Finding Real Love

BY CHUA EE CHIEN. Published by Asian Beacon on 28 July 2013.

Edmund Smith is a good-looking pastor, loving husband and father of two children who once led a “wild homosexual lifestyle,” as he says.

Smith had his first gay relationship when he was 18. A pub singer at night and a special education teacher by day, he used to entertain thoughts of having a sex change and tried to behave as femininely as possible. Plucking his eyebrows and shaving the hair on his legs were just two of his many womanly routines. What drove him to this lifestyle and what made him walk away from it?

Confusing Childhood

“I am the fourth boy in my family. When Mum was pregnant with me, they had hoped that I would be a girl. Perhaps that’s why, until I was five, my mother brought me up like a girl. I played with dolls and wore dresses,” says Edmund. “My father rejected me – he never
hugged me or touched me. My rejection deepened especially after my younger sister was born because I could remember clearly my father loving her and saying nice things to her just because she was a girl.”

“So, for the first five years of my life, I remember wishing to be a girl due to all the ‘self issues’ that had developed because of how my parents treated me and my confusing upbringing. I hated being a guy and naturally I began to think, feel and talk like a girl,” he recalls.

“When I reached the age of six and started to go to kindergarten, my mum suddenly decided to stop treating me like a girl after receiving comments from others and she started abusing and beating me up, making me more confused,” he says.

Edmund was later sent to an all-boys school and there he found boys who were just as effeminate. So, at the age of 13, he began his homosexual life.

Triggers

Based on his personal experience, he finds that there are mainly three specific issues which would trigger one’s journey to homosexuality, if not dealt with.

The first is the ‘vacuum’ issue, which is related to a lack of parental love. “Everyone needs the ‘V’ love. A mother’s love flows down from one side, and a father’s love flows down from the other and a child needs both parents’ love. Most gay guys have never had a father’s love,” he says.

The second trigger is the ‘self issue’, which is basically something about ourselves that we reject. For example, if you are a man and you reject your masculinity, that becomes a ‘self issue’ towards your gender.

The third trigger is the ‘barrier issue’, which causes one to look at the opposite gender negatively due to bad experiences such as abuse and bitterness.

Unfortunately for Smith, he had all three issues and therefore, looked for real love among his kind all through his secondary school days, while trying to be as feminine as possible.

Smith had his first real relationship with a man when he was 18 but it only lasted a year as his partner became possessive. He then started another relationship with another man.

It was not until he was 24 when he was dumped by his third lover that Smith decided he was sick and tired of his lifestyle and decided that he’d rather be single than be used by men again. It was a lonely journey to recovery as he had to walk away from his friends and give up his lifestyle of frequenting gay clubs and saunas.

Meeting The Right Man

Brought up in a Roman Catholic home, Smith faithfully went to church even while he was practising the homosexual lifestyle. “I went to church every Sunday, but I never had a relationship with Jesus,” he says.

His turning point came when he met Jenny, his colleague at Salvation Army where he worked as a teacher. “One day, Jenny asked me, ‘Why don’t you give Jesus a try?’ I then decided to open up my heart and receive Christ into my life.”

Upon Jenny’s invitation, he started attending the Salvation Army Church and grew in his relationship with this Jesus.

Looking back, Smith realises that his “right man – Jesus” had always been by his side because when he was going through his third break-up, he happened to be at a place where he was surrounded by Christians.

“If not for Jesus and the support from fellow Christians, I would have gone back to my old lifestyle. The journey to recovery from sexual brokenness is not an easy one. You need a church or group who can listen to you and lift you up when you fall,” Smith says.

One of Smith’s greatest blessings is his wife, Amanda Amutha Perumal, who was his colleague and good friend at Salvation Army. In 1997, Smith and Amanda went to Singapore Bible College to further their studies and there, they got to know about Choices, a Singapore- based organisation which reaches out to homosexuals.

They were trained at Choices for their ministry with homosexuals and in 2003, they moved back to Malaysia and set up Real Love Ministry (RLM) in Malacca.

“I started the ministry with the goal of raising up Befrienders-trained RLM workers who will journey with homosexuals who want to leave their lifestyle. I also started giving talks on the issues of sexual brokenness and formed support groups,” says Smith.

Spreading The Love

In 2006, Edmund and Amanda felt God’s call to start a church in Malacca which they later named Real Love Fellowship. Today, Edmund is the Senior Pastor of the church, reaching out and spreading the love of Jesus to the sexually-broken and marginalised community. His church is attended by the young and old from all walks of life.

The proud father of two – Angel and Ethan – has a passion for the performing arts and still sings, acts and dances professionally. His album, Wake Up, was inspired from his years of community work with the mentally-challenged, AIDs patients and homosexuals. He also travels frequently as an itinerant speaker, sharing his testimony to many.

Seeing the huge need of the homosexual community, Smith says that his church is looking to doing more work among the community. “There are hundreds of homosexuals who want to come out, but we have only few Befrienders,” he says. “We need more people to step out to reach out to these people.”

The Smiths also hope to purchase their own building to cater to the increasing needs of their church members and ministry. More information on Real Love Ministry is available at www.r-l-m.com.

Haters Under The Facade Of Atheism

By Michael Gryboski. Published by The Christian Post on 30 April 2014.

A West Virginia school district has painted over a Bible verse formerly located in the gymnasium of one of its high schools. Philippians 4:13, which was inscribed on Parkersburg South High School's gymnasium wall more than a decade ago, was painted over last week after the district received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an atheist group based in Madison, Wisconsin.

"Last week, the Bible verse was painted over after a recommendation from our legal council informing the administration we were in violation of State and Federal Law," Tim Yeater, president of the Wood County Board of Education, told The Christian Post on Wednesday.

