http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Wednesday/National/20070131091102/Article/local1_html
Chinese mosque: Group: It's difficult to get approval 31 Jan 2007 Wan Hamidi Hamid KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association (MCMA) is facing difficulties in getting approval from state governments to build mosques for their community. MCMA vice-president Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah (picture) said it was unfair for Perak mufti Datuk Seri Harussani Idris to say that state religious departments did not prevent the Chinese community from applying to build their own mosques. He said MCMA had been trying to build a Chinese mosque in Selangor for about a decade but claimed that the religious authorities were not even interested in hearing their proposal. "In our last meeting with the former director of the Selangor religious department a couple of years ago, he told us there was no way he would approve a Chinese mosque. "For him, Islam in Malaysia is all about the Malays and the Malay language," he said when commenting on Harussani’s remarks. Harussani had lambasted his Perlis counterpart Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin for implying that state governments denied the rights of Chinese Muslims to have their mosques. Mohd Ridhuan defended the Perlis mufti, saying that the MCMA’s experience in Selangor and Malacca showed that some religious authorities failed to understand the universality of Islam. The Malacca Chinese Muslim Association had its application to build a Chinese mosque rejected three years ago. Mohd Ridhuan claimed that MCMA also proposed the building of a mosque and Islamic centre for the Chinese community to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Abdullah Md Zin but there was no further response. He, however, was happy with the Selangor mufti Datuk Mohd Tamyis Abdul Majid’s assurance that the state would seriously look into applications to build a Chinese mosque in Selangor. "MCMA will definitely bring up the proposal again and we hope the Selangor state government would approve our application," Mohd Ridhuan said. MCMA is hoping that a Chinese mosque would reflect Chinese design and architecture and also encourage non-Muslim Chinese to visit. While Harussani claimed that state religious authorities did not prevent the Chinese from building mosques, he did not explain why there had yet to exist such a mosque in Malaysia. Dr Mohd Asri when contacted said he hoped his Perak counterpart would be less emotional when dealing with such an issue. "No one is belittling the religious authorities. As a mufti, I believe in showing Islam in its true form, as a caring, peaceful and understanding religion," he said. +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
