Category: East Asia & Pacific

  • Luminious Movement of the Dialog Universe

    Luminious Movement of the Dialog Universe

    The dark Islam image on Occident infuriates and infuriates Eastern-Muslims. When I went to Mecca . I said to the Muslims who were angry about that image that they were the guilty of the things like that. Because, as they haven’t explained Islam enough, unfortunately the ones who listens to these made up things can think that they are true. The looseness , even quietness, of Eastern Muslims about explaining the real Islam has created such a blank of knowledge that in Occident a religion explaiter can come out and lead our people to a wrong way.

    Fourty years before that Malcolm X who had reflected the dark Islam image to us had explained the deterioration of reputation which Islam was going to experience and he had warned us at that time and adviced us, Muslims, to show the real Islam to the Occident by creating a close dialoge with them.

    Malcolm X was the asistant of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of Nation of Islam, who told that the real religion of black race was Islam and he was the most renowned one to explain Islam in United Nations. But the Islam which Elijah presented to Americans was wholly untrue and it was presented to people as a religion interpereted by himself. As there han’t been any religious leader, any Muslim country or any Muslim communty to explain Islam to America until that time, Elijah, who told that he could adjust an imported religion , was consedering himself a savior who was sent by Allah to Occident and was stating this as a condition to be accepted by people who are converting to Islam.

    Working hard in the way of his religion by aiming Allah, even without being in the right way, Malcolm X had learned that only truth from Elijah: “Black race is superior to the other races, white people are the Devil, and Islam is peculiar to them, the African black people.”

    After years, Malcolm X goes to Mecca for the duty of piligramage and when he sees that people white,blonde,reddish and black from every color, from every race come together and perform the namaz in the same order and have meal on the same dinner table, he experiences a great shock. From then on, his opinions,his beliefs and point of view on the world nations had exactly changed. In such a conditin he realizes the Islam spreading in America is in a wrong style and in interviews he reproaches not to the ones spreading Islam in a wrong style in America but to the Islam community:

    The dark Islam image on Occident infuriates and infuriates Eastern-Muslims. When I went to Mecca . I said to the Muslims who were angry about that image that they were the guilty of the things like that. Because, as they haven’t explained Islam enough, unfortunately the ones who listens to these made up things can think that they are true. The looseness , even quietness, of Eastern Muslims about explaining the real Islam has created such a blank of knowledge that in Occident a religion explaiter can come out and lead our people to a wrong way.

    Due to the people trying to impose their own ideologies by using Islam in first half of 20th century the spreading of Islam had become harder, a wall of prejudice had been erected and that important happening had got late until years later. Constitutions with wrong mentality have a share of guilt but biggest share of guilt is the Islam community’s in this situation.

    When we look at the world thoroughly the religion dominating the Continent of America is christianity. In these territories the proclamation of Islam hasn’t been achieved, contrary to that the ideology of “the dislike of Islam” has spread out from here. As to the Far-East, by Europeans a hundred years ago priests were sent by ships to the Far-Easterns who were already in an emptiness and to fill that empitiness with critianity was aimed. As a matter of fact official numbers show that cleary: In Japon and South Korea %25 of people are christian. But there is such a strange situation that, when we look at the history books, in this direction, last century we will come across an opportunity which shouldn’t have been missed. In short, in the times we priests were sent to the Far-East… In the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid IInd Japan wants hodjas from us to learn Islam. Japan’s prince says that “You send seven persons for us to learn Islam and we shall send officers to you to be assigned in your defence.” Sultan Abdulhamid who was extremely sorry for not being able to response positively to this dialoge says this: “I would send not seven persons but seven hundred persons if it wasn’t for the matters of Anatolia which is full of disorder like a den of gossip.”

    The ideal of ancestors was “to enter to the entered place for human” As a matter of fact at the moment when we look at the territories where our ancestors conquered centuries ago and ruled for centuries; it can be seen that the inhabitants of these places weren’t harmed and important protection acts were made and cities have been kept alive until that time, saving their name exactly the same.

    Allah has created human in such a beatiful way that, He tells us in every case of univers(sas) regards human as such an important being that he goes to Ebu Cehil for hundred times, of whose disbeliefs we are sure in order that he would not be in the ones who suffre the sage of Allah. He says that when entering Mecca the ones who enter Kaaba and the hause of Ebu Sufyan will be saved. That means, then, he gives such a value to a person who orders who doesn’t believe, ith the hope that his last would be saluation. We are the community of a Prophet  who orders a companion of him, not to perform a behiviour which will offend his mother who tries to stop his unbelieving mothers hinderings. How meaningful those lines of Ahmet Yesevi are:

    It is Sunna; don’t offend anyone even if he is an infidel

    Allah is complaining about the heartless and offender ones.”

