Tag: Singapore

WEAR WHITE ON TAUBAHCALL DAY: 1st Day of Ramadhan – 28 June 2014

Ustaz Noor Deros

Assalamualaikum wr wb,

Bismillah, walhamdulillah, the blessed month of Ramadan is just around the corner, if Allah wills, it will descend on the night of 28th of June around 7pm+.

We ask Allah that He allow us to be among those who will be blessed with His pardon & mercy in that month of rahmah and maghfirah. Amin.

Yet, it seems that there is another group of people who are also looking forward to that day. That very same date and time (5pm-7pm) was chosen by the PINK DOT activists (Lesbian,Gay,Bisexuals & Transexual activists and symphatisers) to organise their biggest event ever. They will come together in thousands to make a call to the Singaporean society to accept LGBT individuals (of course together with their lifestyle) without any kind of discrimination, intolerance nor judgement.

It is important to note here that it is through such nuanced events that the idea, philosophy and lifestyle of LGBT is subtly promoted and normalised, most of the time through the call to accept the VEHICLE (the LGBT individuals).

Oh Muslims! The gates of heavens and mercy will be opened in Ramadan, we do not want It to be blocked by our sins and our inaction towards munkar.

Muslims and straight-minded human beings must stand up and state our stand clearly.

No, not even as a response to this or that party, what more a reaction, but as an education first and foremost to our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters out there who still think that the LGBT lifestyle is a personal right and that the Quranic and Prophetic guidance on the LGBT issue is boundlessly flexible and ever-open to “progressive” interpretations.

For the sake of our collective spiritual, mental, emotional, social & physical health we have to MAKE CLEAR WHAT IS EVIL AND PROHIBIT IT. Be it through a small one time event or mega ones, collectively or group based. Whats important is that it must be continuous and ever present.

This is of course not a new call nor a unique one, this is just another of that small yet continuous calls. We have to keep them coming.

PERGAS have stated our stand, may Allah reward them for that, and I believe that MUIS already have something wise and farsighted in mind, many of us are waiting for that something with good opinion, but waiting is just another excuse to avoid commitment and responsibility, no, waiting is not enough, we, the people on the ground have the right and responsibility to do and say something.

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SUGGESTIONS :

In my discussions with many muslims about this issue I managed to gather some good suggestions, these are some of them :

– Organise an easy, simple, yet clear and easily viral event such as WEAR WHITE DAY ON THE FIRST OF RAMADAN.

Together with this, all/some of the mosque in Singapore – on the first of ramadan especially – should deliver a clear call to taubah, explaining the concept of fitrah, freedom & sexuality in Islam.

In my opinion, this is the most viable, I and my friends will take this on, you are invited to lend a hand. Please contact me if you are interested.

– Veterans and experienced Mega Maulid/Islamic Events organisers especially the lead and crowdpulling asatizahs should come together and organise a mega program on the first of ramadan, maybe a mega terawih session in a stadium. FOR THE LOVE OF THE PROPHET S.A.W. We will give our support.

– Short videos stating our stand on this issue as Muslims living in Singapore. (This is a must)

– Continuous series of talks and seminars on Islam and the LGBT. (Such programs have started, but we need more of it)

– Talks on Islamic Worldview/ Islamic View of Existence. (This is the most important)

Oh Muslims! Our amal ma’ruf nahi munkar is never and should never be restricted to only Muslims. If your non-muslim neighbour tries to kill an innocent life in front of you what do you do? Harm should not be restricted to physical, for we muslims strongly believe in the reality of spiritual harm.

Oh Muslims! We have been fighting about petty issues for too long, Isn’t it high time for us to come together for something that is common between us?

Come come! Let us all together make taubah!

Scholars should make taubah of their muteness and inaction!

Those who have fallen into the pit of LGBT lifestyle should make taubah of their transgression!

Those of us who think that we are clean and are guarenteed salvation because we are religious, should make the most istighfar! For that is the worse kind of delusion!

Welcome! Welcome oh ye month of Maghfirah!

Zulfikar Shariff Walid J. Abdullah Syed Danial Khairul AR Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied Mohamed Saiddhin Gene Sha Muhammad Azry Azmi Abdul Samad

Source: Ustaz Noor Deros

EDITOR’S NOTE

In full honesty, Rilek1Corner has to applaud these Singapore Muslims who have come together to educate the public. This is perhaps the first time in a long time that the Muslim community have witnessed how a small group of dynamic individuals are able to move a community. Hopefully, there will be more of such efforts so that both our Malay and Muslim can also move forward in tandem with rest.

Yet another history in the making.

