Category: Agama

Imam Nalla Charged, May Be Punished With Up To Three Years In jail, A Fine Or Both

An imam who made controversial remarks against Christians and Jews during his Friday sermon at a mosque was charged in court on Monday (Apr 3) with promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion or race.

In January and February 2017, Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel had made supplications at Friday prayers where he recited an old Arabic text which originated from his village in India. The text read: “God help us against Jews and Christians”, which is not an extract from the Quran.

The incident came under police investigation after a video of the sermon was posted on Facebook. It sparked heated debate, prompting Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim to call for peace and unity in the Muslim community.

Nalla subsequently apologised in front of Christian, Sikh, Taoist, Buddhist and Hindu representatives, as well as members of the Federation of Indian Muslims, saying that he was “filled with great remorse” for the inconvenience, tension and trauma caused by his remarks.

Lawyers Channel NewsAsia spoke to said that the imam’s apology could be a strong mitigation factor if the case is brought before a court.

After the police concluded investigations into the case, Nalla also visited Rabbi Moderchai Abergel at the Maghain Aboth Synagogue on Sunday to extend his apology to the Jewish community in Singapore – which the rabbi accepted.

For promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion or race, the imam may be punished with up to three years in jail, a fine or both.

Source: CNA

April 3, 2017
Hotel Halal Pertama Thailand Dapat Sambutan Amat Menggalakkan

Perniagaan Al Meroz Hotel, hotel empat bintang halal sepenuhnya yang
pertama di Thailand, kini semakin pesat berikutan peningkatan jumlah pelancong Islam ke negara itu.

Pengarah Urusan dan Pengurus Besarnya Sanya Saengboon berkata hotel dengan 242 bilik itu yang sudah mendapat pensijilan daripada pihak berkuasa dari Timur Tengah dan Thailand, mendapat sambutan yang amat menggalakkan.

“Kadar penginapan hotel kami sekarang ialah pada 94 peratus. Ia sudah terlalu tinggi dan saya tidak tahu apa yang perlu dilakukan lagi (terhadap sambutan yang tidak pernah berlaku),” katanya kepada Bernama dalam satu temu bual baru-baru ini.

Bagi menampung permintaan yang amat menggalakkan itu, beliau berkata hotel itu, yang menampilkan seni bina seperti masjid lengkap dengan menara, sudah mula merancang untuk menambah 150 bilik lagi.

Rancangan pengembangan dilakukan sebulan selepas hotel itu, yang terletak di pinggir bandar Bangkok, Ramkhamhaeng, dilancarkan secara rasmi pada Februari tahun ini selepas menjalani operasi percubaan lebih setahun.

BANGUNAN TAMBAHAN AKAN DITAMBAH

Hotel berkenaan akan menambah satu lagi bangunan tambahan pada akhir tahun,
menjadikan jumlah keseluruhan bilik kepada hampir 500, setiap satu dilengkapi dengan
sejadah, Al-Quran dan arah kiblat.

Ia juga mempunyai surau, kemudahan wuduk, tiga restoran, dewan, gimnasium dan kolam renang, dengan masa yang berlainan bagi lelaki dan wanita.

Menurut Sanya, yang beragama Islam, walaupun hotel itu halal sepenuhnya, Al Meroz menerima campuran tetamu, Islam dan bukan Islam, yang menunjukkan bahawa orang bukan Islam sedia untuk menginap di hotel berstatus halal.

“Sejak dibuka, kami telah menerima banyak pelanggan dari Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, China, serta negara-negara di Timur Tengah, Eropah dan Amerika,” katanya.

Selain itu, hotel ini juga memenuhi keperluan pelancong Islam tempatan terutamanya dari bahagian selatan negara ini dan masyarakat yang tinggal di Ramkhamhaeng, antara penempatan orang Islam terawal dan terbesar di Bangkok.

LIHAT PELUANG DALAM PELANCONGAN HALAL

Sanya berkata Lembaga Pelancongan Thailand melihat peluang dalam pasaran
pelancongan halal dan memulakan usaha bersepadu untuk menarik pelancong Islam dari seluruh dunia ke negara di Asia Tenggara itu.

(Gambar-gambar: Laman Al Meroz Hotel)

“Terdapat 1.6 bilion umat Islam di dunia dan ini merupakan satu peluang yang besar untuk negara,” katanya, sambil menambah bahawa usaha untuk menarik pelancong Islam sudah memberi faedah kepada Thailand, sebuah negara dengan majoriti penduduk beragama Buddha.

