OUR USELESS MINISTER-IN-CHARGE OF MUSLIM AFFAIRS YAACOB IBRAHIM

To MUIS and Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim,

There are over 70 mosques in Singapore that has been performing the ‘korban’ or slaughtering of sheeps/goats/cows as part of the Islamic teachings during Hari Raya Haji for years with no issue.

However, this year only 16 mosques are allowed to do so. The reason being that as the sheeps are imported from Australia, the Australians have decreed that only 16 mosques are fit enough to conduct the ritual based on size. This is absurd. How big of a space do you need to conduct the slaughter ritual? A football field size?

The main issue here is that a foreign country which is also a non-muslim authority is dictating our religious practice here in Singapore. If they say that only 16 mosques only are fit to conduct the ritual, MUIS as a governing body should source the sheeps etc from other countries who has no issues with the rest of the mosques conducting the ritual which the Australians see unfit.

Another thing which rankled me was Yaacob Ibrahim appearing on the news saying Muslims in Singapore should be grateful that 16 mosques have been allowed to carry out the practice. OH WE SHOULD BE GRATEFUL!

Or that another option is that Muslims can practice the korban ritual overseas! As a Singaporean, I am told on state news that it is better if we practice our Islamic teachings overseas instead of the country we are born. Lest we forget, he is the Minister-in-charge of Muslim affairs. I need not say more.

This is a subtle way of curtailing us practising our religion. The non-muslims might think that oh, this doesn’t affect me. You see, if they are able to curtail us Muslims practising the religion in our own country subtly, what makes you think they are not able to do so for the rest of the religions?

For example, in future, they might say that out of the so many temples in Singapore, only 16 are allowed to burn joss sticks as the joss sticks are purchased from Taiwan and Taiwan decrees only 16 temples are fit to burn them. This is what is happening to the Muslim community now!

Another way it will affect the non-muslims in the future is that the higher up will say, oh now the Australians says that the 16 mosques are also unfit to conduct the ritual, as such we will not need the Hari Raya Haji Holiday. Let’s replace it with a Philipines or PRC holiday instead since we can’t have too many holidays due to reliant on the workforce on the economy. So this maybe a way to replace a holiday that has been around with a foreign holiday due to their love for the foreigners.

Freedom to practice your religion in Singapore? I don’t think so.

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Fahmi