June 2, 2014
Time for Muslim MPs To Take a Stand on Malay and Muslim Issues

Photo Credit: Yahoo SG

WP MP Faisal Manap raises some concerns of Muslims, as expressed in the Suara Musyawarah Report, in Parliament.

Instead of addressing the issue head-on, PAP Muslim MPs tries to corner Faisal into taking a stand on the issue (which he didn’t, and i think he should have). Later, the MPs were either silent on the issue or tried to skirt it, or even deny it.

Now i have a few questions for the Muslim MPs:

1) Is the Suara Musyawarah Report not commissioned by the government? If so, what is the follow-up?

2) What is the attitude of the Muslim MPs towards the report? Take what you like from it, and ignore what you don’t?

3) If the latter is the case, why have the report in the first place?

4) Even IF those things stated are not true, those are indeed the perceptions of many Muslims. Will you address those perceptions with facts and figures, and reasoned argumentation? Or will those just be dismissed or ignored?

I call upon them to take a stand on these issues/questions, in the name of constructive politics.

Authored by Walid Jumblatt Abdullah

Walid Jumblatt Abdullah, a public-spirited individual, is an ongoing Political Science student of the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is a three-times award recipient of the Graduate Student Teaching (GSTA) Award Honour Roll in 2012. In the recent NUS Commencement Week, he was also selected as the Valedictorian of his cohort.

EDITOR’S NOTE

Seems like both parties cranked up their engines harder this time round with fancy new measures and proposals. The announcement on setting up of WP Malay/Muslim committee to oversee concerns faced by the community should have been done way much earlier. Nevertheless, it’s better late than never. We applaud WP to help the community alongside PAP. Having two different approaches and perspectives to issues will definitely result in expedited progress, only if sole focus is on the community, and not about the respective parties and what’s important to them.

We are glad that more and more Muslims are speaking up for what’s good for their community. This is our country and in a significant way, we have the right to decide our future. As long that discussions are not baseless and no vulgarities involved, someday somehow someone will hear us.

May 30, 2014
Muslim Couple Explore Halal Food and Share Reviews on Blog

Credit: https://www.facebook.com/TheHalalFoodBlog

Adam Shah and wife, Maryah, saw the issue and the duo decided to embark on a journey of Halal food blogging on June 2012. The idea was to stop by any restaurant, cafe or even coffee-shop selling Halal meals and review on their experience for netizens out there.

“The reason we started the blog was actually quite simple. We ate out quite often and were running out of new Halal places to makan but every time we searched online, there was little information for us to go on. Se we thought ‘Why not every time we makan outside, we just blog about it?’ hoping that the information would be useful to someone,” Adam said.

“I think the biggest challenge we faced was when my wife was pregnant with our first child. This meant less opportunities for us to eat out and when we did, my wife’s appetite was a big factor. That and having to manage our time, especially now that we have a daughter, definitely a challenge.

“This is actually just a hobby and we’re glad that it does benefit our readers somehow … We love to eat and we are going to keep doing it for as long as we can,” Maryah quipped.

Read more on them here and here

Source: Vulcanpost and HalalFoodBlog

READ MORE ON HALAL RELATED ARTICLES HERE

May 30, 2014
Sultan of Johor Wants Singapore’s Pedra Branca Back After Six Years

THE Sultan of Johor has ordered the state government to look into filing an appeal against the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) decision six years ago to award Pedra Branca to Singapore.

Pedra Branca – which Malaysia refers to as Pulau Batu Puteh – belonged to Johor and should remain a part of it, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail was quoted by the online portals of Malay-language dailies Utusan Malaysia and Sinar Harian as saying yesterday.

He said he was following the wishes of his father, the late Sultan Iskandar Ismail.

Sultan Ibrahim, who was speaking at the opening of the state legislative assembly session, noted that while foreign affairs came under the jurisdiction of the federal government, it was unwise for Johor not to be consulted on the matter.

“Don’t the Johor people understand their neighbours better than those in Putrajaya? How would the federal government know of the state’s needs or that of its people?” he said.

Pedra Branca, an island the size of a football field located some 40km east of Singapore and home to Horsburgh Lighthouse, was at the centre of a territorial dispute between Singapore and Malaysia that lasted almost three decades.

In 2003, the two countries signed a Special Agreement referring the dispute to the ICJ at The Hague, in the Netherlands.

For three weeks in 2007, legal teams from both sides argued their case before the court. In a ruling that it said was “final, binding and without appeal” in May 2008, the ICJ awarded Pedra Branca to Singapore and outcrops called Middle Rocks to Malaysia.

Of Sultan Ibrahim’s order to appeal against the ruling, Dr Azmi Sharom of Universiti Malaya told The Straits Times that he does not have the authority.

