A lot have been said about e talked about 786 CKT at Bukit Merah managed by our bro Anis Ang..
There are members here who mocked our bro if he is a true Muslim. Some even asked for his Identity Cards.. MUIS Conversion Papers.. Asked him to recite e Al Fatehah.. Saying tt e stall is not fully cleansed .. Questioned him why he don’t hv a Halal Certificate from MUIS.. etc..
Tday I wuld like to clarify e situation of his predicament as a Convert Muslim trying to make a living and survive (though he felt like he is being treated as a second class Muslim) in and by e Muslim Community here in Singapore.
The stall have been fully cleansed in accordance to Islamic way.. All equipments are new since he started e bisnes. He has been a Muslim Convert since 21 June 2011. All ingredients tt he ordered are fm a Muslim Supplier..
I hope this answers to some queries tt some members here in HCR have about him and his Bisnes…
Dear All.. I apologise if I cannot reply to Ur queries earlier and thank U all for your overwhelming support on this.. As requested by all I will have to remove his I.C that he is a Muslim cos due to security reasons.. Thanks and Wasallam..
Pink Dot, the annual gay celebratory event of “the freedom to love”, will take place this Saturday at Hong Lim Park for the seventh time since its inauguration in 2009.
Each year, the event is headlined by celebrities and has attracted global brands as sponsors. It has also seen an increasing number of people turning up to give it support. Last year’s event reportedly attracted 25,000 people.
“Pink is the colour of our ICs,” the group’s Facebook page says. “It is also the colour when you mix red and white – the colours of our national flag. Pink Dot stands for an open, inclusive society within our Red Dot, where sexual orientation represents a feature, not a barrier.”
An inclusive society is also the aim of the Lee Hsien Loong Government which has repeatedly urged Singaporeans to see one another as one people, and has boasted of its inclusive policies.
Mr Lee, however, raised recently some ire among those in the gay community for comments he made about same-sex marriage and the gay community.
In an interview with ASEAN journalists in Singapore earlier in June, he said Singapore society “is still conservative although it is changing gradually” and that it is “not ready” for same-sex marriage, as the Straits Times reported.
But, Mr Lee said, the gay community have the space to live their lives in Singapore.
“We do not harass them or discriminate against them,” he explained.
This seemingly more conciliatory position of the Government first came into the spotlight in 2003, when then-prime minister Goh Chok Tong caused a bit of an uproar among conservative circles when he said the government was employing openly gay people in the civil service.
Mr Goh famously said then: “In the past, if we know you’re gay, we would not employ you. But we just changed this quietly.”
Critics, however, point to the presence and retention of Singapore’s anti-gay law, section 377a of the Penal Code. The law criminalises sex between adult males.
Mr Lee said that the gay community “should not push the agenda too hard because if they push the agenda too hard, there will be a very strong pushback.”
“And this is not an issue where there is a possibility that the two sides can discuss and eventually come to a consensus. Now, these are very entrenched views and the more you discuss, the angrier people get,” he said.
Pink Dot, in response to Mr Lee’s remarks, said that while it acknowledged Mr Lee’s concerns – given Singapore’s unique position as a multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-religious society, there will be a plurality of viewpoints, some deeply entrenched – it nonetheless feels that “it is not a topic that can be swept under the carpet and allowed to fester.”
Lee
“We firmly believe that dialogue is our best way forward,” Pink Dot said. “As such, we would like to invite Prime Minister Lee to join us in celebrating the Freedom to Love, this Saturday, June 13, at Hong Lim Park, and meet with the individuals, families, and loving couples who form a vibrant part of Singapore’s social fabric.”
Mr Lee’s office has not responded to the invitation publicly.
Pink Dot also noted that racial and religious minorities are protected under the constitution.
“Whether Singapore will eventually abolish Section 377a and create a society truly based on justice and equality, that values all contributing citizens regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity; a lot will depend on fostering goodwill and encouraging respect among groups and individuals.”
Will Mr Lee accept Pink Dot’s invitation and turn up at Hong Lim Park on Saturday, in the name of inclusiveness or fostering an inclusive society? Should he?
Well, if we go by what his government itself has said – that it wants to build an inclusive society – and what is declared in our National Pledge – that we “pledge ourselves as one united people… to build a democratic society based on justice and equality” – then there is no reason for Mr Lee to decline the invitation.
But of course if Mr Lee accepts the invite, it will be seen by the conservatives as a sign of support, or at least of tacit endorsement of the gay community.
Indeed, Pink Dot’s invitation could also be seen as putting Mr Lee on the spot, perhaps nudging him to take a stand, instead of the fence-sitting one he currently adopts when it comes to gay issues.
Whatever it is, it will an interesting Saturday indeed.
A regular swimmer was worried when he spotted holes on the walls of the cubicles of Woodlands Swimming Complex, which looked like they have been drilled in by someone.
