Tag: Islam

Peniaga Melayu Tutup Kedai, Perniagaan Di East Village Kurang Rancak

Perniagaan di pusat beli-belah East Village kurang rancak dua tahun selepas ia dibuka.

Lokasinya di kawasan Simpang Bedok, yang popular di kalangan penduduk di daerah timur, awalnya dianggap berpotensi. Ia mendorong ramai peniaga Melayu untuk mencuba peluang perniagaan di situ.

Namun kini, sebahagian pemilik melaporkan perniagaan yang lembab, bahkan ada yang terpaksa gulung tikar.

Sekitar 80 peratus daripada perniagaan di East Village dimiliki peniaga Melayu. Salah satunya ialah Cloud 9 Studio yang bermula sebagai perniagaan dalam talian menjual pakaian Muslimah.

LOKASI EAST VILLAGE “KURANG MENARIK”

Pemiliknya, Norazman Johari membuka kedainya yang pertama di East Village selepas beberapa rakan niaga turut membuka kedai di situ. Namun setahun kemudian, perniagaannya merosot sebanyak 50 peratus.

Menurut beliau, lokasi pusat beli-belah East Village yang digabungkan dalam sebuah projek kondominium, kurang menarik perhatian pengunjung.

Encik Norazman berkata: “Kalau kita naik teksi dan cakap hendak ke East Village, pemandu teksi akan cakap East Village atau Changi Village? Jadi mereka keliru, tidak tahu perbezaan East Village dengan Changi Village.

“Mungkin lokasinya ada orang yang tidak berapa tahu, mungkin penduduk dari daerah barat atau tengah tidak berapa tahu. Kebanyakan orang yang lalu di sini, mungkin mereka fikir ada apartmen di atas dan tidak tahu yang ada pusat beli-belah di sini.”

Sebenarnya East Village menempatkan sekitar 100 unit komersil termasuk banyak perniagaan F&B.

Watsub, yang menjual beraneka sandwic premium, mencatat penjualan laris sehingga 120 sandwic sehari ketika dibuka Mac tahun lalu. Namun sekarang ia menjual sekitar 80 keping sandwic sehari.

CABARAN HAK MILIK STRATA

Cabaran berniaga di East Village adalah pembangunan jenis hak milik strata, dengan setiap peniaga menyewa daripada pemilik hartanah yang berbeza. Ini bermakna para peniaga tidak boleh bergantung pada pihak pengurusan East Village untuk melakukan kegiatan pemasaran bagi perniagaan mereka.

Pemilik Watsub, Norizam Jafar, berkata: “Kami ada beberapa pilihan untuk teruskan di sini atau pun untuk keluar dari East Village. Kami ada banyak tawaran juga di luar, di tempat-tempat yang lain tetapi satu faktor yang kuat ialah sewanya.”

Para peniaga di East Village yang ditemui BERITAMediacorp membayar sewa kedai antara S$2,000 hingga S$7,000 sebulan. Sebahagian mereka berunding dengan pemilik hartanah untuk menurunkan harga sewa namun tidak semua yang berjaya.

BEBERAPA PERNIAGAAN MELAYU TIDAK LAGI BEROPERASI DI SITU

Antara perniagaan milik Melayu yang tidak lagi beroperasi di situ ialah Sarah’s the Pancake Cafe, Tasconi’s Pizza, Cookwerx, Perghh dan Salty Peanut.

Pengurus Operasi Salty Peanut, Zukiflee Othman, berkata: “Untuk usahawan baru, saya rasa lagi baik mereka fikirkan kolaborasi dengan beberapa jenis bisnes, kalau kita satukan dua atau tiga jenis bisnes dalam satu unit, saya rasa itu lagi bermanfaat.”

Meskipun pada umumnya para peniaga mempunyai persamaan dalam memenuhi keperluan pelanggan Melayu, mereka percaya produk dan barang yang diketengahkan setiap peniaga mempunyai kekuatan tersendiri dan berharap perniagaan mereka akan bertahan.

Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

August 17, 2016
No Non-Muslim Maids For Malaysian Muslims

PETALING JAYA: Maid agencies are stunned by a “new” directive imposed by the Immigration Department barring them from hiring non-Muslim maids.

Employers have questioned the rationale behind the policy, which department officials said was not new, as they were worried that they may not get any maids at all.

Malaysian Maid Employers Association (MAMA) president Engku Ahmad Fauzi said the policy would limit the supply of maids for Muslims.

“Religion should not be an obstacle. When you work in an office, you don’t base it on religion and likewise, this should not be the case for the maid in the home,” he said yesterday.

He called on the Immigration Department to enlighten people on the rationale of the policy.

A maid agency owner in Selangor who did not want to be named said she had applied for non-Muslim maids for Muslims who wanted them through the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System online but they were rejected.

“When I called, I was told to go to the counter to submit the application. But at the counter, the officers said that the policy was a directive from the director-general,” she said.

The officers said the policy had always existed and if she still wanted to put in the application, they would reject it, she said.

“If they did not allow Muslims to hire non-Muslims from the beginning, why did they allow it earlier?

“There was no circular to inform us about this,” she said, adding that the rejection had been ongoing for two weeks.

She said that if Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar could hire non-Muslims, why not Malaysia?

Another maid agency owner based in Kuala Lumpur said Malaysia had the policy all along, but some directors-general had allowed some flexibility depending on the situation.

“The policy narrows down the opportunity for Muslims to get maids,” she said.

Faiz Abdullah, 42, a father of three who lives in Petaling Jaya said he had heard from his maid agency about the matter.

He said that he would need to renew his maid’s permit this month and was worried that it would be rejected.

He said it was not easy to get a good and reliable maid these days and asked why it should be based on religion and race.

Business owner Zubir Rahman, 46, a father of three from Shah Alam said he was concerned about the policy because he preferred Filipino maids as they were more reliable.

He said he had three Indonesian maids before and two ran away but all four Filipino maids fulfilled their contracts.

“It would pose a problem for me because to get a good maid these days is very difficult,” said Zubir, whose current maid’s contract would expire in December.

Source: www.bharian.com.my

August 17, 2016
I Was Almost Recruited Into Terrorism Group By Best Friend

Six men were arrested in Batam on Aug 5 in connection with the terror plot against Singapore.

One of them was released later. He says he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Mr Tegar Sucianto’s friend Hadi Gusti Yanda, 20, was one of the five Indonesians picked up by anti-terror police and later taken to Jakarta.

The pair were on the way to work when both were surrounded, pinned to the ground, had hoods placed over the heads and were bundled into a van.

Hours later, Mr Tegar, 19, learnt that his friend was a member of a terror cell group that had sworn allegiance to Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

He tells The New Paper on Sunday that he was shocked, but also horrified that his friend had been actively trying to recruit him. And he had little clue.

Until the arrest, he thought he knew everything about the friend he had first met in secondary school seven years ago.

They grew up playing video games and football and both lived in the Batu Aji neighbourhood on Batam.

They even worked at the same Asus factory after they graduated last year.

Mr Tegar says: “Hadi seemed like a normal teenager, we were good friends.

“When we were growing up, I never noticed anything strange about him.”

But Hadi changed last year and Mr Tegar says his friend would talk often about suicide bombers, Syria and ISIS.

He thought Hadi was just more religious than him.

“Hadi would always remind me to pray when I was lazy. It made sense that he knew all the news he talked about, I thought he was just keeping me up-to-date,” he says.

But then Hadi invited him to meet a religious group to learn more about Islam.

Mr Tegar resisted at first.

“Why should I go? I wasn’t really interested in all this religious knowledge.

“But Hadi would keep on asking,” he says.

Mr Tegar finally relented late last year. He agreed to travel with Hadi to the Nurul Islam mosque in the Muka Kuning district, about a 30-minute drive from their village.

