Tabloid Media Umat edisi 159: KAUM HOMO ANCAM INDONESIA #TolakLGBT

Tabloid Media Umat edisi 159:

KAUM HOMO ANCAM INDONESIA

#TolakLGBT

Kabut Asap Terus Berlangsung Beberapa Hari ke Depan

Kabut Asap Terus Berlangsung Beberapa Hari ke Depan

Rabu, 30 Sep 2015 - 12:40 WIB

Kabut asap yang menyelimuti Batam yang berasal dari kebakaran hutan di wilayah Sumatera Selatan dan sekitarnya diperkirakan terus berlangsung hingga beberapa hari ke depan. Pasalnya, tiupan angin diperkirakan masih akan berhembus dari selatan dan barat daya ke utara, sehingga membawa asap tersebut ke wilayah Batam dan sekitarnya.

Foto: Dalil Harahap/ Batam Pos

Redaksi:
Graha Pena Batam Lt.4,
Batam 29461
Telp. (0778) 460000 / Fax. (0778) 462162
Coorporate Lawyer: Dr Harris Arthur Hedar SH MM
Kode Pos Batam Kode Etik Jawa Pos Group

#KabutAsap
#Batam
#Tanjungpinang

Jarak Pandang Terbatas, Penerbangan dari Batam Ditunda

Selasa, 29 September 2015 13:27

Laporan Tribunnews Batam, Dedy SWD

TRIBUNNEWSBATAM.COM, BATAM - Otoritas Bandara Internasional Hang Nadim Batam menyatakan jarak pandang kawasan bandara di bawah 500 meter. Akibatnya seluruh jadwal keberangkatan ditunda, sementara sejumlah kedatangan dialihkan.

"Pagi ini jarak pandang masih di bawah 500 meter. Belum ada pesawat yang terbang, jadwal kedatangan juga terganggu," kata Kepala Bagian Umum Bandara Internasional Hang Nadim Batam, Suwarso di Batam, Selasa (29/9/2015) pagi.

Jarak pandang tersebut merupakan yang terparah selama Batam mendapat kiriman asap kebakaran hutan wilayah Sumatera daratan. Memburuknya jarak pandang juga sudah terlihat sejak Senin (28/9/2015) sore.

Asap pekat mulai menyelimuti Kota Industri tersebut, sejak Senin sore yang juga berdampak pengalihan sejumlah penerbangan tujuan Hang Nadim Batam.

Berdasarkan jadwal kedatangan, Selasa (29/9/2015) sejak pagi hingga pukul 08.30 WIB, seharusnya delapan pesawat mendarat. Namun hingga pukul 08.30 WIB, belum satu pun yang mendarat.

Sementara tiga jadwal keberangkatan dari Lion Air tujuan Pangkal Pinang dan Jakarta serta Garuda Indonesia tujuan Jakarta juga masih delay menunggu kondisi membaik.

"Kami masih terus memantau dan menunggu perkembangan. Sementara jadwal penerbangan masih terganggu akibat tebalnya asap sekitar landas pacu," kata dia.(*)

Editor: Iman Suryanto

© 2015 TRIBUNnews.com All Right Reserved

#KabutAsap
#Tanjungpinang
#Batam

Understanding The Tragic Hajj Deaths 2015

Understanding The Tragic Hajj Deaths 2015 http://www.hizb.org.uk/current-affairs/understanding-the-tragic-hajj-deaths-2015

Understanding The Tragic Hajj Deaths 2015

SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

“For every nation is a specified term. So when their time has come, they will not remain behind an hour, nor will they precede it.” (Quran TMQ 7:34)

On Thursday 24th September 2015, stampedes in Mina killed over 700 people. It is the deadliest incident to occur during the Hajj in 25 years and the second disaster to strike Mecca in two weeks after a crane collapsed at the Masjid al-Haram killing 109 people, on Friday 11th September 2015. Recordings found on social media captured the moment when strong winds and heavy rain weakened the large crane until it finally gave way over the masjid.

