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Malaysians, Indonesians, Threatens Boycott Over Honda’s LGBT Campaign In US

KUALA LUMPUR — Several Malaysians and Indonesians have expressed outrage over Honda’s support of a US lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pride parade, saying they would boycott the Japanese carmaker.

American Honda Motor Company, Inc, which is the North American subsidiary of Honda Motor Company, Ltd, posted on its Facebook page last Saturday (June 18) that it would be participating in the 2016 Columbus Pride Parade in Ohio and posted a photograph of its vehicles in various colours, following the signature rainbow colour of the LGBT movement.

“At Honda, we value diversity and inclusion of everyone. Our support for the LGBT community is a reflection of our company’s commitment,” Honda wrote.

Many Malaysians and Indonesians, however, found issue with the automobile company’s backing of the community and posted comments saying they would trade in their Honda vehicles and stop buying from Honda.

“I am a potential buyer who had a keen interest in your new Honda Civic, but since Honda support lgbt, you just lost a customer. I will spread this post and made you lost EVEN MORE customer,” said Facebook user called Penulis Tanpa Nama, whose post received 474 “likes”.

Another Malaysian Facebook user, Syarifah Husna, said she would now choose Mazda over Honda, warning Malaysians that “eventually it will come to here… And last thing u know they will fund lgbt here”.

Malaysian Facebook user Bendahara Alam Warisan said he used to be a big supporter of Honda, but now he would trade off all his vehicles and cancel two orders of a CR-V and Civic.

“I shall never buy honda again n i shall tell all my friend dont buy honda. The least we could do to stop lgbt,” he wrote.

Indonesian Facebook user Didi Rachmadi said “since Honda support gay, lets move to Toyota for the next car”.

Some Facebook users, however, supported Honda’s pro-LGBT stance.

Shafiqah Othman Hamzah told Honda to keep “spreading the love and keep making bucks”.

“Thank you for standing up against homophobia,” she wrote.

Facebook user Mohd Faiz said: “Dear ‘muslim’ Honda users. Please donate me your Honda Jazz. I love that car the moment I’m using it”.

Facebook user Zanthrax Will apologised on behalf of Malaysians who posted offensive comments, saying: “We all know that LGBT are humans to [sic]”.

Malaysia and Indonesia are Muslim-majority countries. The local LGBT communities are often targeted by Islamic officials on grounds that homosexuality is forbidden in their religion.

Source: www.todayonline.com

June 23, 2016
Orang Sibuk Berterawih, Pasangan InI Ditangkap Basah

INDONESIA: Sedang umat Islam sibuk menunaikan ibadah terawih di masjid setelah seharian berpuasa, sepasang kekasih juga sibuk memadu asmara di sebuah rumah sewa di Jawa Barat.

Pasangan itu, Ahan 35 tahun dan Lis Hermawati 29 tahun, bagaimanapun ditangkap penduduk kampung semalam (19 Jun) semasa orang lain sedang bersolat terawih di masjid.

Serbuan ke atas mereka itu dibuat hasil daripada rasa curiga pemilik rumah sewa tersebut yang sering melihat Ahan masuk ke rumah itu semasa suami Lis tidak ada.

Semasa serbuan dijalankan, pasangan yang pada ketika itu hampir tidak memakai seurat benang pun, cuba untuk mengelak ditangkap basah dengan bersembunyi di dalam sebuah almari.

“Semasa serbuan dibuat rumah itu seperti tidak ada sesiapa, tetapi apabila saya memeriksa di dalam, mereka sedang bersembunyi di dalam almari,” menurut Soleh pemilik rumah tersebut.

Pasangan itu kemudian dipaksa keluar dan hanya dengan berpakaian dalam, mereka diarak keliling kampung sebelum dihantar ke balai polis.

Pasangan itu masing-masing sudah berkahwin bahkan semasa di balai polis, isteri Ahan dan suami Lis turut hadir.

Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

June 23, 2016
Walid J. Abdullah: Racism Is No Laughing Matter

A lot of us like to share feel-good stories about seeming cooperation and tolerance, or acts of goodwill, involving people from various races. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, it can be an extremely positive thing: if we are too mired in negativity , we may forget that there are genuinely nice and kind human beings all around us, and that we experience these acts on a regular basis.

At the same time, some of those who wish to believe that their societies are harmonious and tolerant find it difficult to accept that racism does indeed exist, or even, that they themselves are racists. Too many times I have seen people justifying their palpably chauvinistic stances via what they think is “reasoned” argumentation.

“Calling an Indian apuneneh is not racist, it is just a term of endearment.”

“Saying ‘keling’ is not wrong, it has historical roots.”

“It was just a joke, don’t be so sensitive.”

“How is saying that Malays make good barbers and security guards racist; I joke like that with my Malay friends all the time.”

“Believing that Malays are lazy is not necessarily racist; that is just stating a fact.”

Next time, I hear some smart alec making a racist comment, I may just be tempted to slap the person and then say:

‘Don’t be so sensitive, i am just playing.’
‘This is my way of showing endearment to you.’
‘I do this to my friends all the time!’

Racism will continue to exist, as long as we allow it to, and as long as it remains unchallenged. Whether mainfested in ‘jokes’, words or actions.