“The ICJ has jurisdiction over disputes presented only by nations or governments. He may request it (an appeal), but it is the government that presents the case to the ICJ.”

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JOHOR BAHRU 29 Mei – Sultan Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar hari ini menitahkan kerajaan negeri supaya menubuhkan pasukan khas untuk memfailkan rayuan bagi membatalkan keputusan Mahkamah Keadilan Antarabangsa (ICJ) tentang Pulau Batu Putih yang sebelum ini memihak kepada Singapura.

Baginda bertitah, negeri ini adalah berbeza dengan negeri-negeri lain kerana mempunyai ‘jiran sebelah’ yang merupakan sebuah negara maju, malah sebenarnya mempunyai hubungan rapat dengan Johor kerana saling bergantung antara satu sama lain.

“Oleh yang demikian, walaupun hal ehwal luar negara terletak di bawah kuasa Kerajaan Persekutuan, adalah tidak wajar jika kerajaan Johor tidak dimaklumkan atau tidak dibawa berunding dalam perkara yang melibatkan kepentingan Johor dan Singapura. Bukankah orang Johor lebih memahami tentang jirannya berbanding orang di Putrajaya?

“Bagaimanakah pihak Persekutuan lebih tahu tentang keperluan atau kehendak negeri dan rakyat Johor? Inilah kesannya apabila orang luar yang tidak faham tentang sejarah dan kedaulatan negeri Johor (tetapi) diberikan tugas untuk mempertahankan kes tersebut,” titah baginda.

Sultan Ibrahim bertitah demikian ketika merasmikan penggal kedua Sidang Dewan Undangan Negeri Johor Ke-12 di Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim, Bukit Timbalan, di sini hari ini.

November tahun lalu, Kerajaan Persekutuan memaklumkan tiada rayuan semula dibuat selepas kalah dalam kes tuntutan Pulau Batu Putih kepada Singapura pada 2007 kerana ketiadaan bukti kukuh dan fakta lengkap namun tetap meneruskan usaha mencari bukti dan maklumat baharu untuk persediaan masa hadapan dengan kerjasama Arkib Negara.

Malah pada penghujung bulan yang sama, Malaysia dan Singapura bersetuju menubuhkan sebuah jawatankuasa kecil baharu bagi membincangkan penandaan sempadan maritim Pedra Branca atau Pulau Batu Putih, Batuan Tengah dan Tubir Selatan – kelompok batu yang muncul di laut kedua-dua negara.

Source: The Straits Times, Utusan Malaysia

May 30, 2014
Workers’ Party: Set Up Committee to Address Malay-Muslim Concerns

SINGAPORE – Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap of the Workers’ Party yesterday called for the formation of a committee to address concerns of Malay-Muslims over how their loyalty to the nation is viewed.

But in a swift rebuttal, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Manpower Hawazi Daipi deemed his suggestion unnecessary as this was an issue that could be overcome by strengthening inter-racial ties.

The exchange began with Mr Faisal saying that more needed to be done to “address and find solutions” to community concerns highlighted in a recent report. He quoted the findings of the Suara Musyawarah committee, which said Malay-Muslim participants felt left out in certain policies and practices which “question the loyalty of Malays to the country”.

The committee was formed in 2012 to gather feedback on the thoughts, concerns and aspirations of Malay-Muslims. Its report highlighted personal accounts of employers expressing a preference for non-Malay workers and surfaced concerns over exclusion from certain parts of the Singapore Armed Forces.

Mr Faisal acknowledged that progress has been made in terms of opportunities afforded to Malay-Muslims in education and national service, but said the committee’s formation could offer a “quick solution” to achieving a “more inclusive and open Singapore society”.

Responding to his speech, Mr Hawazi and Mr Zainal Sapari (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC) later asked Mr Faisal if the latter had ever felt that his loyalty to the country was questioned, and what his own views on the issue were.

“I’m concerned (that) if we highlight the differences, we will be widening (them) not only among one community but all communities,” said Mr Hawazi, adding that schools and community activities are means to forge greater social cohesion.

In response, Mr Faisal stressed that the issue of loyalty among Malays was surfaced by the Suara Musyawarah report, and not him.

Mr Hawazi then suggested that Mr Faisal had cherry-picked portions of the report, failing to highlight, for example, that Malay-Muslim participants also said they were “very committed” to Singapore on issues that include defence and security.

Maintaining that he was reflecting concerns on the ground, Mr Faisal said: “I have said in my view that I am aware and agree there is progress made, but because there are still many people who say that this issue is present, I, as a voice of the people, would like to voice it out.”

Source: The Straits Times

READ MORE ON WORKER’S PARTY RELATED ARTICLES

May 29, 2014