Murr Says He's against Orthodox Law: It Jeopardizes Christians' Rights
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
MP Michel Murr announced on Thursday his rejection of the Orthodox Gathering' proposed electoral draft law, fearing it might have “negative consequences on the future of Christians' rights in Lebanon”.
"I will not agree on something that might jeopardize Christians' acquired rights and take the country to the unknown,” Murr said after meeting with President Michel Suleiman in Baabda.
"This draft law is very different from the proposal submitted by the government to the parliament for vote,” he said, questioning how and why it has been accepted by representative of ministers who drafted the cabinet's suggestion.
The government had adopted in August a draft electoral law based on proportional representation and 13 electoral districts.
Murr added: “Suleiman's statement in this regard is highly appreciated as he is keen on protecting the constitutionality of the electoral law and on preserving national unity and co-existence in Lebanon”.
On Sunday, the Christian four-party committee on the electoral law agreed to endorse the electoral system proposed by the so-called Orthodox Gathering, under which each sect would elect its own lawmakers.
President Michel Suleiman had stated on Tuesday his rejection of adopting the Orthodox Gathering's proposed law in the upcoming parliamentary elections, describing it as “unconstitutional”.
10 January 2013, 19:00
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It is time for Lebanon to decide once and for all whether it wishes to be a modern democracy that rejects classifying its citizens on sectarian grounds or whether it wishes to pursue the tragic apartheid model. it seems that no politician wants to abolish sectarianism as it is simply against their interest to have us elect individuals based on their qualifications and their ideas even if FPM boast themselves to be secular (lol!) and M14 pretending to hang on to the taif agreements stipulating the end of sectarianism! but neither of them is doing anything to change that!
and especially lebanese should stop praising their sectarian leaders as if they were gods to follow blindly...and say STOP!
10 January 2013, 20:43
01
The last person to talk about Christian rights is this feudalist, who gave hundreds of thousands of Lebanese ID's to Palestinians in 1992.
11 January 2013, 12:31
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wow man you're so important you know the murr family so we should all accept your word for it.
11 January 2013, 15:21
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the famous tajnis edit,of 1992 Mr.Rafeh read it please. it was made by Harriri Mur Hrawi and of course under the patronage of the Syrians. enough evidence?
11 January 2013, 15:36
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evidence or not...i was commenting on his comment "I know them and I can tell you..." is a very weak argument..
10 January 2013, 20:49
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Peace (i like your nickname) you can try all you want but it isn't in our hands. I would love to live in a secular country with reigning peace and well educated people that put their faith in their country first. It is however quite impossible to achieve this goal in our lifetime. You have to look at the entire region for that matter and its fabric. It is a region that is very hostile and prone to turbulence because of religion. It is an existential question for the minorities and i am sure you are aware of the reigning majority. It is also an exponential equation. Some communities grow much faster than others. Now the reigning reason goes as following: You protect yourself for the remainder of your lifetime by exluding yourself politically and in terms of governance over your people, or you try to educate fanatics and extremists to understand that country comes first. Which do you prefer?
10 January 2013, 22:47
10
the problem comes from the people who have the illusion of protection provided by their sects or faiths. the politicians you cannot count on them to change sectarianism because they are the ones maintaining this system for their own interests! they all pretend to want it, M8 or M14, but none does a thing to change it, on the contrary! what we are witnessing with this rotten apartheid law proves how much they cling to sectarianism...
so do not count on any politician as they are all hypocrits, let aside the religious people who also maintain lebanese ignorants to protect, not their sect, but their privileges...
lebanese say lebanon is a great country so why can t they be the first middle eastern country to set an example of the nation before the sects!
10 January 2013, 22:47
10
lebanese pretending to want secularism but at the first opportunity hide behind their sect are as hypocrits as the politicians...
so change will come from people not from their representaives, all agreeing on maintaining sectarianism!
so the best thing in our hands to show them we are fed up is not to vote!!
