Teresa Kok's Arrest: Life's Unfair. But This Is Too Much!

I just read this on the net. I thought you’d be interested.

Two Malay-Muslims groups who still believe that Selangor exco Teresa Kok was
against the azans emanating from local mosques have come out to defend her detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Bernama reported yesterday that the Muslim Consumers’ Association of Malaysia (PPIM) and the Islamic NGOs, Heritage Associations, Malay Cultural Organisations and Related Bodies Cooperation Network (Pewaris) had lodged police reports against Kok.

[…]

“The detentions are proof that the government does not remain silent in matters involving racial sensitivities and the Federal Constitution.

“Matters such as these should be viewed seriously because, if ignored, they could incite hatred in the people, especially the Malays, because their special position has often been disputed by certain quarters,” PPIM secretary-general Dr Ma’amor Osman was quoted as saying yesterday.

[…]

Speaking to Malaysiakini today, Ma’amor said just as Muslims do not seek to disturb or affect any changes to the religious ceremonies of non-Muslims, Kok should also not have sought to disturb or affect any changes to that of Muslims.

“Azans are among the 'syiar' (symbols) of Islam, and she was trying to change or
influence the syiar of Islam,” he said.

He claimed that Kok and other DAP leaders such as its national chairperson Karpal Singh have a history of making statements against Islam.

[…]

When pointed out that the petition by the residents near Bandar Kinrara were not against the azans per se but the religious lectures, Ma’mor said this does not make a
difference as both azans and religious lectures are “syiars” of Islam.

“Don’ttouch the syiars of Islam at all,” he said.

(source)

Rightly said Dr. Ma’mor! Well now that you clarify it, I hope you guys will get to earn more respects and understanding from us Malaysians who are not in the faith from now onwards :)

xxxxx

How time flies! It has been almost 5 months since we first made Puchong our home! We love our taman so much! There’s a forest bordering it, and it’s always cooling and breezy at night, and quiet, no morning calls of any sorts, well ok, maybe just the mosquitoes!

Last month we also hosted cell group at our place which was really cool! Back in Bangi, a densely Malay-populated area, we weren’t able to do so – hosting cell group, I mean – besides the reason of the distance for our cell group members to travel to and fro, our apartment committees weren’t too happy either when we had some guests over during our house warming when we first moved in.

I remembered we had our cell group members from church visiting, and Pastors and family came too! Jason and I were really excited, because honestly, the house was really a little too empty, too quiet for our liking.

Early in the morning, we went around Bandar Baru Bangi/Kajang town to buy snacks, lunch, drinks, paper plates, etc, then came back and continued cleaning the house hoping the apartment will be comfortable for our guests.

At noon, our VIPs arrived! All in I think there’s less than 15 of them and before we attack the food, being Christians, our pastors prayed for God’s blessings to be upon us in the house, we said grace for the food, and sang a couple of praise songs with our cell group leader on the guitar; all these, were done behind closed doors, mind you.

15 minutes into the motion, I think we were halfway singing, there was a knock on our heavy, sturdy door. When it was opened, we were greeted by a group of 7 or 8 Malays garbed in songkoks, tudungs, and baju melayus; one of the men demanded to speak to the owner of the house. Jason stepped forward.

What came forth from the lips of this gentleman had caused our jaws to drop and our perception about this group of people sealed. Forever.

He said, “Apa yang berlaku didalam?” [What’s happening inside?]

When replied that we were having house warming, prayer and feast, he continued by saying:

“Encik tutuplah semua pintu dan tingkap, kena respect sikit kaum islam yang tinggal disini. Kalau boleh rendahkan suara.” [Please close all the doors and windows, you have to respect the muslims that live here. If possible, lower down your voices]

Despite being shock and confused, Jason replied, in as gentlemanly a manner as the guy in baju melayu was, “Ini baru kali pertama kita ada sembahyang dirumah, itupun mungkin kali terakhir. Pintu besar kita tutup. Bukan macam sesetengah orang, sembahyang pakai loud speaker 5 kali sehari, bangunkan sekampung. [This is only the first time we are having prayers at home, and it may be our last. Our door is closed. Not like some others, do their prayers using the loud speakers 5 times a day, waking up the whole village.]

The gentlemen replied “kita kena respect lah” [Well, we have to respect others]

To which Jason answered with “Kamu kena respect kita juga. Ini baru sekali kita ada jamuan dirumah kan.” [You have to respect us too. This is the only one time we have a party at home right?]

Jason proceeded to invite them in and join us. They turned us down, and went away seething. Since then, most of the residents in the building knew us by name, it was as if a poster of “WANTED” with our mug shots and names were circulated for easy ID; they’d eye us suspiciously whenever we walked past and the aunties in sarong will whisper and warn their children not to go near us, we get children throwing erasers and all kinds of stationeries on our car from above the building, the result was a cracked windshield. I’m only sad children at this young age were already taught how to differentiate colours and religions.

That incident was 2 years ago. Even though we are no longer residing there, strangely, we don’t feel very much liberated, in fact, things are getting a little… absurd.

Do you feel the same?