Yeater also told CP that the decision to paint over the verse has received a "mixed response" from the community. "The local media and a few community members have taken the viewpoint that we need to maintain a definitive separation between church and state, while most community members I have heard from thought we reacted too quickly and should not have painted over the Bible verse," said Yeater.

"I think the bigger issue from the public was protecting the rights of our students and ensuring we permit the students to wear T-shirts with the verse while in school or attending athletic functions," he added.

In a statement to local media Pat Law, superintendent of Wood County School District, said, "We asked them to take it down. We have to follow the law, whatever that law might be. We're going to be certain that everyone's rights are being protected."

The verse, Philippians 4:13:  "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me," was placed in the gymnasium wall outside the wrestling room at Parkersburg South High. Philippians 4:13 was not only on the wall, but is also the motto of the high school wrestling team and is on their official T-shirts.

The FFRF sent a letter of complaint recently to Wood County regarding the presence of the Bible verse on both the gym wall and the T-shirts. "We needed to point out the obvious fact that this cannot be a team's motto; that this is unconstitutional for a public school to endorse or advance religion," Patrick Elliott, an FFRF attorney, told WTAP regarding his organization's action. "And so, that was our letter to the superintendent on April 11 about that being the team's motto."

The debate about whether or not the Bible verse will remain the wrestling team's motto and if the T-shirts will continue to have Philippians 4:13 on them is ongoing. Supporters of the T-shirts and motto have argued that, since parents purchased the shirts, no public funds were used, and thus no public funding of a sectarian enterprise.

Link: http://m.christianpost.com/news/west-virginia-high-school-paints-over-bible-verse-after-atheist-group-complains--118880/cpt

Published on 18 April 2014. By Michael Gryboski.

A Wisconsin-based atheist organization has announced their intention to "scrutinize" the Bible class that an Oklahoma school district recently approved. The Freedom From Religion Foundation of Madison expressed their intentions Wednesday in response to Mustang Public Schools approving a Bible class elective championed by Hobby Lobby President Steve Green. In the statement, FFRF announced that they are "keeping a close eye on the Bible course developed by Green for public school students."

Dan Barker, FFRF co-president and a former pastor, stated in the press release that he was troubled about the possible content of the elective course. "In the religious climate of the Bible belt, given the impetus for this class, we are seriously concerned," stated Barker. FFRF, along with other groups focused on church and state separation, have expressed their concerns since last November.

A letter from FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel was sent to Mustang Schools Superintendent Sean McDaniel last year. "The Green family's constant attempts to impose their evangelical Christianity on Hobby Lobby employees has secularists naturally suspicious that any Hobby Lobby Bible class will not conform to the law," wrote Seidel. "Previous investigations have revealed that Bible classes in Texas rarely comport with the law, that teachers lack training, and that teachers impose their personal religious beliefs on all students."

Last November, Hobby Lobby's president announced his effort to create a Bible course for public schools that focuses on its history, meaning and impact. "With the history, we want to show the archaeological evidences of the Bible and then we want to show the impact of the Bible," Green told the Mustang Times. "The Bible has had an impact on just about every area of life, whether you like it or not, it has. It has impacted government, education, art, science, literature, you name it. Thirdly, is the story, meaning what does the book say."

Earlier this week, Mustang Public Schools voted to approve the elective for Mustang High School, with the course being introduced in the fall. In an earlier interview with The Christian Post, McDaniel said that he's "excited to offer the elective." "The Green Scholars Initiative has brought in more than 70 renowned scholars of different faiths from Jerusalem and Oxford to Baylor University to create the curriculum," said McDaniel. "The course is an elective. When our pre-enrollment packets were returned by students earlier this semester, more than 170 students indicated the course would be their first choice for an elective class."

Regarding church and state concerns, McDaniel told CP that it is a voluntary course, so "no student will ever be required to take it." "Also, the professors with the Green Scholars Initiative who put together the curriculum come from different personal faith backgrounds, not just Christianity," said McDaniel. "The curriculum has been through a rigorous review to check for bias and to ensure the content is neutral."

Link: http://m.christianpost.com/news/atheist-group-vows-to-scrutinize-hobby-lobby-presidents-public-school-bible-class-118253/

By Katherine Weber. Published on 19 April 2014.

A small, coastal town in central California has settled a lawsuit regarding prayer at City Council meetings, ultimately agreeing to no longer hold any form of prayer, whether sectarian or non-sectarian, ahead of the local government meetings. City officials say they decided to settle the lawsuit to avoid further legal costs paid by taxpayer money. 

Pismo Beach city officials announced their settlement earlier this week, nearly six months after the Freedom From Religion Foundation [FFRF] and the local chapter of Atheists United San Luis Obispo filed a lawsuit against the city, arguing that it had violated the U.S. Constitution's separation of church and state and the state Constitution's "No Preference" Clause by allowing predominately Christian-themed prayers before city council meetings.

The groups argued that the city had allowed its volunteer chaplain, the Rev. Paul E. Jones, to lead predominately Christian prayers ahead of city council meetings from 2008 to 2013. The lawsuit alleged that Jones often called on Pismo Beach citizens to live a "Christian lifestyle in accordance with the bible," among other sectarian statements.

As part of their settlement, city officials agreed to do away with the volunteer chaplain position, and Jones has resigned. The city has admitted no liability in the lawsuit, but said it would settle with the FFRF to avoid using taxpayer money to fund what would likely be a costly litigation process.

"[…] in keeping with the city's goal of carefully managing taxpayer funds, the City Council determined that it would not be a prudent use of public monies to contest the suit through trial," City Attorney David Fleishman said in a statement, according to The San Luis Obispo Tribune. The city will be paying $47,500 in attorneys' fees.

