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Backlash In Indonesia Over Ramadan Raid On Frail Auntie, Over $20,000 Donations Raised

JAKARTA: Indonesian netizens have reacted with fury and a flurry of donations after footage emerged of a frail food seller breaking down as her cafe was raided for staying open during the daytime in Ramadan.

Video of the 53-year-old business owner desperately begging officials not to confiscate her food went viral at the weekend, and social media users have donated almost $20,000 to a crowdfunding site to help her and other vendors.

It is common for food outlets in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country that remain open during the daytime in the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims are supposed to fast from sunrise to sunset, to be raided.

But the case of food seller Saeni, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, has touched a nerve, with many criticising authorities for being heavy-handed during the raid in Serang, west of the capital Jakarta.

“You should be tolerant towards those who are not fasting, cruel authorities,” wrote Facebook user Elisabeth Oktofani.

The food seller was deeply in debt and so had decided to keep the cafe open during daylight hours to make extra cash, she was quoted by local media as saying.

President Joko Widodo condemned the raid and ordered his staff to make a personal donation, with his spokesman saying that the action “cannot be justified”.

In the footage, a group of public order officers, who assist police in maintaining order but have fewer powers, march into the small food outlet, which consisted of a few goods in a glass case and some shabby chairs and tables.

Saeni, wearing a blue Muslim headscarf, begs them not to take the food but they put it into plastic bags and march off.

Local authorities defended the raid, saying that the food seller was breaking the law. While many restaurants in bigger cities stay open throughout Ramadan, local bylaws in smaller places often forbid vendors to sell food during the daytime.

A crowdfunding campaign launched in response to Friday’s raid has raised over 265 million rupiah ($19,900), with the organisers planning to distribute the money to Saeni and other food sellers targeted for staying open during daylight hours in Ramadan.

Most Indonesians practise a moderate form of Islam, but the country is also home to a vocal, hardline fringe.

Source: www.freemalaysiatoday.com

June 14, 2016
Help Donate To Projek Sinar Lebaran 2016

Assalamu’alaikum teman2 FB yang saya muliakan.
Please share this post on your wall to make it as viral as possible
Just $11 per set !

So as to be able to reach out to more needy families, we have decided to streamline our package to the following
1. Beras Basmati 1kg
2. Coconut Milk 1 litre
3. Rempah Curry Daging 250g
4. Rempah Rendang 250g
5. Ketupat Mini

ADABI has so kindly come forward and give us their best price for this package so as to stretch the donors dollar as much as possible.
We are targeting to reach out to 120 families this time.

The package will be distributed on Saturday, 2nd July 2016

Each set is just $11 only

Do pm me for details

Let us together brighten up this Aidil Fitri for the needies.

Your donation will go a long way towards making these families enjoy their Hari Raya Aidl Fitri this year and towards your goal of entering AlJannah in the hereafter

Allahumma Aamiin

Source: Zulkifli Jabal

June 14, 2016
Director, Adam & Hawa Network: Be Careful Of Get-Rich-Quick Scams

If you’ve been surfing the Internet, you would have seen many ads – usually placed at the bottom part of the websites you visit – luring you with ads on how to make a fast buck on the Internet.

The ad headlines read something like these:
“Hate your job? Learn how this 21-year-old Malay man earns $10K/month working from home in Singapore”

“Hate your job? Learn how this stay-at-home mother earns $10K/month working from home in Singapore”

& If you click on the ad, you’ll read a long testimonial about a ‘Suraya Jalil from Singapore’ or a ‘Mohamed Azhar from Singapore’ or the like.

Well, I decided to verify these claims using good ol’ Google image search (I just chose one example as a sample).

It turns out that the picture of the man in this orange t-shirt [Picture 1], identified as ‘Mohamed Azhar from Singapore’ by the advertiser ” Paul W.S. Tan, Published 12 June 2016, via foxtech” (& who apparently shared that “the income is so good that I decided to buy our first brand new car for my parents – a BMW 5-series. I had always admired other people in the city with this car, and never imagined I could buy one myself.” etc etc ) – was also found in a 2005 website (http://malaysianmale.blogspot.sg/2005/…/13-october-2005.html) [see Picture 2].

