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Friday 7 January 2011

Can a 7-year old declare faith?

Tan Yi Min is now Eilliyah Foong Abdullah. This child is Tan Cheow Hong's daughter. She was born into the Tan family. Her grandfather belonged to the 'Tan' clan, as did her great grandfather and her great, great grandfather. Her mother Fatimah Foong Abdullah has with cold calculation misused Islam to deprive 'Eilliyah Foong Abdullah' of her birthright - the 'Tan' surname.

The Malaysiakini report said Fatimah converted Yi Min on Nov 9 at the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department. She snatched her from school on Nov 8. This time-line indicates that Fatimah converted Yi Min the very next day.

Remember that the child has lived with her father these past three years. She has never been taught Islam and knows next to nothing about the religion. Yet barely 24 hours after being snatched with the help of the police and the Islamic officials, this little girl could miraculously declare - before another different set of Islamic bureaucrats - that she wishes to embrace Islam.

Bagaimana budak Cina tujuh tahun boleh mengucap dua kalimah syahadah?” This question was the first thing to cross the mind of Sharifuddin Abdul Latiff, administrator of the mediawatch group Hartal MSM.

You trying saying this: 'ašhadu an la ilaha illa (A)llah, wa ašhadu anna Muhammada(n) rasulu (A)llah'. Now imagine a traumatised little girl who had just been kidnapped and driven pell-mell from Penang to Selangor reciting the syahadah in a language she'd never spoken a word of before; and doing it twice correctly (a procedural convention) in the presence of intimidating strangers in an alien environment a long distance from home.

When Yi Min ostensibly bore witness as a 'Muslim', she would have had no conception of who the Prophet Muhammad was. Sharifuddin further points out that when the Prophet received his calling, he was a mature man 40 years in age.

It's impossible that an immature child grasped the message of Islam in the matter of a mere 24 hours. How could the officer-in-charge then proceed to stamp approval without first ascertaining that the conditions for conversion were properly fulfilled?

Fatimah Foong holds no 'sijil perkahwinan' (Muslim marriage certificate). Yi Min was not conceived in Muslim wedlock. Yi Min's father was not present to give his consent. This makes the conversion of his daughter, a minor, against civil law.

That Fatimah's mockery of justice was entertained by ketuanan Islam is beyond a dereliction of duty; it is criminal mala fide.

Selling their skin

If this sick, shotgun conversion is not immediately voided, Yi Min is doomed to Hotel California - you “can check out but never leave”. Like Banggarma, remember her? Like Revathi. Remember her too?

It's high time that Malays here do some deep soul-searching and ask yourselves what kind of saudara baru you're all acquiring in droves.

Parental duty is a shared responsibility. As a Malay man or woman, how would you feel if your estranged Malay spouse was to snatch and deciding alone to convert your little boy to Hinduism in a Hindu-predominant country or Christianity in a Christian-predominant country?

How would you react if your wife 'bin'kan your offspring with another name?

Previously victims of the Islamic apparatus were poor Tamils. Cyberspace armchair critics gave not two hoots then and refused to understand why Hindraf had to happen. Now the mullahs have clamped their manacles on a middle-class Chinese child.

I have had Chinese Last converts telling me that they embraced Islam so that they can benefit from the monthly allowance provided to mualaf. I'm disappointed with the public perception that Chinese would have no qualms to convert if it made them eligible for special privileges as well as the actual opportunism that motivates some converts.

Well, at least the alarm bells have rung for the National Fatwa Council which decreed that non-Muslim politicians quoting holy text without sincerity are an insult to Islam. One of my readers pointed out the Tuan Guru doesn't quote the scriptures of other religions, whereas DAP leaders trip over themselves in promoting Islam.

The Pakatan 3 monkeys

See no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil - opposition parties and non-Muslim can so self-servingly sugarcoat their tongues when tiptoeing around Islam.

ou yang wen feng book launch penang 150810 ou yang wen fengTake for instance gay pastor Rev O Young (right) who pontificated that he is flabbergasted by the “prejudice against the Islamic faith” shown by his Christian detractors. His accusation prompted one reader 'Susah Kes' to respond: “But can I label you as hypocritical, since you train your sights on Christians only, and not on Islamic 'fundamentalists' who also share similar views [on homosexuality] as Christian 'fundamentalists'? Why don't you take those Jakim fellas on, too?”

It was a segment of Muslim society, and not any 1HomophobicMalaysia that wanted to stone homosexuals after viewing Azwan Ismail's YouTube 'Saya gay, saya okay'.

The Malay engineer coming out of the closet attracted an enormous number of comments, some 3,400 and most of them “vicious, rude and uncalled for”, according to project organiser Seksualiti Merdeka.

Before the plug was pulled on the 15-video series, earlier clips which managed to be uploaded had two Chinese men and one Indian woman. No death threats greeted the trio; it was only Azwan who was threatened with violence.

Root out gay culture, PAS Youth urged. Has the supposedly secular DAP anything to say to this demand by their fundamentalist partner?

“Being gay is not a crime”, the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) announced defiantly in their press statement. Such parsing by JAG is utterly disingenuous.

Under the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997, a person found guilty of liwat (sexual relations between males) can be fined up to RM5,000, jailed up to three years or whipped up to six strokes or any combination thereof. A person found guilty of musahaqah (sexual relations between females) is liable to the same penalties.

JAG must explain why, if as they claim homosexuality is no crime, these punishments are prescribed for homosexual acts.

PAS plays organ grinder

Even though Rome is burning, the Pakatan people are still fiddling away. It's usually said that Umno is trying to out-Islamise PAS. Nobody says PAS is trying to out-corrupt Umno. The PAS political vocabulary has influenced Umno but Umno has had negligible influence on PAS.

PAS is the opinion leader that calls the tune.

Gauge for yourself how much DAP is dancing to the PAS beat since Pakatan came into being. How can DAP ever hope to be a check and balance within Pakatan when it is like a bendy to PAS's uncompromising straight iron rod. PAS whether in 1951, 1971, 1991 or 2011 has adhered to the same consistent principles whereas in slightly under three years, DAP's inconsistent shape-shifting has come to signify an almost abject apologia.

NONEThe next time a BN candidate campaigns in your constituency, please do ask her if MCA or Gerakan can compete with the DAP on National Key Results Areas, such as Teo Nie Ching's Key Performance Index.

First the Serdang MP is banned from the mosque prayer hall. Next we hear that she's jumping about in a mosque carpark. Thereafter you can expect her activities to move on out to the roadside in front of the mosque. KPI mission accomplished is when she can no longer be shooed away.

You should hope that your MP is able to articulate and take up more pressing national concerns than setting as her NKRA a mighty resolve to continue visiting mosques.

NONEThe December edition of Milenia Muslim headlined 'Islam or Secularism?' and other cover-story features in the magazine reflect the level of serious discussion on Islamic issues. On the other hand, Pakatan and their non-Muslim supporters are perversely punctilious in trying to avoid talking about the Islamic state. They can also perform the most astounding aerobics and acrobatics just to appear un'communal'.

Thus, to these First-ers, the little child in tudung - formerly known as Tan Yi Min - is no more than another Malaysian First statistic.



HELEN ANG used to be a journalist. In future, she would like to be a practising cartoonist. But for the present, she is in the NGO circles and settling down to more serious writing and reading of social issues.

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