Word: terengganu
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Life is slow in the northeastern state of Terengganu and that is exactly what visitors like about it. The long stretches of unspoiled beach along its 255-kilometer coast, the coral reefs and even the odd sea turtle attract more than 1.4 million tourists each year, including 150,000 foreigners...
...punishments familiar from the Taliban's days in Afghanistan: whipping for a range of relatively minor offenses such as consumption of alcohol; stoning to death for adulterers; hand amputation for theft. It's all part of a drive by the conservative Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS), which governs Terengganu and is the country's main opposition party, to create what it calls a "pious, religious, disciplined, dignified, noble and trustworthy society...
...that has put Terengganu on a collision course with Malaysia's central government. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has no intention of letting parts of his moderate, secularly governed nation go the way of Afghanistan. Until recently, it seemed a showdown would not be necessary. Nine years ago, PAS tried to enact similar laws in Kelantan, a neighboring state that it also governs, yet these were never implemented owing to the threat of legal challenges from Kuala Lumpur. But the party's hard-line leader, cleric Hadi Awang, personally runs Terengganu as Chief Minister and he is a determined adversary...
...main Islamic opposition party, Pas (Parti Islam se-Malaysia), retained one of the two seats it was fighting in the northern state of Kedah. The vote was seen as inconclusive on support for strict Islamic laws and punishments including flogging and amputation that Pas recently enacted in neighboring Terengganu state - ahead of a national election that could be next year. Pas narrowly beat a member of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's United Malays National Organization to win the state assembly seat. AUSTRALIA Runaways An Irish backpacker, Jonathan O'Shea, was charged with helping two boys flee the troubled Woomera detention...