SwarnaBumiputran of Malaysia
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The above was highlighted by a reader in a internet forum. Statue of Lord Vinayagar was placed near non vegetarian food. Not sure who took the picture, but surely the newspaper should have vetted such insensitive photos. So, is this a big deal for the Hindus? Or is it a small matter?
The article and image is at:
http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/10/8/central/2178265&sec=central
abi says:
The papers have gone through the images with a bit more consideration towards the details. Any photographer will take a good picture when he see’s the opportunity too. The editors failed big time on this one!
Killer says:
Insensitive ? This is a non-issue…let’s move forward rather than dwell on minor issues such as this. Our society has far bigger worries….
siru says:
ganesa is also protector for non-veg hindus…so to me it does not matter…it is how u look into it…In india,certain parts of tamil nadu..they will place liquor and meat infornt of the respective deity as offerings…so,I don’t see what is the fuss about?
poobalan says:
indeed, in Bali they serve duck meat and pork as well. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. but i’m not sure if context of our country, if its acceptable.
sactyr @ naga says:
Sensitive or not, I am pretty sure the cameraman wouldn’t have the slightest clue. Or the paper for that matter.
Plus, not all Hindus are full-time vegetarian anyway, if I am not wrong only the Saivite followers.
poobalan says:
full-time vegans come from many groups – saivites, vaishnavites, brahma kumaris, baba devotees, etc.
farmer says:
usually south indians only serve meat dishes to village gods and family gods (kula deivam) like muniswaran and muniandy……we dont serve meat dishes to lord ganesh or place his statue so close to non vege food spread.
The star must be suspended for at least 3 mths……if home ministry can act so quickly and suspend makkal osai for jesus pic controversy same rule should apply for the star as well.
poobalan says:
wow farmer, looks like you are asking for revenge of sorts! 3 months without the Star – can’t imagine that 🙂
i doubt the star will be suspended. so far, no response from its Metro section editor.
sactyr @ naga says:
My family stopped buying The Star since Dec last year… 😉
Source of news: Malaysia-Today. LOL
kumar says:
I was on tour on south india…we were in koyampathur,,,Infront of huge ganpathy they placed bananas,dried meat and container of goat blood….Suprised,I asked the priest,he told me the story where lord shiva,appeared before a untouchable hunter,for his devotion..he offered him goat milk and dried meat,which he accepted…though,genarally it’s normal practice to offer vegatarin offerings…other,kind of offerings are indeed offered….He said,God is not fussy,he will accept whatever u give..
poobalan says:
yes, i think its the story of Kannappa Nayanar, one of the 63 nayanmargals in Hinduism. But look at the context – The Nayanmar was a hunter who only had what he always have – dried meat. He offered it with all his heart without any malice. He sacrificed both his eyes when the Lord’s eyes started to bleed. I guess it depends on the situation.
VJ says:
yup right . The message , from Kannapar tale, is that God will be pleased of whatever “affordable” offering of poor . In his case , the hunter only knows meat .
But , if a sales exec in KL does this then it’s laughable .
Kannappar said to plug his eye ball and place it Siva’s eyes … (Kan – eye ; appu- put/place)
Kavi says:
perhaps it was just sheer ignorance that such arrangement of food and deity was conceived.
Let’s be practical a bit here. If we want to make police reports or ask for suspension, is it going to do any good instantly? Instead, why not write an open letter, explaining the sensitivities of placing such a deity together with such food, and perhaps humbly request for an apology, or at least an assurance that such acts would not happen again? Wouldn’t that prove to be a better solution as we can present our amicable side to them?
Just a suggestion from me. That is all.
kumaron says:
I fully agree with Mr Kavi,I think this incident occured based on ignornance..do,remeber thestar had constantly higlighted the indian dilema in the articles many times…getting a suspension is rather a mammoth task…let’s say someone from indian community come’s say this is not vingayar…but ganeshs or ganapathy…it can be offered with meat..I have seen it in india and bali..hindusim does not have any specific codes when it come to this..It,is gonna drag and drag…it make us indians look like,we are community of trouble-makers…I hope,no one get offended..It is the truth,we are one’s who are making the most loudest noise..if,we keep on doing this,in time our community will be viewed as threat and wil be sidelined…we will be replaced,maybe in another 20 years by indonseians in population….last,but not least the last thing we need is more enemies…certainly not a paper like thestar…we can write to them in a polite and diplomatic way…I am sure,they will realise it and apologise..I don’t think thestar is a racist paper,..it is more of neutral entity
poobalan says:
well, I’m still waiting for a reply from the Metro Editor, Brian Martin or anyone in the Star for the matter. Its been few days already.
kalimuthiu says:
MP: kalimuthiu, violence is never a solution. We don’t go around burning people nor march into offices and kill people.
