1. Malaysiakini.com （http://www.malaysiakini.com）
(1) Temple demo: Residents march with cow's head, 28 August 2009
by Andrew Ong
Some 50 residents enraged with the proposed relocation of a Hindu temple to their area staged a noisy protest with a severed cow's head this afternoon.
The residents - from Section 23 in Shah Alam - who gathered after the Friday prayers, placed the head outside the gates of the state secretariat building for a short period before removing it.
"Where is Xavier? This head is for him," shouted one of the protesters in reference to Selangor executive councillor Dr Xavier Jeyakumar.
Jeyakumar is one of those in charge of non-Muslim affairs in the state.
Earlier, the protesters had marched some 300m from the state mosque to the state secretariat building.
The protesters also condemned Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim, exco member Rodziah Ismail (as the area falls under her state constituency) and Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad.
Before dispersing, several protesters spat and stomped on the cow's head. The cow is considered sacred among Hindus.
Addressing the crowd, Section 23 action committee deputy chair Ibrahim Sabri said: "If there is blood, you (the state government) will be responsible if you are adamant about building the temple."
"This is a warning. Relocate the temple to Section 22. This cow is a present to the state government. This is a gift from us," he added.
The protesters also carried several banners which among others read 'Take Beer' (mocking PAS' rallying cry of 'Takbir') and 'Illegal temples are very small, but once relocated, they are as big as Putrajaya'.
The crowd gathered for about 15 minutes at the main entrance of the state secretariat building under the watch of more than a dozen police personnel.
'We'll not budge an inch'
Speaking to reporters later, Action Committee chair Mahyuddin Manaf warned that the state government must give in or the residents would retaliate.
"We will not budge one inch, even if lives are lost or blood is made to flow. We will still defend Section 23 from having a temple built there," he said.
He added that a protest memorandum was forwarded to the state government two months ago but there has been no response.
Contacted later, Mahyuddin distanced his organisation from the act of bringing the cow head to the protest.
"It is not our intention. We were surprised," he said, denying that the act was intended to insult Hindus.
He said that the cow head was likely brought by angry residents.
"Maybe, they meant it (as a symbol of) stupidity. In Malay culture, the cow is a symbol of stupidity, or leaders that are stupid," he said.
On Aug 11, the state government announced that the relocation of the temple from Section 19 to Section 23 was final and will be situated 200m from the nearest house and 400m from a surau.
The temple will face an industrial lot and will be separated from the houses by a playground and a multi-purpose hall.
However, some residents felt that it was not appropriate to build a temple in a Muslim-majority area.
The Pakatan Rakyat state government accused rivals Umno of instigating the crowd to protest the relocation.
Jeyakumar to lodge police report
In an immediate reaction, a furious Jeyakumar described the protest as "unwarranted, unacceptable and without sensitivity towards other religions."
He also said that he will lodge a police report on the matter soon.
"These people should have ethics. They are inciting racial and religious hatred. I am going to lodge a police report against these people," he told Malaysiakini.
He also expressed disappointment towards the police personnel at the scene for not taking any action against the protesters.
"The police didn't stop anybody. The police should have arrested them and charged them for inciting hatred," he said, adding that he could tolerate with "ethical" demonstrations.
Jeyakumar is slated to meet Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar and other police officers over the matter tomorrow.
(2)Najib: Muslims should not insult other religions, 4 September 2009
Muslims were reminded to avoid condemning or insulting other religions and the followers with their actions, but instead follow true Islamic teachings by respecting other religions.
Prime Minister Najib Razak said their offending actions could have detrimental effects as those who felt insulted could respond in a worse manner, hence causing racial disunity.
Quoting verse 108 in the Al-An'am chapter of the Quran, he said Muslims were also forbidden from insulting or desecrating anything that the followers of other religions worshipped so that they would in turn show respect for Islam.
He was speaking after breaking fast and performing Maghrib prayer with about 1,000 residents of Mukim Chenor at the Chenor Jamek Mosque in Maran, Pahang today.
Also present were his wife Rosmah Mansor, Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob and Chenor assemblyman Mohd Aminuddin Ishak.
Return to real religious struggle
Najib said Prophet Muhammad himself, when setting up the first Islamic state in Medina and drawing up the Constitution of Medina, made Islam the thrust of his administration but allowed the practice of other religions.
"This enabled the people of Medina to live in peace. In our country too, we have big minority groups... God willing, we will remain a peaceful country. If there have been no peace, we would not see rapid development in our country today."
Najib also called on Muslims to return to the real religious struggle by avoiding jealousy, hatred, backbiting, confrontation and incitement, and to address the ills such as poverty.
"We must correct the negative perception of the West about Islam and Islamic countries by practising true Islamic teachings so that we can be good role models to others," he said.
(Bernama)
(3)Cow head protest: Churches want quick solution, 4 September 2009
Malaysia Council of Churches today called on the Selangor government to urgently work towards an acceptable solution for all parties.
