A man was jailed 12 weeks on Wednesday for insulting the modesty of a teenager.
Mohamed Haryfan Mohd Razali, 21, who faced four charges, admitted to uttering words with intent to insult the modesty of the 19-year-old in 2011, and for peeping at her on May 12 last year, reports The Straits Times.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Joshua Lim said in July 2011, Haryfan was at the void deck of his block in Pasir Ris when he saw the victim walking past him and was instantly attracted to her looks. He saw her enter her unit and took note of the address.
From then until his arrest in May last year, he visited the teen’s home six to eight times, causing the family much distress.
The victim and her 44-year-old mother made numerous police reports but were unable to ascertain his identity.
Eventually, police installed a pin-hole camera outside her unit in March last year. The footage captured on the camera led to Haryfan’s arrest on May 18.
Mr Lim said on Aug 3, 2011, the victim was about to sleep sometime past 1am when she heard a sound coming from the direction of her room window.
The victim put on her glasses and ran to her mother’s bedroom. They saw the silhouette of Haryfan moving along the corridor.
Haryfan meddled with the main door, which swung open by about 15cm.
When the victim’s mother shouted in Malay, ‘Who was that?’, Haryfan replied: “Nak main boleh tak” which means “Can (I) have sex”.
On May 12 last year, the victim was sleeping at around 5am when she was awakened by a sound from the room window.
She saw the face of a man peeping at her through the top window pane. Overcome by fear, she began to cry and covered herself with her blanket. She called her mother on the mobile phone.
Investigations showed that Haryfan was on his way home when he decided to peep at the victim. He stood on a chair outside her room and used his cellphone screen to shine into the room.
He could have been jailed for up to one year and/or fined on each charge of insulting modesty.
Today, I sent an email to the CEO of CGH enquiring on the discriminatory hiring practices employed by them. Hope to get a satisfactory reply.
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Dear Ms Lilian Chew
RE: DISCRIMINATORY HIRING PRACTICES
I would like to bring your attention to a recruitment exercise that was conducted by Changi General Hospital on Thursday, 27 March 2014 at Tampines North Community Centre.
Prior to the recruitment exercise, a seminar was conducted on Tuesday, 18 March 2014 at Northwest CDC Woodlands Civic Centre, by Health Management International and Institute of Health Science in collaboration with Changi General Hospital (CGH), Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and National University Hospital (NUH).
I was informed by a friend that she had signed up for a Therapy Assistant course during the seminar and subsequently was called up to attend an interview on 27 March 2014.
What happened next was no doubt an appalling experience no person should be made to go through. The first and only question the interviewer asked her was “Are you willing to remove your hijab?” When she replied no, the interviewer said, “Then there’s no point we continue this interview. You fail immediately.” Not being a confrontational person, she proceeded to leave the interview room.
Therefore I would like to seek clarifications from you on a few matters;
1) What is the hospital’s policy regarding recruitment of candidates wearing the hijab?
2) Was the interviewer acting on his personal whims and fancies or is it the hospital’s policy to exclude and deny enrolment/recruitment to students/candidates wearing the hijab?
3) Why candidates were not informed during the seminar that anyone wearing hijab is not welcomed to participate? So that potential candidates need not waste time, effort and money attending the interview just to get discriminated on.
4) Why is the hospital discriminating against people who put on the hijab, the opportunity to learn and to seek knowledge?
As an established organization that seeks to be a world class healthcare service provider, surely this kind of discrimination should not have existed if any.
Singapore prides itself on a meritocratic system as highlighted by our prime minister on numerous occasions. To make an unjust or prejudicial distinction in the treatment of people is unacceptable.
As a public hospital funded by tax-payers, it is in the interest of the public that the hospital make known of its hiring practices.
I look forward to your reply on the above enquires.
The SDP will hold a memorial service for Mohd Isa who passed away in January this year. The service will honour the memory of a long-time leader of the party who toiled quietly behind the scenes to bring democracy to our country.
The service will allow colleagues and friends to remember Isa and to say a proper goodbye to a cherished member of the SDP family.
The occasion will also be used to launch the Mohd Isa Bursary Award where, as the name suggests, we will award bursaries to students who come from poorer family backgrounds.
It is the SDP’s belief that education can, and must, be used to level up society. Students who are needy are often at a disadvantage when it comes to the schools they attend and the resources that are available to them for their education. The SDP will do our part to make our society more equal, starting by assisting poorer students with financial awards.
As a more comprehensive strategy to help in this leveling up, the SDP will be publishing our alternative education policy in the near future. Our present education system is skewed towards the elite which has created an unhealthy state of affairs in this country.
