Slapping the hands that feed the poor

Soup kitchen used to proselytise, insiders tell daily

Ethnicmalaysian: If it's true, and if a Muslim can be converted as a result of being forced to in order to get food, then there are far more serious problems in this 'Islamic state' than proselytisation.

Why are these hardcore urban poor forced to resort to such desperate measures just to get food? Where are the so-called government welfare agencies? What happened to the millions of ringgit, if not billions, allocated to such agencies and ministries?

The root cause or underlying factors are again being submerged in the emotional rhetoric of race and religion.

Ferdtan: Nothing is sacred anymore in politics. Love of power makes mankind mad: they even make use of the poor, hungry and unfortunate people for their purpose.

Now it is the Sinar Harian's turn, not the usual Umno propagandist arm, Utusan Malaysia , to report unfounded accusations that charitable organisations are using soup kitchens as a front for proselytising the Muslims.

These organisations must be worried now that they can be accused of a religious 'crime'. The big one like the Buddhist Kenchara Soup Kitchen (KSK) have been feeding many Muslims. Will they be accused like the smaller Christian outlets? They too have their religious flavour.

Or is it because our First Lady Rosmah Mansor once officially opened one of their soup kitchens that they escaped scrutiny? Or is the 'menu of the day' Christians?

Sad - very sad indeed, we have unscrupulous politicians in the Umno-led government.

Swipenter: My conclusion is that being kind towards our own fellow countrymen, especially towards Muslims, is not easy in our country. You never know when you are being accused of ulterior motives and for proselytising them.

An act of kindness can turn into a personal and national nightmare just like what is happening now.

Yeow: Where is the zakat (Islamic tithe) going to? How come in Bolehland where the Malays are fed from cradle to grave still need handouts from the loving Christians? How come Utusan , Sinar Harian are out with ‘scoops' just before the Himpun rally, which has been legalised by Umno?

There can be many more questions, but the Christians and even the Buddhists don't want their fellow human beings from any race, creed or religion suffer in poverty. Does it mean the Muslim poor only need to taken care by Muslims?

The Umno Muslims are an uncaring lot who know how to judge others but will not lift a finger to help unless they get some goodies in return. PAS is concerned about welfare. Are they too doing anything?

Anonymous: "It's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth."

God commands us to feed the poor and destitute regardless of their race, religion, ethnic background. They come to the feeding place because they are hungry and for many, this is their only decent meal they have for days. There is no compulsion and coercion for them to convert.

The Christians (and other religious groups - Buddhists and Hindus) are simply doing it out of love and compassion. The government should support and participate in such initiatives instead of accusing and slapping the hands that feed the poor.

Myop101: To be honest, it is because of my gratefulness to Jesus for what He did for us that I am willing to do more for charity than otherwise I would.

Do you know I felt compelled to do charity each time I read the Bible? And yes, I am glad to tell everyone about that. If that means I am proselytising, then so be it. Why should I not talk about someone I am grateful of?

I am getting tired of this nonsense. Help goes to those in need regardless of their faith. A few acquaintances of mine, who are incidentally Muslims and in need of help after they encountered problems overseas, sought help from their relatives and friends but none of their Muslim brothers and sisters lend them any money in their time of need.

Instead, a non-Muslim like me, without thinking much, ran around town like a madman to raise funds to remit to them. Imagine if I double guess myself whether I should do this for a Muslim in fear that I am accused of proselytising?

And the sum is not small to begin with. But we thank the Lord for giving us the opportunity to help those persons in need.

My wife later asked why I did it. I told her, my hope is if someday we are to seek help for something, we would also see the face of true humanity extending assistance to us, regardless of which faith or race they are from.

Gerard Samuel Vijayan: This story is not credible at all. The soup kitchen in Pudu has been under the radar of Jawi (Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department) for a long time. In fact, their officers frequently check out the place to make sure that the Muslim poor are not influenced in any way to convert to Christianity.

