Dilemma!

by Sdr Loke Siew Fook, MP for Rasah, Adun for Lobak

Today is the 15th day of the 8th lunar month in the Chinese calendar. It is the Mid-Autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival. It is the second most important festival for the Chinese community. I attended a religious event in a Buddhist Temple in Temiang this morning. In my brief speech, i said i don’t have any festive mood today over what had happened in the last 48 hours. And especially one of my comrade Sdri Teresa Kok lost her freedom temporarily. Worst still, she can’t even have mooncake with her aged parents tonight! Can you imagine how her parents feel?

Many people asked; why Teresa Kok? Teresa is a well-liked politician not only among DAP fraternity but also among BN and UMNO politicians. You can always see her talking and discussing matters with BN Ministers in the Parliament lounge. Can someone like her be a threat to national security?

It all started by a nasty accusation by Khir Toyo which was picked up by Utusan Malaysia. They accused Teresa of protesting against the Azan in a mosque in Puchong and claimed that Teresa ordered the mosque management not to use PA system for Azan (Islamic call for Muslims in the vicinity to pray in the morning). Teresa had immediately denied the accusation and the mosque committee came out with a statement to clarify the matter.

What happened was a group of residents signed a petition to the mosque to lower the volume for the loudspeaker during their religious ceramah session. The petition was sent before the last election which Teresa was not elected as ADUN for Kinrara yet. It is usual that petitions sent by residents to the BN elected reps always fall on deaf ears.

This incident reminds me of my own dilemma of a similar issue in a residential area in Seremban. The representative of the residents sent me a copy of the signed petition to protest against the use of loudspeaker in a temporary surau located in a house (the proper surau in that area is not built yet) during the election campaign. I promised them to look into the matter after the election. They are not against the surau or the Azan but they hope the temporary surau do not use the loudspeaker during ceramah session and lower the volume during Azan.

On the day of my swearing-in as ADUN, I spoke to the Menteri Besar regarding the issue and asked him what is the state’s policy on surau located at houses. He told me firmly that no surau is allowed to operate in a house and claimed that the surau might be operated by members of the opposition and asked me to talk to them instead.

Till today, i have never went to talk the surau committee as i know that my presence will be misconstrued as confronting a religious issue and deepen the misunderstandings among Muslims and non-Muslims in that area. I do not want that to happen. I took other approaches to deal with the matter.

I have asked my Muslim colleagues in Pakatan to talk to the committee. I know they faced dilemma too as they can be accused of compromising their own religion. I went to the State Majlis Agama Islam twice and discussed the issue with the Director and plead him to mediate the issue among residents there. I do not want the issue to be prolonged. I am not sure what is the outcome yet.

I also asked the developer to help the committee to build a proper surau asap. Some residents blamed the developer for not informing them about the location of the surau and demanded the developer to buy back their houses.

Now, as an elected representative, what should i do? At one hand, some residents are talking about the effects to their daily life. On the other, it is a religious obligation. How do we strike a balance? This is the biggest challenge faced by elected reps in mixed constituency. I don’t have an answer. I really hope someone can enlighten me on this.

In my speech this morning, i urge the Buddhist monks to educate Buddhists of how to handle this kind of situation. Wisdom is very important in such a situation. I believe every religion teaches their believers to be a good human being and be peace-loving. However, inter-religious understanding in our society is yet to mature and really needs to be strengthened.

I am sure 916, ISA and Teresa Kok will be hot topics in conversations in many family reunions tonight. Put that aside awhile, lets look up to the moon and enjoy a piece of mooncake tonight. Double yolk “lian yong” and “Kam Tui” from Kam Lun Tai are my all-time favourites! I helped my parents to sell mooncake in my teenage years. We were agent for Kam Lun Tai in Seremban those days.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!