David Leidner, a board member of the local Atheists United San Luis Obiso group, told the Times Press Recorder that his group is "very happy the city of Pismo Beach has decided to end this exclusionary and unconstitutional practice and make their government meetings welcoming to all citizens."

The Pismo Beach ruling comes as the Supreme Court currently weighs the case of Greece vs. Galloway, in which residents of Greece, N.Y. are contesting their city council's references to "Jesus Christ" during government meetings. A decision is expected to be reached by June.

Another battle over prayer at government meetings is currently taking place in Carroll County, Md., where one city commissioner disobeyed a judge's recent ruling to temporarily stop sectarian prayers when she referenced "Jesus Christ" and "God" in a prayer prior to a commission meeting. Carroll County Commissioner Robin Bartlett Frazier decided to deliver the sectarian prayer in spite of the judge's injunction because she said the ruling was an "infringement on my First Amendment rights of free speech and free religion."

U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles Jr. had temporarily banned Carroll County commissioners from saying sectarian prayers at their government meetings after the American Humanist Association filed a lawsuit against the county, arguing their prayers were a violation of the Constitution's Establishment Clause.

Carroll County commissioners have since passed a resolution agreeing to comply with Quarles' injunction as the lawsuit proceeds through court. If the Carroll County lawsuit is resolved before the Supreme Court rules on Greece vs. Galloway, the ruling could become moot depending on the higher court's ruling.

Link: http://m.christianpost.com/news/calif-town-drops-city-council-prayers-to-avoid-further-legal-costs-118257/

Jangan Mempolitikkan Pelaksanaan Undang-undang

PUTRAJAYA, 20 Mei (Bernama) — Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi mengingatkan pemimpin pembangkang supaya tidak mempolitikkan segala pelaksanaan dan tindakan pihak berkuasa dalam usaha memelihara keamanan dan kesejahteraan negara.

Pihak berkenaan boleh menghadapi risiko besar sekiranya terus berbuat demikian, katanya pada sidang media selepas memulakan tugas hari pertama sebagai menteri dalam negeri.

“(Penasihat DAP) Lim Kit Siang dan (Setiausaha Agung DAP) Lim Guan Eng harus membezakan antara objektif politik, langkah politik dengan pelaksanaan undang-undang. Jangan mempolitikkan segala pelaksanaan undang-undang yang dilaksanakan oleh IGP (ketua polis negara) atau lain-lain agensi yang berada di bawah KDN,” katanya.

Ahmad Zahid berkata ketua polis negara, ketua-ketua jabatan dan agensi di bawah KDN, diberi kuasa sepenuhnya bagi melaksanakan tugas dan tanggungjawab mereka mengikut bidang kuasa masing-masing, tanpa campur tangan politik.

Sebarang tindakan yang dilakukan di bawah KDN tidak boleh dianggap sebagai tindakan bermotifkan politik, tetapi berlandaskan kepada asas-asas perundangan yang sedia ada, katanya.

Beliau mengingatkan bahawa kerajaan tidak lagi memberi amaran, sebaliknya akan mengambil tindakan tegas terhadap mana-mana pihak yang bertindak di luar batasan menjejaskan ketenteraman awam negara.

“Kami tidak akan berkompromi untuk mengambil tindakan sebagaimana yang termaktub dalam undang-undang, akta dan enakmen yang sedia ada, katanya.

Menyentuh kenyataan pemimpin-pemimpin pembangkang berhubung beberapa perkara berkaitan kenyataan beliau baru-baru ini, soal perundangan, pilihan raya dan sebagainya, Ahmad Zahid berkata perkara itu boleh dipertikai di Parlimen.

“Sebagai orang politik, kita berjumpa di gelanggang politik, gelanggangnya bukan di jalanan, bukan di padang terbuka, tetapi di Dewan Rakyat. Jangan gunakan forum di tempat lain,” jelas beliau.

Ahmad Zahid turut membidas Ketua Umum PKR Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yang meminta beliau supaya tidak menjadikan negara ini seperti milik keluarganya

“Negeri ini pun bukan negeri bapa dia punya. Memang bukan (milik) bapa saya. Ini (pun) bukan negeri bapa dia,” katanya.

Anggota Parlimen Bagan Datoh itu dibidas kerana membuat kenyataan menggesa mereka yang tidak berpuas hati dengan keputusan pilihan raya di Malaysia supaya berhijrah ke negara di mana mereka boleh mempraktikkan kepercayaan politik mereka.

Ahmad Zahid juga berkata bagi memastikan pelaksanaan KDN berjalan lancar, cadangan, pandangan dan kerjasama padu daripada semua pihak dialu-alukan, selain kritikan dan teguran.

“Kami perlukan sokongan dan dukungan daripada masyarakat keseluruhannya, ini termasuk pemimpin-pemimpin politik, sama ada dalam kerajaan mahupun di luar kerajaan, NGO, individu dan institusi.

“Bukan sekadar memberikan maklum balas, aduan atau rungutan tetapi memberikan cadangan dan kerjasama kepada apa yang sedia ada dalam perundangan,, peruntukan yang digaris pandukan. Ia bukan untuk kepentingan politik kami,” katanya...

Asal berita :

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v7/newsindex.php?id=950863

Remember these when you vote

By Koon Yew Yin. Published by Free Malaysia Today on 29 April 2013.

I am not a politician but I know politics is very important because the elected politicians will make decisions which will affect you and your children. So, it is important to know who to vote for and who to vote against in the coming election.