Whilst it is certainly heart wrenching to hear of such a tragedy it is important to keep in mind a few points when reacting to this news.

1. Is this a punishment from Allah swt?

The Qada (decree) of Allah swt is unknown to man. We can neither predict the future nor change its definitive course. Similarly, we have no knowledge over whether such events occurred due to a punishment from Allah swt or whether it was simply a test. Indeed, Allah swt tests those whom He swt loves, the Prophet (saw) stated in a narration:

“If Allah intends good for someone, then He afflicts him with trials.” (Sahih Bukhari)

So although misfortune and difficulty may befall the Muslim, this doesn’t necessarily mean its a punishment from the Allah swt. Instead, the believer sees this as a decree and a test from the Almighty, so as to exemplify ones faith and obedience in difficult times.

“Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, ‘We believe,’ and that they will not be tested? We did test those before them, and Allah will certainly know those who are true from those who are false.” (Quran TMQ 29: 2-3)

This is different to the capitalist way of life, which tells its adherents that their purpose is to maximise their benefit and pleasure, and anything that contradicts this is contradicting their reason for existence. This consistently creates anxiety within a person; over things that befall him and the good that escapes him. He has less tolerance to cope with difficulties in life such as loss of wealth, health and even the death of loved ones, whereas for the believer these are seen as part of life’s tests in order to overcome and upon which there will always be reward so long as their adherence is correct towards the Ahkam Shari’ah.

“Wondrous is the affair of the believer for there is good for him in every matter and this is not the case with anyone except the believer. If he is happy, then he thanks Allah and thus there is good for him, and if he is harmed, then he shows patience and thus there is good for him.” (Sahih Muslim)

Therefore, disasters like the stampede in Mina or the crane falling on Masjid al Haram, cannot be said to be a punishment from Allah swt unless we have clear texts that indicate this, rather we view these as tests from Allah swt as reminders upon our lives and our true purpose in it.

2. Should we become fatalistic about such events?

Indeed death is such that it can arrive at any time, for any reason (or none at all) and this is a matter beyond our control. This should not render us fatalistic (and consequently indifferent to life) nor should it make us sensitive to that which we are unaware of. For the duty upon the Muslim is to obey his Lord in the areas which he has been given control and recognise that whatever is outside his influence is the decree of Allah (swt) and Him alone.

The Islamic belief has a unique view towards the subject of al Qada wal Qadr (divine fate and predestination), at the same time it places the burden of accountability upon humans and relinquishes his worry upon the end result of things. For example, Allah swt places the responsibility of work upon a man but ultimately controls the wealth that may arise from that work.

“Say: ‘Truly my Lord enlarges the provision (rizq) for whom He will of His slaves, and (also) restricts (it) for him, and whatever you spend of anything (in Allah’s cause), He will replace it. And He is the best of providers’” [TMQ Saba: 39]

Allah swt will take us to account over the choices we make and the fulfillment of those choices but we will not have to account for those matters that exist outside of the choices we have made on the Day of Judgment. So we may drive in a reckless way, which results in knocking down a pedestrian but as to whether the pedestrian lives of dies is in the decree of Allah swt. We will however, still be accountable for the recklessness of our driving and the resulting impact it had.

Therefore, this forces a Muslim to be conscious and cautious over the choices he makes and pushes him to fulfill what is within his sphere of influence to the best of his abilities, only to then make tawwakal (reliance) upon Allah swt over the manner in which the results (of his choice) manifest.

So although it was the decree of Allah swt to take the lives of those hujjaj (the deaths due to the crane falling or the stampede in Mina) we still look to see if those who undertook the planning and the precautions (what was within their sphere of influence) did so to the best of their abilities, or if they were negligent towards the precious lives of the hujjaj.

3. Could the Hajj deaths have been avoided?

Once an event has occurred, we as Muslims understand this as part of the decree of Allah swt, but the aforementioned detailed, this does not stop us from analysing the culpability of those who may have fallen criminally short of fulfilling what was within their sphere of control.

