Tag: malaysians

Dr Mahathir Slams Zeal To Impose Dress Code

KUALA LUMPUR — The rift in Malaysian society over a spate of dress code enforcement actions by government agencies and public buildings on non-Muslim women has widened, with former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad saying that Malaysia is now sliding backwards and is acting like Saudi Arabia in its zeal to impose a dress code on the public.

“We are now sliding backwards. Soon, not only shorts will be an issue. If a woman leaves a house without a burqa, it will be considered wrong,” he said yesterday, adding that dress codes in government buildings should only apply to its employees and not to visitors, especially those who are not Muslim.

Earlier yesterday, Cuepacs, an umbrella group of 140 civil service unions, spoke up for civil servants who have been criticised for directing women to wear sarongs before entering government buildings.

Many of the civil servants had used their own money to buy sarongs for visitors who were improperly dressed.

“The aim of the dress code is get people to dress modestly, it is applicable to everyone. You cannot just go to someone’s house dressed however you want,” Cuepacs president Azih Muda told reporters yesterday.

“But no one is to blame in these incidents. The personnel are not wrong for following the rules and the client (visitor) is also not wrong as they may have forgotten about the dress code.”

“The people who are wrong are those who are posting comments (on social media) and sensationalising something that should not be sensationalised in the first place,” he said.

Mr Azih said that Cuepacs would be sending out a certificate of appreciation to a People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) officer who on June 16 generated controversy for stopping a woman wearing shorts and making her wrap a towel around her waist before allowing her into Sungei Buloh hospital.

Meanwhile, an ethnic Chinese opposition lawmaker and a columnist engaged in a war of words after the latter labelled the lawmaker an “enemy” to her own race for donning a headscarf while in a mosque last week.

In a Facebook post, Ms Lim Fang, who is a columnist with Sin Chew Daily and China Press criticised Selangor state Speaker Hannah Yeoh of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) for allegedly giving a chance for Malay government officials to impose dress codes on Chinese women.

“If DAP’s Hannah Yeoh can assimilate into Malay society why should Chinese women be different from Malay society? The DAP should discipline the enemy within,” the columnist wrote on Wednesday.

Ms Yeoh, who is ethnic Chinese, retorted on Facebook yesterday that “extreme views exist in every faith and race” and called on fellow Malaysians to reject such mindsets if they hoped to move the country forward.

The appreciation letter signed off by Cuepacs follows a similar letter of appreciation issued by Rela to one of its security guards working at a Road Transport Department (RTD) office on Wednesday.

The guard caused an uproar in Parliament and social media earlier this month by making a middle-aged ethnic Chinese women wear a sarong over her knee-length skirt before being allowed to access the Department.

Rela had issued the letter despite Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai clarifying that there is no “sarong policy” at the RTD and the department issuing a public apology to the woman.

Source: www.todayonline.com

June 26, 2015
Chinese Embrace Islam But Fight To Keep Names

KUALA LUMPUR – Chinese Muslims converts are baulking at taking Malay or Arabic names upon embracing Islam, claiming the discriminatory practice forces them to abandon their culture and traditions.

Several Chinese Muslims in Malaysia are fighting for the right to keep their original names, in defiance of the convention of replacing their surname with ‘Abdullah’, in a bid to keep their culture alive.

“I will not change my ethnicity. I was born Chinese and I will die Chinese, I will not become Malay.

“I did not want to change my name to show that Islam is a universal religion for all nations, not just for the Arabs or Malays only,” the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association (MACMA) Malacca official Lim Jooi Soon told the BBC in a recent interview.

Like Lim, several other Chinese Muslims view changing their names to include Arabic or Malay names to be unnecessary as they were adopting a new faith, not a new race.

“My name may change but my face remains the same. Here, Malaysians say that if someone converts to Islam it means they’re becoming Malay. If I did not change my name, then I remain Chinese,” Ting Swee Keong said, also having kept his Chinese name after converting to Islam.

Even the practice of celebrating Chinese festivals are at risk, Muslim convert Nur Caren Chung Yock Lan said, despite celebrations like Chinese New Year or Mooncake Festival not being rooted in faith.

“This cultural celebration does not go against Islamic law; the Mooncake Festival, the Dumpling Festival, the Chinese New Year celebrations, these are more cultural than religious.

“Judging from history when Saad Ibn Waqas preached in China, he easily accepted the culture since Islam did not kill the culture; the faith changed, not the culture,” she said.

Although the convention of changing an individual’s name when converting into Islam is not in Malaysian legislature, it is commonly practised by all Islamic authorities, the BBC reports.

Lim was the first Chinese Muslim in Malaysia allowed to keep his original name, a right he earned after battling Islamic authorities for five years.

“Five years to talk, debate and discussion, as well as showing strong evidence in favour of me keeping my Chinese name. After that, it made it easy for many people to embrace Islam,” he said.

“If he gets rid of his surname, it’s as if there is no contact with his family. My second name indicates which generation I belong to and my last name, which is my own, means headed for greatness,” he explained.

Although MACMA president Professor Dr Hj Taufiq Yap Yun Hin opted for a Muslim name while maintaining his surname and Chinese name upon entering Islam, he urged Islamic authorities to do away with this practice so that those choosing to embrace Islam can still keep their cultural identity.