    In this century, in which the humanity is being polorized, in which the anarchy and terrorism has become daily happenings and the value of humanity is being tried to be lost; the acts of tolerance on the way of which Muslims, already realizing some beauties tries hard, has started to blossom and the groud for acting collectively has been completed. Having attended the symposium named “Recontruction of Islam ideology in 20th century and Bediüzzaman” in 1992, Assit. Prof. Visula Spuler states the scene which she sees and wants to see about that subject like this: “Turks in Koln sent a worthy greeting message, the influence of the Pope who is originally Polish, on the liberation of East Black from communism was stated. And as a collective strugle against communism, Muslims getting Russians out of Afghanistan was stated. The massage was continuing like that: “At the same time, we know that our duty hasn’t come to on and after all these happenings. As you have stated humanity needs faith and the new world order.” That Easter greeting was written with the thinking system of Said Nursi sent a very beatiful handwriting work of himself to the Pope of that time in 1951. Spuler, who was grateful for Muslims’ beatiful impessions, continued her speech like that: “Again Bedüizzaman, in his work Munazarat, states that friendships can be achieved with the Jews or Christians by remaining Muslim. He saw christians and Germany, who was shaped with a good christian tradition, as a great friend in, against the all religion enemies troughout the world.

    The explanation of Safa Mursel, who was in the same syposium, will enlighten us about what to do: “if uniting of religions will be thought, Christianity can be firstly expected to need that. These statements are enough to give required opinions:

    The Christianity will either fade out or give up his weapon against the Islam. The Christianity broke up several times, transformed to the Protestantism. Protestantism broke up too. It approached to unification. It prepares to break up again. It will either profit and fade out or see the truth of Islam who is connective for the principal of the Christianity opposite of his himself and surrender. And the real religion of Christians, who converted to Islam and who will give up his superstitions, agree and help to Islam.

    Timely, we are in a very important position. We are in a more important position from the point of view of the happenings which humanity experienced. We have all opportunities, to say shortly by thinking all the world history in the Golden Period of Time” with the all opportunities we have, we can conduct to the integration of all of the subjects that is signed by from our Master to the last savant in a unique way. In the “Golden Period of Time”, Allah removes all obstacles against the people, what they intend to do. As long as our intention is pure. “The intention of Muslim is better than his act.”

    Mehmet Fatih ÖZTARSU

    Qafqaz University – Interes Club

  • KRG confirms South Korea oil deals

    KRG confirms South Korea oil deals

    By United Press International

    South Korea was granted the lead role in two northern Iraq oil projects and increased interest in six others, United Press International has confirmed.

    The Korean National Oil Corp. has also pledged $2.1 billion in infrastructure projects in Iraq’s Kurdish region as part of the deal, but $1.5 billion will be withheld until oil exports begin.

    Iraq’s central government has called most of the 20-plus oil deals signed by the Kurdistan Regional Government illegal and is pledging to confiscate any oil produced.

    The KRG and KNOC have confirmed leaders signed a massive Implementation Agreement for Oil & Gas Infrastructure Projects Thursday in Seoul.

    In exchange for the investment in electricity, water, road and other infrastructure — the remaining $1.5 billion will come from KNOC’s earnings from oil exports — KNOC was granted two production-sharing contracts.

    The state-owned firm will have an 80-percent ownership of the Qush Tappa block PSC and 60-percent ownership of Sangaw South.

    KNOC was also granted interest in existing production contracts: a 15-percent stake in each of Norbest Limited’s K15, K16 and K17 blocks; a 15-percent interest in block K21; and a 20-percent stake in Sterling Energy Ltd.’s Sangaw North block. It also was given 20 percent more of the Bazian block, of which KNOC is the lead company in a consortium that was granted a 60-percent stake last November.

    The agreement was seven months in the making, when a memorandum of understanding was reached between the two sides. In June, contracts for oil stakes were agreed to, as well as an investment project. All of the details were negotiated since then and the deals made official Thursday.

    Iraq Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, in a June interview in his Baghdad office, told United Press International all but the four KRG contracts signed before February 2007 would be regarded as illegal.

