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Tag: Singapore

  • Amos Yee May Have To Wait Years In Asylum Bid

    Amos Yee May Have To Wait Years In Asylum Bid

    HONG KONG – Controversial Singaporean blogger Amos Yee, who is currently seeking asylum in the United States, may face years of waiting before knowing if he will be granted citizenship, according to his lawyer.

    The 18-year-old was taken into custody after he landed at Chicago O’Hare Airport on Dec 16. He is currently detained at the McHenry County jail.

    His lawyer, Ms Sandra Grossman, said Amos was likely to have been detained because he entered the US on a tourist visa, despite “an intention to apply for asylum or remain” in the country, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

    To obtain political asylum, the teenage blogger would have to be assessed by an asylum official to determine if he faces a “credible fear of persecution or torture”, a process that usually takes days to complete.

    If he passes the assessment, he would likely be released from detention and allowed to remain in the US while awaiting a court hearing on his asylum bid.

    But the holiday season could delay his assessment, and it would take years before Amos gets the chance to appear before a judge, due to backlogs in the immigration system, Ms Grossman added.

    “Once his case goes before an immigration judge, I think his chances are extremely high,” she was quoted by SCMP as saying.

    Amos first came to the attention of the authorities back home last year when he posted a video online making offensive remarks about former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and insulting Christianity.

    He later served two prison terms for wounding religious feelings. He was jailed for four weeks in July last year and sentenced to six weeks’ jail in September this year.

     

    Source: www,straitstimes.com

  • Walid J. Abdullah: Jesus Christ Is An Important Figure In Islam

    Walid J. Abdullah: Jesus Christ Is An Important Figure In Islam

    Jesus Christ and Muslims:

    *disclaimer: i am not an Islamic scholar, so these are the opinions of a lay Muslim*

    Jesus Christ is an important figure in Islam. In fact, no Muslim can claim to be one if he/she does not believe in Jesus Christ. Islam is perhaps unique for being a non-Christian faith that requires belief in the Christ in order to be an adherent to the faith.

    This is not to say that Muslims and Christians believe exactly the same things about Jesus. This is an attempt to highlight some similarities and differences on Jesus Christ in the two great Abrahamaic faiths.

    Similarities:

    Like Christians, Muslims believe Jesus was born of a virgin. Both Mary and Jesus are accorded important positions in Islam. Three of 114 chapters of the Quran are named after Jesus/his family/occurrences in his life: Jesus is mentioned 25 times by name in the Quran.

    Jesus is a righteous Messenger and Prophet. And, Muslims actually believe he is the Messiah promised by the God of Abraham to the Jewish people.

    Muslims also believe that Jesus will be reappearing near the end of days, for the second coming. His reappearance, will be one of the major signs of the last hour.

    Differences:

    Muslims however, depart from Christians on an important point: we do not believe that Jesus was divine, God, the son of God, or a second person of the trinity.

    Muslims also believe that Jesus was not crucified, or according to some scholars, he did not die by crucifixion. Details aside, the Quranic narrative is that Jesus did not die on the cross.

    Furthermore, Muslim theology is similar to Jewish theology in the sense that each person is accountable for his or her own sins, or as stated in the book of Ezekiel, ‘the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son; the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him; the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.’ Thus, Muslims do not believe that Jesus, or anyone else, could die for the sins of mankind.

    —–

    Obviously, there will be other similarities and differences; these are perhaps the main ones.

    If we are serious about inter-faith dialogue and understanding, we must be honest about what we agree on, and where we disagree. ‘Feel-good’ dialogues that talk about similarities are as unproductive as rants focusing exclusively on differences.

    True harmony can only be achieved, i think, when people understand where they disagree, and agree to accept those disagreements as part and parcel of life. Pretending that we share same theologies is not just dishonest, but can be counter-productive.

    And, we must also get over the idea that just because we disagree (not just in religion, but in politics and everything else!), we must hate each other. And just because we like each other, we must not talk about differences. Both these notions will end up achieving very little for a multi-cultural, multi-religious society.

    Merry Christmas to my Christian friends!

     

    Source: Walid J. Abdullah

  • Final Farewell For AYE Accident Victim Jackie Liong

    Final Farewell For AYE Accident Victim Jackie Liong

    Friends and family gathered on Friday (Dec 23) afternoon to bid a final farewell to Mr Jackie Liong Kuo Hwa, the driver who was killed in the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) accident on Monday.

    Mr Liong, 37, was cremated Friday afternoon at Mandai Crematorium following a funeral service in church.