“I have also asked the parties related to the registration of the religion that this practice be changed so that the ethnic Chinese are still able to maintain their personal name and their surname if they convert to Islam,” he said.

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

June 26, 2015
Photos Of Children Of Malaysian Celebrities Turn Up On Porn Site

Malaysian comedian Harith Iskander was shocked and upset to find photographs of his then-newborn son featured alongside lewd images of naked women on a pornographic website on Wednesday.

Photos of the children of other popular Malaysian celebrities, including actress-singer Erra Fazira and singer Tomok, also appeared on the site, which is believed to be US-based.

He told The New Paper on Thursday: “I was shocked, angry and confused as to why the hell anyone would put my son’s photos on such a site. As a father, my first priority is to protect my children and that is why I got into action immediately and tried to find out as much information as I could.”

Harith’s wife, Dr Jezamine Lim, 31, said that she was rendered speechless and felt “so disgusted I vomited after that”.

He posted on Facebook on Thursday evening that the photos have since been removed by the site.

Source: www.tnp.sg

June 26, 2015
Malaysian Bar Council Chief: Non-Muslims Do Not Have To Hide When They Eat During Ramadan

The Malaysian Bar Council has called on the education authorities to uphold and put in practice the principles of harmony and unity in schools when it came to issues like the rights of non-Muslim students during the fasting month.

Malaysian Bar Council president Steven Thiru said the recent statement by deputy Education Minister Datuk Mary Yap Kain Ching to avoid avoid eating or drinking in front of Muslim students does not inspire mutual respect and understanding among Malaysians.

He said it instead emboldens those who are misguided in their belief that only their rights matter and further result in resentment among those whose rights are ignored or marginalised.

“This is a recipe for disharmony and disunity that we can ill afford. The purpose of fasting is not to inconvenience others who are not fasting.

“Indeed, to impose any such inconvenience would appear to be contrary to the spirit of the fasting month and devalue the qualities that it seeks to honour,” he said in a press statement.

He said Yap’s statement was disturbing as it casts the everyday eating and drinking of those who are not fasting as acts of disrespect, and it encourages the curtailment of the rights of those who are not fasting.

“This is inimical to the principles of mutual respect and understanding that underline our constitution.”

He said there were often attempts to compel or impose respect and understanding in schools in a divisive manner.

“This serves to poison the minds of our children, and sows in them the seeds of prejudice, distrust and suspicion.

“Our future as a nation will be in jeopardy if this worrying trend is not arrested and reversed.”

Source: www.therakyatpost.com

June 25, 2015
4 Facts: Hizbut Tahrir Malaysia Vows To End Haram Sports

Islamist group Hizbut Tahrir Malaysia (HTM) has applauded the person who started the snowball of criticism against champion gymnast Farah Ann Abdul Hadi for wearing a leotard that showed off her “vagina shape” during the SEA Games, adding that such “haram” sports would be barred under a caliphate.

1. The Hardline Islamist Group Told Authorities To Punish Muslim Men And Women Who Do Not Cover Their “Aurat” In Sports

The local chapter of the international hardline Islamist group also told the authorities to punish Muslim men and women who do not cover their “aurat” in sports, even in events such as swimming, saying it was a religious obligation to do so. The group said in a post on its website yesterday:

Praises must be given to the servant of Allah who gave criticism on this issue, although obviously the one who gave the criticism was then criticised by Farah herself and her supporters.

This is not a question of judging, but the question of preventing wrongdoings because it is an obligation for every Muslim, and for the State it is obligatory to take action through punishments.

2. The Group Said Defenders Of Farah Ann Proved Some Muslims Have Been Poisoned By Ideas Of Freedom From The West

HTM said defenders of Farah Ann proved that some Muslims have been poisoned by ideas of freedom from the West, where winning gold medals and bringing pride to the country is considered more important than covering up.

The group, which wishes to establish an Islamic caliphate in Malaysia, claimed that sports with “haram”, or forbidden elements, will never be allowed in a caliphate, and their athletes will be punished if found to be participating in such sports. It added:

Muslims are known to participate in ‘sports’ such as archery, horseriding, swimming, swordplay and so on, all of them done within the frame of performing jihad in the path of Allah,” it said, using the Arabic word that means “holy struggle”.

[They are] not like the sports of these days which bring humans further away from Allah.

3. Several Facebook Users Slammed Farah On Facebook Last Week After TV3 Uploaded A Photo Of Her In The Gymnastics Outfit

Several Facebook users had last week slammed the 21-year-old Farah Ann on Buletin TV3’s Facebook page after it uploaded a photograph of her in the gymnastics outfit, along with a caption that announced her winning gold in floor exercise in artistic gymnastics.

The woman athlete has since received an outpouring of support, however, from Malaysians who pointed out that the athlete should be celebrated for her performance at the games, which not only saw her take home gold, but three bronze medals and a silver in other individual events.

4. Youth And Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin Has Since Defended Her, Telling Detractors They Have No Right To Judge Her Attire

Khairy also said a guidelines for sportswear by the federal Islamic authorities is unnecessary.

Even former minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz weighed in on the issue, slamming Farah Ann’s critics for being obsessed with athletes’ body shapes and dressing instead of their performances.

Source: http://greatermalaysia.com

June 25, 2015