    “That oil will be confiscated; they have no right to work in that part of the country,” he said. “We’ll use a number of measures to stop any violation of Iraqi law. Those contracts have no standing with us, we don’t recognize them and they have no right to do that.”

    A draft version of a new oil law for Iraq was approved in February 2007 by the Iraqi Cabinet but was scuttled after changes were made and interpretations varied.

    KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani urged Baghdad to concentrate on passing the law instead of condemning the regional government’s contracts.

    Ben Lando, UPI Energy Editor

  • Anwar Ibrahim: rise after the fall

    Anwar Ibrahim: rise after the fall

    The leader of Malaysia’s resurgent opposition has declared that he will take power on September 16

    Anwar has said he will claim power by September 16. Photograph: Ahmad Yusni/EPA

    The Malaysian government has tried its utmost to keep Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of Malaysia’s resurgent opposition, from power ever since he fell out of favour a decade ago.

    In the late 1990s, Anwar looked set to take over from Mahathir Mohamad, who guided Malaysia over 22 years to economic success. But mentor and protege had a bitter falling out over Malaysia’s response to the Asian economic crisis in July 1997.

    Mahathir favoured currency and foreign investment controls. Anwar, who was then deputy prime minister and finance minister, implemented an austerity programme that slashed government spending and deferred infrastructure projects dear to Mahathir.

    The rift became irreparable, when Anwar — named by Newsweek as man of the year in 1998 — went on a campaign against corruption and cronyism that rankled many of the elite, including Mahathir’s son, Mirzan who had myriad business dealings.

    In 1998, Anwar was accused of sodomising his wife’s driver, convicted in 2000 and sentenced to nine years in prison amid widespread international protests. Anwar remains grateful to the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, among others who pleaded his cause and in 2004 Malaysia’s supreme court overturned the verdict, although corruption charges against him stood. He was released later that year but was barred from standing for office until April this year.

    Following his release, Anwar held teaching posts at Oxford University and Georgetown University in Washington and pursued his campaign against corruption through his post as honorary president of AccountAbility, a London thinktank advocating better corporate governance.

    In his capacity as a campaigner against corruption, Anwar strongly criticised Britain’s decision to halt a major corruption investigation into BAE, Britain’s biggest arms company, in its dealings with Saudi Arabia. What signal did that send leaders in developing countries, he argued, as he submitted a letter to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development that was scathing of the government’s decision.

    Even as he spoke out against international corruption, Anwar was plotting a political comeback. In an interview early last year he said was getting round his ban on speaking at public forms by addressing the public at funerals and feasts. He made it clear that he was ready to challenge the Malaysian political elite that sacked and imprisoned him.

    “I am committed to a reform agenda, I believe in a democratic process and a more accountable government,” he said then. “I can’t reasonably expect this to happen without political involvement. If I chose to submit, then I would give credence to the government and support their repressive measures.”

    It was not just brave talk. First he helped the disparate opposition parties make huge inroads in parliamentary elections in March. The Barisan Nasional, a coalition of three racially based parties led by the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) that has dominated Malaysian politics since independence from Britain in 1957, saw its two-thirds majority evaporate. By contrast, the opposition parties saw their seats in the 222-member parliament jump to 82 from 19.

    Anwar’s march back to power seemed unstoppable when he easily won a seat that he had previously held for 17 years. Out of the blue came new sodomy charges, when a 23-year-old aide, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, accused Anwar of sodomising him, a charge that a prison sentence of 20 years in Malaysia, even between consenting adults.

    Despite the accusations, which he maintains are a transparent attempt to stop his political comeback, Anwar has raised the stakes by declaring that he will take power on September 16, Malaysian national day, by persuading enough government MPs to defect to the opposition. The government was rattled enough to send 50 MPs on a trip to Taiwan due to last more than a week to forestall such a move.

    As the government goes into political contortions to keep Anwar at bay, the opposition leader says he can get the 30 MPs he needs to bring down the government. If — and it remains a big if as the ruling party will do all it can to cling on to power — Anwar finally gets to lead Malaysia, what will this multi-racial country look like?

    Raja Petra Kamarudin, fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, wrote on Malaysia Today, a website the Malaysian government is trying unsuccessfully to block: “Anwar has to balance the aims of the parties in his coalition, and we will see compromises being made. That is the reality in Malaysia. But I think a culture of dialogue will be developed under his watch and that will be a great achievement indeed. I think at least that can be accomplished by him.”