About four years ago, I offered to donate RM30 million to build student hostels within the Universiti Tungku Abdul Rahman campus in Kampar so that students could get cheaper accommodation. I had no intention of personal gain. My only condition is that all the profit from the rent will go towards building more hostels and other facilities for the growing student population.

However, the MCA leaders who own the land and houses outside the university rejected my donation because they do not want me to spoil their very profitable rental business. Any UTAR student can tell you how much rent they are paying to their landlords simply because the university has refused to put any money into building student hostels.

This is in addition to the tuition fees they are paying to the MCA-connected university. UTAR’s account shows that it is very profitable. Every year, tens of millions of ringgit extra are paid out by the parents of UTAR students compared to those parents with students in the government-sponsored universities such as Universiti Malaya and Universiti Kebangsaan.

It is important to point this out because the MCA is always crowing about the fantastic job it is doing for Chinese students. We must all remember that UTAR is not a charity organisation but a money making one. Since MCA did not want my money, I am now using my money to help poor students. I have given more than 100 scholarships.

If you know of any students with good academic results and whose parents are earning less than Rm 2,000 per month, please ask them to contact me by email: koonyewyin@gmail.com. They have to show me their parents pay vouchers and the University offer letters. I will definitely give them a reply within one or two days.

Perak water supply

About eight years ago, I wrote to the Perak Menteri Besar, Mohamad Tajol Rosli, that it was not necessary to build the dam in Sungei Kinta to supply water to Ipoh. He did not reply. Many people in Perak will know that I am an engineer with much experience. About 30 years ago my company built the water supply system to draw water from Sungei Perak in Parit.

As the river is a few hundred feet wide and never dry, we can never use up all the water. Why do we need another source of water? The Menteri Besar did not respond to my letter but went ahead with what I consider an irresponsible and wasteful project costing Perakians billions of ringgit.

That is why you – the voter – are paying higher water rates than the people in Penang.

Highway

Everyone knows that the BN government under whose rule our corruption standing has shot upwards gives out a lot of contracts without competitive tenders. A good example is the North-South highway. I was one of the founders of IJM Corporation which constructed a large portion of the highway but we were permitted to do work always only as a sub-contractor and never as the main one. It is not necessary for me to explain the reason for this.

Although IJM cannot win tenders in Malaysia for the N-S highway yet it can win five toll roads in India on open competitive tenders. So what happens when the BN government gives out the highway concessions to crony companies without competitive tendering.

Here again, the ordinary man in the street suffers. As a result, all road users are paying higher toll than necessary. Remember this every time you drive from Ipoh to Penang or Kuala Lumpur and have to pay through your nose for the toll.

Also it is necessary to ask why it is that we have to pay higher and higher tolls when the volume of traffic is continuously increasing. Surely, the logic of higher volume for any good or service is for the price to go down rather than go up.

Yet the BN government permits higher and higher tolls to the highway toll operators. Now whose side is the government on – the ordinary Malaysian or the major shareholders of the companies collecting the highway toll?

Electricity

The BN government also awards independent power generation contracts without open tender. As a result we are made to pay higher and higher electricity rates. Again it does not make any logical sense for us to pay higher and higher rates when the number of consumers is increasing continuously.

Any project will cost more if the contract is given out without open tender which is the method under the BN government. That is why the voters are paying higher water, electricity and toll rates.

Remember you are being cheated every time you drink water, switch on the lights or travel on the highway. Remember all these when you go to vote.

Koon Yew Yin is an investor and philantropist. He is the founder IJM Group, Gamuda and Mudajaya.

Link:

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2013/04/29/remember-these-when-you-vote/

Hunger Protest 100: Hazardous projects hunger strike 27 Dec 2012

By K Pragalath. Published by Free Malaysia Today on 27 December 2012.

A pro-environment group called Malaysian Youth Against Public Hazards (MYAP) is organising a hunger strike tonight at Dataran Merdeka to raise awareness against hazardous projects. The group had identified five projects – Lynas Rare Earth Plant, Bukit Koman Cyanide Gold Mining, Pengerang Oil Refinery, Sarawak Mega Dams project and the Rawang High Tension Cable. However, MYAP’s two immediate demands were focused on Lynas.

They are demanding for an end to Lynas’ temporary operating license (TOL) since there is data to show risk to public health and environment whereas their second demand is for a proper Detailed Environment Impact Assessment (DEIA) to be done and made public before a TOL is issued.

The hunger strike is called Hunger Protest 100. The 100 refers to the number of hours that the hunger strike would be held. The protest, which begins at 8pm, would end on the stroke of midnight on Jan 1, 2013. MYAP spokesperson and team leader Tan Woen Tien told FMT that at the time of writing 18 participants had confirmed their participation.

Student activist Adam Adli and PKR affiliated NGO Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia would be participating as well. “Hospital Kuala Lumpur has been notified. In addition, a St John’s Ambulance will be stationed nearby,” said Tan.

According to MYAP’s Facebook page, non-Muslim participants would only consume water throughout the fasting period whereas Muslim participants would be fasting from dawn to sunset. During the strike, several speakers were scheduled to deliver speeches. Bersih steering committee member Wong Chin Huat is expected to start the ball rolling tonight with a talk entitled, “Would it be possible for Mat Kilau to accept Lynas?”

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) secretary-general S Arutchelvan would be giving a talk tomorrow. Meanwhile, Tan said another environment group Himpunan Hijau leader, Wong Tack, would be organising the “people’s congress to allow the people to decide the type of development that they want."

Link: 

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/12/27/hazardous-projects-hunger-strike-tonight/

UK Same Sex Marriage Policy: Ministers Are Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Published by BBC News on 26 December 2012.