    His wife, Madam Venny Oliver, 37, who survived the crash, is recovering from surgery but was allowed to leave the hospital to bid a last goodbye to her husband. She attended the church funeral service for him but was not seen at Mandai Crematorium.

    Mr Liong was killed after a silver Mercedes-Benz travelling against the flow of traffic slammed head-on into the Toyota Vios he was driving. His wife was a passenger in the car.

    The driver of the Mercedes-Benz, Lim Chai Heng, 53, was charged on Tuesday with causing death by reckless or dangerous driving at National University Hospital, where he had been warded for his injuries, the police said.

    Other than Lim and Mdm Oliver, two others – a couple on a motorcycle – were injured in the morning peak hour accident that saw four cars, one motorcycle and one private bus wrecked. The wall of the expressway before the Tuas West Road exit was also severely damaged.

     

    Source: TODAY Online

  • Four Singapore-Bound Flights Diverted To Batam Due To Poor Weather In Singapore

    Four Singapore-Bound Flights Diverted To Batam Due To Poor Weather In Singapore

    Four Singapore-bound flights were diverted to the Indonesian island of Batam on Thursday due to inclement weather in the city state.

    Among the four flights, a Singapore Airlines flight from Tokyo to Singapore touched down at Changi Airport more than five hours behind schedule after making three attempted landings on Thursday afternoon before diverting to Hang Nadim airport in Batam to refuel.

    The SQ631 flight, which carried 259 passengers, landed in Batam at 2.49pm on Thursday and only left for Singapore at 7.25pm. The flight, which was scheduled to land at Changi Airport at 3.25pm, eventually arrived at 8.50pm.

    The other three affected flights are a Tiger Air flight from Hong Kong with 104 passengers, a SIA flight from Brisbane with 289 passengers and a SilkAir flight from Thailand with 131 passengers. All of them arrived in Batam minutes before the SQ631 flight and departed in the evening for Singapore between 4.23pm and 5.46pm.

    All passengers stayed on board at Hang Nadim airport while waiting out the bad weather in Changi, according to local authorities BP Batam.

    A Changi Airport Group spokesman said decisions regarding flight diversions and landings are left to the sole discretion of the pilot and his airline.

    This incident comes just a week after some 200 SIA passengers were stranded in Hokkaido for about 57 hours after heavy snow closed airport runways and caused hundreds of flight cancellations.

     

    Source: The Straits Times

  • Mufti Dr Fatris, MUIS Ucap Selamat Hari Krismas Kepada Masyarakat Kristian Singapura

    Mufti Dr Fatris, MUIS Ucap Selamat Hari Krismas Kepada Masyarakat Kristian Singapura

    Mufti Negara Dr Mohamed Fatris Bakaram dan Ketua Eksekutif MUIS, Abdul Razak Maricar, bagi pihak masyarakat Islam tempatan, hari ini mengutuskan ucapan Selamat Hari Krismas dan tahun baru 2017 kepada masyarakat Kristian Singapura.

    Ucapan tersebut disampaikan dalam surat berasingan kepada dua pemimpin Kristian yang berpengaruh di negara ini iaitu Presiden Majlis Gereja Kebangsaan Singapura, Uskup Rennis Ponniah, dan Ketua Bishop Roman Katolik Singapura, William Goh Seng Chye.

    Dalam surat tersebut, Mufti Fatris dan Encik Abdul Razak menzahirkan rasa bersyukur di atas anugerah keamanan, kemakmuran dan persahabatan kukuh dengan semua agama di Singapura, terutama sekali dengan masyarakat Kristian negara ini.

    Mereka menambah, sekarang ini merupakan masa-masa sukar bagi banyak masyarakat di merata dunia, seperti serangan “tidak berperikemanusiaan” ke atas Pasar Berlin, yang membunuh 12 orang dan mencederakan 48 yang lain.

    Lantaran itu, Mufti Fatris dan Encik Abdul Razak menekankan perlunya ikatan dan persahabatan yang ada diperkuat, dan masyarakat memperdalam kefahaman antara satu sama lain serta membina satu budaya kerjasama.

    Masyarakat Muslim Singapura tegas kedua-dua mereka, komited untuk berdiri bahu membahu dengan penganut agama lain, dalam menawarkan peranan positif yang boleh dimainkan oleh agama.

    Ini, demi membina sebuah Singapura yang sepadu dan dan makmur demi manfaat generasi masa depan, kata Mufti Fatris dan Encik Razak.

    Source: Berita MediaCorp

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