Faith and Free Speech
Religion, that private balm for the soul, often enters the public space when politics forcibly pulls it through. The Federation of Malaysia is no exception. The Federal Constitution, crafted by our founding fathers at independence in 1957, attempted to accommodate our multicultural society by defining specifically who the main inhabitants of the country were.
Farish Ahmad-Noor

Dr. Farish A. Noor is Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University; where he is part of the research cluster ‘Transnational Religion in Southeast Asia’.
Roland Chia

Dr Roland Chia is Chew Hock Hin Professor of Christian Doctrine and Dean of the School of Postgraduate Studies at Trinity Theological College in Singapore. He is the Chairman of Bioethics Committee of the National Council of Churches that is responsible for representing member churches in responding to issues in bio- technology and medicine and Government sponsored research initiatives. He also serves as a member of the National Transplant Ethics Committee in Singapore that evaluates living organ donations
Andrew Tan
Associate Professor, University of New South Wales

Andrew Tan is Associate Professor and Convenor for International Studies at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. The author, editor or co-editor of 13 books published by leading academic publishers such as Routledge, Edward Elgar and Palgrave Macmillan, he specializes in the areas of defence, terrorism and insurgency, and has special expertise on Southeast Asia.
Rashied Omar
Research Scholar of Islamic Studies & Peacebuilding, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Rashied Omar is Research Scholar of Islamic Studies & Peacebuilding at the Kroc Institute. His research and teaching focuses on the roots of religious violence and the potential of religion for constructive social engagement and interreligious peacebuilding.
Malaysia Moving Forward in Matters of Islam and Women
In early July this year, the Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak announced that two women had been appointed judges in the country’s Syariah Courts. One of two court systems in Malaysia, these courts rule on cases that are subject to sharia law, which is based on Islamic principles. Women’s groups, including Sisters in Islam (SIS), the group I belong to, hailed this as a long awaited move given the many problems that women face in the Syariah Courts, especially in matters related to the family.
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