Fatihah Jamhari

We refer to the statements made by Aston Paiva as reported in “Ask right questions in secular-Islamic debate on country’s identity, lawyer says,” published in The Malaysian Insider on September 22. Indeed, we agree that in order for the debate on the implementation of hudud to be beneficial, the public must ask the right questions. Participants in the discussion cannot turn it into something that it is not by bringing non-issues to the table. This in turn will allow the discussion to mature, based on solid objective facts, supported by honest opinions for the good of the nation. While we agree that Malaysia practises democracy, the real question worthy of consideration here, is whether the mere fact of being democratic would limit Malaysia’s religious tendency? Flowing therefrom, does it even matter whether Malaysia is or is not an Islamic state? For the sake of the discussion – although we dispute such assertion – suppose one were to agree that Malaysia is not an Islamic ...

Dear juniors,  You will not notice this now. You are too young, too caught up in the wheel of life to realize. Yet as true as the sun, these days will soon pass. These days, when you have the simple luxury of sitting by the library stairs, sipping cheap coffee and simply passing time by enjoying a profoundly good book, when your friends are within reach, when wisdom and virtue are not privileges, but rather a matter of choice. These days will soon be gone and it will not be long before you have to sit before your laptops, scrolling over Facebook photos and enjoy the sweetness of reminiscence, recalling what it means to be an AIKOLian. Even after all these years, being an AIKOLian spells out many different feelings of warmth. Here is a list of what being an AIKOLian means to me. It means the melting of my heart every time somebody mentions the kindness of the lecturers; do you remember when Dr. Hisham Kamal stopped mid-sentence when he noticed you were crying in his class?;...