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Buru Fadilat Ibadah 10 Hari Terakhir Puasa Di Makkah

Tahun ini merupakan kali pertama Encik Abdullah Moosa dan isterinya akan menyambut akhir Ramadan dan Hari Raya berjauhan daripada keluarga.

Encik Abdullah, 60 tahun, dan Cik Rubiah Mohammed, 58 tahun, antara jemaah warga Singapura yang menunaikan umrah pada akhir Ramadan ini.

Mereka berlepas ke Jeddah, Arab Saudi, kelmarin.

“Saya rasa sangat ghairah. Dengan izin Allah, saya dipilih menunaikan umrah di sana.

“Tentunya saya akan rindu kepada keluarga saya kerana tak dapat sambut Hari Raya dengan mereka di sini, tetapi saya serahkan semuanya pada Ilahi. Insya-Allah semuanya okay,” kata beliau, yang pernah menunaikan umrah dua kali sebelum ini.

Sekitar 300 jemaah Singapura telah berlepas ke Jeddah sejak Jumaat lalu.

Beberapa agensi yang menyediakan pakej umrah semasa akhir Ramadan berkata rombongan jemaah mereka secara umumnya telah berlepas ke Arab Saudi pada 4 Julai lalu dan akan kembali ke Singapura pada 19 Julai nanti.

Rata-rata mereka berkata ramai jemaah yang pergi ke sana pernah mengerjakan umrah dan ingin beribadah di Makkah bagi mengejar fadilat 10 malam terakhir Ramadan.

Pengurus di Shahidah Travel & Tours, Cik Rosila Salim, berkata ramai jemaah yang pergi kali ini merupakan mereka yang pernah menunaikan umrah semasa Ramadan.

Beliau turut menarik perhatian bahawa terdapat satu trend baru dengan lebih ramai lelaki bujang muda menunaikan umrah bersendirian.

“Ada yang semuda 21 tahun. Mungkin mereka menerima galakan daripada ibu bapa mereka dan mereka cenderung pada agama serta ingin mendapatkan fadilat sepenuhnya pada 10 hari terakhir Ramadan,” kata beliau.

Pengarah pengurusan Jalaluddin Travel & Services, Ustaz Jalaluddin Hassan, berkata menyambut Ramadan di tanah suci adalah suatu pengalaman luar biasa.

Beliau berkata terdapat dua rombongan menunaikan umrah semasa Ramadan, dengan rombongan kedua sekitar 20 orang akan kembali ke tanah air pada 19 Julai nanti.

“Mereka ingin menyambut Ramadan di sana kerana ganjarannya. Kemeriahan di sana juga sangat luar biasa. Pada bulan Ramadan, orang ramai berbuka bersama, semua murah hati dan tiada beza antara kaya dengan miskin,” ujarnya.

Pengarah Ruby Rashid Travel & Tours, Hajah Ruby Rashid, berkata jemaah yang menunaikan umrah di sana datang daripada pelbagai lapisan usia – daripada yang muda hingga yang lanjut usia.

Rombongan jemaahnya berlepas ke Arab Saudi mengikut konsortium yang dibentuk bersama beberapa agensi lain.

“Mereka yakin dapat lailatulqadar di sana dan ingin menyambut Hari Raya di sana juga. Memang lebih seronok di sana,” kata beliau.

Source: http://beritaharian.sg

July 11, 2015
Zulfikar Shariff: Malays Need To Improve Self-Esteem, Be More Aware Of Discriminatory Policies

A couple of Malays, when informed that the PAP has historically discriminated against the community, tried to play it down by saying these policies are in the past. they further argue that we have to forget the past.

This is the mistake some make when they discuss politics without understanding the institutional effects of policy formulation.

When a policy is implemented, it does not simply affect its immediate time. Instead, these policies’ effects and implementation can be found far into the future.

In institutional policy development, there is a concept known as path dependency. Path dependency refers to the behaviour of policy makers in the preferences of choices. When a specific choice is made at an earlier time, that same choice will be used as a template for future choices.

The PAP’s policy of excluding Malays from the uniformed services is still in existence today. The values, views, ideologies, the very template that gave validity to those policies are still part of the PAP today.

That it has changed slightly does not mean the reason the policy was crafted has changed.

The discriminatory policies, apart from showing how Malays are not valued by the PAP, also reveals a careless attitude to policies that affect the Malay community. They did not care or consider the effects the policy would have on the Malays.

The policy resulted in thousands of Malay youths being unemployed and unable to be educated between 1967 to 1977 (and it extends in some form until 1984).