Thailand sudah menyaksikan lonjakan pelancong dan pengunjung Islam sejak beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini.

Beliau berkata inisiatif ini melangkaui peluang pelancongan memandangkan rantaian halal meliputi industri-industri lain yang Thailand boleh memanfaatkannya.

Mengimbas kembali bagaimana tercetusnya idea untuk membina hotel halal pertama Thailand itu, Sanya berkata ia adalah ilham Presiden dan Ketua Pegawai Eksekutifnya, Rausak Mulsap, yang melihat peluang luas dalam industri halal.

Didorong oleh impian memiliki hotel halal di Thailand, Rausak memulakan pembinaan Al Meroz Hotel tiga tahun lalu dengan pelaburan sebanyak lebih satu bilion baht (S$40 juta).

Source: BeritaMediacorp

April 3, 2017
Imam Visits Synagogue To Apologise For Offensive Remarks

Imam Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel, 47, extended his unconditional apology for his offensive remarks and acknowledged that he must bear full responsibility for his actions.

The visit came two days after he apologised at a gathering of leaders of various faiths.

Yesterday, the imam also presented Rabbi Mordechai Abergel with a copy of the open statement of apology that he had delivered last Friday at the Harmony in Diversity Gallery in Maxwell Road.

On behalf of the Jewish community here, Rabbi Abergel accepted the imam’s apology at the Maghain Aboth Synagogue.

The rabbi said the Jewish and Muslim communities here have a “very harmonious” relationship, with strong bonds of friendship.

“This sends a message that these bonds are not affected, and we share so much more than what divides us,” he added.

In February, a video of the imam reciting a prayer in Arabic that said “God help us against Jews and Christians”, among other things, was circulated online.

The imam clarified last Friday that the additional supplication he read was not from the Quran, but an old Arabic text originating from his village in India.

Yesterday, Buddhist and Sikh leaders also joined in the synagogue visit.

At a separate community event in Marsiling yesterday, Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob said the imam’s apology is a “positive move” that should be taken into consideration.

“He apologised, he gathered together all the people from different faiths, and it was a great initiative on his part,” she said.

REMORSE

Last Friday’s meeting, where the imam apologised before leaders of various faiths, including Christian leaders, was organised at his request.

He said he was “filled with great remorse for the inconvenience, tension and trauma that I have caused to this peaceful country”.

After the controversial remarks surfaced, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said the Government will not tolerate preaching that encourages violence or seeks to pit one religion against another.

On Saturday, Mr Shanmugam said the police have completed their investigations on the matter and submitted a report to the Attorney-General’s Chambers, adding that a decision is expected within a few days.

The imam’s apology was welcomed by the Muslim community and leaders of other faiths, Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim noted on Saturday.

Yesterday, Madam Halimah said of the imam’s apology: “He realised what he did was a mistake.

“He also realised that what he had lifted from his home town in India may not be so applicable here. Probably, he didn’t know, or quite understand, the context of Singapore society.”

She added: “We are multiracial, multi-religious, and you need to understand that is important.”

Source: TNP

April 3, 2017
SG Malay-Muslim Community Can Be The “Beacon For The Rest Of The World”

The Malay-Muslim community in Singapore has made concrete progress in the areas of education, jobs and wealth, said Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam yesterday.

However, it also has to take a hard look at three challenges facing the community – radicalisation, more professionals losing their jobs and a significant over-representation of Malays in crime and drug statistics as well as the prison population.

He called on Malay-Muslim organisations such as self-help group Mendaki, the Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP) and the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore to step forward and help tackle these issues. The roles that such groups can play include counselling former offenders and supporting their families, as well as turning those who are at risk away from crime and drug abuse, said Mr Shanmugam, who is also Law Minister.

He was addressing about 140 community leaders and volunteers at an annual seminar organised by the AMP. In his speech, he highlighted the significant social and economic progress made by the Malay- Muslim community over the years.

For instance, the proportion of Malay Primary 1 pupils who go on to post-secondary education has doubled from 45 per cent in 1995 to 93 per cent in 2015. One out of every five Malay pupils who enters the education system will eventually obtain a degree or diploma, he said.

And while the proportion of Malays who are professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) was 28 per cent in 2010, “I am sure it has gone up more by now”, he noted. On housing, he said nearly 90 per cent of Malay households own their own homes, with 70 per cent of them living in four-room Housing Board flats or bigger.

“A Singapore Malay today in educational standing, in terms of skills and wealth, is better off than a Malaysian Malay or an Indonesian Malay,” he said. “The same goes for the Indians, and for the Chinese, in Singapore.”