Mr Tegar believes the hour-long meeting was the first time members of the terror cell Katibah Gonggong Rebus met.

There were six people at the meeting, but Mr Tegar says nobody knew each other.

“They had only communicated via chat groups in WhatsApp and other apps. It seemed like they were all meeting for the first time,” he says.

UNCOMFORTABLE

As the group introduced themselves and dwelled on religious issues, Mr Tegar became uncomfortable.

“I had no interest in what they were talking about and told Hadi I wanted to go home,” he recalls.

Before they left, they were all instructed to download the Telegram messenger app, says Mr Tegar.

He did as he was told and was added into a chat group.

Mr Tegar says he received hundreds of messages daily over the next few days.

He tried to ignore the conversation by muting the chat.

“I didn’t read it, there were so many messages. From what I saw, it was just a lot of things about Islam, like tips about how to pray and how to be a better Muslim.”

He claims he did not participate in the conversation and was kicked out of the group a week after he joined.

“I was surprised, but I was fine being kicked out without warning,” he says.

He deleted the Telegram app from his phone and the two friends never talked about the group again.

On Aug 5, Mr Tegar was giving Hadi a ride to work on his motorcycle when they were boxed in by several police vehicles.

The officers approached Hadi first, handcuffing him and blindfolding him before doing the same to Mr Tegar.

Mr Tegar says: “It was all happening so fast, I had no idea what was going on and I was panicking.”

The two were taken to the Brimob special police headquarters for questioning. Later, Hadi was taken away while Mr Tegar was made to wait in a police car.

“The officers were nicer to me than to Hadi. They spoke to me in a friendly way and even apologised for arresting me,” he says.

Mr Tegar was released that evening after questioning and was home at 8pm. He was embraced by his worried mother, 42-year-old shop owner Desi Fitrianti.

She says: “I hugged him so tight because I was scared.

“All of a sudden in the afternoon that day, there were all these reporters knocking on my door, asking me if I knew that my son was a terrorist.”

He says of the experience: “Nobody’s really scared of me because they know that I’m innocent. Some people stare and ask me, but I’m honest with them, there’s no reason to be scared if I’m telling the truth.”

But he says of the man he thought was his friend: “I guess you never know people really. I never thought he would be someone like that.”

Indonesian authorities arrested a total of five suspects in an anti-terror swoop after preliminary investigations showed they were part of a little-known cell called Katibah GR or Cell GR.

Hadi, along with the remaining four suspects, Gigih Rahmat Dewa, Trio Syafrido, Eka Saputra and Tarmidzi, were later taken from Batam to Jakarta for investigations.

He did not know son was terrorist

TNP PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR

The terror cell did more than just try to build a rocket.

Reports say the Katibah GR was a coordinated group, with its own command structure, and it also conducted training sessions.

Led by 31-year-old Gigih Rahmat Dewa, the five-man group had a field coordinator in Trio Syafrido, 46, and weapon assemblers in Eka Saputra, 35, and Tarmidzi, 21.

Hadi Gusti Yanda, the youngest of the group at 20, was its treasurer.

With the exception of Syafrido, a bank officer, the Indonesian authorities say the men were factory workers.

The group had trained openly with replica guns in a public field near the Nongsa district, located in the north of Batam.

Batam District Police Chief Helmi Santika says they used the field for shooting practice, complete with mock guns to simulate real-life battles.

Mr Helmi says: “Unlike other terror groups, which train in the forests, they exercised and practised handling airsoft guns (a type of replica gun) in a field near a housing estate.”

SEIZED

These guns, including one fashioned to resemble an AK-47, were seized by police and taken to Jakarta for investigations.

The police also seized bomb-making materials, a laptop and other weapons from the homes of the suspects, including a bow and arrow set.

The five men from the KGR are also accused of sheltering two suspected Uighur militants.

Police are now tracking down other members of Gigih’s cell on the island as well as in other parts of Indonesia.

The New Paper on Sunday met Hadi’s father on Aug 10 at his village.