Sir Paul Coleridge told the Times same-sex unions are a "minority issue". His comments come after the Roman Catholic Church's leader in England and Wales denounced the plans.

Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols told the BBC the government had no mandate to push through same-sex marriage laws in England and Wales. And in his Christmas Eve sermon he said that marriage between men and women shares in "the creative love of God".

Sir Paul told the Times newspaper: "So much energy and time has been put into this debate for 0.1% of the population, when we have a crisis of family breakdown. While it is gratifying that marriage in any context is centre stage... but it [gay marriage] is a minority issue. We need... a more focused position by the government on the importance of marriage." Sir Paul last year launched independent charity Marriage Foundation to support married couples but said the charity did not take a stance on gay marriage. He added the breakdown of marriages and its impact on society affects 99.9% of the population, which is where more investment and time should spent.

'Strongest attack'

During his BBC interview, Archbishop Nichols said of the gay marriage plans: "There was no announcement in any party manifesto, no Green Paper, no statement in the Queen's Speech. And yet here we are on the verge of primary legislation. From a democratic point-of-view, it's a shambles. George Orwell would be proud of that manoeuvre, I think the process is shambolic." He claims during a "period of listening", those who responded were "7-1 against same-sex marriage".

BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott said this was Archbishop Nichols's strongest attack yet on the government's plans for gay marriage.

In the past, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has likened committed gay relationships to "profound friendships". Pope Benedict XVI reiterated his opposition to gay marriage last week in a pre-Christmas address, saying it was destroying the very "essence of the human creature". "People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given to them by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being. They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves."

The UK government has previously announced that the Church of England and Church in Wales will be banned in law from offering same-sex marriages, with other religious organisations able to "opt in" to holding ceremonies. The government plans to allow gay marriage but says it will not force religious bodies to perform services.

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20842884

Related report:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20840531

Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols told the BBC the government had no mandate to push through same-sex marriage laws in England and Wales. And in his Christmas Eve sermon he said that marriage between men and women shares in "the creative love of God"...

Meanwhile, the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, in his final Christmas sermon in the role, admitted that the Church of England's credibility had been damaged by the recent vote against women bishops...

Speaking in his sermon at Westminster Cathedral, Archbishop Nichols said "the love of husband and wife, which is creative of new human life, is a marvellously personal sharing in the creative love of God who brings into being the eternal soul that comes to every human being with the gift of human life".

He added: "Sometimes sexual expression can be without the public bond of the faithfulness of marriage and its ordering to new life. Even governments mistakenly promote such patterns of sexual intimacy as objectively to be approved and even encouraged among the young."

Pornography: A Habit That Can Destroy Lives

Published by The New York Times (Room for Debate) on 11 November 2012. By Gail Dines, a professor of sociology and women’s studies at Wheelock College in Boston, is the author of “Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality.” Robert Jensen, a professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, is the author “Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity.” They are founding members of Stop Porn Culture.

Assessing the effects of mass media is never simple, but the important questions about pornography are obvious: What happens when a culture is saturated with sexually explicit images eroticizing male domination and female subordination? When those images become increasingly cruel and degrading to women and increasingly racist? When pornography becomes the de facto sex education for most boys and an increasing number of girls?

These disturbing trends do not apply to all pornography. There are many varieties made by hundreds of small producers, but the porn industry around Los Angeles dominates, shaping cultural ideas about sexuality, relationships and intimacy. Just as the food industry shapes how we eat and the fashion industry shapes how we dress, the sex industry shapes the way we think about sex.

This dominant source of pornography has some consistent themes. The most extensive peer-reviewed study in the past decade found that a majority of scenes from 50 top-rented porn movies contained physical and verbal abuse of female performers. Physical aggression – including spanking, open-hand slapping and gagging – occurred in 88 percent of scenes, with expressions of verbal aggression – usually a man calling a woman derogatory names – in 48 percent.

Individual experiences as a viewer of pornography differ, and many men and some women report pleasurable experiences. But clear patterns emerge from more than 30 years of academic research and organizing informed by a feminist critique of pornography. In heterosexual couples, men who habitually use pornography sometimes withdraw from intimacy with female partners, and sometimes make demands on female partners for sexual acts that are uncomfortable, painful or degrading to the woman. Women in heterosexual relationships report that both these behaviors can destroy relationships, and men sometimes report that they are aware of the damage but cannot break the habit. 

Anyone who doubts these trends should talk to marriage therapists and divorce lawyers. 

Although there is little systematic research on performers, anecdotal evidence suggests it’s a harsh business for women. The industry portrays high-profile performers with glamorous lives, but producers and directors we’ve interviewed said candidly that the industry “chews up and spits out” women. According to the Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation, which provided testing and health care for performers in Los Angeles until it closed last year, female performers are at risk for injuries and diseases. The group’s founder once said the average career of these women was “six months to three years, tops,” after which they must cope with a variety of physical and psychological problems. 

Pornography is the industrialization and commodification of sex, and like all big industries, its product is generic, formulaic and plasticized. These images tend to rob sex of its creativity, playfulness and intimacy, and hence are ultimately profoundly alienating. The performers, the consumers and the culture deserve better.

Link: 

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/11/11/does-pornography-deserve-its-bad-rap/a-pornography-habit-destroys-relationships

Anti-bullying Campaign Turned Into Blatant Homosexual Agenda

BY PETER BAKLINSKI.

HAMILTON, Ontario, November 9, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Parents and ratepayers in a Hamilton area school board will never know exactly what a homosexual activist told their children during a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) assembly a year ago.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) of Ontario upheld last week the decision of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) to “deny access to the record” of the speech. Suresh Dominic of Campaign Life Catholics told LifeSiteNews.com that parents of school children should be “outraged that they have been denied the right to know what is being taught to their children.”