The Government will continue to provide support to all Singaporeans, with additional help given to Malay-Muslims, he noted. The support includes financial help when infants are born, subsidising childcare and school fees, cash grants to buy HDB flats and healthcare subsidies.

But while the progress made by the community is encouraging, he warned of dangers posed by radicalisation and exclusivism. He cited a study by US-based Pew Research Centre on Malaysia, which showed 10 per cent of Malaysian Malays had a favourable opinion of terror group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and nearly a quarter were not prepared to denounce it. “We have to make sure that we do not get there,” he said.

On the jobs front, a committee led by parliamentary secretaries Amrin Amin and Faishal Ibrahim is being set up to help Malay-Muslim PMETs hit by job losses, he said.

In addition, Malay-Muslim groups can work with the Government to tackle the problem of “significant over-representation” of Malays in crime, drug and prison statistics, the minister noted.

He is optimistic that the Malay- Muslim community can overcome the challenges it faces, and be a “beacon for the rest of the world” – one that is confident, modern, vibrant and integrated.

AMP chairman Abdul Hamid Abdullah said the association can work with the Government to reach out to more families. “Community groups are in a better position to reach out to Malay families because we are on the ground,” he noted.

On the Malay community becoming an example for other countries, he said: “This is motivating. We can be an example of how a minority community can thrive in a multi-racial country.”

Source: ST

April 3, 2017
Malaysia Attorney-General: Non-Muslims Rattled By Increasing Islamisation

NON-MUSLIMS are against Islamic criminal law amendments as they perceive them as another step towards the Islamisation of Malaysia, Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali candidly told The Malaysian Insight yesterday.

It does not help either that the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (or better known by its Bahasa Malaysia acronym, RUU 355) Bill was mooted by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, the propagator of hudud laws in Kelantan in the 1990s, with Terengganu following suit later.

Wading into the issue after Barisan Nasional decided not to table Hadi’s private member’s bill in line with the principle of consensus, Apandi said this issue was always going to be a problem.

“When Hadi introduced this bill and tried to incorporate the 100 lashes and other severe punishment, the perception of non-Muslims was that hudud is coming, in the guise of the private member’s bill.”

In fact, Apandi said, RUU 355 was simply to amend the existing Syariah Criminal Law Act to enhance punishments.

It was also to give Muslims a sense of “feeling good”, as the shariah court currently is even lower than the powers of the magistrate’s court. RUU 355 was to have increased the power of the shariah court to the position of a Sessions Court.

“They (non-Muslims), however, read it as the beginning of an Islamic state government like the ones in Iran, Iraq and Syria, despite being told it was not applicable to non-Muslims. That is why the strong resistance.”

On a personal note, Apandi is relieved that the ruling federal coalition had made a U-turn on RUU 355, as that meant he would not have to draft the amendments to Hadi’s bill, which he felt would have been opposed anyway.

“When we draft, we have to show that it is a government bill, so in the first place, my office will have to make sure that it is different from Hadi’s draft.

“So maybe, just maybe, we may exclude Sabah (and Sarawak), to make it different, and even reduce the sentences.

“On the number of strokes, and even the sentences, I would have probably reduced them.

“The difference from the current laws which the Syariah Court Criminal Jurisdiction covers, imprisonment is only up to three years. They want to change it to 30 years, such a big disparity.

“As for fines, currently it is RM1,000, they want to increase it to RM100,000. The disparity is so big. People are going to start questioning the logic behind this.

“So that is why the perception by the people outside will be ‘Oh, this is definitely going to be hudud’.”

Apandi also said he had mentioned the matter to BN politicians and they have indicated their concerns to him.

Many had said it would be difficult for them to explain to their supporters if the government had adopted Hadi’s bill.

They had also warned that BN could lose seats, especially in Sarawak and Sabah, if the government did not make that RUU 355 U-turn.

Apandi also feels RUU 355 was more political than legal.

“The purpose and intention of this is to reap political mileage. Have you heard anybody from the public clamouring for increase of powers of the shariah court? No, nobody asking is asking for it, isn’t it?

“To my reading, it is mainly political. He (Hadi) has to satisfy the states that have already established hudud laws.

“People in those states are beginning to question him: ‘Hey, we have the law, why can’t we enforce them? What’s happened?’ He needs to say something to these states. And that is why he is trying to get federal support.

“So, yes… it’s political!”

Source: www.themalaysianinsight.com

April 1, 2017