    Like Turkey, another Muslim country with its interplay of democracy and Islam, Malaysia will be closely watched to see how it copes with forces for change. Anwar firmly rejects the notion that Malaysia’s “democratic deficit” has anything to with the fact that it is Muslim.

    “The newly independent Muslim states were democracies,” Anwar said. “Indonesia had a free election in 1955 until it was hijacked by Sukarno. Iran had democratic elections only to be hijacked by the CIA, British intelligence and the oil companies. Seventy five to 80% of Muslims are familiar with the democratic process.”

    Source: www.guardian.co.uk, September 10 2008

  • Young woman fired from Uyghur radio station, then arrested

    Young woman fired from Uyghur radio station, then arrested

    Young woman fired from Uyghur radio station, then arrested

    Reporters Without Borders condemns the dismissal and arrest of Mehbube Ablesh, a member of the Uyghur community in the northwestern province of Xinjiang, who worked for Xinjiang People’s Radio Station, a government station based in the provincial capital of Urumqi.

    After posting articles online criticising provincial leaders and Chinese government policy, she was fired from the station’s advertising department in August and was then arrested by the Urumqi police. According to one of her colleagues interviewed by Radio Free Asia, she is still being held.

    “As in other provinces with pro-autonomy movements, there is even more censorship and police control in Xinjiang than the rest of China, especially during the month of Ramadan,” Reporters Without Borders said. “There is an urgent need for Uyghur journalists to be allowed to write and express themselves without fear of being arrested and convicted on trumped-up charges of calling for violence or threatening Chinese sovereignty.”

    Nurmuhemmet Yasin, the author of the 2004 short story “Wild Pigeon,” was sentenced in February 2005 to 10 years in prison for inciting Uyghur separatism. Written in the first person, the story described a young pigeon that was put in a cage by humans and took its own life rather than sacrifice its freedom. The authorities claimed that it was about Yasin’s father, who poisoned himself in similar circumstances, and argued that it therefore contained a political message.

    Korash Huseyin, an employee of the literary magazine that published the short story, was arrested in November 2005 and was sentenced to three years in prison by a south Xinjiang court. Ismail Tiliwaldi, the Uyghur governor of Xinjiang, said Yasin’s arrest was necessary to maintain stability in the region.

    Abdulghani Memetemin, a Xinjiang-based writer, teacher and translator, was arrested on 26 July 2002 for providing information to the East Turkestan Information Centre (ETIC), an Uyghur rights and pro-independence group run by Uyghur exiles in Germany. A Kashgar court sentenced him to nine years in prison in June 2003 on a charge of “illegally providing state secrets to foreign organisations.”

    Reporters Without Borders believes that all of these Uyghurs were unfairly convicted for expressing themselves publicly, and calls on the Chinese authorities to release them.

     

     

     

     

     

    Source: Reporters Without Borders, 10 September 2008

  • Two police killed in China’s Xinjiang region, Uighur group says

    Two police killed in China’s Xinjiang region, Uighur group says

    DPA

    Beijing – Two Chinese paramilitary police were killed in a clash with Uighurs in the restive Central Asian region of Xinjiang, leading to the arrest of at least 20 people, Uighur activists said Thursday. Two officers were seriously injured and several others were hurt in the clash that occurred Wednesday in Xinjiang’s Jiashi city, about 100 kilometres east of China’s westernmost city of Kashgar, Dilxat Raxit of the German-based World Uyghur Congress said in a statement. 

    More than 20 Uighurs were detained after the clash, Raxit quoted witnesses as saying. 

    A hospital employee in Jiashi county confirmed the clash had taken place but declined to give details on the number of casualties while local police refused to comment. 

    The World Uyghur Congress said Monday that Chinese police had detained 500 Uighurs in the Xinjiang region over the past two weeks. More than 100 people were also arrested in Kashgar after an August 4 attack that killed 16 paramilitary officers in the city, it added. 

    The attack, which China said was carried out by two Uighur men, was among a string of deadly assaults carried out against government, police and security personnel in Xinjiang before and during this month’s Beijing Olympic Games. 

    At least 26 people were killed in a 10-day period. 

    Human rights groups have criticized China for not making a distinction between violent terrorists and Uighurs expressing peaceful dissent, including those who favour independence, which they said should not be a crime. 

    The Uighur group said earlier that about 90 people were arrested after a series of bombings in Kuqa county on August 10. Ten “terrorists” were killed by police bullets or their own bombs, the government said.

