Category: Agama

Uqasha Senrose: I Took Off Tudung Because I Felt Like Hypocrite

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 ― Local celebrity Uqasha Senrose who came under fire from fans earlier this week after going bareheaded has finally shared her reasons for removing the Muslim headscarf after covering up her tresses three years ago.

Born Nik Zaris Uqasha Senrose, the 24-year-old actress told Malay daily Berita Harian that she took off her tudung as she no longer wanted to lie to herself.

“Three years is not a short time. It’s different if I remove the tudung after wearing it for three months.

“During that period I was also not consistent in terms of wearing the tudung. I feel as if I was constrained and restrained,” she said in the interview published today.

The stage star of Ombak Rindu confessed that she might have been hasty when she decided to go for a new look after her engagement ended and having had her heart broken.

She recounted that the desire to wear the tudung was strong in the initial stages, but as time passed, she felt like she was becoming more of a hypocrite as she no longer really felt a “sincere’ desire to do so.

“It was as if I was afraid with what others say and think. But I don’t want to live based on what others think anymore. Let this decision be between me and God,” the Kelantan-born told Berita Harian.

She also admitted peer pressure from her bareheaded girlfriends may have contributed to her removal of the tudung, a Muslim symbol of modesty in women.

Uqasha said she is fully aware that she will continue to get flak for taking off her tudung as her face is well known to Malaysians.

“But I only want to be myself. Hate or like, I am ready. After three years, only now have I plucked up the courage to remove the tudung,” she was quoted saying.

She was criticised by social media users after removing the headscarf and had previously been criticised after photos of her uncovered head while on holiday in Koh Lipe, Thailand surfaced online.

But Uqasha also said she may yet put on the tudung in future.

“Who knows in the future or after marriage, I will cover up the aurat whole-heartedly,” she was quoted saying.

Aurat refers to the parts of a Muslim woman’s body that must be covered, but the extent of which varies in interpretation according to schools of Islam.

Last June, Muslim women’s rights group Sisters in Islam (SIS) said that the Muslims’ holy book al-Quran does not specifically mention hair as part of a woman’s “aurat”.

SIS told Malay Mail Online then that the interpretation of the “aurat” in Malaysia has become increasingly influenced by Arab culture since the 1980s, noting that most Malay-Muslim women did not wear the tudung during the 1950s and 1960s, including the wife of the then Kelantan mufti and the spouse of Indonesian ulama, Prof Dr Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah, better known as Hamka.

“This very narrow and conservative interpretation of ‘aurat’ has also been directed mainly to women and as a result, the growing obsession with controlling women’s bodies by making wearing the hijab compulsory,” SIS had then said.

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

September 2, 2016
Kumpulan Hak Asasi Minta Myanmar Siasat Kematian Gadis Rohingya

Para pejuang hak asasi manusia meminta Myanmar untuk menyiasat kematian seorang gadis muslim dari golongan minoriti Rohingya, yang dianiaya di negara itu.

Gadis tersebut yang ditemui tidak berbaju dan tidak sedarkan diri berhampiran sebuah pangkalan tentera, meninggal dunia bulan ini.

Gadis berkenaan yang dikenal pasti sebagai Raysuana berusia 25 tahun didapati di sebelah jalan raya dekat kawasan tentera di Sittwe, ibu kota bandar Rakhine di barat Myanmar, menurut para penduduk dan kumpulan hak asasi Amnesty International.

Beliau hilang semasa berjalan di sebuah kawasan di mana lebih 100,000 penduduk kaum Rohingya tinggal di kemah-kemah sejak Sittwee berdepan dengan keganasan masyarakat pada 2012, tambah Amnesty dalam satu kenyataan pada lewat semalam (30 Ogos).

Kebanyakan yang dipindahkan adalah golongan muslim Rohingya, golongan yang ramai di Myanmar menganggap sebagai pendatang haram dari Bangladesh.

Mereka dihalang dari berjalan dengan bebas dan akses kepada jagaan kesihatan dan pendidikan dilarang.

