Gopi Krishnan Gopal, who operated a stall in Politeknik Seberang Perai (PSP), Penang, has now claimed that he was told to convert to Islam if he wanted to continue running his business.
The 45-year-old former engineer claimed that the PSP head of administration, who allegedly told him and his wife, Khor Hong Geik, to convert, has since retired.
Gopi Krishnan also claimed to have received calls from various quarters, including a government officer from Putrajaya, who told him to “keep things quiet” as there were efforts to get his stall reinstated.
“I told the officer to raise the issue with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s department and to ask the PM to ensure that all polytechnics in the country have a canteen operator to provide food for non-Muslims, especially vegetarians.
“We are not asking for a temple to be built in the polytechnic, just a stall to serve non-Muslims, some who are vegetarian due to religious reasons,” he said, adding that he served 1,200 non-Muslims students in PSP.
Gopi Krishnan (second on left in photo) would be lodging a police report on the matter and is also mulling legal action against the polytechnic.
Accompanying him at the press conference were Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy and lawyers Paramjit Singh and Shamsher Thind Singh.
Malaysiakini is in the process of contacting the polytechnic and Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan on the latest allegation.
Previously, Kamalanthan said the canteen operator was terminated from PSP due to “administrative reasons”. The deputy minister denied it had anything to do with racial or religious extremism.
The polytechnic has also denied allegations of racism, adding that a police report was lodged on June 26 on the contents of messages on the matter that went viral.
It is learnt that some 300 students have signed a petition, calling on the institution to reinstate the canteen operator, while several quarters have condemned PSP for its handling of a non-Muslim canteen operator.
Gopi Krishnan had been operating his canteen in PSP since September last year but was told to fold up his business by June 30, which is tomorrow.
He failed to obtain the permit for his stall despite meeting all the conditions stated in an open tender, which PSP held in May.
Gopi Krishnan was the only non-Muslim among 12 operators who participated in the open tender.
He was later told by the same head of administration, who allegedly told him to convert to Islam, that he was unable to fulfil the ISO syariah procedures.
Ramasamy said the syariah compliance procedure was something new and surprising.
“Why should a non-Muslim trader be subjected to this law? Are there requirements that in public institutions built with taxpayers’ money, both Muslims and non-Muslims, must practice syariah?
“Gopi Krishnan is clearly a victim of racial and religious intolerance in public institutions,” he said.
Ramasamy called on Kamalanathan, who is also MIC education bureau chief, and the entire PSP management, to resign.
In the Islamists version of hell, that is the one in Malaysia, voting against the PAS is a vote to hell.
This is part of the campaign to promote a united PAS-UMNO front in Malaysia, and the elite of the Islamist party are going national in their attacks against Muslims who are resistant to the idea.
“It is important to unite PAS and UMNO in order to eliminate the DAP,” says a WhatsApp group message.
The group – unknown since the name is not published on the posting in a pro-opposition Facebook page – changed its Icon to that of a PAS-UMNO hand shake.
The message continue: “If you want to enter hell, you can vote DAP.”
But if you wan to enter paradise.”Vote PAS”
The message does not end there.
It goes further into declaring – similar to an Islamic edict or Fatwa – that people who does not vote the PAS will be made ‘kafir harbi.”
The threats are not new in Malaysia.
On 23 June 2016, the Mufti of Pahang shocked Malaysians by stating that it is a sin for Muslims to support the Democratic Action Party (DAP), which he labelled as Kafir Harbi (infidels against whom war can be waged).
The statement received mixed reactions from the Muslims: some voiced their support while many opposed it. For non-Muslims, it became a source of fear, given recent threats announced by the Malaysian Islamic State (IS) based in Syria, and the first bombing incident by IS in Malaysia.
Following the overall rejection of the labeling by Muslim scholars and intellectuals who claimed that the label was invalid and unsuitable under contemporary circumstances, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that no Malaysians should be placed under the Kafir Harbi category.
There is in Malaysia an unfortunate practice of using the term Kafir Harbi for political reasons, and for demonising certain opposition political parties and certain non-Muslim groups.
PETALING JAYA: Pelakon Sharnaaz Ahmad dan kakak kepada pengacara Neelofa, iaitu Noor Nabila Mohd Noor akan disatukan sebagai suami isteri malam ini (31 Mac).
Pasangan itu bakal dinikahkan dalam satu majlis yang akan diadakan di Hotel Royale Chulan Damansara sekitar pukul 7.40 malam ini, lapor laman mStar.
