Category: Agama

[Malaysia] Shell To Remove Cardboard Model Standees After Perverts ‘Molest’ Them In Viral Photos

Oil giant Shell today said today it will be removing all standees modelled by one of its Malay Muslim woman employees following viral images of the men in suggestive poses with her cardboard cut-out.

Shell also advised the public against further sharing such images which it termed as “distasteful”.

“We are aware that pictures of several individuals photographed engaging in distasteful and suggestive acts with a promotional standee at our retail stations are circulating online.

“We do not condone this disrespectful act, which is completely against the culture of Malaysians and Shell’s core values. We urge netizens and members of the public to refrain from sharing these images further.

“The standee will be removed from all our sites with immediate effect,” it said in a statement.

Several photos that have been making the rounds on social media showed men holding hands with the cut-out, kissing its cheek, and even grabbing at the breast.

The model pictured in the Shell promotional standee, Nor Shafila Khairusalleh, 25, was reported saying yesterday that she was perturbed by men “molesting” her likeness.

The petrol station supervisor told mStar Online that she could accept men who posed kissing or hugging her likeness, but not if they went overboard as it would be akin to sexual harassment.

“They may just be joking, but I feel ashamed because that is still myself although it is just an image,” she was quoted saying.

Nor Shafila was also reported that her husband was distressed seeing men “molest” his wife’s image, but that he remains an understanding partner.

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

July 4, 2017
[Malaysia] Polytechnic Stallholder In Penang Allegedly Told To Convert To Islam If He Wanted To Continue With The Stall

Gopi Krishnan Gopal, who operated a stall in Politeknik Seberang Perai (PSP), Penang, has now claimed that he was told to convert to Islam if he wanted to continue running his business.

The 45-year-old former engineer claimed that the PSP head of administration, who allegedly told him and his wife, Khor Hong Geik, to convert, has since retired.

Gopi Krishnan also claimed to have received calls from various quarters, including a government officer from Putrajaya, who told him to “keep things quiet” as there were efforts to get his stall reinstated.

“I told the officer to raise the issue with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s department and to ask the PM to ensure that all polytechnics in the country have a canteen operator to provide food for non-Muslims, especially vegetarians.

“We are not asking for a temple to be built in the polytechnic, just a stall to serve non-Muslims, some who are vegetarian due to religious reasons,” he said, adding that he served 1,200 non-Muslims students in PSP.

Gopi Krishnan (second on left in photo) would be lodging a police report on the matter and is also mulling legal action against the polytechnic.

Accompanying him at the press conference were Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy and lawyers Paramjit Singh and Shamsher Thind Singh.

Malaysiakini is in the process of contacting the polytechnic and Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan on the latest allegation.

Previously, Kamalanthan said the canteen operator was terminated from PSP due to “administrative reasons”. The deputy minister denied it had anything to do with racial or religious extremism.

The polytechnic has also denied allegations of racism, adding that a police report was lodged on June 26 on the contents of messages on the matter that went viral.

It is learnt that some 300 students have signed a petition, calling on the institution to reinstate the canteen operator, while several quarters have condemned PSP for its handling of a non-Muslim canteen operator.

Gopi Krishnan had been operating his canteen in PSP since September last year but was told to fold up his business by June 30, which is tomorrow.

He failed to obtain the permit for his stall despite meeting all the conditions stated in an open tender, which PSP held in May.

Gopi Krishnan was the only non-Muslim among 12 operators who participated in the open tender.

He was later told by the same head of administration, who allegedly told him to convert to Islam, that he was unable to fulfil the ISO syariah procedures.

Ramasamy said the syariah compliance procedure was something new and surprising.

“Why should a non-Muslim trader be subjected to this law? Are there requirements that in public institutions built with taxpayers’ money, both Muslims and non-Muslims, must practice syariah?

“Gopi Krishnan is clearly a victim of racial and religious intolerance in public institutions,” he said.

