Tag: Islam

Owners Of T Bob’s Corner Donating Some Earnings To Help Autistic 11 Year Old Boy

The owners of a Western food restaurant are donating part of its proceeds to help an 11-year-old boy who has autism.

Miss Nurul Jannah Saharuddin, 23, and Miss Indah Nabielah Zulkarnain, 24, who run T Bob’s Corner in Bedok, are giving up 30 per cent of the eatery’s takings from Oct 18 to 23 to help the boy, Akid, after hearing about his plight from a musician who performed at their restaurant recently.

Earlier this year, The New Paper reported on how Akid had become more aggressive and violent because of his condition. (See report below.)

The women bought over the business at Block 527, Bedok North Street 3, two months ago with the help of their fathers.

Miss Indah said that donating a sizeable chunk of their week-long revenue would hit their take-home income, but both of them shrugged it off.

Miss Jannah told The New Paper: “We thought 30 per cent was a good number. If you want to help, it has to be a substantial amount, even if it hurts a little.”

Miss Indah said: “Well, businesses come with risks, right?”

Miss Indah Nabielah Zulkarnain TNP PHOTOS: AHMAD FARUQ ROZALI

Only their income will be affected as their staff of two chefs and three part-time waiters will continue to draw their full wages.

Miss Jannah, an RMIT University business management graduate, said: “It would demoralise them otherwise. So we both decided we would make the sacrifice so Akid can benefit from it.”

They estimate that they will lose about 15 to 20 per cent of their take-home income for that week.

It’s their way of giving back, they said.

VOLUNTEER WORK

Miss Indah, a life sciences graduate, became involved in fund-raising activities while studying at the National University of Singapore.

Her experience in volunteering at an orphanage in Indonesia five years ago also played a part in making her want to help Akid.

“Five years later, the children (at the orphanage) are still messaging me on Facebook, asking me when I’m returning to visit. The fact that these kids remember us means that they treasure every little bit we do, even if we didn’t do much,” she said.

Agreeing, Miss Jannah said: “My parents told me, ‘You don’t need money to be nice’.

“(Indah) didn’t have to fork out a million dollars to have the kids remember her. It’s just the things we do that matter.”

Miss Jannah’s path to volunteering was more personal.

A decade ago, she was a beneficiary of a South East Community Development Programme financial aid programme.

Her mother, who has fought thyroid cancer for close to two decades, was also a source of inspiration.

“She never saw her condition as something to hold her back. She still gave back by volunteering on weekends,” Miss Jannah said.

She plans to ask her musician father, Mr Saharuddin Jalil, to invite some bands to perform at the restaurant next week in the hope of attracting more customers.

Asked if they are worried about coping with the expected crowd, Miss Indah said with a smile: “That will be a good problem.”

Source: www.tnp.sg

October 16, 2016
PERGAS Suarakan Keprihatian Berkenaan Perjudian Online

Persatuan Ulama dan Guru-Guru Agama Singapura (Pergas) menyuarakan keprihatinan ke atas perjudian online yang diluluskan pemerintah baru-baru ini dan kesan-kesan negatif kegiatan tersebut terhadap rakyat Singapura, tidak mengira latar-belakang agama mereka.

Pergas bagaimanapun menyatakan, ia memahami, langkah pemerintah meluluskan perjudian online adalah untuk mengawal kegiatan itu dan juga perjudian secara haram.

Pergas menyuarakan demikian dalam satu kenyataan media hari ini (15 Okt), menyusuli laporan-laporan media pada 30 September 2016, berhubung langkah Kementerian Ehwal Dalam Negeri (MHA) meluluskan permohonan oleh Singapore Pools dan Singapore Turf Club (STC) untuk mengecualikan perjudian online daripada Akta Perjudian Terpencil (RGA).

Laporan-laporan tersebut juga menyatakan bahawa jika dua pengendali perjudian didapati melanggar syarat-syarat tertentu, ia boleh didenda sehingga $1 juta bagi setiap syarat yang tidak dipatuhi.

Pergas menyatakan, sebagai sebuah pertubuhan yang bertanggungjawab membentuk kepimpinan agama, menjadi tugas Pergas untuk menyediakan panduan dari sudut agama buat masyarakat Islam.

Oleh itu, Pergas bertegas bahawa tidak ada tolak ansur dalam hal-hal berkaitan perjudian dan kegiatan itu jelas mendatangkan kesan-kesan negatif terhadap individu yang terlibat serta masyarakat.

Memandang ke hadapan, Pergas mengingatkan masyarakat Islam supaya menjauhkan diri daripada terlibat dengan sebarang kegiatan perjudian, yang dilarang agama Islam.

Mereka juga perlu menahan diri daripada mengambil bahagian dalam sebarang kegiatan sedemikian kerana ia menjadi lebih mudah setelah perjudian online diluluskan.

Pergas menambah, menerusi semangat menasihati antara satu sama lain untuk melakukan amalan-amalan yang baik serta menyebarkan kebenaran, ia dapat membantu mengingatkan masyarakat supaya menjauhi perjudian dan juga pengaruh-pengaruh negatif lain.

Semalam (14 Okt), menerusi khutbah Jumaat di masjid-masjid Singapura, masyarakat Islam turut diingatkan supaya menjauhi tabiat berjudi serta kesan-kesan buruk yang bukan sahaja menjejas individu yang terlibat secara langsung, malah anggota keluarga mereka.

Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

October 16, 2016
New Fears Of Communal Violence In Myanmar

NINE police officers were killed early on October 9th in a series of apparently co-ordinated attacks on border-guard posts in the troubled state of Rakhine in Myanmar’s west. The attackers were armed with knives, slingshots and only a few guns—and reportedly made off with dozens more guns and thousands of bullets. The Buddhist majority in Rakhine has long oppressed the state’s Muslim Rohingyas. Now the victims may be starting to fight back.