Source: Walid J. Abdullah

June 23, 2016
Nanti Dulu! Basuh Pakaian Baru Sebelum Memakainya

Ini musim membeli pakaian seperti baju Melayu dan baju kurung untuk Hari Raya. Malah anda juga mungkin sibuk mencari pakaian lain seperti seluar dan baju kemeja untuk anak-anak anda.

Bagaimanapun, jangan terlalu ghairah memakai pakaian yang baru dibeli dari kedai. Pakaian apa sekalipun.

Sebaliknya, anda perlu membasuh pakaian baru itu sebelum pertama kali memakainya.

Rupa-rupanya, perbuatan terus memakai pakaian baru tanpa membasuhnya terlebih dahulu mungkin boleh menjejas kesihatan anda, lapor laman Metro.

KUMAN PADA PAKAIAN BARU

Pakar Pengilangan Pakaian Lana Hogue menjelaskan kepada laman Elle, terdapat dua sebab utama mengapa anda perlu membasuh pakaian baru sebelum memakainya.

Pertama, besar kemungkinan terdapat pelbagai jenis kuman yang melekat pada pakaian yang baru dibeli disebabkan proses mencuba pakai, sebelum ia dibeli.

Anda mungkin salah seorang yang mencubanya dan bayangkan berapa ramai orang yang mungkin sudah melakukan perkara yang sama sebelum anda.

ADA KIMIA PADA PAKAIAN BARU

Kedua dan yang paling penting, menurut Lana seperti yang dilaporkan laman Metro, setiap pakaian diselaputi dengan bahan-bahan kimia yang boleh memberikan kesan sampingan yang serius apabila terkena pada kulit.

Oleh itu, “anda seharusnya basuh pakaian sebelum memakainya,” kata Lana.

“Lebih-lebih lagi apa sahaja yang akan disarungkan pada kulit atau yang akan terkena peluh,” tambah beliau.

“Kebanyakan bahan kimia yang digunakan untuk mewarna kain dan benang bagi memudahkannya diproses menerusi peralatan menenun kain, diketahui boleh (membuat kulit) merengsa.”

Bahan-bahan itulah yang boleh menyebabkan masalah seperti radang kulit, menurut laman Metro.

Lana menjelaskan bahan-bahan kimia seperti resin formaldehyde dan pewarna azo-aniline perlu digunakan sepanjang proses pengilangan, “malah pakaian yang dibuat daripada kapas juga mengandungi bahan kimia”.

Maka, langkah terbaik melindungi diri adalah dengan membasuh pakaian baru sebelum ia dipakai.

Semoga kulit anda tidak terasa gatal pada Syawal nanti.

Source: Berita MediaCorp

June 22, 2016
Pushy Parents Could Lead To Children With Depression Or Anxiety: NUS Study

Push your child too hard and he or she could suffer from depression or anxiety, and may even lead to suicide.

This was the finding of a five-year study on primary school children in Singapore by researches from the National University of Singapore (NUS). It involved 7-year-olds from 10 schools and the parent that was more familiar with the child. The study found that children with intrusive parents had a higher tendency to be overly critical of themselves, which got worse over the years.

The children who demonstrated high or increased levels of self-criticalness also reported having elevated depression or anxiety symptoms.

Assistant Professor Ryan Hong, who led the study which was conducted by a team of researchers from the Department of Psychology at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, said: “When parents become intrusive in their children’s lives, it may signal to the children that what they do is never good enough. As a result, the child may become afraid of making the slightest mistake and will blame himself or herself for not being ‘perfect’.”

Asst Prof Hong added that over time, such behaviour, known as maladaptive perfectionism – commonly known as the ‘bad’ form of perfectionism – develops and may be detrimental to the child’s well-being as it increases the risk of the child developing symptoms of depression, anxiety and even suicide in very serious cases.

In the first year of the study, Asst Prof Hong and his team assessed parental intrusiveness using a puzzle played by the child, then 7, with the parent accompanying the child. The puzzle had a time limit, and the parent was told that he or she could help the child whenever necessary.

An example of a highly intrusive parental behaviour would be when the parent took over the game to retract a move made by the child. The purpose of this task was to observe whether the parent interfered with the child’s problem-solving attempts, regardless of the child’s actual needs.

Subsequent assessments on the children were carried out at ages eight, nine and 11.

Of the 263 parent-child pairs studied from 2010 to 2014, 60 per cent of the children were classified as high and/or increasing in self-criticalness, while 78 per cent of them demonstrated socially prescribed perfectionism – characterised by the perception of others having unrealistic high expectations of oneself.

59 per cent of the children demonstrated both self-criticalness and socially prescribed perfectionism.

“Our findings indicate that in a society that emphasises academic excellence, which is the situation in Singapore, parents may set unrealistically high expectations on their children. As a result, a sizable segment of children may become fearful of making mistakes,” Asst Prof Hong said.

“Also, because they are supposed to be ‘perfect’, they can become disinclined to admit failures and inadequacies and seek help when needed, further exacerbating their risk for emotional problems,” he added.

The findings of study were published online in the Journal of Personality in March 2016. This study is funded by the Singapore Children’s Society, as well as the Social and Family Research Fund awarded by the Ministry of Social and Family Development.

Source: TODAY Online

June 22, 2016