Good Samaritan saves mother and daughter on KTM Komuter

PETALING JAYA: A Good Samaritan came to the aid of a woman and her daughter, protecting the two from a group of robbers on the KTM Komuter train.

In a Facebook post, Reena Peter claimed that she was set on by a group of young thugs while travelling via Komuter to KL Sentral on Saturday evening.

The boys, she claimed, had attempted to rob Reena and her daughter in the train, which was emptier than usual.

However, the robbery was thwarted by the Good Samaritan.

In an attempt to save Reena and her daughter, the man engaged in a fight with the mob and knocked out the leader of the group.

After the fight, the thugs got left at the next station. However, Reena and her daughter, who were in shock, did not have time to say thank you to their saviour.

Not wanting to let the good deed go unnoticed, Reena shared her experience and expressed her appreciation to the man in a Facebook post.

Her post has since been shared over 300 times.

Below is her recollection of the encounter:

“First I would thank the guy in the above picture for saving my daughter and me. This (Saturday) evening my daughter and I were travelling to KL Sentral. Since it’s a Saturday, there were less people in the KTM.

“A gang of boys came to us and knowing we were alone, started to misbehave with my daughter and me. They even threatened us and asked us to give them all of our money and phones. The guy in the photo attached came in like an angel and fought with the mob.

“The head of the mob collapsed and the rest got down at the next point with their head. We were in an a trauma after the attack and were not able to ask this angel’s name or say thank you. But my daughter got his picture on her mobile. If any one know this guy please share that Ms Reena and her daughter said thanks.”

Attempts to reach Reena for further comment have been unsuccessful.

The Star is also working on identifying the Good Samaritan.

Discourse on religion’s role in poverty fight needed

KUALA LUMPUR: There needs to be a new discussion on the role of religions in allevia­ting poverty.

This was the consensus reached at the inter-faith dialogue titled “Religion and the Poor: An opium or Liberator?” yesterday.

Organised by the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF), the dialogue featured National University of Singapore Assoc Prof Syed Farid Alatas, Christian Federation of Malaysia executive committee member Dr Patricia Martinez, Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism honorary secretary-general Prematilaka K.D. Serisena and Pusaka founder and director Eddin Khoo as speakers.

Prof Syed Farid said there was a lack of critical thinking when it came to discussing religion’s role in poverty in the country.

“For example, there is no critical thinking on what exploitation means.

“We need to draw upon intellectual traditions in Islam and other religions to start a discourse,” said Prof Syed Farid, adding that a critique of Islamic economics was that many of the ideas were bourgeois.

Khoo felt a major issue in the country was the lack of deep dialogue on important topics.

“A major problem (with us) is that we have hardly intellectualised anything,” he said, giving as example the often-cited theory that terrorism was linked to poverty, but failing to discuss the fact that there were terrorists from middle-class backgrounds too.

Dr Martinez said the discussions on the topic should be inclusive, adding that there was a socialist premise in the Bible itself.

IRF research fellow and spokesperson for the event Imran Mohd Rasid said the dialogue was meant to introduce a new dimension to the role religions played in poverty.

“There is always a conversation about the poor, especially in religious narrative, in that as individuals we have to give charity.

“But the poor are a product of social injustices, so the job is not to just give them charity but to liberate them (from poverty),” Imran told The Star, adding that the IRF wanted to raise awareness on this.

The dialogue was held at University of Nottingham’s Chulan Tower branch.

Zahid: No need to amend law for stateless children issue

There is no need for the government to amend the law to resolve the citizenship status of stateless children, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.

Zahid said this is because the Federal Constitution has stipulated the provisions and conditions with regard to applying for citizenship.

"It is the parents' obligation to refer to their countries of origin if a child is born in Malaysia, to secure travelling documents and identification documents," he added in a parliamentary written reply.

Zahid, who is also home minister, was responding to Ramkarpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor), who asked the home minister if the government intended to amend the law to allow stateless children to be registered automatically as legal citizens.

It is reported that Malaysia has 150,000 stateless children.

Zahid disagreed with the terminology "stateless children", saying that they are not stateless as the information suggested their parents are foreigners.

Jamil Khir: Law that bans unilateral conversion is unconstitutional

While the government is in the midst of drafting laws to prevent unilateral conversion of minors, Islamic affairs minister Jamil Khir Baharom has claimed that any legislation to ban unilateral conversion is unconstitutional.

“In the context of the law system and judiciary in Malaysia, the court, be it civil or syariah, upholds the principle of justice in ensuring that the parties of the unilateral conversion are protected.

“For this issue, legislation that bans unilateral conversion contradicts Article 12 (4), which allows the father or mother to decide the child’s faith,” Jamil Khir said in a parliamentary written reply.

The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department cited the Federal Court’s ruling in R Subashini’s interfaith conversion case.

“The Federal Court had decided that the faith of the child below 18 years old can be decided by the father or mother,” he said.

He was responding to M Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) who asked when the government would table legislation that bans unilateral conversion.

On March 9, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri said the drafting of laws pertaining to the unilateral conversion of minors has been completed.

“From the aspect of civil (law), we do not have much problems, but this also relates to syariah (law),” she said then.

From the syariah law aspect, she said, Jamil has been obtaining feedback from the state religious bodies.

“A series of consultations with the states has been conducted,” she said.

The cabinet had set up a five-member special committee as its latest attempt to deal with the interfaith conversion dispute and custody matters.