Nobody has yet claimed responsibility, but police say the attackers—at least two of whom were captured and eight killed—were Rohingyas. One local official blamed the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation, a militant group that has been dormant for decades. The two who were detained reportedly told authorities that they planned the raids with fellow locals.

The central government’s response has been reasonably level-headed. On the same day it held a press conference to appeal for caution and restraint. Two days later it dispatched high-ranking officials to talk to local leaders in the Muslim-majority townships where the attacks took place. Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s de facto leader, did not cast blame, but reiterated her commitment to “peace and stability”. “Rakhine State’s problem is Myanmar’s problem,” said the information minister.

Since the attacks in northern Rakhine, however, clashes have broken out there leaving at least a dozen people dead—including unarmed civilians, according to locals. The government has beefed up an already heavy military presence. Some worry that the stolen guns will be used in future attacks on security forces, or that in trying to retrieve the weapons, the police will target innocents.

By far the biggest concern is that unrest could spread, as it did in 2012, when communal violence between Buddhists and Muslims killed scores and displaced tens of thousands. Many outside Myanmar have criticised Miss Suu Kyi for failing to speak up for the Rohingyas. Anti-Muslim sentiment runs deep among the Burman Buddhist majority. Wirathu, a virulently nationalist monk and master of social media, posted a video on his Facebook page this week that he claims shows the attackers calling for Rohingyas to join the jihad.

In August Miss Suu Kyi invited Kofi Annan, a former UN secretary-general, to head a commission investigating human-rights abuses in Rakhine. Buddhist nationalists protested, and the Rakhine parliament passed a resolution condemning the commission. But as this week’s events have shown, efforts to bring about a just and durable peace in Rakhine are more urgent than ever.

Source: www.economist.com

October 15, 2016
Man Who Took Toddler Hostage Faces 3 New Drug Charges

A 39-year-old man who was arrested for holding a toddler hostage in a Sembawang flat last month returned to court on Friday (Oct 14), where he faced three new drug charges.

Muhammad Iskandah Suhaimi had confined his girlfriend’s two-year-old son in a fifth-floor rental home at Blk 462, Sembawang Drive, in a 17-hour overnight standoff with the police.

Iskandah is accused of taking methamphetamine “on or before” the day of the standoff.

He is also accused of having a packet containing 0.63g of a crystalline substance, which included methamphetamine.

The toddler’s mother, Ms Siti Zubaydah Mohd Hamzah, had “knowledge” (of) and “consent(ed)” to this packet of drugs, court documents stated.

In addition, Iskandah allegedly owned utensils, namely an improvised glass bottle with a glass pipe and a rubber tube, for drug consumption on April 12 with Ms Zubaydah. He will return to court on Nov 1.

Iskandah has been prosecuted in the past for a drug offence. In August 2001, he was jailed for a year for consuming a controlled drug.

Apart from the latest charges, he faces an earlier charge of possessing a scheduled weapon in the form of a knuckle-duster — an offence that carries a jail term of up to five years and at least six strokes of the cane for first-timers if convicted.

The hostage situation arose from a dispute that Iskandah had with the toddler’s family members. The police were notified on the evening of Sept 27, but he refused to open the door for them when they arrived.

The next day, the Crisis Negotiation Unit and Special Operations Command officers broke the window panes and cut the locked gate to rescue the toddler and arrest Iskandah.

Ms Zubaydah was also arrested then for drug-related offences, but the Central Narcotics Bureau and the State Courts did not reply to queries as to whether she has been charged in court.

Source: www.todayonline.com

October 15, 2016
Online Gambling Just Another Revenue Generating Avenue For Government

The SDP had opposed the PAP’s move to allow the construction of casinos in Singapore in 2005. The government’s rationale then was that there was money to be made off the gambling scene in Asia.

Not every business venture should be pursued just because it makes money. There are moral and ethical considerations too.

Gambling is a vice and its social ills are widely documented. Lives and families are destroyed because of addiction to gambling. Gambling also brings along other criminal activities such as money laundering, organised crime and sex trafficking.

Just this year, for example, two people were engaged in gambling related crimes. A Singaporean was caught laundering nearly one million dollars in Australia in order to gamble. In a separate case, a UOB officer stole a total of $95,000 from the bank to pay for his gambling habit in Macau.

For these complex and intertwining reasons, gambling – especially one facilitated by the state – should not be encouraged.

Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-jin disingenuously argues that the PAP, by allowing state organisations such as Singapore Pools and the Singapore Turf Club to conduct online betting, is not encouraging gambling.

He says that the move will, instead, allow that government to monitor the “very real dangers” of virtual gambling. However, he doesn’t spell out how the authorities will overcome these dangers by legitimising gambling over the Internet.

The truth is that with or without the state’s entry into the online world of gambling, those who seek to indulge in the gaming habit will find ways on the Internet to satisfy their desires. Providing additional and state-sanctioned gaming sites adds to, not minimises, the problem.

One factor that is prompting the government to enter into the online gambling business is that it sees its revenue falling due to poor economic circumstances. By getting into the act, the government opens up another avenue for revenue collection.

The problem is that gambling exploits the dreams and hopes of the poor who are most vulnerable to and who can least afford such activity.

There are many ways to develop a sound and mature economy without resorting to this kind of exploitation. Instead of making money from Singaporeans placing online bets, the PAP should free up the political system and encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. This will generate a productive economy and drive sound economic growth without adversely affecting our families.

This latest measure is another step in a slow but certain descent into turning Singapore into a city without any values, and one ruled by a government with no ideas beyond exploiting the people.

Source: http://yoursdp.org

October 15, 2016