaan dan baring di tengah jalan depan Istana Kuala Kangsar.

Dulu mereka tunjuk perasaan sebab mahu mengganggu majlis mengangkat sumpah Menteri Besar Perak yang baru. Mereka lupa kerajaan pimpinan bekas menteri besar daripada Pas dan ‘dikawal’ oleh DAP itu sudah hilang kuasa.

Sabtu lalu, orang Melayu yang beria-ia mahu ISA dimansuhkan melakukan huru-hara di ibu kota Kuala Lumpur. Mereka lupa pihak yang mahu ISA dimansuhkan itu adalah perjuangan pertubuhan haram Hindraf.

Orang Melayu perlu buka mata dan pasang telinga. Kalau benar pakatan menolak ISA itu adalah suara semua kaum, ke mana kaum-kaum lain dalam demonstrasi Sabtu lalu?

Hakikatnya, majoriti yang terkena gas dan cecair pemedih mata adalah orang Melayu. Lebih 90 peratus daripada 589 orang yang ditahan juga adalah Melayu.

Ke mana perginya penyokong DAP dan PKR daripada kaum Cina dan India? Adakah mereka mempunyai strategi lain dan demonstrasi jalanan bukan cara mereka?

Sebelum ini mereka yang berapi-api melaungkan slogan hapuskan ISA.

Nampaknya penyokong Pas sahaja yang dijadikan 'kambing hitam.' Imej Melayu yang berkupiah putih, berjubah dan berserban diperlihat sebagai orang yang ganas dan kurang bertamadun.

Tiada siapa yang suka imej yang memburukkan orang Melayu dan Islam. Jelas ada yang tidak kena. Adakah orang Melayu sedar akan hal ini?

Kejadian dua kali orang Melayu 'bertempur' dengan pasukan polis pada tahun ini wajar membuka akal fikiran kita.

Bodohkah Melayu atau bijaknya mainan politik bukan Melayu? Cuba fikir, akhirnya siapa yang untung dan siapa yang rugi?

Kita belum temui cadangan pihak pakatan rakyat untuk mengadakan demonstrasi mempertahankan hak-hak Melayu dan Bumiputera dalam Perlembagaan Persekutuan yang cuba diganggu-gugat oleh bukan Melayu.

Sebaliknya perkara yang boleh memberi keuntungan kepada bukan Melayu dalam jangka masa panjang yang beria-ia disokong.

Kempen pembubaran Dewan Undangan Negeri Perak adalah usaha kuat DAP. Gerakan hapuskan ISA adalah kempen Hindraf.

Tetapi majoriti peserta tunjuk perasaan yang menyusahkan rakyat itu ialah Melayu.

Jika dikatakan maruah dan martabat orang Melayu sekarang semakin diganggu gugat dan dicabar, mungkin penyokong pembangkang enggan menerimanya.

Mereka tidak akan percaya maruah Melayu dihina dan diperkudakan. Mereka tak mudah menerima penerangan bahawa banyak cara halus sedang dilakukan untuk menjatuhkan maruah pemimpin dan orang Melayu.

Terpulang kepada orang Melayu sendiri sama ada mahu bangkit atau relakan diri dipijak oleh orang lain. Malaysian Insider