After a swim session just last Saturday (Jul 12), Stomper Richard noticed a hole on the wall of the showering cubicles of the men’s toilet .
Upon closer look, he realised three of the cubicles had the same hole and that one could peek through them.
He wrote:
“I am a regular swimmer in Woodlands Swimming Complex and my son also attends swimming lessons regularly in the same pool. There are times he will attend the lessons by himself because we are staying opposite the swimming complex.
“When I was showering in one of the cubicles at the male changing room that is furthest from the exit, I noticed some greyish spots on the cubicle wall.
“I took a closer look and realised it is a small hole that one could peek through to the adjacent cubicle. The greyish spots looks like cement that had been used to cover the hole but was dug out again.
“The location of the peek hole is purposely positioned at the crotch level and one can only imagine the “uses” for this hole.
“I checked the walls of other cubicles and was shocked to discover the other cubicles walls all had similar peek holes.
“As a father, how can I let my primary school age son use the shower facilities in the men’s toilet with a peace of mind when there are potential sick perverts peeking at their private parts? Our children’s modesty is at stake.”
Last time PAP members fought for Singaporeans’ rights. Dr. Tan Cheng Bock push for us to be able to use our CPF to fund higher education because it was good investment for the future. It was small things like that which cause us to improve our lives. Let’s think about it really.
At that time, parents won’t be financially strained from university fees and the result of having a better educated workforce also helped boost Singapore’s knowledge-based transformation in that era. People are thankful and voted for Dr. Tan for 5 terms with average 77%. Now people are angry!
Today, PAP has changed and now spend more than $240 million a year of taxpayer’s money on scholarships and tuition grants to foreign student. Locals have to suffer from the opportunity costs of a 2-year NS and they are burdened with loans long after graduation.
Look at all these millionaire ministers who don’t even talk sense because they are too disconnected with the ground thanks to their million dollar salaries. How will they add value to the policy making processes as compared to those people in parliament in the 1980s who are so much more hands on?
Some netizen said that opposition movement was censored by PAP and LKY so badly that no one had the balls to act as a check on their “20/20” lack of foresight. Even as PAP try to make changes after GE2011, BTO is still not affordable and country still have infrastructural strain like crowded MRT.
PAP government and their supporters have also start to act arrogant and self-entitled. They have spoken on high grounds and as can be seen in their “words of wisdom” like Tin Pei Ling and Koh Poh Koon. If you are paying top dollar for such quality of people then it really becomes a cruel joke!
Nicholas-Seth Leong who himself is no big deal degrade MRT commuters as “common people” and “peasants” just because he had to take the MRT. Later he was so embarrassed that he had to deactivate his FB after people found out that he drove and old Honda Civic anyway.
It’s like choosing to work for a company which not only the bosses are incompetent, damn show off but also push all the work and blame to you, talk down on you all the time and then when things go well they enjoy the rewards themselves, receive high bonus while they don’t care about you at all!
Why do we need such people? If PAP cannot improve our lives then maybe time to vote them out.
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (Reuters) – Seven gay and lesbian couples from China were married in the Southern California gay capital of West Hollywood on Tuesday after winning a contest sponsored by a pair of Chinese Internet companies.
The seven couples were selected from among more than 2,000 based on videos they submitted detailing their love stories, after Internet users voted for their top 10 favorites on Taobao, Alibaba’s popular e-commerce site.
West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey Horvath officiated the wedding ceremonies at a city library for six gay and one lesbian couple who managed to get U.S. visas. The contest was also sponsored by Blued, a social media app popular with gays in China.
“We’re so honored and happy to have them in West Hollywood,” Horvath said. “We’ve long been a community committed to equal rights for all people, and advancing and protecting the rights especially of our LGBT community.”
While these couples’ marriages are recognized in California, which legalized gay marriage in 2013, their unions will not be legal in China. China decriminalized homosexuality in 1997, but does still not allow gay marriage.
“We’ve been together for almost eight years, so we want to give each other a promise or a commitment for life,” said Hu Zhidong, 32, who met his partner, Liu Xin, also 32, at a party, where they found out they shared the same birthday.
REUTERS/Lucy NicholsonA gay couple prepares to get married at a group wedding for seven same-sex couples from China, in West Hollywood, California, United States, June 9, 2015.
To Xu Na, 29, and Xue Meng Yao, 21, the only lesbian couple participating in the ceremony, the opportunity to use this event to come out was also important.
“We want to find a proper time to tell our parents,” Xu said. “This could be a good chance for them to see a lot of positive exposure.”
During the ceremony the couples recited their vows in both English and Chinese, often while shedding tears.
Geng Le, Blued’s founder and chief executive, said that while many online media outlets in China were interested in covering this event, Chinese television stations might hesitate, because homosexuality was still a sensitive topic there.
(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Eric Walsh)
Read the original article on Reuters. Copyright 2015. Follow Reuters on Twitter.
