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Key Highlights

  • PM to launch mosque amid land row

  • Banning books that ‘confuse’ Muslims

  • PSM to contest by-election


PM to launch mosque amid land row

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is keen on there being an amicable solution in the land dispute between a Hindu temple and the land owners who want to build a mosque.

However, Anwar’s end goal for now remains to relocate the 130-year-old temple so that the mosque can be built.

The premier is expected to launch the mosque's construction this Thursday.

Meanwhile, it was clarified that the Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman Temple on Jalan Masjid India, Kuala Lumpur, was not “relocated” in 2008.

Instead a small section of the temple - notably its kitchen and priests’ living quarters - were demolished to make way for the widening of a road.

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Banning books that ‘confuse’ Muslims

The National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs (MKI)’s Muzakarah Committee and the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) are recommending that 12 books be banned as it could confuse Muslims.

Two of these books are by academic Ahmet T Kuru namely “Perikatan Ulama Negara Punca Autoritarianisme dan Kemunduran Dunia Muslim (2022)” and “Islam, Autoritarianisme dan Kemunduran Bangsa (2024)”.

Kuru in response, said the ban only serves to prove his argument that “the ulama-state alliance is anti-intellectual and stifles critical thinking”.

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PSM to contest by-election

PSM will contest the upcoming Ayer Kuning by-election.

The party had contested the seat in the last general election, and plans to gauge its public support in the by-election.

Muda will be providing support for PSM during the contest.

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