Shocked at what his son has been accused of, he says: “I have no words left. I’m shocked, I’m sad and I do not know what is going on with my son.

“When did he start doing this, and why, I do not know.”

He said his wife is sick from worry and cannot face the world as she is ashamed of his son’s actions.

Hadi’s father says he never suspected his son would be involved in terror-related activities.

“It is such a surprise to me. I only found out when all the reporters turned up outside my house last week.

“Why would he do this? I don’t know,” he says.

Source: www.tnp.sg

August 15, 2016
Atlit Hijab Pertama Amerika Raih Gangsa Lawan Pedang

RIO DE JANEIRO: Ibtihaj Muhammad menyertai Sukan Olimpik Rio dengan azam untuk menunjukkan kepada dunia bahawa wanita Muslimah Amerika juga mampu bersaing dalam sukan elit.

Atlit lawan pedang berusia 30 tahun dari New Jersey itu – yang juga atlit Olimpik Amerika Syarikat pertama yang berhijab – berjaya meraih pingat gangsa dalam acara ‘sabre’ pasukan wanita pada hari Sabtu (13 Ogos).

Pasukan AS terdiri daripada empat wanita itu – yang juga termasuk juara Olimpik sebanyak dua kali, Dagmara Wozniak, Mariel Zagunis dan Monica Aksamit – menumpaskan Itali 45-30 untuk meraih tempat ketiga.

Pasukan Amerika (dari kiri) Dagmara Wozniak, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Monica Aksamit dan Mariel Zagunis dengan pingat gangsa mereka. (Gambar: AP/Andrew Medichini)

Mereka juga merangkul pingat pertama untuk sukan lawan pedang wanita bagi Amerika di Rio.

“Ia satu perjalanan jauh untuk kami. Sudah enam tahun kami menempuhinya. Saya tidak akan pernah melupakan detik ini.

“Kami bekerja begitu gigih untuknya, dan hakikat bahawa kami mampu bersaing pada tahap ini, di pentas terbesar dunia di Sukan Olimpik, kami benar-benar menghargainya,” kata Ibtihaj.

Ibtihaj, yang mengendalikan kedai pakaian wanitanya sendiri, sejak beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini terlibat dalam satu program yang disokong pemerintah untuk mengupaya kaum Hawa menerusi sukan.

Rakan sepasukannya, Wozniak, yang mewarnakan rambutnya kepada warna ungu, berkata: “Inilah sukan. Tidak kira warna rambut anda, atau agama anda.

“Yang penting, anda ke luar sana dan menjadi atlit yang terbaik mungkin, dan saya rasa kamilah contoh terbaik apa itu Amerika, iaitu gabungan begitu banyak budaya dan kaum berlainan.”

AS kembali bangkit selepas tewas 45-42 di pusingan separuh akhir kepada juara dunia Rusia, yang terus menguasai acara itu dengan meraih pingat emas pertama di Rio, menewaskan Ukraine 45-30 dalam pusingan akhir.

Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

August 15, 2016
Nadiah M Din Sah Bergelar Isteri Kepada Bilal Jeanpierre

Pelakon dan pengacara popular tempatan, Nadiah M Din sah bergelar isteri, hari ini (14 Ogos).

Majlis akad nikah tertutup Nadiah dan Guillaume Jeanpierre, atau nama Muslimnya, Bilal, berlangsung sekitar 5.50 petang tadi di The Colonial @ Scotts.

Dengan sekali lafaz, Bilal, jejaka asal Perancis, secara rasmi menjadi suami Nadiah. Majlis persandingan mereka pula akan diadakan pada Disember nanti.

Nadiah pertama kali bertemu suaminya itu di satu majlis “housewarming” anjuran seorang teman beliau.

Bilal memeluk agama Islam pada 24 Oktober 2015 di Darul Arqam di Onan Road. Beliau menyuarakan hasrat untuk memeluk agama Islam hanya setelah 6 bulan mereka bersama sebagai sepasang kekasih.

Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

August 15, 2016