The Prophet (saw) explained how to seek precautions while still relying upon Allah swt. Anas ibn Malik reported: A man said, “O Messenger of Allah, should I tie my camel and trust in Allah, or should I untie her and trust in Allah?” The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Tie her and trust in Allah.” (Hasan, Tirmidhi)

4. Were the Saudi rulers at fault for the deaths?

The head of Saudi’s civil defence authority, Suleiman al-Amr, said high winds during a storm caused the disaster.

Within a few hours of the deaths from the stampede in Mina, Saudi Health Minister Khalid al-Falih said in a statement, “The stampede was perhaps because some pilgrims moved without following instructions by the relevant authorities,” a few days later Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV reported that the head of the central Hajj committee, Prince Khaled al-Faisal, blamed the stampede on ‘some pilgrims with African nationalities’. The state-run Saudi Press Agency reported that the Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin-Abdullah al-Sheikh said in relation to the stampede, “You are not responsible for what happened because you exerted beneficial reasons in your hands and your ability,” the Grand Mufti was quoted as saying.

Clearly the Saudi regime is seeking to displace the blame from themselves even before any meaningful investigation has been conducted. This tends to lend credibility that the Saudi authorities are trying to gloss over their own mismanagement.

For instance, why did only one of the cranes collapse as opposed to all of them? And why was it that whilst winds were travelling at a speed of 60kph (37mph), an unsecured mobile crane fell over backwards onto the Haram? This is well below the tolerance level that cranes are tested at; indeed, cranes undergo testing under all types of weather conditions including lightning strikes. Clearly these are serious questions that need to be answered as opposed to the current approach, which is simply to claim it was an act of God. One of the senior Saudi engineers working for the Bin Laden group claimed, “I can only say that what happened was beyond the power of humans. It was an act of God and, to my knowledge, there was no human fault in it at all.”

Similarly, stampedes do not occur at every Hajj, so what precipitated this one? Why were there no proper controls over the inflow and outflow of people? And why claim that the fault lies with the hujjaj when the control over large crowds is a responsibility for the Hajj organisers? There are even questions over certain unverified reports that claimed roads were blocked to allow the Saudi prince to arrive in his motor parade to perform the jummarat. Those who have been on Hajj are well aware of how areas of the Haram are closed off for the kings and princes to perform their tawaf or enter the Ka’aba thus causing congestion and hardship amongst the Muslims.

The key problem in establishing the facts and the causes behind these deaths is that the Saudi regime is a monarchy and operates as though they are above the law. There’s no independent court system like under the Khilafah (Mahkamat madhalim that investigates abuses by those in power), nor do they allow the Ummah to account their rulers by the framework of the Shari’ah. The lack of transparency, the lack of application of the Shari’ah, the fact that the regime have apparently already concluded the hujjaj are to blame before any investigation and the past abuses of the Saudi regime has resulted in a complete loss of trust and confidence in the Saudi regime and its ability to objectively investigate their own potential failings over the death of the hujjaj.

Conclusion

We are well aware that this life is nothing but a test. This tragedy should be looked at as a means of forgiveness from sin and a chance for reward in the afterlife. Also it is a means for the Ummah to look deeply at the infrastructure of Mecca and the role of the rulers who are obliged to look after the affairs of the believers to their utmost and if they fall short then they should be accounted. And in the case of the Saudi regime it should be removed and replaced with a sincere Islamic leadership, Khilafah Rashida, that does not neglect the comprehensive implementation of Islam.

May Allah cure the wounded, heal the hearts of the families (whom have lost their loved ones) and protect the all the Believers during the rest of their pilgrimage.
Ameen

Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain

How will the Khilafah Rashida organize Hajj?

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

With the tragic events that has resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives this Hajj we republish an article from 2012 by Ustadh Abu Khalid al Hejazi.

The Islamic state will organize hajj with the objective of serving the pilgrims and assisting them in completing this obligation in the best manner possible. Making money out of the pilgrims, be it for the hotels or the transport or food would not be from its aims, it would rather curtail such practices if they happen.