Sinar Harian is creating this story just like Utusan did before with the Penang Christian state conspiracy nonsense simply to stir up Muslim anger before the Himpun rally this weekend. If these Muslims who went to the soup kitchen were so scared about conversion, please stop going there in future. Let the Muslims themselves take care of their own.

Some of these poor, destitute and marginalised will say anything when offered money by those who want to stir up anti-Christian propaganda because they have no choice in the matter.

Geronimo: In the Catholic Church, we have the St Vincent de Paul Society for the Poor in which we distribute monthly rations to the destitutes staying the vicinity of our parish, irrespective of race, colour or creed.

During my association with the society, there were many poor Malays who came to our church for their monthly rations but never once did we ever tried to convert them or use the rations as a bribe to convert them.

This is certainly something new to me and I am sick and tired of all these allegations. For heaven's sake, if a certain Christian group try to prosyletise to the Muslims, why not just report the group to the police and have them arrested? After all, they have broken the law.

Now at the height of the DUMC (Damansara Utama Methodist Church) case, suddenly all these stories are popping up like blisters all over the place to incense the Muslims further.

Anonymous: Is it possible that the hosts of the soup kitchens, be they Buddhists or Christians, do so because of pure compassion and genuine concern for the homeless and the hungry?

To the Christians, there is such a thing called 'unconditional love'. They help because it is the right thing to do. No strings attached. Perhaps the Muslims do not understand this.

Tkc: The Star newspaper reported several stories on soup kitchens a few months ago.

If I am not mistaken, the soup kitchen at Jalan Pudu was featured with a photo of an ex-drug addict doing his part to feed the hungry. In addition, there was also a story about a Malay family giving out free food to the homeless along a busy street somewhere in Kuala Lumpur.

It was really inspiring to read about these good Samaritans sacrificing their time, energy and money to make this world more bearable for the less fortunate amongst us.

Why would anyone want to destroy such acts of kindness in the name of religion?

Zz2XX: I don't know why non-Muslim charities give aid to Muslims. They must stop all aid/donation to Muslims as they can be blamed for trying to convert them. Give only to the non-Muslim poor.

Soup kitchen denies proselytising claims

Imran: In view of all these controversies, why can't all these Christian-related associations stop helping the Muslims. There are enough non-Muslims who need help.

The government is more than capable of helping poor Muslims. Put a sign board that say: ‘Non-Muslims Only'. If you get any Muslim coming for help, just point them to the right direction. It is as simple as that.

If you can't do a simple thing like this, then you are guilty of trying to convert Muslims.

ACR: Imran does have a point after all. The Soup Kitchen claims to have been conducting this social service for 13 years but for reasons best known to God, its social service has now become controversial.

The Malays have various support mechanism from the government. The individuals with zero assistance are the non-Malay poor and there are many of them in the urban areas. Focus your attention there.

Tangsyt: Dear Imran, you are saying that if a Christian sees a Muslim in need, he should turn him away or tell him that help is only for non-Muslims so as to avoid being accused of proselytising.

Is fear of being converted out of one's religion making people blind to the universal principle of brotherly love? One cannot be so weak to believe that accepting help from another of different faith will erode one's own faith.

On your point that the government is capable of helping poor Muslims, surely that can't be true if there are indeed many Muslims resorting to soup kitchens for their meals.

Tan Kim Keong: Good adherents of any religion will continue to do works of charity regardless. Good adherents of any religion will oppose evil where and when it exists in the form of such as what's happening now in Malaysia - the stoking of the anti-Christian hysteria.

I appeal to good adherents stay the course with regards to doing works of charity. Do more so that evil will be flushed in the open for the world to see.

Artchan: It is simple to avoid this controversy. Get a Muslim organisation like Perkasa or a silat group or senator Ezam Mohd Nor to open a similar soup kitchen next to the present one, and the Muslims can go there for food.

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