Last November, a certified teacher named Laura Wolfson was invited as a guest speaker at a school-wide GSA held at Parkside High School in Dundas. Wolfson reportedly identified herself to the 400 students as a lesbian “youth worship leader” from a synagogue and held herself out to be an authority on Old Testament Scripture. Wolfson allegedly sought to discredit Catholic teaching on homosexuality by suggesting that since the eating of fish on Fridays was no longer adhered to, neither should biblical teachings on homosexuality.

She allegedly began her treatment of Scripture by providing a definition of the word “abomination,” after which she pointed out that two offenses other than homosexuality were labeled “abominations” in the Bible. They were “not keeping the Sabbath holy” and “getting drunk”. Wolfson suggested that since no one would condemn these two acts as “abominations” today, then it made no sense to condemn homosexual acts either.

Parents, ratepayers, and pro-family groups were outraged that school officials invited a speaker who publicly discredited Judeo-Christian beliefs. Many saw this as a foretaste of what Premier Dalton McGuinty’s newly proposed anti-bullying legislation, Bill 13, would bring into the schools. Critics warned that McGuinty’s bill concealed a radical agenda that would trample religious freedom and parental rights.

Parents, ratepayers, and pro-family groups demanded to know what exactly these children had heard.

Last March, LifeSiteNews.com filed a request to the HWDSB asking for a copy of Wolfson’s speech, which the HWDSB admitted to having. HWDSB denied the request in May, saying that releasing the speech would constitute an “unjustifiable invasion of personal privacy”. LifeSiteNews appealed that decision, filing a Freedom of Information request with the IPC on behalf of parents, ratepayers, and pro-family groups, again asking for Wolfson’s speaking notes to be released.

In the appeal, LifeSiteNews argued that there was “no reason why the contents of the speech should be kept private” since it was “publicly delivered” in front of students and staff at a public high school funded by tax dollars.

“It defies reason that what has been presented to school children and staff at a publicly funded school during a school wide assembly should be kept hidden from parents of school children and ratepayers in the HWDSB district,” wrote LifeSiteNews in a submission.

But IPC adjudicator Stella Ball sided with the HWDSB, preventing the release of Wolfson’s speech. Ball, in her decision dated October 31, wrote that she was “not convinced” that “compelling public interest in disclosure arises out a need to know what publicly funded school boards are teaching students.”

Ball also stated that since the speech mentions “the affected party’s sexual orientation and religious beliefs and associations” its release would “constitute an unjustified invasion of the affect party’s personal privacy [according to section 14 of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act].”

Steve Jalsevac, managing director of LifeSiteNews, said he was “not impressed by the heavy freedom of information red tape that seems intended to discourage citizens and media from obtaining information they have a right to.” “After repeated efforts, using every possible channel to get the information we sought and following all the proper procedures, we have been denied, denied, denied,” he said. Jalsevac pointed out the system appears to allow “manipulative persons” who might be operating within the context of a “homosexual ideology” to “withhold information they have no right to withhold.”

Geoff Cauchi, legal council for LifeSiteNews, told LifeSiteNews that the IPC commissioner may have “committed an obvious ‘error of law’ in its finding that there is no ‘compelling public interest in disclosure’ in this case.”

“It seems to be that there is an obvious public interest in disclosure where there are serious allegations that a public high school, by sponsoring the speech of the speaker, has committed a breach of the Education Act, and/or infringed upon the Charter right to freedom of religion of the students and their parents,” he said.

Cauchi said that the budget for a “judicial review” that would challenged IPC’s decision would be in the neighborhood of $15,000. The cost prohibits LifeSiteNews.com from pursuing the matter further. Suresh Dominic called IPC’s siding with the HWDSB “proof that a shroud of secrecy and deceit is being thrown over what appears to be a blatant homosexual agenda for school children.”

Dominic pointed out that “these violations will continue to happen in our schools unless parents band together and demand transparency and accountability.” “Parents must not be hoodwinked by the radical sexual agenda that homosexual activists have in store for their children. Parents and other tax payers must take back the schools for their kids,” he said.

Link: 

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/judge-parents-have-no-right-to-know-what-homosexual-activist-taught-their-c

7,000 Orang Asli children never attended school: Suhakam

Published by The Sun Daily on 3 September 2012.

A Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) study has found that 7,000 Orang Asli children between six to 12 years old throughout Peninsular Malaysia have never attended school. Suhakam Education and Public Relations officer, Hasmah Abd Manaf, said the Commission visited 93 Orang Asli schools as part of the 2010/2011 study.

"Transport and access problems are preventing these children from going to school, as they live deep in the jungles," she said during a press conference on the Convention on the Rights of the Child here today.

Among the other problems faced by the Orang Asli children, was that they were not being taught their mother tongue in school as per Article 30 of the Convention, which states children from minority and indigenous communities had the right to practice their own culture, language and religion, she said.

Suhakam had also visited 21 religious schools in Pahang and Selangor and seven Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil in Perlis and Kedah, this year, she added. Hasmah said these schools lacked facilities, had no access to information technology and most of the religious schools were not registered.

"As they're not registered, they depend on non-governmental organisations and individuals and their teachers are also not trained," she said. Meanwhile, Suhakam Commissioner, Muhammad Sha'ani Abdullah said there were also pupils with no identity documents, which prevented them from sitting for public examinations. – Bernama

Link: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/478969

Related reports:

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/education-ministry-ignoring-needs-of-vernacular-schools-says-suhakam/

“It is not a case of lacking resources, they (the Education Ministry) just do not care,” said Hasmah.