Currently the planning of the Haram mosque doesn’t allow accommodation of more than 3.5 – 4 Million at one time. Considering the current population of the Muslim Ummah and its growth in terms of those accepting Islam the number of Hajis allowed to do Hajj need to be increased. This is the first challenge for the Islamic state. Any increase in the Hajis will require restructuring of the outside area and inside area of the masjid.

In 1982 when King Fahd came to power he announced the expansion of the haram and built an extension now known as the King Fahd extension. King Abdullah, the current king of Saudi has also announced another extension which is expected to be completed by 2020.

King Fahd’s extension plan required large areas of lands to be acquired from the surroundings of the mosque. Thousands of houses were destroyed which included many relics from the past. A large part of the acquired lands and houses were given away to real estate developers which led to several non-Muslims (who otherwise are not allowed entry into makkah) to open their hotels around Haram. Radission, Sheraton, Intercontinental…all of them have high valued properties surrounding the Haram. Not only this, they don’t mind giving away the holy land to ill-reputed people, not long ago infamous Paris Hilton was allowed to open her franchise showroom in the vicinity of the masjid.

So the expansion project for the King did not only give him political mileage but also benefited many of his family members who now had stakes in the fledging real estate property in Makkah.

Initially the Islamic state will attempt at increasing the open space surrounding the Haram so that more pilgrims can be accommodated. As temperatures can become very high during summers, the open space would also be covered using mechanical Umbrella shaped shades (similar to the ones used in Madina). Oxygen dispensers would also be installed along with them which will emit oxygen and moisture combined to eat the heat during summers. This would be initial plan of the state and then extensive makeovers will happen with time covering these spaces and air-conditioning them.

The current structure covers an area of 356,800 square metres (88.2 acres) including the outdoor and indoor praying spaces and can accommodate up to four million worshipers during the Hajj period.

It is noteworthy to mention that the gigantic Shamiyya project to the north west of the Sanctuary is being developed on an area of one million five hundred thousand square meters approximately, extending from the extremities of the sanctuary to beyond the second circular road to the north and from the Holy Mosque Street to the east and Jabal al Qaaba road to the west.

The plan includes Al-Shamiya, Garoul, Alqarara wa Alnqa. The area to be developed reached three million square meters distributed among different activities, of which hotels, hotel residences, commercial centers, and markets, general services, in addition to permanent residences for the people.

If only this area which is adjacent to the Haram was converted to a marbled plane praying space for the Pilgrims, it would accommodate 4.5 Million Musallis! And if it was converted into a two storey covered space then that number would be doubled. The existing area for developing AlShamiya includes developing residential and hotel spaces meant for 250,000 people and praying space for only 400,000 people.

The Jabal Omar project to the south western side of the mosque for which more than 600 properties have been seized involves constructing two five-star hotels with 935 rooms, and six three-star hotels comprising 1,255 rooms, across an area spanning 244,800 sq m. Residential buildings reaching 20 storeys to accommodate 100,000 people, 520 restaurants and 4,360 commercial and retail units are also being built. The current plans include a plan to make a 6 storey building for musalli’s to accommodate 100,000 musalli’s.

The Islamic state’s mission would be to ensure that the 5th pillar of Islam can be fulfilled by more and more people and in this endeavor it would not seek to make wealth from the pilgrims rather it would aim at assisting them and aiding them and providing them all the facilities which would make their pilgrimage easy.

Jabal Omar if it is only converted to a plane as mentioned earlier with mechanical umbrella shaped shadings and oxygen dispensers can accommodate 0.75 Million Pilgrims for prayers.

Jabal Khandama another project covering over 600,000 Sq Meters of space is being developed into mixed use area mostly hotels and residential apartments and shopping units. Redeveloping this area as a prayer space will give space to about 2 Million Musalli’s.

All these projects are adjacent to the Haram and can be annexed with the Haram with ease.

In most of these projects properties are acquired often with little or no compensation and in some cases the owners are given less than a week to leave the property.