I have posted both screenshots here for you to compare (FYI, the referee emoticons were inserted by me 😉 )

Hmmm.
See the 2 pictures?
What do YOU think?

**********

Consider this: ‘get rich quick’ schemes will continue to exist so long as people don’t have a critical mind to analyse the claim.

Next time you chance across these lures, it will be good to do some research.

Here’s a good rule of thumb to follow:
“If it’s Too Good to be True – it probably is.”

Don’t fall for dubious promises, only to waste your Time & Money.
You are Better than that.

Warmly
Harasha Bafana
Founder-Director
❋ Adam & Hawa Network ❋
‘The Business Mentoring Network dedicated to the Growth of You & Your Business’

‪#‎AdamAndHawaNetwork‬
‪#‎YouMakeMoneyInBusinessByGivingValue‬
‪#‎ThereAreNoShortcuts‬
‪#‎KnowledgeIsPower‬

Source: Harasha Bafana

June 14, 2016
Indonesia Vice-President: Our Citizens Won’t Be Allowed To Be Prosecuted Under Singapore Laws

JAKARTA: Indonesian vice-president Jusuf Kalla has said that the government will not allow its citizens who are suspected for causing last year’s forest fires to be prosecuted under Singapore laws.

“If there is an offence, Singapore can (prosecute), but the offence happened in Indonesia. That’s our concern,” said Mr Kalla on the sidelines of an event on Sunday (Jun 12), according to online news portal Detiknews.

Last month, Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) said it has obtained a court warrant after the director of one of the Indonesian firms linked to illegal forest fires that caused the haze failed to turn up for an interview when he was in Singapore.

Indonesia objected against this move by lodging a strong protest through its ambassador in Singapore.

In September and October 2015, peatland fires caused the region to be cloaked in haze. Errant pulp and paper companies which started fires were believed to be responsible.

Singapore passed the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act (THPA) in 2014 to go after companies that started fires or let their concessions burn, and contributed to last year’s haze that blanketed Singapore and part of the region.

The Republic’s Foreign Affairs Ministry had said the THPA is consistent with international law, which allows a country to take appropriate action to protect itself from external acts which cause harm within the country.

It stated that the Act does not encroach upon the sovereignty of any specific country.

Singapore’s Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli had promised that the government will “take what steps we can to enforce the THPA”.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

June 13, 2016
Singaporeans Silently Resent Malaysians Living In Singapore

When Singaporeans complain about foreigners, they are particularly referring to people from their neighbour country “Malaysia”. They need to use subtle way to complain to the Government.

Most Singaporeans are afraid to discriminate and complain against Malaysians because Singapore is small and solely depending on Malaysia for many things and their survival.

Singapore and Malaysia are just across the border and people from Malaysia can come into to Singapore at anytime to get jobs easily because they can speak Chinese, English and Malay which are the 3 main national languages in Singapore. Especially, when the people from nearby Malaysia border area can just spend 5 to 10 minutes on the bus to get into Singapore.

Addition to that people from Malaysia can acquire permanent resident and citizenship easily. After they receive the residency or citizenship status, they can get access to education, housing, healthcare and etc from another side of the fence.

One of the good examples will be – after being granted resident or citizenship status, they will buy the HDB house to rent it out.

Then, they travel back and forth to go to work in Singapore daily because housing and living cost at Malaysia border is a lot cheaper than Singapore due to the strong Singapore currency.

Singaporeans are so angry about their neighbour country exploiting them but on the other hands they can’t reject them directly.

If you go and ask them, they will say it is not true for sure because they don’t want to sour the relationship with their neighbour for survival sake.

They will always say, “we are brothers and good neighbours”.

Editor’s note: This article is retrieved from a comment posted and it reflected the true sentiment of many Singaporeans here due to the historical and cultural similarities between the two neigbhouring countries. It is estimated that more than 300,000 Malaysians are working and residing here with as many as 150,000 living as permanent residents. Many remain as permanent residents after more than 20 years refusing to convert to Singapore citizens.

Many thousands commute daily between the two countries via the Johore Bahru checkpoint due mainly to our strong currency difference and professional work culture.

Many companies also prefer to hire Malaysians due to their strong work ethics and survival instinct. Many took on significant positions within the companies and become a important pillar in the work hierarchy.

Source: www.transitioning.org

June 13, 2016