Ramasamy called on Kamalanathan, who is also MIC education bureau chief, and the entire PSP management, to resign.

Source: www.malaysia-chronicle.com

July 4, 2017
Gunmen Open Fire On Muslims Outside French Mosque, Eight Injured

Two gunmen injured eight people after opening fire on a group of Muslims outside of a French mosque Sunday.

The group was exiting the house of worship in the southern French city of Avignon at about 10:30 p.m. when the gunmen, who were reportedly wearing masks, opened fire.

Two of the eight wounded were hospitalized after the incident, according to the source, who also said that worshipers leaving the mosque had not been the intended target.

Sources told Reuters the gunmen were trying to settle a score with someone else, and a judicial source told the La Provence regional newspaper that officials are “not at all treating it as terrorist related” and instead suspect it stemmed from a dispute between youths.

Four people were wounded outside the mosque while a family of four in their apartment about 50 yards away took shrapnel, La Provence said.

Police arrested a man in the Paris suburb of Creteil last week after he tried to drive car into a crowd in front of a mosque.

Source: https://nypost.com

July 3, 2017
Alfian Sa’at: Why I Don’t Attend Pink Dot

Growing older, I find that my introverted nature is becoming more pronounced. One of the reasons why I decided not to go for Pink Dot this year is because I’m beginning to get more terrified of crowds. There’s always a moment when I’m surrounded by too many people when I start feeling dizzy and nauseous.

And then there’s the issue of my nervousness around dogs. I know Pink Dot is an opportunity for some people to bring their pets along, pets which are as dear to them as family. But dogs–when there’s more than one, or two–have always put me on edge. This is not a problem of the dog-owners roaming the park but my problem alone. (And this is the learned mantra of any minority.)

This isn’t supposed to be an indictment of Pink Dot’s agenda of inclusivity. I think every year the organisers attempt to provide an atmosphere as hospitable to as many as possible–sign language interpretation, differently-abled access, seating for seniors. But any embrace will come up short at some point because an arm span is finite.

The space at Pink Dot is also inhospitable for others–those who fear crowds, or fear dogs, those without a pink or blue IC. It makes me think about the limits of inclusivity, the dangers of fantasising about utopian spaces, or spaces that aspire to speak for the entire community.

In that anxiety to pack in bodies at the event, so as to create an optics of the local-indigenous, is bodily participation privileged over other forms of support? Be there or be square, be there or betray?

While I support what Pink Dot stands for (and many of its organisers and ambassadors and volunteers are wonderful, tireless people whose activist work extends beyond Pink Dot), I can’t stand to form that dot. Neither can I stand any kind of guilt tripping over one’s absence there, as if fidelity to the cause must translate into piety towards Pink Dot.

Ultimately I think of Pink Dot, no matter its organisational capacity, as part of something larger–and not as some large reservoir where other tributaries (no matter how many booths, how many representatives) are supposed to converge.

Source: Alfian Sa’at

July 3, 2017
Hue And Cry Over Pink Dot Event Shows Discrimination Exists

The letter writer Ho Lay Ping (“Don’t equate difference in opinion with discrimination”, June 20) said that because the Pink Dot event is allowed to continue, it shows that “discrimination does not exist”.

A minority community which faces no discrimination would not spark calls to have its event advertising material reported to the police on the basis of it being “divisive and polarising”.

The general tone of Facebook groups such as “We are against Pinkdot in Singapore” also makes the writer’s claim of tolerance and lack of discrimination nothing short of disingenuous.

Her comments that our government ministers may have religious affiliations and “that the majority of Singaporeans follow a religion” hint at laying out who has the authority of being the moral majority to steer our society.

Our pluralistic society comprises multiple ethnicities, creeds and religions, and protecting our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) minority community is not that great a stretch.

It is unhelpful to society if our reaction to something we find discomforting is to make police reports instead of having a reasonable and adult conversation.

We can be better than this.

Source: www.todayonline.com

July 1, 2017