The jabal kaaba is another of these projects which covers about 46,000 Sq meters. Similar is the case with the Ajyad fortress on the mount bulbul which was destroyed to build the Abraj al bait towers. These towers along with other towering structures are a violation of the Kaba’s sanctity. It is ironical that on one hand airplanes cannot fly from above the Haram but on the other hand high rise towers can constantly dwarf the Haram.

Historic sites of religious importance which have been destroyed by the Saudi’s include five of the renowned “Seven Mosques” initially built by Muhammad’s صلى الله عليه وسلم daughter and four of his “greatest Companions”: Masjid Abu Bakr, Masjid Salman al-Farsi, Masjid Umar ibn al-Khattab, Masjid Sayyida Fatima bint Rasulullah and Masjid Ali ibn Abu Talib.

It has been reported that there now are fewer than 20 structures remaining in Mecca that date back to the time of Muhammad. Other buildings that have been destroyed include the house of Khadijah, the wife of Muhammad, demolished to make way for public lavatories; the house of Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s companion, now the site of the local Hilton hotel; the house of Ali-Oraid, the grandson of Muhammad, and the Mosque of Abu-Qubais, now the location of the King’s palace in Mecca; Muhammad’s birthplace, demolished to make way for a library; and the Abraj Al Bait Towers, built after demolishing the Ottoman-era Ajyad Fortress.

The ostensible reason for much of the destruction of historic buildings has been for the construction of hotels, apartments, parking lots and other infrastructure facilities for Hajj pilgrims. However, many have been destroyed without any such reason. For example, when the house of Ali-Oraid, the grandson of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم was discovered and excavated, King Fahd himself ordered that it be bulldozed in case it should become a pilgrimage site.

The Kings Palace on mount Abu Qubais which covers over 100,000 sq meters will make way for accommodating more pilgrims for prayer.

So if the surrounding region of the Mosque was freed from buildings and even if it was preliminarily converted into marbled open space, it would make space for at least 10 million Pilgrims.

Certain structural changes to the mosque will also have to be performed. For e.g., the mataf (tawaf area) will have to be expanded. Removal of the ottoman era enclosure will lead to much more space in the mataf area and further expansion of the mataf can be done by removing more of the enclosure so that the mataf size increased.

To ease matters for children, women and elderly people, the State would make use of modern technologies such as travelators on the upper floors. Not only will this ease the matters for the pilgrims but will also stop the wheelchair owners from charging people exorbitantly.

As for the evidence why travelators may be used, we know this from the hadith Narrated by Ibn Abbas (RA): In his Last Hajj the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم performed Tawaf of the Ka’ba riding a camel and pointed a bent-headed stick towards the corner (Black Stone). [Bukhari]

Similarly travelators may be employed between the Safa and Marwa as well.

The second challenge the State will face will be that of the residence for the dwellers of Makkah and the pilgrims. Makkah being a mountainous region has several mountains which cover its terrain. Removing these mountains and developing the areas into residential areas will solve lot of the residential problem. Large swathes of land are covered by these mountains towards the south east of the mosque, and to the north of hijrah district and the south of Mahbas Al jenn parking.

With the growth of the Muslim population, there will come a time when even what the State would have planned will fall short. The state will then have to work on establishing satellite towns next to makkah to house the Pilgrims and city dwellers but such a reality is not expected very soon but will certainly happen when the whole world converts to Islam.

عن تميم الداري قال سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم يقول : ليبلغن هذا الأمر ما بلغ الليل والنهار ولا يترك الله بيت مدر ولا وبر الا أدخله الله هذا الدين بعز عزيز أو بذل ذليل عزا يعز الله به الإسلام وذلا يذل الله به الكفر وكان تميم الداري يقول قد عرفت ذلك في أهل بيتي لقد أصاب من أسلم منهم الخير والشرف والعز ولقد أصاب من كان منهم كافرا الذل والصغار والجزية
It was narrated by Ahmad in his Musnad, from Tameem Al-Daari, who said that he heard the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم say: “Verily, this matter (Islam) will reach where day and night have reached, and it will not leave a house of Madar (mud or clay) or a house of Wabar (fur of camels and goats, i.e. tents) except Allah will bring it into this Deen, (either) with the honour of an honoured one, or the disgrace of a disgraced one; honour with which Allah honours Islam, and disgrace with which Allah disgraces Kufr.”