"We find it hard to comprehend that demonstrators had to resort to using the head of a cow, which is sacred to Hindus, to protest at the authorities for the construction of a Hindu temple in their vicinity in Shah Alam.
"At best, it was morally and socially inept, and at worst, it was a blatant show of religious insensitivity," said Council of Churches General Secretary Rev Dr Hermen Shastri in a statement today.
Stressing that incitement of religious feelings of one community against the other should not be tolerated in a multi-racial society, he urged the authorities to bring to book those found guilty.
He added that harmonious religious coexistence can be achieved if people of different faiths are prepared to hold a dialogue and work together towards finding an amicable solution.
A group of protesters, claiming to be Muslim residents of Section 23 in Shah Alam, held a demonstration after Friday prayers last week, outside the Selangor state secretariat.
This followed the state government's decision to relocate a 150-year-old Hindu temple from Section 19 to their area.
The protest sparked controversy when some of the participants brought along a severed cow's head and placed the head outside the gates of the state secretariat building, before removing it.
(comments)
・by BangsaMalaysia
Dr Shastri, in this beloved country of ours, Inter Faith Dialogue is considered by our Muslim friends as an insult to Islam and not needed. The rationale (from their point of view of course) is simple ; our religion has the perfect revelation from God so why should we listen to your feedback? So when a group of Muslim protesters does extreme acts of provocation and threatens bloodshed, the police (fellow Muslim brothers...) become amused spectators. The Minister from the ruling bully party (completely dominated by UMNO) of course pronounces that the perpetrators were the victims and therefore "case closed". What is missing here is of course logic and integrity. Can someone file a police report that "INTEGRITY" has gone missing and we suspect foul play?
・by Chee Hoe Siew
It is very funny the the church is urging the state government to settle the issue quickly but mentioned nothing about Kerismuddin support for the Cow Head protest group. Really fishy that they come and voice their concern at the wrong people. With their status, shouldn't the church be bringing this up to PM Najib instead, or is God fearful of BN?
・by Chee Hoe Siew
Er.. Cos head ISA Minister also said that the protesters are forgivable, what can State Government do when the polis decide not to take action, under the direction of the Federal Government. So is th Counsel of Churches ignorant of the situation or plainly another pawn of Najib?
2.The Star Online（http://thestar.com.my）
PM: Don’t slur others, 5 September 2009
MARAN: Muslims should refrain from condemning or insulting other religions and their believers.
Instead, follow the true Islamic teachings of showing respect, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
Both Surah Al-Maidah (phrase 8) and Surah Al-An’am (Phrase 108), added Najib, advised Muslims that if they went against other religions, this would cause the other believers to act violently against Muslims.
Muslims, he added, were also forbidden from insulting or desecrating items considered sacred to followers of other religions, so that, in turn, they would show respect to Islam.
“During the era of Prophet Muhammad, he himself allowed followers of other religions to practise what they believed, and forbade his followers from going against them.
“We hope during this holy Ramadan month, we can prove that we are the most disciplined followers,” said Najib said in his short tazkirah (reminder) to the residents in Masjid Jamek, Kampong Chenor, here after the Solat Maghrib.
Najib’s statement came in the wake of some residents of Section 23 in Shah Alam who staged a protest last Friday against the Pakatan Rakyat-led government’s decision to relocate a 150-year-old temple from Section 19 to their Malay-majority area.
The protest sparked controversy when some of the participants brought along a cow’s head.
In Petaling Jaya, online portal Malaysiakini had been directed to remove footage and videos on the cow’s head protest from its website immediately following numerous public complaints.
In a letter, the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) requested the website to remove the videos as they had intentions to “annoy any person, especially Indians” – an offence under Communication and Multimedia Act 1998.
MCMC monitoring and enforcement division senior acting director Abdul Halim Ahmad sent the request to Malaysiakini.com editor-in-chief Steven Gan.
In Shah Alam, former Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo said the previous administration should not be blamed as it had approved a piece of land in Section 18 in 2007 as a worship area for non-Muslims, including a site for the Sri Mariamman temple that had sparked off the current protest.
Umno Youth exco member Datuk Sohaimi Shahadan, meanwhile, denied he was the mastermind behind the protest, saying that he joined the group after Friday prayers at the state mosque.
Sohaimi said it turned into a religious issue when someone brought the cow’s head.
In London, several Malaysians staged a peaceful protest outside the Malaysian High Commission at Belgrave Square yesterday over the Government’s handling of the cow’s head protest.
They gathered for three hours, holding placards and distributing leaflets to the public. There was even one one person dressed as a cow.
Organiser Samantha Tan said they believed every Malaysian should be treated equally and hoped to collect 10,000 signatures from Malaysians worldwide through their online petition.
Film-maker Arivind Abraham said they had also set up a Twitter petition.
（End）