11 January 2013, 01:16
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no politician wants secularism, whatever you say! they all want to maintain sectarianism for their own interests and encouraged and pushed by the religious people! ...
they could right now seize the opportunity to discuss on the future of this nation and what kind of democracy they want for lebanon! but who is asking that? no one...
and your aoun pretending he wants secularism? what a hypocrisy! all he does is sectarian... when did he ask to gather and tackle that issue? any timetable he gave? any plans? any speech demanding that? he claims to want reform but certainly not on secularism! nothing as all the others from M8 or M14!!
and the way you think is sectarian too...we just need to read your posts to see it!
11 January 2013, 01:17
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since 1989 and the taif agreements it is written to end sectarianism! who ever mentioned that? whoever did something towards that? nobody....
11 January 2013, 01:25
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yes and also only christians in christian schools, only sunnis in sunni schools! what about only shia soldiers in the south, christian soldiers in keserwan, sunni soldiers in the north!
oh! and a christian man can only chose a christian woman as his wife, a sunni man can only chose a sunni girl!
we live in an apartheid country and some lebanese are proud of it...
it s up to politicians to change people s minds! it s up to them to change the society! isn t that what they are paid for? but they d rather keep people within their sectarian beliefs to better manipulate them...
11 January 2013, 07:23
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Because once you open this box, it is difficult to close it. Ok so you want to limit voting to within members of a sect? No problem. Now you are 18 percent of the population and we are 37 percent. You elect your 18 MPs amd we will elect 37! Get the idea. The Taef was the grand compromise. Open that box again and God help us what will come out of it.
11 January 2013, 07:29
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The almustaqbal was build by Hariri senior as a Lebanese and not as a Sunni party. Unfortunatelly, since his death the party is becoming more Sunni and less Lebanese. I wish al-ouwat merge with al-mustaqbal. I can almost guarantee that in a free vote the real competition will be between Geagea and okab sakr. For some weired reason many "sunni" women are in love with these two. Thanks God I married a Catholic :)
11 January 2013, 11:49
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FlameThrower - please provide primary sources. Some claims they wre palestinian. Other syrians. Now it seems from all sects and nationalities. So aflaton is asking for sources. I hear many contradictory rumors, numbers and also denials. Not that I care for Murr.
11 January 2013, 14:47
01
for once i agree with FT. Murr was a faithful syrian bootlicker at that time but srilankans are you sure?
11 January 2013, 11:39
11
the MP's are not doing anything to begin with....why bother with these proposals and waste time and resources ..if we are worried about how to elect a president, we can do this through direct election from the people..
we can rotate presidency to each sect once every 4 years and the sects can nominate or elect their own guy...
Now this is a civilized way of doing things in the 21 century
Imagine the savings we can get for a year and years to come ..
11 January 2013, 11:46
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FlameThrower ... I explained it clearly is several postings. There are other sects in lebanon that can make demands and that see themselves as under-represented. Many in the Shia and Sunni communities think that since they are approx 62-65 percent of the population, they should get 62-65 percent of members of parliament. The Taef agreement was a compromise: the muslims stop counting but all will have equal votes. Afterwhich we move to a non-sectarian parliament and sectarian senate.
11 January 2013, 15:00
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Rafehh it has always been a Sunni party and will continue to be just like the Lebanese Forces will continue to be a Christian party. I do not see the problem with that. Religion has tremendous power over people in Lebanon thus creating an identity among them.An identity you can associate with a political party unfortunately. No one can change that because it is called faith in God and it cannot be explained. Along with all these religions comes all the problems we are facing. The best way to attack these problems is not by trying to coexist in a secular country because we would be lying to each other. I will give you a simple example within a household. Have you ever seen an open space apartment? Apartments are usually divided into different rooms and common areas where everyone meets....
11 January 2013, 15:00
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...Now your parents have governance over their room and do whatever pleases them. You have your own room and claim authority over it so does your sister in her room and from time to time you all meet in the living room where you can chitchat and have dinner.More fights and disagrrements occur when you share a room with a sibling Well this is the case in Lebanon. Different regions and municipalities should get more power to elect their own representatives to be able to implement their own projects. This will improve the relationship among different communities in Lebanon.
11 January 2013, 15:02
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@Rafehh Oh one more question: Do you know why Turkey is a secular country?