WE MUST CATCH THE CULPRIT AND BURN HIM IN PETROL FOR DOING HIS..HINDRAF SHOULD PROTEST..WE SHOULD MARCH TOWARDS THE OFFICE..AND KILL ALL OF THEM
farmer says:
Makkal osai did apologise and it was even accepted by the kind christian community but home ministry still suspend them.
For 3 mths makkal osai readers suffered…….Why the “star” should get special treatment??.
Some you are a small,not so rich publication with less than 100,000 readers mostly poor working class tamils….people will try to flex muscles on you
Its bias,double standard and kind of discrimination
Well this is malaysia what else we can expect from this BN gov??..
2 young indians put their life in jeoparday by climbing mount everest to instil the “malaysia boleh” spirit but they never any big award…..one actor who wears designer cloth and kiss almost all the bollywood beauty queens are getting huge recognisation in malaysia!!.
Killi Valavan says:
non-vege to Gods not correct. Non-vege only prepared for ‘small gods’ in India villages and Muniswarar . These are called ‘kaval’ or ‘siru’ theivam .
There have been much confusion among hindus for decades . In such cases MHS should step in to condemn . Did they?
I too have stopped buying The Star since last year .
Is this a non-issue ?? Ask yourself if similar happen to any other religion except Hindu.
ravikumar says:
If,we want to blame anybody,it’s certainly not the photographer or thestar.It’s one who arrange the decoration and placed the food there.I have feeling it must be one of the indian chef.This food was prepared by the hotel,in regard’s to festive seasons.
As,for the non-veg food placed infront of vinayagar,This still conterversial.Let me explain.The hindu’s in malaysia mostly had arrived before 1930’s.U must understand,during this course of time,there is major change’s within Tamil nadu poltics>>The rise of Tamil dravidan poltics.It have some elements of athesim in it.They like to project infuse new customs and emphasie on tamil culture first.In,village the ganesha have the body of ayyanar or madurai veeran the one wielding a parang and the head of ganesha.They give offerings including non-veg…Though,it’s not common practice here,we don’t have any sets of common protcols ro define any rituals.some hindu group,can come up and say it is permmisable.They will argue god is not fussy,he will accept any offerings
TO KALIMUTH:
I Think need go for theraphy or something.People like u are disgrace to our indian community.Violence begets more violence.It is like chain like structure,it will unleash more attacks on our people.whatever we do violence or protest…there is alway some consequcne which will be felt by our people..
oh..well…u can’t change all…HAPPY DEEPAVALI to all
Killer says:
I agree, why blame the photographer or the STAR when they are just presenting the scene as it is without any malice or bad intention ?
Kalimuthiu : People like you are the ones who give bad name to the community, think violence is the solution for all problems. That might be true in Kollywood but no in real world. Wake up bro, remember the people of Kg Medan….who thought the same until one day the tables were turned.
VJ says:
Ravikumar and Killi Valavan, good points . Firstly , as we could read/see directly even hindus dont understand the religion well . Some agree on non-vege as that’s what they’ve seen in front of their eyes .
In this context religious authority like MHS should take the lead. If we let individuals than nobody will understand wht is going on and what needs to be done.
When such authority clarifies then the chef, photographer or the STAR will realize and would not repeat .
farmer says:
MIc youth lodge report against malaysian nanban newspaper for publishing skol beer deepavali ad in which skol beer are placed in the middle of rangoli..its a full page ad which came out on 17 oct 2008.
Why MIC and its youth troop always trying to close down tamil newspaper?? last time T mohan did a big “hoo hah” for regarding makkal osai jesus pic controversy now his wing members trying to mess up with malaysian nanban.
For several years beer companies ads are being publish in tamil newspaper…rangoli kolam,agal vilakku,saree are some of deepavali symbols so companies are using it in their ad….why the sudden “hoo hah” is it because 4 days ago samy vellu failed in his bid to get court order against malaysian nanban newspaper??
Star hurt the feelings of hindus by placing vinayagar in the middle of non vege food MIC youth kept mum,but now making big noise on n”anban”…as i said before all some people in msia always try to flex their muscles against poor tamil press,try to show their heroism against poor tamil press (which is small in circulation and not getting enough revenue from ads)
I think they are feeling some kind of sensation whn licking english press
Anbu says:
What I think is that people should reliase the fact that Hinduism is a very diverse religion but has it observance and restrictions. Utmostly, we have the believe of Ahimsa or non-violence to anything (or anyone) in word, thought or action. Hence, this is a primal believe in our religion. In Malaysia, if reporters (or the editor) took the initiative to understand a bit about our religion, than there would not be an issue. An alarm should be raised for us to understand our own religion and take it to task to share the basic of religion to others, than you wouldn’t have all this type of simple mis-understanding.
Zuba says:
Sorry but got to disagree on this.why blame the star? Blame the idiot who made that arrangement!
Narenthiran says:
All Hindus are suppose to be Full time vegetarian. This is backed by the verses of Sastras and Vedas. Even Thirukural supports this. No siru theivam / Village God worship is allowed in Hinduism.