“Tarikh itu dipilih mengikut nasihat keluarga yang mahu perkahwinan kami dipercepatkan dan tarikh 31 Mac itu tiada apa-apa yang istimewa.
“Keluarga mahu majlis dilakukan pada Mac kerana tidak mahu terkejar-kejar dengan bulan Ramadan dan Hari Raya Puasa,” ujar Sharnaaz kepada mStar Online.
Majlis persandingan mereka pula diadakan Ahad ini (2 Apr) di Kuala Lumpur sebelum mengadakan majlis sebelah keluarga Sharnaaz di Pulau Pinang pada 16 April nanti.
Menurut Sharnaaz, beliau dan Noor Nabila tidak mengadakan majlis pertunangan.
“Kami buat majlis perkahwinan secara sederhana sahaja dan kami juga tidak bertunang kerana tidak mahu melalui dugaan bertunang.
“Perkara itu juga antara nasihat keluarga yang mahu kami terus sahaja bernikah,” ujarnya.
Sebelum ini, majlis merisik diadakan di rumah Noor Nabila pada 18 Disember 2016, lapor mStar Online.
Do you know the best way to defeat the Malays? No need to fight them. Just sit back and watch them kill one another. So what DAP’s ‘Superman’ said during the Sarawak by-election was actually very true. All the Chinese need to do is to support one group of Malays to fight another group of Malays and the Malays will wipe themselves out.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
I was already 18 going on 19 in 1969 when the race riot (and not the first race riot, mind you) erupted on 13th May, three days after the Saturday, 10th May, general election.
Much has been said and written about one of these dark periods in Malaysian history (oh yes, we have had many dark periods in Malaysian history). Nevertheless I was there, so I can tell you what happened (or partly about what happened) from an eyewitness’s account.
It is true that on the 11th and the 12th of May the non-Malays were parading (at least from what I witnessed in Bangsar and Brickfields where I lived) and were shouting insults at the Malays and telling the Malays to leave Kuala Lumpur and balek kampung because the Chinese now own the town(s), etc. However, that was not why ‘May 13’ started. That was the excuse they used to start ‘May 13’.
In fact, I was not only a witness to the events in early 1969, I was also at the anti-government demonstration in front of Pudu Jail earlier (where we got shot with tear gas) and I attended all the opposition ceramahs in Brickfields, which were very inflammatory and racial in tone.
So, yes, there was a build-up to the 13th May 1969 race riot and it was built up over a period of time. But then this was intentionally allowed to happen. And as much as Tunku Abdul Rahman tried to curtail all this and he issued instructions to the police to clamp down on the racial rhetoric, there were others in Umno and in the government who countermanded the Tunku’s orders and undermined Tunku so that the racial heat can build up even higher.
And this was why the Tunku stepped down one year later in 1970. The Tunku did not step down because of May 13 or because he failed to stop May 13. He stepped down because of a broken heart. His heart was broken by the fact that so many Malaysians had to die unnecessarily (some estimates put it at 600 and others at thousands, although ‘officially’ it is less than 200) just because some people in Umno were trying to oust him from power.
Even decades later the Tunku would still break down and cry whenever he talked about this. You can see he was still upset until the day he went to his grave and one of the people he blamed for ‘May 13’ was Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The Tunku even went so far as to say that Malaysia would be cursed if Mahathir ever took over as Prime Minister.
Over the last ten years since 2006 (when Mahathir first launched his campaign to oust Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) Mahathir has travelled the length and breadth of Malaysia to talk about how Malays lost power. Yes, that is the gist of Mahathir’s lectures — about how Malays lost political power and now have to share power with the non-Malays.
Mahathir starts with the story of Melaka and about how some Malays collaborated with the Portuguese, which resulted in the collapse of the Sultanate in 1511 and which resulted in Melaka and eventually the rest of Malaya getting colonised for hundreds of years (and for Penang and Singapore becoming Chinese-owned).
Anwar Ibrahim, however, has a slightly different version of that same story. Anwar says it was because of the treachery of the Mamak that Melaka fell. And that is why ‘Mamak Bendahara’ (meaning Mahathir, the then Prime Minister) must be ousted. It is actually quite hilarious considering that Anwar himself is Mamak so it was actually a battle of the Mamaks but using the Malays to fight this battle.
Anyway, the point that Mahathir was making (at least in his lectures over the last ten years since 2006) is that the Malays perpetually fight amongst themselves and in the end the foreigners take over the country. And Mahathir is also telling us that unless the Malays unite then Malaysia will always be in danger of getting colonised or the non-Malays would be able to grab political power.