No provisions were made. No alternative pathways were given. These youths did not even get the recognition of being informed they would not be enlisted.

It shows a government that did not care about what happened to Malay youths.

The effects of this policy devastated the community. Prior to the exclusion of Malays, we found social and economic mobility in the uniformed services.

Yet the PAP shut down this avenue. They did not renew the contracts of Malays in these services and new applicants were rejected.

This depressed the community’s economy. They lost their economic stability. An economically depressed community places stress on its own institutions and potential.

Marriages were affected because of unemployment and financial difficulties. Because Malays generally could not find proper employment or be educated until they were in their late 20s, many were married before they gained financial stability.

And the financial stress affected these families.

Opportunities to attend institutions of higher education became narrowed. Families either could not afford fees, extra lessons required or needed these students to find employment because of the family’s financial distress.

I know of a lot of Malays who had to leave school because their families needed them to work.

To assume that the PAP’s exclusion of Malay youths only affected the thousands of males during that period is to disregard the damage it caused to the community as a whole.

We are products of this policy. The Malay community is still getting out of the effects of PAP’s racism. While other communities have been able to afford excellent tuition the last couple of decades, most Malay families are just getting to that level of ability.

The forced financial distress caused by the PAP’s policies did not just affect those who were excluded in the 70s.

The racist policies still affects us now.

If we want to get out of this mess, we should recognise how the government behaves, what the institutional preferences are, what conditions are in place.

Yes, there are a lot of things we need to work on to strengthen our community.

And one of the things we need to improve is our self esteem.

We are better than what we have been accused of.

Yes some issues are due to our mistakes.

A lot are not.

We are a cultured, intelligent and dignified community.

Do not allow anyone to abuse us.

Never again.

We are strong.

We are Malays.

Source: Zulfikar Shariff

July 10, 2015
HPB Steps Up Effort To Promote Healthy Lifestyle Among Malay Community

When the National Disease Registry (NDR) reported in December last year stating that Malays are the unhealthiest in Singapore, it drew a backlash from some people in the community.

“If a certain issue is indeed worrying and needs immediate attention/solution, why would identifying a certain enthic/community make any difference?” said Facebook user Zulkifli Yusof.

According to the NDR report, Malays are more likely to suffer from a stroke, undergo kidney transplants or go through dialysis.

On Thursday, the Health Promotion Board announced nation-wide efforts stepped up to promote healthy lifestyle, with tailored programmes for the Malay community.

These programmes consist of establishing health-promoted madrasahs, running the Ramadan “I Quit” smoking cessation campaign, distributing health calendars – consisting of healthy recipes and tips – to Malay families and organising healthy living programmes at mosques.

During a visit to Al-Ma’arif Al-Islamiyah, one of the participating madrasahs, on Thursday, Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim and parliamentary secretary for the Ministry of Health responded to the reactions.

He said he has seen positive response on the programmes from madrasah teachers, students and people who go to mosques.

“The fact that they feel for it means that they are quite committed to their healthy habits and lifestyle.”

“I feel that those among the (Malay) community who have embraced it (healthy living) are doing their best to eat healthily.”

There are currently three madrasahs actively promoting healthy living in Singapore: Al Ma’arif Al-Islamiyah, Irsyad Zuhri Al-Islamiyah and Wak Tanjung Al-Islamiyah. HPB plans to extend the initiative to three more.

These madrasahs now have health programmes permanently fitted into their school curriculum; some of these include health workshops and a student health ambassador-training programme. There are a total of 107 student health ambassadors across the three madrasahs, and their roles include leading health workshops.

These health workshops are designed to educate students on being mentally and physically healthy. Student ambassadors will hold talks sharing tips on maintaining a balanced diet, healthy stress levels and good self-esteem.

Faishal said that he is happy with the progress of the programmes, noting that at least 1,800 madrasah students have benefited from them.

The principal of Al-Ma’arif Al-Islamiyah, Sukarti Asmoin, 61, welcomes the new initiatives as part of the school curriculum. Speaking in Malay, she says she feels that it is important to keep the students healthy so that they will not fall sick.

It is also encouraged in the religion to maintain good health, which is linked to having a healthy mind, she added.

The school has also changed the food served in the school. For example, the canteen vendors are only allowed to sell fried foods on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Other plans

For the wider Malay community, HPB aims to recruit 2,000 smokers for the 2015 edition of Ramadan “I Quit” 28-day programme. There were 1,500 sign-ups in 2014.

They also plan to increase health-screening sessions and venues — from six to 10 mosques.