Hla Myint, seorang pentadbir Rohingya, memberitahu Reuters beliau menerima panggilan daripada seorang korporal dari unit artileri tentera dan diminta untuk mengambil Raysuana yang tidak sedarkan diri pada awal 18 Ogos lalu.

“Beliau masih bernafas apabila saya melihatnya, tetapi beliau terbujur di lantai. Tiada pakaian di tubuhnya (selain baju dalam) tetapi seseorang menutupnya dengan selimut,” kata Hla Myint.

Beliau dibawa ke klinik kampung di mana para atenden mendapati kesan lebam pada leher dan darah dari rahimnya, tambah Hla Myint.

Gadis itu meninggal dunia petang itu juga (18 Ogos), menurutnya.

Para penduduk di kawasan-kawasan golongan minoriti dan pekerja hak asasi manusia sudah bertahun menuduh tentera Myanmar menyalahgunakan kuasa termasuk merogol. Tentera Myanmar menolak seperti biasa dakwaan tersebut.

Hal itu timbul sedang Myanmar mengadakan rundingan damai antara pemerintah dengan golongan etnik minoriti hari ini (31 Ogos) dalam satu usaha untuk menghuraikan konflik berdekad lamanya dan meragut ribuan nyawa dan membuat negara itu terbenam dengan kemiskinan.

AFP melaporkan Setiausaha Agung Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu Ban Ki-moon yang menghadiri rundingan itu menggambarkannya sebagai detik “bersejarah” bagi negara tersebut menyusuli peralihannya ke arah demokrasi.

Namun, hanya segelinitir menjangkakan keputusan yang kukuh daripada perundingan lima hari itu yang dianggap sebagai permulaan proses kedamaian yang boleh mengambil masa bertahun lamanya.

Source: Berita MediaCorp

September 1, 2016
Thailand’s First Halal Hotel Hopes To Help Boost Muslim Arrivals

Predominately Buddhist Thailand has opened its first halal hotel as hopes to attract more Muslim visitors and boost one of the few bright spots in its economy.

Nearly 30 million foreign tourists came to Thailand last year but only about 658,000 were from the Middle East, according to industry data.

The four-star Al Meroz hotel in Bangkok, which opened in November 2015, hopes to play its part in changing that, and to cash in.

“There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. It’s a huge market,” said the hotel’s general manager, Sanya Saengboon.

“Just one percent of that market is enough for us to thrive.”

The Al Meroz, which boasts mosque-like architecture, has two prayer rooms and three halal dining halls.

Rooms cost from 4,000 baht all the way up to 50,000 baht (US$116 to US$1,445) a night, said Sanya.

A guest at the hotel, Aamir Fazal, 28, a security officer from Australia, said access to a halal hotel was a comfort to Muslim travelers in Thailand where halal food can be hard to find.

“It’s a really nice experience. It’s the first halal hotel here and I find that amazing,” said Fazal.

Eager to tap into a growing Muslim tourist market, Thailand launched a mobile application last year which helps tourists search for halal eateries and Muslim-friendly attractions.

Parts of Thailand’s south, near the border with Muslim Malaysia, are majority Muslim.

Many Malaysians pop over the border for short visits but a low-level separatist insurgency in the far south, that has included bomb attacks in border towns frequented by Malaysian tourists, has dented business there.

A series of bomb attacks in more mainstream tourist towns south of Bangkok this month, in which four people were killed and dozens wounded, has led to fears the insurgency is spreading.

Thailand saw a 10 percent increase in arrivals from the Middle East in 2015 compared with 2014, data from the Department of Tourism showed.

Source: ChannelNewsAsia

September 1, 2016
177 Bakal Jemaah Haji Indonesia Terkandas Di Filipina, Jadi Mangsa Penipuan Sindiket

Gara-gara terpengaruh dengan tawaran satu sindiket untuk menunaikan ibadah haji menggunakan kuota haji Filipina, seramai 177 rakyat Indonesia kini ditahan di Depot Tahanan Imigresen negara itu.