The third challenge the state will face is that of transportation. A complete overall of the current transport system is required. A combination of public transport System & Mass Rapid Transport systems (MRTS) will serve the needs of the pilgrims. The Mass Rapid transport systems will be employed in the sacred places such as the Makkah mosque, Mina, Muzadalifa , Arafah initially but will eventually cover all the areas of the Sacred sites.

The design and construction of the MRTS would be underground and would involve several lines at each port. This is so as to avoid congestion at the ports of embarking and disembark. Examples of effective utilization of MRTS in cities like Malaysia, Delhi, London and others will be studied and adopted.

At any station the number of people who can embark on a train and the number of trains that arrive periodically should be planned in such a way so that there are mishaps and accidents due to overfilling of stations.

This year in Arafah, several people died at the metro stations. The reason being that there are 21 trains and each train can take 4000 pilgrims at one point of time but the number of pilgrims who had entered the stations just after sunset was much larger. Many died due to suffocation and some died due to the ensuing stampede. The Islamic state cannot afford to experiment putting the lives of the Muslims are stake so it will plan things in a manner that do not cause hassle for the pilgrims.

As for the public transport, there is a serious lack of public transport vehicles inside the city and the roads are narrow and badly managed. Private cars would not be allowed near high congestion areas like the Haram mosque and Arafah and transport in these areas will be provided by the States vehicles.

As for the challenge the state will face for Mina, Muzdalifa and Arafah. The reality of these towns is similar to that of Makkah, they are mountainous. Where there are mountains they should be brought down and high storey buildings built in their place. The sunnah for the haji is to stay in Mina and not that it has to be in a tent and therefore high storey buildings will allow very high and effective utilization of space.

The reason why the Saudi government has not attempted at constructing the buildings is because of the very low return on investment on their money. The Islamic states ROI will be the reward for its efforts it would make in making Hajj easy for the Muslims.

The current problem in these three towns is that of transport and space, the MRTS will resolve the transport problem and high rise buildings will address the space constraints.

The current planning of Jamarat is excellent and can accommodate a much larger number of pilgrims than todays.

Another challenge the state will face is that of food and water. Large desalination plants will be installed in Jeddah to cater to increasing need of water and Zamzam water will be availed at different places around the city and the other sacred places. A strict control over food quality will be maintained, no adulteration in the food will be allowed and overcharging the pilgrims will not be allowed.

All this will be maintained more by developing the Taqwa in the people and reminding them and less by the stick.

The State will endeavor a similar parallel program in Madina as in Makkah.

May Allah سبحانه وتعالى grant us the victory and allow us to re-establish the Khilafah on the path of prophethood soon.

Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain

#Haji1436H

Buddhist monks in Myanmar celebrate repressive laws

Muslim minority denounces new laws on population control, extra-marital relations, and mixed-religion marriages.
Joshua Carroll | 23 Sep 2015 12:49 GMT |
Hundreds of supporters from the ultra-nationalist Ma Ba Tha group formed a convoy of trucks and buses that snaked through the main city of Yangon on September 14 to welcome the introduction of four Race and Religion Protection Laws, which the group drafted itself.

Human Rights Watch has said the bills, the last of which was signed into law late last month, place "unlawful" restrictions on people wishing to change religions, and could be used to force mothers to wait three years between each birth.

The laws also outlaw extra-marital affairs and place restrictions on marriages between non-Buddhist men and Buddhist women.

Ma Ba Tha's senior monks have been accused of stoking anti-Muslim violence with sermons preaching that Buddhism, the majority religion, is under threat from Islam.

"If necessary we must erect a fence with our bones," boomed a song from a truck-mounted speaker as the early-morning convoy left Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's holiest site, on its way to a large monastery in the east of Yangon.

