Author Archives

A Q Farhat

A Retired Asst Professor of Pediatrics currently working in Canada.

Tel Aviv joins global social justice protests

By BEN HARTMAN Several hundred gather at Tel Aviv Museum plaza where opinions are voiced in “Hyde Park” speakers corner; protest held on Rothschild. Tel Aviv on Saturday joined hundreds of cities across the globe holding “October 15” demonstrations, focused on a message of greater economic equality and opportunity, and […]

One State for All?

By Robert Patton Can you imagine being born in a refugee camp, living out your entire life in the camp, and finally dying there. Yet this is what a good many Palestinians have experienced. More than sixty years ago, innocent people were uprooted from their homes and forced to live […]

Indonesia’s Growing Confidence

Although there are some uncertainties, the Indonesian economy is well placed for what will now almost certainly be a sharp downturn in the world economy. Foreign reserves were at a record high at just under US$120 billion at the end of the second quarter, inflation was down to below 5 […]

Bekasi municipality officially bans Ahmadiyyah

Hans David Tampubolon, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta The Bekasi municipality has officially banned the religious practice of the Ahmadiyah sect on Thursday, a move pluralists deemed as the legitimation of a violation of the spirit of the Constitution. The head of the Bekasi Agency for State Unity, Politics and Community […]

Free at last

The Jakarta Post Myanmar women prisoners walk outside Insein Prison in Yangon, Myanmar Wednesday after they were released. Myanmar has begun releasing more then 6,300 prisoners but has held back on freeing some prominent political prisoners. The releases began around the country Wednesday morning after President Thein Sein issued an […]

Rabbis: ‘Price tag’ contradicts Torah

 Religious leaders from all sides of national-religious spectrum strongly condemn Jewish ‘acts of revenge’ against Arab targets. Chief military rabbi urges yeshiva heads to act against phenomenon Chief Military Rabbi Brigadier-General Rafi Peretz has demanded that hesder yeshiva rabbis condemn “price tag” activities and act against them, in light of […]

The threat to moderate Indonesia

WHAT is the single greatest failing of Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono? Ismail Yusanto, the public face of Islamist organisation Hizb-ut-Tahrir in Jakarta, tells me: “The government of Indonesia works on a secular system. In terms of politics, economics and society, a secular system will always produce many, many problems. […]

Yom Kippur: Forgive and be forgiven

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, observed this year from sundown on Friday night, October 7th until nightfall on October 8th, and is the Most Awesome Day in the Jewish calendar. Concluding the “Ten Days of Repentance,” also known as the “Days of Awe,” Yom Kippur is a day where […]

Pope Urges Catholics to Promote Peace in Indonesia

Vatican City. Pope Benedict XVI urged Catholics in Indonesia on Friday to defend tolerance, peace and the rights of minorities, saying that the country’s constitution “guarantees” freedom of worship. Meeting with Indonesian Catholic bishops in Rome, Benedict encouraged them to “strengthen Indonesian society by promoting those values that your fellow […]