Issues raised include lacking infrastructure, absence of basic amenities, government bureaucracy, missing curriculum and even untrained teachers in special education schools.

“The recent figures we have shows that more than 2,000 Orang Asli children between the ages of six and seven [who] have not registered for any schooling,” Hasmah said, referring to a figure forwarded from the Orang Asli Affairs Department.

She added that this figure “could be higher”, but the Education Ministry has refused to provide proper figures.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Sha’ani highlighted that Sekolah Agama Rakyat (SAR) schools were sending children to collect donations owing to an disentitlement from aid due to the institutions not being registered with the ministry.

“It is a problem of bureaucracy, because these schools could not adhere to the guidelines set by the ministry, they are straight away [ineligible] for government aid,” he said.

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/207798

Suruhanjaya Hak Asasi Manusia Malaysia (Suhakam) menemui sekurang-kurang 18 isu yang didakwa "tidak selari" dengan Konvensyen Mengenai Hak Kanak-kanak yang ditandatangani kerajaan Malaysia pada 1995, sejak lima tahun kebelakangan ini.

Isu itu dirumuskan selepas suruhanjaya itu membuat tinjauan terhadap kanak-kanak Orang Asli di pedalaman termasuk Sabah dan Sarawak, sekolah agama rakyat (SAR) di Pahang dan Selangor serta sekolah kebangsaan Tamil di kawasan ladang dan estet di Perlis dan Kedah bermula tahun 2007.

Statutory Rape: Courts sending out mixed signals

Published by The StarOnline on 30 August 2012.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/8/30/nation/11935447&sec=nation

NOW that their trials are over, former national youth squad bowler Noor Afizal Azizan can go on to fulfil the promise of his bright future and electrician Chuah Guan Jiu can focus on his fixed job and many years ahead. Through it all, no one spoke of the 13-year-old girl Noor Afizal took to a hotel to spend the night with, or the 12-year-old schoolgirl who was “coaxed” to go to her 21-year-old electrician boyfriend's flat instead of to school because he said he was too sick to take her.

These were prepubescent girls who were deemed to have consented to sex with the older boys they were dating and Court of Appeal president Justice Raus Sharif wrote in his written judgment that Noor Afizal had not “tricked the girl into submitting to him”.

In the electrician's case, Sessions judge Sitarun Nisa Abdul Aziz also thought the “sexual act was consensual”, even though DPP Lim Cheah Yit recounted how the girl had repeatedly asked Chuah to take her to school. If she did give consent, there was certainly trickery and fraud involved.

The fact remains that the girls were 12 and 13, children barely out of primary school. They are not old enough to be able to legally buy cigarettes, or even obtain medical treatment if they had contracted sexual transmitted diseases.

The law on statutory rape was meant to protect these very girls. Section 375(g) of the Penal Code states unequivocally that a man has committed statutory rape if he has sexual intercourse with a girl under 16 years of age, with or without her consent.

It is rooted in the presumption that girls below 16 have not attained the mental maturity to consent to sex, and this law was enacted to protect children from abuse. It places the onus on those around her to not have sexual intercourse with her, even if she gives consent, because she is not deemed mature enough to give consent.

In other words, the older guys should have known better. Noor Afizal and Chuah were found guilty of raping the underaged girls, but were not jailed. They were bound over for five years and three years respectively on a RM25,000 good behaviour bond.

The public uproar has been over how these young men got away with a slap on the wrist, and how the emphasis has been on not blighting their future.

Our teenagers are growing up inundated with overt sexual messages from the media and the Internet, without the benefit of a full-fledged sex education curriculum, or avenues to get answers. Clearly, our young people are having sex with each other but there is a line drawn by the law. And that is sex with girls below 16 children is off limits, even to their peers.

By letting Noor Afizal and Chuah off lightly, are the courts sending out mixed signals? Are they saying these two girls aged 12 and 13 are capable of giving consent for sex, and are they saying future good behaviour is sufficient punishment for having sex with minors? What is the message that teenage boys and younger men are getting? At the root of it all, this is about protecting our children boys and girls.

A 12-year-old girl was lured by a man twice her age into his flat, and coaxed into having sex with him, and he got away with a promise to behave himself for the next three years. Where does that leave her? What about her worth? What are we doing for these two girls? How do we protect other naive young girls from being sweet-talked by an older teen into a sexual relationship if he knows he could be found guilty of statutory rape but walk away with a promise to behave? If we do not uphold unequivocally our intolerance of sex with underaged girls, what does that say about us?

Related reports:

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/how-does-a-12-year-old-girl-say-no-marina-mahathir/

Adult women especially if they are less educated and financially dependent have problems saying “no” to their boyfriends and husbands sometimes even fathers uncles and brothers. Female employees often have to say “yes” to their bosses or risk losing their jobs. If these women well above the legal age have difficulties in turning away sexual advances what more a 12 or 13-year-old girl? This is why the statutory rape law exists. It presupposes that an underage person cannot have the wherewithal to refuse sex with an older person. Even if the person is only a few years older. And if the younger person is female growing up in a society where men are assumed to always hold more power in any relationship then what choice would she have but to say “yes”?

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/08/30/suhakam-alarmed-over-statutory-rape-sentences/

Suhakam has voiced “great concern” over sentences meted out recently on two offenders guilty of statutory rape, saying they may not have protected the interest of the victims. “Whether the rights, protection and best interests, not to mention the future, of our minors have been and will be upheld and safeguarded in cases involving statutory rape is now doubtful in the light of those sentences,” said the human rights commission’s chairman Hasmy Agam.