In the paper, the party will present concrete proposals to remedy this problem as well as prepare our future generations to not just to survive but excel in a rapidly changing global community.
The award is appropriately named after Isa who has always emphasised the importance of making our education system a means for the poorer sections of our population to compete fairly.
Details of the award will be announced at the memorial service which is open to members of the public. Join us to honour a father, friend, and forever-proud Singapore Democrat.
Event: Mohd Isa Memorial Service Date: 8 March 2014, Saturday Time: 7:30pm Venue: Chinese Success Media, Bras Basah Complex (location map)
All are welcome.
There has been coverage in the press about my postings about the LGBT movement in Singapore.
While the media has provided coverage for the LGBT supporters, so far, little coverage has been provided to those that are not for LGBT.
Hence, I would like to take this opportunity to make clear my views on the matter:
1. My initial posting entitled “Liberal Islam, Lesbianism and the likes of it” is still on my Facebook page. It has not been removed because it reflects my personal conviction on the issue.
2. I edited the post and removed certain words such as “cancer” and “social diseases” prior to the issue being made public. This change was done in view of the sensitivities on the ground which I am fully aware of.
3. My position as a Muslim about LGBT remains clear and is in line with the view of Muslims scholars such as the one made by PERGAS that “According to the higher objectives of Islamic Law, the family unit serves to bring in new generation and preserve the existence of humankind. For that reason, Islam gives attention in establishing a family only through the legal marriage of a man and woman. Any form of extra-marital or same-sex relations are hence prohibited in Islam (MEDIA STATEMENT, 11 February 2014,https://www.facebook.com/Pergas.Singapore)
4. There is no disagreement in Islam on the prohibition of homosexuality. As a Muslim, I fully subscribe to Islam’s guidance and stand firm that homosexuality is a challenge that needs to be addressed through reasoned dialogue and education.
This view is my personal view and I stand by it as a member of a religious community in Singapore.
Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia/Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM)
Atas semangat persaudaraan Islam dan muhibbah komuniti ASEAN, Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM) merasa terpanggil untuk menyatakan keprihatinan terhadap usaha-usaha komuniti Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) di Singapura menyebarkan dakyah negatif terhadap Dr. Syed Muhd Khairuddin , seorang Pensyarah Jabatan Pengajian Melayu di National University Singapore (NUS), Singapura.
Dalam perkembangan tersebut, sekumpulan pendukung LGBT telah mempertikaikan kenyataan di laman peribadi Facebook beliau yang berupa peringatan kepada umat Islam di Singapura agar menjauhi dan menolak amalan LGBT.
Pertikaian tersebut telah berlanjutan apabila kelompok tersebut mendesak beliau agar memohon maaf secara terbuka atas kenyataan tersebut, yang dirasakan menyinggung pengamal dan pendukung LGBT. Tidak cukup dengan itu, mereka telah mengutus surat bantahan kepada pentadbiran universiti dan melancarkan petisyen atas talian bagi mendesak tindakan tataterbib dikenakan ke atas beliau.
Rentetan itu, timbul tindak balas daripada komuniti Muslim dan pertubuhan Islam di Singapura yang memberikan respon mempertahankan kenyataan dan pendirian Dr Syed Muhd Khairuddin. Komuniti masyarakat Islam mempertahankan beliau yang bertindak sebagai penyampai mesej yang benar; bahawa Islam melarang amalan LGBT.
Dalam konteks ini, ABIM ingin menegaskan bahawa pandangan Islam terhadap LGBT adalah jelas dan muktamad dalam Islam, baik dari segi moral ataupun perundangan Islam.
Prinsip dan pendirian agama Islam berasaskan kepada sumber Al-Qur’an, Hadis, Ijma’ dan sumber-sumber lain yang jelas tanpa ragu menolak sama sekali amalan LGBT di kalangan umat Islam. Hakikat ini diketahui serta diperakui bukan sahaja di kalangan umat Islam, bahkan di kalangan masyarakat umum.
Sesungguhnya pendirian yang dikemukakan oleh Dr. Syed Muhd Khairudin selari dengan pandangan sarjana yang berotoriti dalam Islam, antara lain seperti yang diungkapkan dengan tepat oleh mantan Presiden Islamic Society of North America, Muzammil Siddiqi (2003):-
“Homosexuality is sinful and shameful. … But nowadays this act has become a phenomenon. There are agencies and lobby groups that are working hard to propagate it and to make it an acceptable and legitimate lifestyle. For this reason it is important that we should speak against it. We should warn our youth and children from this devilish lifestyle. We should make it very clear that it is Haram, absolutely forbidden and that it kindles the wrath and anger of Allah…”
Percubaan mempertikaikannya oleh kelompok tertentu– termasuk dari dari kalangan Muslim sendiri – dari awal pelaksanaan Islam hingga ke hari ini ternyata tidak dapat diterima oleh umat Islam, di negara mana pun mereka berada. Hal ini dizahirkan dengan jelas oleh negara-negara Islam OIC menerusi persidangan-persidangan hak asasi sejagat.
