The owner of the resort in Kota Tinggi who allowed a group of Buddhist monks to meditate in a surau there has been remanded for four days. The Star online reported court registrar Hairul Azhar Mohamad issued the remand order today against the resort owner who is a Singaporean with Malaysian permanent resident status.
The 45-year-old man was arrested on Sunday afternoon at the Tanjung Sutera Resort and is currently being investigated under Section 295 of the Penal Code for defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class.
His arrest came after a YouTube video portrayed a group who looked like monks conducting religious prayers in a surau, leading a group in meditation in front of a portrait of Buddha. The 63-second video called "Chinese Buddhist pray in surau: surau becomes temple" was uploaded on Aug 10 and has generated more than 10,000 views.
It was reported in Berita Harian yesterday that the resort owner defended his action saying that he did not think the action of giving permission to believers of other religions to use the surau was wrong.
He was quoted as saying: “This is because they only wanted to use the surau for meditation. "So we allowed them to use the surau in the resort but their bringing other religious items into the surau was done without my knowledge."
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A Scottish church has become the first in the UK to share its premises with Muslim worshippers. St John’s Episcopal Church in Aberdeen now welcomes hundreds of Muslims praying five times a day in their building as the nearby mosque was so small that they were forced to worship outside.
The minister of St John's, Rev Isaac Poobalan, has handed over part of the church hall to Chief Imam Ahmed Megharbi and the imam has led prayers in the main chapel. Rev Poobalan said today that he would not be true to his faith if he did not offer to help. He said: 'Praying is never wrong. My job is to encourage people to pray.
'The mosque was so full at times, there would be people outside in the wind and rain praying. 'I knew I couldn’t just let this happen - because I would be abandoning what the Bible teaches us about how we should treat our neighbours.
'When I spoke to people at the church about the situation, someone actually said to me this was not our problem, but I had seen it with my own eyes, so it was a problem. Rev Poobalan said: 'They were out there praying and the snow came on for the first time in winter, it was really hard to watch. 'When they were doing the prayer they had their hands and feet exposed and they were sitting on on the pavement, which is very rough. 'You could even see them breathing because it was so cold and I think when I saw that, the visual impact was such that I just couldn't walk past.
'It felt wrong, mainly because the church is next door, it's a big building and it remains empty on a Friday lunchtime which is when they need the place most as that's when they are at their busiest. 'We had something we could offer and they were just standing out in the cold and I said to my congregation "we need to do something".'
Rev Poobalan said he wanted the move to help build bridges between Christians and Muslims after some initial resistance from his congregation about the move. He said: 'It's a move that is so basic and fundamental. It has nothing to do with religion - it's all based on human need. 'The religious divide shouldn't divide us as people.
'But I anticipated there would be some opposition as it's strange and new and there was some natural anxiety in the beginning. 'But once people realised that there is more commonality between us. 'I certainly hope, wish and pray that this will help relations between the two religions.
'When I spoke to the imam there was some hesitation on their part too, because this has never been done before. 'But they took us up on the offer and it has been a positive relationship.'
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PETALING JAYA, Aug 14 — The four-day remand of a resort manager accused of allowing Buddhists to use a surau was excessive, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and several lawyers have said, noting it came at a time when the country is gripped with fear over the recent crime spate.
ReplyDeleteThe lawyers said the police should be focusing their efforts on fighting crime instead of hunting down the resort owner so quickly over allegations that he had violated Muslim sensitivities.
Ambiga, a prominent civil rights activist and former Bar Council president, said she was “deeply troubled” by the authorities’ treatment of the resort owner, who was hauled in for allegedly “injuring or defiling” a place of worship.
“What I can say is that I am horrified at the way this man is being treated. Why the remand for four days? Especially when there are criminals out there getting away with murder.
“I truly despair at what we have become and the lack of humanity that is being shown in such cases,” the prominent lawyer told The Malay Mail Online in a text message...
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had last weekend acknowledged in a published interview that despite the dip in the overall crime statistics, the number of index crime cases — which include violent crimes — were on the rise.
When contacted, civil liberties lawyer Syahredzan Johan similarly said the police’s move to hold the resort owner for four days was “too excessive”.
“Why did the magistrate allow four days of remand? It’s too excessive,” he said.
He explained that the police have to prove why they need to hold an individual for additional days when applying for remand orders, adding that magistrates should only approve such orders based on the necessity of the situation.
“In this case, what you need to get from the person is get his statement and ask him questions, would it take four days? No,” he said, later adding that the remand period was “too long”.
He said that the evidence in this case would be the surau and the video, pointing out that they would both remain unaltered during the course of investigations.
“It’s all there, you don’t need to detain the person for four days in order to study the video and go to the site,” he said, noting that an in-depth study of the surau had reportedly been made yesterday.
Syahredzan said that while Malaysians were worried about their safety, the public’s perception was that the police are “more interested in catching dog trainers and resort owners”.
He added that the government did not appear to be giving the same priority to other crimes.
Syahredzan was alluding to the case of Muslim dog trainer Maznah Mohd Yusof who was recently arrested and probed under the Sedition Act over a three-year-old video featuring her and her three pet dogs.
The arrest took place just days after a controversial blogger pair, Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee, were charged with sedition over a Ramadan greeting on Facebook featuring a pork dish...
“I have no intention of hurting anyone’s feelings. My intention is to show that Islam is universal and tolerant,” said the Singapore-born Muslim.
Yesterday, the Buddhist Maha Vihara — a group representing Malaysian Buddhists — apologised over the prayer session in the surau.
In a brief statement, Chief High Priest of Malaysia Datuk K. Srï Dhammaratana expressed his group’s regret while urging followers of the religion to be mindful of others in their worship.
“We would like to apologise to our Muslim brothers and sisters for the actions of a certain Buddhist group from Singapore in having their meditation session at the surau of a resort in Kota Tinggi.
“I advise Buddhists in Malaysia and Singapore to respect the religious sensitivities of other religionists while carrying out our own religious obligations and responsibilities,” Dhammaratana said.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/remand-criminals-not-errant-resort-operator-lawyers-tell-cops#sthash.hte82mV5.dpuf