Hasmy said that Suhakam was alarmed that the consent of the child victims appeared to be one of the mitigating factors in both cases, though he noted that there had been similar sentences in the past in cases of statutory rape committed by young first offenders... He said that the vulnerability of a child was also recognised by the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) “which states, inter alia, that the child by reason of his/her physical and mental immaturity needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection.” “It is also of great concern that the lenient sentences meted out might send the wrong message to would-be offenders, thus would not be an effective deterrence for statutory rape cases,” he argued.

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/207480

Sebuah NGO yang memperjuangkan hak wanita mempersoalkan kemunasabahan seorang kanak-kanak memberi keizinan untuk melakukan hubungan seks dengan seorang lelaki yang lebih tua. "Di segi perundangan dan moral, bolehkah mereka memberi keizinan itu?" soal Pengarah Eksekutif Pertubuhan Pertolongan. Wanita (WAO), Ivy Josiah, ketika dihubungi untuk mengulas mengenai dua kes penggantungan hukuman yang dijatuhkan ke atas perogol kanak-kanak. Beliau menegaskan bahawa, di segi undang-undang, kanak-kanak di bawah umur tidak boleh memberi keizinan itu dan itulah sebabnya undang-undang seperti Akta Kanak-Kanak 2001 digubal untuk melindungi mereka.

Statutory Rape: One more escapes jail sentence

Published by The Staronline on 29 August 2012.
By Simren Kaur.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/8/29/courts/11931992&sec=courts

Another person has been bound over on a good behaviour bond for statutory rape. This time, it is an electrician found guilty of raping his 12-year-old girlfriend on two occasions last year.

Sessions judge Sitarun Nisa Abdul Aziz ordered Chuah Guan Jiu, now 22, to be bound over for three years on a RM25,000 good behaviour bond. She said the court took into consideration that Chuah was a young, first time offender. “We also considered the fact that the sexual act was consensual and that he is a school dropout,” she said when handing down the sentence.

Sitarun Nisa said that another consideration was Chuah’s future. Chuah, who was wearing a shirt and blue jeans, showed no emotion when the sentence was passed.

The court had on July 20 found him guilty of raping the girl, then aged 12 years and 10 months, at his flat in Air Itam between 7am and 1pm on July 18 last year, and between 2.25pm and 2.45pm the next day.

The offence under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code carries a maximum jail sentence of 20 years and whipping. On Monday, DPP Lim Cheah Yit said Chuah had coaxed the girl into skipping school and following him back to his flat on the pretext of him being sick.

“They were dating and the accused should have protected her but he took advantage of her instead."

She asked him many times to take her to school but he said he felt unwell and took her to his home,” Lim had said when pressing for a deterrent sentence. In mitigation, counsel Yusuf Idris said his client earned RM30 a day and was staying with his parents and a younger sibling. “This is his first offence. He has a fixed job now and many years ahead of him,” he said. Yusuf said his client had repented and urged the court not to impose a custodial sentence in view of Chuah’s age.

The sentencing came in the wake of the case of former national youth squad bowler Noor Afizal Azizan who was bound over for RM25,000 to be of good behaviour for five years after he pleaded guilty to the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl.

There was public uproar on Aug 8 when the Court of Appeal allowed Noor Afizal’s appeal against a High Court’s decision to sentence him to five years jail for the offence.

In a written judgment released on Monday, the Court of Appeal said Noor Afizal, who was 19 at the time of the offence, had not been “very much older” than the minor he had consensual sex with, had cooperated with the police, shown remorse, and given a guarantee that he would not commit such an offence again.

Related reports:

http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2012/8/28/sports/11922113&sec=sports

In a 14-page written judgment http://www.kehakiman.gov.my/directory/judgment/file/M-09-227-10-2011.pdf released yesterday, Court of Appeal president Justice Raus Sharif said Noor Afizal – 19 at the time of the offence and now 21 – had not “tricked the girl into submitting to him”. Sitting with him were Justices K.N. Segara and Azhar Ma’ah...

There was public uproar on Aug 8 when the court allowed Noor Afizal’s appeal against a High Court decision to sentence him to five years’ jail for statutory rape of the 13-year-old girl. In his oral decision, Justice Raus said he agreed with Noor Afizal’s counsel that public interest would not be served if he received a jail sentence when he had “a bright future”.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/rapists-freed-by-courts-match-medical-definition-of-paedophiles/

Both national bowler Noor Afizal Azizan and Chuah Guan Jiu two young men who escaped jail terms despite raping 13- and 12-year-old girls respectively, may be classed as paedophiles according to international medical standards and psychiatrists here, suggesting the courts may have freed sexual predators who might repeat their crime. The World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD) categorises paedophilia as “a sexual preference for children boys or girls or both usually of pre-pubertal or early pubertal age ”.

And according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) used by mental health professionals globally, paedophilia is the sexual attraction to pubescent or pre-pubescents aged 13 or younger, and the subject must be 16 or older with the child at least five years younger.

http://news.malaysia.msn.com/regional/bowler-statutory-rape-sex-consensual-court-says

MSN Malaysia readers were vocal in their overwhelming opposition to the verdict. Some of the following comments regarding the case include:

How can a 13 year old girl even know what she is agreeing to? Are judges now sick? How are we to uphold our law if Judges take crime lightly? I think ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS THAT CRIMES ARE FLOURISHING IN this country are because we have judges who are WEAK. -- rightofvictim

Has the girl a bright future too, your honor?? -- ERLISH

Outrageous! Even a world boxing champion was jailed in the US for his trysts with a woman under the age of consent. Oops, but then it was a different court. -- choun young

So what is the message we are getting here? If you show promise in sport, you are above the law? -- Sar3 Ong