The song became popular after Buddhist-led riots erupted in 2012, ultimately killing hundreds nationwide and displacing tens of thousands, mostly ethnic Rohingya Muslims.

As Al Jazeera rode with the convoy, the driver of one truck screeched past and leaned out of his window to shout: "Don't follow us, go away! You'll be arrested."

Hard-line Buddhists

The celebrations show Ma Ba Tha "asserting themselves and their newfound clout", said Khin Zaw Win of the Tampadipa Institute, a think-tank based in Yangon.

They come less than two months before a landmark general election that will be seen as a test for Myanmar's reform process.

A joint statement  from nine embassies in Myanmar, including the US and Japan, warned against "religion being used as a tool of division and conflict during the campaign season".

Since the military junta stepped aside in 2011, hard-line Buddhist groups have taken advantage of liberalisation to gain more and more influence in the country's politics.

Analysts say the race and religion laws were rushed through parliament to avoid angering those groups.

"At a time when Myanmar faces serious problems with its legal framework … it's hard to see why these laws should have been prioritised," said Sam Zafiri, Asia-Pacific director at the International Commission of Jurists.

"Except for the obvious reason that they were called for by militant Buddhist groups like Ma Ba Tha," he said.

Muslim candidates have been largely excluded from the upcoming election, in what also appears to be an attempt to assuage hardliners.

The opposition National League for Democracy, widely expected to win the poll, failed to field a single Muslim candidate. Myanmar's election commission has rejected dozens of Muslims on citizenship grounds.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims were disenfranchised earlier this year when the government withdrew the temporary citizenship cards that allowed them to vote.

At the Ti Pidaka Nikal monastery, a makeshift photo exhibition displayed images of atrocities committed by Muslims.

One showed the Twin Towers in New York engulfed in flames, another the mutilated corpses of four people that the caption said were Hindus killed by Muslims in India.

"The international media are saying Buddhists are aggressive and talking about Buddhist terror," said Lakana Thara, a monk, as he stood outside the photo exhibition. "But most of the violence and aggression is committed by Islamic groups."

As he spoke, dozens of monks and supporters clutching copies of the new laws filed in and out of the tarpaulin tent housing the photos.

"We need monogamy," he said, referring to the Monogamy Bill, which criminalises extra-marital relationships. "A Muslim male can marry up to four women and they can force their women to change their religion."

Another of the bills, the Buddhist Women's Special Marriage Law, is also based on the fear of men forcing their wives to convert. Activists have branded it sexist because it explicitly targets Buddhist women marrying outside their religion.

One section gives local authorities the power to publicise an engagement and invite objections from members of the public that can be heard in court.

"Because of this law, I'm not afraid," said Khine Khine Tun, Ma Ba Tha's head of international relations.

"If I want to marry a man from another religion I can, but I don't need to give up my own religion," she said.

Wai Wai Nu is a women's rights activist who is also a member of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority. "I think it is a very dangerous law," she said. "It can create a lot of challenges for women in Myanmar."

A joint statement by Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists warned earlier this year that another of the four laws, the Population Control and Healthcare Bill, could lead to authorities carrying out forced abortions and sterilisation.

The law aims to control populations in certain areas with "birth spacing", though the wording is unclear on whether this would be compulsory.

It has nonetheless raised fears for Rohingya Muslim couples in northeastern Rakhine state, who have in the past been barred from having more than two children.

Thila Kanda Biwantha, Ma Ba Tha's Vice Secretary, is softly spoken and mild-mannered as he defends the population law while perched on a stage erected in the monastery's central courtyard.

It was designed, he said peering through gold-rimmed glasses, to ease pressure on healthcare and education services in areas with high population growth.

Soon the stage would be cleared for performances that included a speech on the history of Ma Ba Tha - founded in 2013 - and a young boy singing patriotic songs.

Thila Kanda Biwantha has the calm, satisfied air of someone who has just scored a major victory. The festivities were a way of letting the public know about the laws, he said.

"Myanmar is much safer now," he said.

Source: Al Jazeera

© 2015 Al Jazeera Media Network

#Myanmar