Ravinder Singh

The very young children must have been terrorised by helicopters swirling above them. This was not a search for a downed aircraft that could have been spotted from the air. In fact, small aircraft and helicopters that might crash in thick jungle are also not very easily seen from the air. Here were little children moving on the ground under thick foliage of the forest. They were not carrying anything that could emit signals that could be picked up by the helicopters.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is not on the right track in starting a campaign to tackle an increase in corruption cases in schools by giving talks or lectures to students when the corruption in schools usually involve the administrators, as said by its community education department director Shamsun Bahrin Md Jamil ( The Sun , Oct 1), or minister Paul Low on rewarding companies that are free of corruption as a way of fighting corruption.

It is so nice to know that Malaysia has a minister who oversees who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Perhaps this is a first for the world. Malaysia boleh!

Rallies are but a symptom and if carried out peacefully there is nothing obnoxious about them except in the minds of those whose untenable deeds they are highlighting. It is rallies that are planned, organised and carried out to threaten, intimidate or even cause harm to others or their properties in defence of race, religion, political positions, etc. that are obnoxious. So don’t lump all rallies into the same basket.

Announcing that the Penang government will continue to function normally (despite not being a Pakatan Rakyat government any longer), with a focus on improving public services in accordance with the principles of Competency, Accountability and Transparency (CAT), the chief minister of Penang went on to assure Penangites that “at the same time, we will also carry out the transformation in moving towards becoming a state with international standards - smart, clean, green, healthy and safe.” ( The Sun , July 3)

Penang state executive councillor Chow Kon Yeow couldn’t have been serious when he said that the developer who demolished the colonial era mansion at 20 Pykett Avenue, Penang before the state could gazette it as a heritage building “had been punished enough since it had waited for four years.” This actually sounds cynical.

The Taman Medan church ‘cross-gate’ affair did not happen out of spontaneity. It was the fruiting of seeds planted by racist ideas rooted in statements, urgings and questions asked in the past by certain parties.

The BN official Facebook page ‘Friends of BN - Barisan Nasional’ while condemning the Petaling Jaya 'cross’ demonstration on Sunday at the same time tried to justify it, saying, “It is generally accepted that Malays, who are Muslims, are sensitive towards the cross sign.”

Thank you, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, for letting the cat out of the bag.

So Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) has admitted that the giving of free Qurans is a proselytisation project, which was denied earlier, and not a no-strings-attached project to help non-Muslims understand Islam and dispel their fears of Islam as a religion of extremism.

The Majlis Perbandaran Sungai Petani [(MPSP(K)] does not seem to have noticed that the owner of  a newly-completed double-storey house in Taman Intan is doing odd things.

So, finally someone could not stand Perkasa’s bigotry and had to slam them. Hopefully, it is for real.

Religions are not judged by what’s written in their holy books, but by the words and deeds of the practitioners of those religions. This is because actions speak louder than words, and that seeing is believing. Not surprising, for the sense of sight is the most powerful of our senses, with hearing coming next.

The cabinet’s abdication of its duty to stem the rising tide of racism that could, if not checked, lead to the Talibanisation of this county, galvanised some very concerned, very senior and enlightened Muslims to come together to make an open stand on this subject.

The Kelantan MB is like a captain who abandons a sinking ship to save himself... while telling the passengers to start praying profusely so that they may all be saved by the grace of God.

What is the motive of the ‘fundamental’ Muslim, who is not a born Muslim, who scoffed at the open letter to the prime minister penned by the 25 moderate, eminent Muslims expressing concern about extremism that has of late been driving wedges between Malaysians of diverse religious beliefs who had been living peacefully for so long, respecting each other’s faiths and beliefs?

To believe Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri is to believe that it is the civil servants who call the shots, who decide how the county is to be run and that ministers are merely the mouthpieces of civil servants. But this is not believable, for people elect their representatives to run the country and ministers are from the ranks of these representatives in the ruling party.

To the rich, it means fuel in Malaysia is still cheaper than in other countries in the region. The increase means nothing to them. They can happily pay for it.

To the lower income group and the poor, it means a further tightening of the belt to make ends meet on devalued money as a ringgit will get less than before, but they don’t earn more Ringgit to offset the decreased value of the ringgit.

I refer to a letter in The Star date Aug 9 titled ‘Uneven roads leading to Second Bridge’. The writer, Patrick Lim, points out that though repairs had been done a few months ago after the matter was highlighted in the press, it is back to square one again.  He blames “shoddy workmanship” for the problem.

'When a body set up by the state goes beyond its limits, it is time to get rid of it.'

What do we make of the Bible, bride, body and child-snatchings?