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lipstick and heels ban in kota bahru

June 24th, 2008

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Kota Bahru will soon become Kabul Bahru!

While cosmetics and personal care are becoming a multbillion dollar industry, those folks at Kota Bahru Municipal Council are planning to cause a small dent in sales for areas in Kota Bahru. The council had issued a circular banning female muslim women working in business premises from wearing “thick make-up, bright coloured lipstick and high-heeled shoes which made a tapping sound. Those who insisted on wearing high-heeled shoes should choose those with rubber soles“.

It was issued to “prevent incidents like rape and illicit sex as well as to safeguard the morals and dignity of Muslim women in Kelantan“.

This is in addition to existing directive – “wearing of scarves (tudung?), which should cover the chest and not be of transparent material, blouses with long sleeves, which were long and loose, as well as socks”.

My questions: Where is the research or study that was undertaken in Kabul Bahru are that proves use of lipstick and tapping-sound-making high heels causes incidents like rape and illicit sex? Can the rakyat get a copy of the study?

12 comments »

Posted in BornInMalaysia

Tags: intolerance

All religions equal says Penang CM

June 23rd, 2008

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Guan Eng courts more problem by declaring that all religion will be treated equally. He says:

All religions are equal, according to Buddhist teaching

– The Star

Doesn’t he know that comparing Islam with other religions as equals will infuriate some (many/all?) of the muslims in the country? Is he baiting certain people to condemn him? Surely he knows that in Islam, only their religion is correct and everyone else is wrong. Its not like Hinduism or Buddhism.

Guess what, he also says that funds will be given fairly to all religion. Gasp!

Plus, he clarifies that Penang will never be an Islamic state (well, as long he is around, anyway).

Islam is the official religion of the country, but the freedom of worship is enshrined in our Federal Constitution.

“Nobody can take away this freedom and this right must be enjoyed by all of us forever.

Worse still, he informed that an inter-religious council had been formed:

We have also formed an inter-religious council called Majlis Silaturahim to promote goodwill and understanding among all religions

How can we forget the fate of IFC (inter-faith council) which was rejected even before formation. Some quarters (PAS including?) held protests against plan to form the IFC, citing that it will put Islam on par with other religions. So how could he proceed with such a committee? Isn’t it against the law or something? Surely its wrong? Would he be taken in under ISA? Unless of course, there’s nothing forbidding him from establishing such a council. No legal issues, no constitutional problems unlike the ones imagined by Nazri.

5 comments »

Posted in BornInMalaysia

Tags: Harmony Penang Religion

Kampung Pandan Indian Settlement gets eviction notice

June 23rd, 2008

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Kampung Pandan community’s worry had become a reality since they have been given an eviction notice. Before the elections, the community openly said that since 1980s, BN representatives could not do anything to help. Even meeting between Samy Vellu and officials from City Hall was not fruitful. They ended up supporting PAS candidate.

The residents were worried about the tamil school, temple and madrasah located there.

To quote from earlier posting:

“Samy Vellu told us he is so close to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that he can flick Abdullah’s ear. He hasn’t done anything since,” said Rajoo.

So, the community had a demonstration on Sunday protesting the eviction notice. According to NST, 200 police were placed to guard the 150 “squatters” who have lived there since before independence time.

This is going to be a problem from FT Ministry, MIC, PPP senators, and all those who said that temples WON’T be demolished. What will happen to the school? Dare they step up and solve the problems, or cite more technicalities and rules to hide their inability to keep their promises? If they can’t do it, don’t make empty promises. Something that Pakatan Rakyat states are being accused of as well.

Kampung Pandan Indian Settlement Action Committee chairman Suresh Kumar said the protesters were not objecting to the notices, but they want more time to further discuss the issue with City Hall.
“How can they serve us a one-month notice on June 10, asking about 3,000 people to move out by July 8? The 270 houses have been here for 51 years,” he said.

“They offered us rented units in the DBKL low-cost flats in Kampung Muhibbah, Puchong, in the past but we declined because it was too far away.”

He said there were several issues they wanted to discuss with City Hall, adding that they wanted to know what the plans for the redevelopment of the squatter land were.

They want City Hall to build low-cost flats where their houses are located and give them the units for free as compensation. They also want compensation for the demolished temples and for them to be rebuilt by City Hall.

Hindu Rights Action Force coordinator S. Jayathas and Pas officials were present.

– NST

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Posted in Indian

Tags: discrimination Protest Tamil school temples

job fairs see less indians participating

June 23rd, 2008

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I’m kind of surprised that Dr S.Subramaniam is saying “it was disappointing that the participation of the Indian community in job fairs was not encouraging.” He also mentioned that “indian youngsters should take an initiative to attend job fairs so that they could look and apply for jobs which might be suitable based on their qualifications.”

Time to time, I do attend such fairs (and also those related to education) and can notice significant number of Indians roaming around. The awareness is there to a certain extent.

I know that concerned members of the community do take the initiative to spread information on such job fairs via emails, forums, and SMS. That reaches many of the Internet-enabled students and graduates. As for those in the outskirts or without Internet access, they have to rely on media and also more conventional methods. This is where MIC, IPF, NGOs, and various temple committees come into play. These people should be having good network of contacts, and thus able to use their premises to display news on job fairs. Newspapers which are own by political parties do highlight such fairs from time to time, but more prominence should be given.

When you provide something that is beneficial to the people, people will come to you. No need to waste money on publicity campaigns or rebranding exercises.

Of course there are those fraction of people who wait forever for things to fall onto their laps. But that is common among all communities.

Now, the next questions will be: How many of those who attend get selected? Are job-seekers wary of discrimination by employers? Are the job-seekers qualified and well equipped with the necessary skills?

3 comments »

Posted in Indian

Tags: Education Politicians

Sayonara Vigneswaran

June 22nd, 2008

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Today’s NST analyses the reasons on why efforts are underway to get remove of MIC youth chief S.A. Vigneswaran from him post. Similarly, few other MIC youth leaders (S.Ramis-deputy, M.Kumaresan-secretary, K.Raj Kumar-information head, and S.Murugesan-CWC representative) who are above the “retirement” age of 41 would be asked to relinquish their post.

Meanwhile according to NST, his deputy, S. Ramis said some of the youth council members who, too, were asked to leave, would meet Samy Vellu in two weeks to seek an explanation. “Not all of us want to seek legal opinions on the age limit. We just want to ask Datuk Seri why we were asked to leave,” he said.

The NST says that members are not buying the reason given by MIC leadership on the removal of Vigneswaran.

Why was S. Vigneswaran, the once blue-eyed boy of the MIC president, asked to vacate his Youth chief post only now, two years past the due date? This is the million ringgit question on the lips of those interested in MIC politics.

The party constitution says that the youth chief must vacate his post when he reaches his 41st birthday, yet Vigneswaran was allowed to stay on beyond the age limit. He is now 43.

Many are asking why not wait until he finishes his term, which ends next June, since he was an elected chief?

Vigneswaran had also been skipping CWC meetings and the Selangor MIC AGM recently.

Youth wing members said Vigneswaran’s absence from several central working committee meetings and the Selangor AGM further fuelled speculation that he could not see eye to eye with Samy Vellu.

A senior member of the party argued that since the Youth chief was elected, he should be allowed to finish his term. She also questioned why the Puteri and Putera chiefs were allowed to stay even though both had exceeded the age limit.

“If it was because Vigneswaran did not attend meetings, then he should have been referred to the disciplinary committee, not told to vacate his post,” she said.

Sources in the party said the sudden move to ask Vigneswaran to vacate his post was to ensure that he would not openly question the party supremo at the MIC annual general meeting next month.