The school has also changed the food served in the school. For example, the canteen vendors are only allowed to sell fried foods on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

July 10, 2015
Thai Consulate In Istanbul Attacked After Uighurs Deported

Turkish anti-Chinese demonstrators stormed the Thai consulate in Istanbul in protest at the deportation by Bangkok of dozens of Uighur Muslims to China, as diplomatic tensions flared Thursday in an increasingly combustible controversy.

The attack was the latest in a series of nationalist-tinted protests in Turkey during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan over China’s treatment of the Turkic-speaking, largely Muslim Uighurs in the northwestern Xinjiang region.

Nine people were arrested after the action at the consulate building in Istanbul late Wednesday organised by a group calling itself the East Turkestan Education Association, the Dogan news agency reported.

They broke down the doors to the building, pulled down the sign outside and damaged the furnishings inside, television footage showed.

The Thai flag was pulled down as the building was also pelted with stones. Files and documents were flung outside and littered the street while a man was seen battering a window with a post.

Shocked consulate workers returned to the office on Thursday to find their workplace upturned, with broken glass and debris littering the floor.

Thailand said it had deported around 100 Uighur Muslims detained in the kingdom since last year to China, in a move sparking fears for the safety of the asylum-seekers.

The fate of the Uighurs, who presented themselves to police as Turkish, had been the subject of a diplomatic tussle between Ankara and Beijing.

Thai government spokesman Werachon Sukhondapatipak told reporters “some 100” Uighurs were deported to China Wednesday after finding “clear evidence they are Chinese nationals”.

He also revealed that an earlier group of Uighurs, 172 women and children, were sent to Turkey in late June.

– ‘Without consent’ –

In an address to Turkish ambassadors late Thursday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who is scheduled to visit China later this month — condemned the violence and warned against “any provocations”.

“We have our compatriots all over the world. Whatever happens to them directly concerns us. But we can never approve of what happened in Istanbul, such things don’t befit us,” Erdogan said, declaring all Asians visiting Turkey “our friends.”

In a statement released Thursday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned Thailand for sending the Uighur Turks back to China, accusing it of “acting against the international laws.”

Foreign ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic told AFP that Ankara was “saddened” by the attack on the Thai consulate, saying such actions “were not approved” and “do not benefit anyone”.

The UN refugee agency said it was “shocked” by the deportation to China after the earlier group of Uighurs had “benefited” from being moved to Turkey.

It is “a flagrant violation of international law”, said Volker Turk of UNHCR in a statement which added the Uighurs “indicated that they did not wish to be deported to China”.

Turkey last week had summoned the Chinese ambassador to convey its “deep concerns” over alleged restrictions on the Uighur community during Ramadan. Beijing has denied any such restrictions.

Protests have taken place across the country, dealing a blow to relations between China and Turkey which have noticeably improved over the last few years.

On Thursday pro-Uighur protesters who gathered outside the Thai embassy in Ankara attacked an Asian tourist, thinking that she was Chinese, news agency Dogan reported.

The woman, whose nationality was not immediately clear, was rescued by a plain clothes police officer.

On Saturday, Turkish nationalists attacked a group of South Korean tourists in the heart of Istanbul’s old city, believing they were Chinese.

The Royal Thai Embassy in Turkey on its Facebook page warned Thai citizens to be on alert.

Turkish media reported on Thursday that China Philharmonic Orchestra cancelled a performance scheduled to take place in Istanbul in mid-August in the face of the protests.

Opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) chief Devlet Bahceli added further fuel to the fire by saying the attack on the Koreans was understandable given that both peoples have “slitty eyes”.

Meanwhile in a possible bid to ease tensions, a report by Turkey’s state Anatolia news agency from Xinjiang said it found there were no special restrictions on Uighur Muslims during Ramadan.

Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

July 10, 2015
36 Arrested In Islandwide Anti-Vice Raid

The police have arrested 36 suspects in HDB flats suspected to be operating as brothels in an island-wide operation.

The suspects, comprising two men and 34 women aged between 21 and 48, were allegedly involved in vice-related activities in residential areas, the police said in a statement on Thursday.

Officers from the Ang Mo Kio Division, Jurong Division and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) raided multiple locations, including Woodlands, Sembawang, Sengkang, Jurong West, Yishun, Chinatown and River Valley, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

A woman who lives next door to Woodlands flat that was raided said she became suspicious after strange men pacing up and down while looking at their mobile phones on the common corridor.

The resident, who has young children, said she was shocked such things were going on just next door to them.

“It’s disgusting and I’m grossed out. I feel unsafe, especially for my kids. I don’t want such people anywhere near them,” she said.

Source: www.tnp.sg

July 10, 2015