Bahkan di kalangan umat Islam yang merupakan golongan minoriti di negara-negara lain, termasuk di Barat juga jelas menunjukkan bahawa hampir kesemuanya menolak amalan LGBT. Meskipun wujud beberapa pertubuhan dan invidividu yang mengangkat pengamalan atau perjuangan LGBT atas nama ‘Islam’ atau ‘Muslim’, ia tidak pernah sama sekali menggugat pendirian Islam yang terbina kukuh atas sumber hukumnya.
Penolakan terhadap amalam songsang LBGT bukan hanya terbatas kepada agama Islam sahaja. Waima ia turut disuarakan dengan jelas di kalangan majoriti penganu agama-agama besar yang lainnya. Adalah merupakan hal yang sedia dimaklumi bahawa agama-agama besar di dunia menjunjung tinggi institusi keluarga dan perkahwinan Justeru hanya perkahwinan diantara lelaki dan wanita dengan tujuan murni demi kelangsungan zuriat manusia yang harus dipertahankan oleh para penganut agama dari sebarang usaha meruntuhkannya melalui ‘hubungan dan perkahwinan sejenis’ melalui pintu LGBT.
Sebagai komuniti penganut agama-agama besar yang penting di dunia, keengganan masyarakat dan pemimpin rantau Asia Tenggara untuk mengiktiraf amalan LGBT sebagai ‘nilai universal’ jelas terbukti. Sebagai contoh, ketua-ketua negara ASEAN (Persatuan Negara-Negara Asia Tenggara) sepakat menolak advokasi pelobi LGBT untuk memasukkan klausa berkaitan LGBT dalam Deklarasi ASEAN Mengenai Hak Asasi Manusia yang diumumkan pada 19 November 2013.
Seperti Malaysia, Singapura sebagai sebuah negara maju dan terkehadapan dalam konteks persaingan dunia global turut mempertahankan undang-undang yang mengiktirafkan amalan liwat sebagai satu jenayah yang dihukum di bawah Kanun Keseksaan negara tersebut.
Justeru atas justifikasi dan semangat agama dan muhibbah ASEAN inilah maka ABIM menyatakan sokongannya terhadap usaha-usaha individu seperti Dr Syed Khairudin dan pertubuhan Islam Singapura yang berusaha menyampaikan pendirian Islam yang jelas terhadap isu LGBT. Atas dasar ini juga, kita menyeru agar pihak yang menyokong LGBT di Singapura wajar untuk menghormati pendirian serta pandangan yang dikemukakan oleh Dr Syed Khairuddin berdasarkan kepada kerangka intelektual yang objektif serta ilmiah.
ABIM sama sekali tidak berhasrat untuk campur tangan tentang hal ehwal masyarakat Muslim Singapura. Kenyataan ini diketengahkan sebagai satu penjelasan mengenai pendirian ABIM terhadap isu umat Islam sejagat
ABIM turut yakin bahawa sebagai penganut agama Islam yang berpendidikan tinggi dan berwawasan luas, Prof.Dr Syed Khairudin dan pemimpin agama Islam di Singapura akan mengambil yang pendekatan sederhana dan berhikmah dalam menyelesaikan isu ini.
Walaupun pendirian Islam cukup jelas dalam isu LGBT ini, Islam turut mengajar bahawa nilai akhlak dan moral yang tinggi menuntut mesej tersebut disampaikan dengan pendekatan yang terbaik. ABIM menolak sebarang pendekatan konfrontasi berunsur kekerasan di mana-mana peringkat, oleh sesiapapun terhadap komuniti tersebut.
Tanpa sebarang provokasi dan dakyah yang tidak bertanggungjawab dari pihak yang mempertikaikan beliau, ABIM yakin inilah nilai murni dan akhlak Islamiyyah yang telah dan akan terus diamalkan oleh beliau dan pemimpin msyarakat Islam di Singapura.
Atas dasar ini, ABIM turut menyeru semua pertubuhan-pertubuhan Islam di Malaysia untuk memberikan sokongan dan dukungan yang penuh terhadap Dr.Syed Khairuddin dan pertubuhan Islam di Singapura, untuk terus memperjuangan pendirian umat Islam terhadap LGBT sebagaimana yang diketengahkan oleh masyarakat Islam di Malaysia.
Mohamad Raimi Ab.Rahim, Naib Presiden
Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM)
