From: u907736@postoffice.utas.edu.au (Edmund Chia)
Subject: Re: **** Australian citizens kidnapped by Malaysian Prince ****
Organization: University of Tasmania
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 23:38:30 GMT

In article <1992Jul22.045043.14744@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg>, eoahmad@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg (Othman Ahmad) writes:
> 
> In article <2774@ariel.its.unimelb.EDU.AU> stong@ariel.its.unimelb.EDU.AU (Simon Tong) writes:
> 
> : 
> : Two Australian citizens, both aged under 10, have been kidnapped
> : by their father, who happens to be a Malaysian Prince.  The natural
> : parents are divorced and the mother has sole custody.  The Australian 
> 
> Who gave the custody? Malaysia or Australian government?



A very good question. According to the rumour mill, it was the Australian courts who granted the
divorce and custody of the kids to the mom.



> 
> : Federal Police is still looking for them.  
> : My question is how come the Australian Government is not doing anything
> : at a national level ???  Surely a protest or two is in order ?
> : Shouldn't the Government be doing more for two children who are taken
> : away from the mother against their will ???
> 
> Is it really? Or is it the same as the Nadra's case?



My guess is the Australian Foreign Affairs Department is busy getting their facts confirmed
before saying or doing anything silly. Its a good thing that "A Current Affair" & "The 7.30 report"
which raised the issue, is not running Australian Foreign Policy. Although I find the shows 
entertaining, they are often rather misleading. For those of you who had not watched the story
'breaking' on "The 7.30 report" - the reporter gave a very good example of how to conduct an
interview using leading questions while seeming to be objective. To anyone unfamiliar with
Malaysia, the impression would be that Women are badly treated and any spirited woman would not
be able to "tolerate" a regime which gave the husband "the right to beat his wife...etc(fill in
the horror stories yourself).



(Stuff deleted)



> : a) How powerful is the Royal Family in Malaysia, are they
> :    little more than figure heads, like the British one
> :    or do they hold real political power ?
> They do not have any polical power.


Actually, they do have some political power. Unlike the British monarch, the Malaysian
sultans are the guardians of Malay customs and the Islamic faith. That is a responsibilty
dating back to the first Anglo-Malay treaty. It is also entrenched in the constitution.
I should imagine that the sultans would also possess considerable influence with state
officials and in the kampungs. In fact, I read somewhere(FEER or TIME) that one reason 
for the rift between the sultan of Kelantan and the Malaysian Federal government is
because the sultan threw his weight and prestige behind PAS - leading to the electoral
victory of PAS in Kelantan. Then of course there is that incident over the import taxes
on the good sultan's car.
I believe the more important point with regards to this particular issue of alleged
"kidnapping" is which royal family is involved. There are quite a number of sultans
running about in Malaysia; And they all have A LOT of relatives. The situation changes
considerably depending on who is involved.



> : d) What is the Islamic law's attitude on female circumcision ?
> : 
> 
> Islam does not require circumcision as a condition
> to be a Muslim. Only the above statement. Circumcison is practised for 
> health reasons. This practice is carried over from Judaism. My daughter was
> circumcised. At first I was worried after reading all the horror stories but
> when I take a closer look it is nothing more that the remover an outer skin
> of something there.
> 	My wife is also circumcised. You know how I feel.
--
> Othman bin Ahmad, School of EEE,
> Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 2263.
> Internet Email: eoahmad@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg
> Bitnet Email: eoahmad@ntuvax.bitnet
> 

There was an article in an Australian paper(The Age - I think), which claimed 
that female circumcision was meant to deny sexual pleasure to the female And
infer that this was to prevent adultery. I do not know enough about this to 
comment but perhaps Othman could respond to this. I am curious.

Edmund
Xref: sparky soc.culture.australian:3631 soc.culture.asean:4914