Kuala Lumpur - A Malaysian court on Thursday sentenced a housewife to 18 years in prison for burning her Indonesian maid with an iron and scalding her with hot water.
Sessions court Judge Akhtar Tahir found Yim Pek Ha, 40, guilty of abusing her former maid Nirmala Bonat by inflicting injury on three occasions in 2004.
Yim, a former flight attendant who has been free on bail since being charged in 2004, was ordered to serve her sentence beginning Thursday.
The case had gained local and international attention as one of the country's worse incidents of maid abuse.
Nirmala, who has since returned to Indonesia, had claimed to have been beaten and burned for making mistakes in the course of working for Yim.
Kuala Lumpur, Nov. 26 : The crown prince of Malaysia’s Perak state, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah, has asked the Perak State Fatwa Committee to consider very carefully the ruling on yoga for Muslims.
Raja Nazrin Shah, who also heads the Perak Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIAMP), said any decision made by the committee on the matter would be brought to MAIAMP before being presented to the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, for consent.
Kuala Lumpur, Nov. 26 : Ex-Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad says that the National Fatwa Council’s edict on yoga should not be turned into a religious debate.
“If they believe it is wrong, then it is wrong. It is unfortunate that other people think that it is a slur on their religion,” The Star quoted Mohamad as telling reporters after presenting a keynote address at the English and Asia 2008 First International Conference on Language and Linguistics organised by the International Islamic University Malaysia yesterday.
Kuala Lumpur - A Malaysian bus driver and one of his passengers were killed when the vehicle crashed head-on with a cement tanker early Tuesday, a news report said.
The pre-dawn incident occurred along a highway while the bus was heading from the northern Kedah state to the southern state of Malacca, said district police chief Roslan Bek Ahmad.
The 24-year-old bus driver was thrown out of the vehicle, while a 17-year old passenger was pinned in between the two vehicles, Roslan was quoted as saying by the Star online news portal.
Roslan said both died on the spot, adding that 16 other passengers received treatment for slight injuries.
Kuala Lumpur, Nov 25 (ANI): There seems to be no consensus on the yoga ban for Muslims pronounced by the National Fatwa Council in Malaysia, as different states in the country have differing opinions on the fatwa.
Sisters in Islam (SIS) research and publications programme manager Masjaliza Hamzah said that there were a lot of differing opinions going around. “People are looking at it from different angles,” staronline. com quoted her as saying.
On Saturday, the National Fatwa Council banned Muslims from practising yoga, which saw a mixed reaction from various quarters.
Kuala Lumpur, Nov 25 : Sultan of Selangor Sharafuddin Idris Shah has reportedly said that the decision by the National Fatwa Council to ban yoga was not in effect in the state, as, he added, the Rulers'' Conference must be consulted before significant religious edicts are issued.
In a statement, the Sultan’s private secretary Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani said that a state fatwa committee will be soon called to take a stance regarding this. “The Selangor state Fatwa Committee, chaired by the mufti of Selangor, will convene to discuss the practice of yoga in the state in detail so that a decision will not be made in haste,” nstonline. com quoted Bani as saying.