Media-media tempatan melaporkan kesemua warga Indonesia itu terpedaya dengan sindiket ejen haji sebuah syarikat tempatan yang ‘menawarkan’ khidmat membawa jemaah negara itu menerusi penerbangan dari Manila, Filipina.

Sindiket itu dikatakan mengenakan bayaran sehingga AS$10,000 (S$14,000) bagi setiap bakal jemaah haji dan mereka berlepas dari Sulawesi Selatan ke Manila pada 19 Ogos lalu.

Naib Presiden Indonesia Jusuf Kalla ketika mengulas kejadian itu berkata sebanyak 177 bakal jemaah haji itu ditahan pihak berkuasa Filipina kerana kesalahan menggunakan pasport Filipina.

Beliau berkata kerajaan Indonesia sedang berusaha membantu mereka supaya tidak dikenakan hukuman.

Menurutnya mereka adalah mangsa penipuan dan pemerintah Indonesia meminta supaya kesemua mangsa sindiket itu dibebaskan pihak berkuasa Filipina.

Sementara itu, media-media online memetik jurucakap Kedutaan Indonesia di Filipina sebagai berkata bahawa mangsa sindiket haji itu secara berperingkat ditempatkan di Kedutaan Besar Indonesia di Filipina.

“Walaupun dipindahkan ke kedutaan itu, mereka masih tidak dibenarkan pulang ke tanah air kerana perlu membantu siasatan.

“Kedutaan telah memaklumkan kepada pihak berkuasa Filipina bahawa mereka adalah mangsa dan tidak mengetahui mengenai modus operandi ejen terbabit,” kata jurucakap itu.

Kesemua mangsa ditahan di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Manila ketika hendak berlepas ke Jeddah setelah pihak berkuasa mendapati pasport mereka mencurigakan dan mereka tidak boleh berbahasa Tagalog iaitu bahasa kebangsaan Filipina.

Setelah disiasat, kesemua 177 jemaah haji itu didapati bukan warga Filipina dan mereka memasuki negara itu sebagai pelancong sebelum diberikan pasport Filipina bagi tujuan menunaikan haji.

Kuota Haji Filipina dikatakan tidak dipenuhi umat Islamnya setiap tahun. Sementara itu, Kerajaan Arab Saudi menetapkan kuota 168,000 jemaah haji dari Indonesia tahun ini.

Bagaimanapun, waktu menunggu giliran haji di Indonesia kini adalah lebih 20 tahun ekoran jumlah yang mendaftar untuk menunaikan ibadah itu semakin meningkat setiap tahun.

Source: Berita MediaCorp

September 1, 2016
Jaguh Silat Dunia Sheik Farhan Terima Anugerah Jauhari Harapan

Anugerah Jauhari Harapan 2016 pula diberikan kepada juara silat dunia, Sheik Farhan Sheik Alau’ddin.

Bagi Sheik Farhan, 18 tahun, anugerah itu menjadi pencetus semangat baginya untuk terus meniti tangga kejayaan.

Bagaikan ‘di mana tumpahnya kuah kalau tidak ke nasi’, Sheik Farhan yang menjuarai Kejohanan Pencak Silat Dunia tahun lalu, menyifatkan ayahnya yang merupakan pesilat mapan, Sheik Alau’ddin sebagai sumber inspirasi.

“Saya nampak yang terbaik dalam silat ialah bapa saya dan untuk menjadi terbaik saya harus ikut yang terbaik,” katanya.

Farhan berharap anugerah tersebut dapat dijadikan sandaran terutamanya kepada atlit-atlit muda supaya dapat memartabatkan lagi arena sukan Singapura.

Beliau menambah: “Untuk golongan muda, ia memberitahu bahawa mereka boleh mencapai apa yang mereka mahu tidak kira usia dan saya rasa mereka harus tidak takut untuk mencapai cita-cita.”

Anugerah Jauhari disampaikan buat tahun ke-18 malam tadi (30 Ogos).

Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

August 31, 2016