  • Defying the great Chinese dragon

    Defying the great Chinese dragon

    By GRAEME GREEN – Thursday, August 21, 2008

    The Muslim Uighurs claim China has used the ‘war on terror’ to label all Uighur nationalists as terrorists and supress their culture and religion While the Olympic Games have provided a chance for China to present its most polished face to the world, they have also given marginalised groups the opportunity to bring their agendas to the world’s attention.

    As the games draw to a close, we look again at China’s ‘enemies’ before they slip back intothe white noise of international news.

    The UighurWho? The Uighur, predominantly Muslim, live in Xinjiang, an autonomous region in north-west China.

    Spanning 1.6million sq km, it occupies approximately a sixth of the country.

    More than 19million people live in Xinjiang; about 8.3million are Uighur. Traditionally once an obscure nomadic tribe, the Uighur rose to challenge the Chinese Empire.

    The name Xinjiang, which means ‘new territory’ in Chinese, is considered offensive by advocates of Uighur independence who prefer historical or ethnic names such as Uyghurstan or East Turkestan.

    Why protest? Uighurs have reported arbitrary arrests, torture and executions.

    Human rights organisations have voiced their concern that, since 9/11, the ‘war on terror’ has been used as an excuse by the Chinese government to repress ethnic Uighurs; China claims Islamic fighters operating in the region have been trained and funded by Al-Qaeda and repeatedly refer to Uighur nationalists as ‘terrorists’.

    The Chinese government has also been accused of suppressing Uighur culture and religion.

    Falun Gong

    Who? Falun Gong (Work of the Law Wheel) is a religious and spiritual practice of ‘self cultivation’ based on ancient teachings but brought to public attention in 1992 by Master Li Hongzhi.

    It mixes Taoist and Buddhist principles and exercises such as meditation and the importance of truthfulness and compassion.

    Though numbers are contested, the group has an estimated 100million members worldwide (the Chinese Communist Party has 60million), including 70million in China.

    Why? After 10,000 followers staged a 24-hour silent protest outside Communist Party headquarters in Beijing in 1999 against the arrests and beatings of several of their leaders, Falun Gong was banned and declared an ‘evil cult’, accused of engaging in illegal activities, advocating superstition and jeopardising social stability.

    A German protest against Chinese presence in Tibet Since then, the state has cracked down on its followers with, say Amnesty International, torture, beatings, illegal imprisonment, psychiatric abuses and ‘re-education’ through forced labour camps.

    More than 800 followers are said to have been beaten or tortured to death in custody, though actual figures are thought higher.

    There are also reports followers have been executed to harvest organs for the profitable transplant trade.

    Tibetans

    Who? Tibet is a mountainous region in Central Asia. It was formerly an independent kingdom but, after China invaded the country in 1950, it became part of the People’s Republic of China (which claims Tibet has always been a part of China).

    It’s now known as the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Its capital, Lhasa, was previously home to the mainly Buddhist country’s spiritual and political leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, who is living in exile in India.

    Why? Since invading Tibet, China has clamped down on religious and cultural freedoms, with documented cases of human rights abuses, religious persecution and torture.

    Many Tibetans, both within the country and in exile, continue to demand a return to independence.

    Chinese authorities have also been accused of trying to bring about demographic change or ‘cultural genocide’ by giving jobs and other incentives to Chinese populations within Tibet and plundering the country’s natural resources, both likely to be hastened by the construction of a new rail connection between China and Tibet.

    Internal dissidents

    Who? Despite claiming the Beijing Olympics would open China up to the world, clamping down on dissidents and activists continues.

    Individuals and groups calling for democratic change, freedom of information, internet and other media, freedom of expression, workers’ rights and religious freedom are among those jailed or punished.

    A recent example is Hu Jia, accused of ‘inciting to subvert state power’ for writing articles about freedom, democracy, the environment and Aids and for repeated contact with foreign journalists.

    After months of house arrest, he was recently jailed for three-and-a-half years. His wife and baby daughter went missing on August 7, the day before the Olympics started, both thought to have been taken into police custody.

    Why? Chinese authorities continue to take a tough stance against internal criticism, often handing out lengthy jail sentences for ‘dissent’ or ‘subversion’ of state power.

    Activists abroad and inside China are calling for the release of dissidents in prisons or forced labour camps, and to end torture and intimidation.

    Many dissidents have sought asylum in other countries and would be arrested if they attempted to re-enter China.

    From: yawoozezzat@yahoo.com [mailto:yawoozezzat@yahoo.com]
    Subject: The Uighur