This was what Mahathir told the Malays in 2006-2008 when he wanted to oust Abdullah and this is what Mahathir is telling us now when he wants to oust Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. The Malays fight with the Malays and the non-Malays or foreigners end up taking over the country.
In 1969, Mahathir told the Tunku that the reason the Malays were very angry (and did not vote Umno) was because he (the Tunku) gave too much face to the Chinese. In 2013, Mahathir told Najib the same thing: that he (Najib) was giving too much face to the Chinese (who do not support the government anyway) and was neglecting the Malay voters (who are actually Umno’s support base).
As Mahathir is so fond of telling us, the Malays love to self-destruct. The Malays love fighting each other. Malays suffer from a syndrome called PHD (perangai hasad dengki). They can’t stand seeing someone have more than them so if you spend RM1,000,000 on your daughter’s wedding then I must spend RM1,500,000 and if you invite Mahathir as your VIP guest then I must invite Mahathir and Muhyiddin Yassin.
Yes, the Malays first became divided in 1951 when PAS was created (by Umno people themselves). Then, in 1987, the Malays further became divided due to a power struggle within Umno (that involved Mahathir and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah) and which resulted in the creation of Semangat 46. In 1998, the Malays became divided, yet again, due to, yet again, another power struggle in Umno and Parti Keadilan Nasional was created followed by an opposition coalition.
So the history of the Malays is that every few years they will fight and they will get divided and they will become a little bit weaker because of it. And the non-Malays will take advantage of this (as they should) and unite while the Malays divide.
Over the last two years the Malays have become divided even more, the worst ever in history. Umno is divided with the Mahathir faction leading the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign). PAS is divided with the creation of PAN a.k.a. Amanah as the breakaway party. PKR, a Malay-based multi-racial party, is also divided with the Anwar and family faction on one side and the Azmin Ali faction on the other.
Yes, and while the Malays are divided into six, or maybe even seven or eight, the Chinese are united under Pakatan Harapan. And because the Malays now see how weak they have become and now that they realise they no longer have bargaining power like they used to (and that even MCA, MIC, Gerakan, etc., now dare challenge Umno when in the past they would not dare squeak) the Malays need to find someone to blame. And the most convenient scapegoat would be to blame the Chinese for this.
This is a typical Malay attitude. When they are lazy and they fail, they will say this is God’s will (so they blame God for their failure). When they fight amongst themselves and become weak, they will blame the Chinese for uniting and for splitting the Malays. When they are bankrupt of ideas, they will use Islam as the political weapon or political platform and then will blame the non-Muslims for insulting Islam or for not respecting Islam.
Do you know the best way to defeat the Malays? No need to fight them. Just sit back and watch them kill one another. So what DAP’s ‘Superman’ said during the Sarawak by-election was actually very true. All the Chinese need to do is to support one group of Malays to fight another group of Malays and the Malays will wipe themselves out.
SINGAPORE & JOHOR BARU – The Media Development Authority is giving leeway to institutions of higher learning to show films that are restricted or not allowed, including To Singapore With Love.
It also said it has accepted a request from the Yale-NUS College to screen the film on Singapore’s political exiles, for classroom teaching and discussion only.
The 70-minute documentary, by local film-maker Tan Pin Pin, 44, received a “Not Allowed for All Ratings (NAR)” classification from the MDA last Thursday.
That was because the film’s contents “undermine national security” and distort the legitimate actions of security agencies as acts that victimise innocent individuals, the MDA had said.
Films classified as NAR are not allowed for public exhibition or distribution.
In its most recent statement on Friday, MDA said it “recognises that lecturers and students of media or related courses at tertiary institutions may require access to a wider variety of films, including films that are classified R21 or NAR.
“Some leeway is provided to these institutions to screen films for educational purposes, on condition that these films have either been previously classified by the MDA, or prior approval has been sought from the MDA before the films are acquired.”
Also on Friday, more than 350 Singaporeans crossed the Causeway to Johor Baru to catch Tan’s film, which was showing as part of an annual Freedom Film Festival.
The film has already been shown in Petaling Jaya and will go to Kuantan and Penang next.
In total, more than 410 people attended, with at least 20 on the waitlist. This was almost triple the number of participants that organisers were anticipating.
Organisers had to book an extra, larger room to accommodate viewers.
The documentary film includes interviews with nine political exiles who fled Singapore and now live in Britain and Thailand. Most were members or supporters of the Communist Party of Malaya, according to the MDA.
It has been touring the international film circuit for about a year, and will make its way to the Philippines and London in the next few weeks.
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