Khalid, you can’t please all

by Jeg Hui

Salam Sejahtera, Mr Selangor Menteri Besar. I hope you are in the pink of health while working hard for the people during this holy Ramadan.

I know you are currently facing a lot of troubles especially from the recent ruckus over the relocation of the temple, the beer-banning, and not to forget the suggesting the zakat fund be used for the state.

It didn’t come as a shock to me, because growing up in Selangor, I know the people are not ready for the changes being made in the way Selangor should be governed.

Of course, every Selangor resident wants everything to work for the better, but we are still so young and naive over certain issues.

To start with, the Muslims were left shell-shocked over your suggestion for the state to interfere with the Pusat Zakat Selangor fund.

Some called you stupid, some said you were trying to please the non-Muslims too much, some asked you to go back and read the fundamentals of zakat.

I talked with my mother and even she brought up the zakat debacle.

Let me remind you briefly of the eight groups of people (asnaf) who are allowed to gain from the zakat fund. They are all based on the holy Quran (9:60)

The needy – Fuqara’
Extreme poor Muslims – Al-Masakin
Those employed to collect – Aamileen (Pusat Zakat staff salaries)
Muslim converts – Muallafatul Quloob
To free the slaves – Ar-Riqaab
Those in debt – Al Ghaarimeen
In the way of Allah – Fi Sabeelillah
Wayfarer – Ibnus-Sabeel
So it was your blunder to even propose it. I hope such things can be avoided in the future. Moving on, let’s talk about the beer banning issue in Shah Alam.

This was suggested by Dr Hassan Ali (PAS) and it was proposed innocently to respect Muslims in the area. Again, your judgment was under scrutiny.

Please bear in mind that these people are Muslims who are so afraid that their children would find easy access to alcohol beverages. They were not paid by UMNO or any BN component parties to cause chaos whatsoever.

My take on this is that you should listen to the people in the area, not try to please everyone. Alcohol is bad for everyone anyway, Muslims or not.

And finally, the temple issue. I was gutted by the way the S23 residents were acting bringing along a cow’s head in a street protest, spitting and stepping on it.

I know they are now playing the blame game for the cow’s head among themselves but I think it was just a split second decision from one of them, getting the cow’s head from the local butcher and bringing it along to provoke the Hindus.

Stern action should be taken on the people responsible for this as a cow is deemed as a sacred animal to the Hindus and Islam does not condone the act of humiliating any animal. (Yes, pigs and dogs included).

Some hardcore Pakatan fans and voters put the blame on UMNO by lying to everyone saying those people were from Pekida or some BN-related NGOs while I truly believe these people are genuinely from S23.

And so what if they so happen to support PKR, PAS or UMNO? That’s normal. I also believe that these are the same people who went berserk during the dialogue with you, which I think did not respect the holy Ramadan. It was a good initiative to hold a dialogue but was it not too little too late?

My question is, however, is there really a need to relocate the temple? It’s 150 years old. Maybe it should stay there and become one of Malaysia’s heritage buildings and maybe some work can be done on it? Why the hassle to relocate the temple?

Your mistake was to relocate the temple without the S23 people’s consent or any prior explanation. They feel betrayed and think you are arrogant for making decisions behind their backs.

What happened to the ‘Giving the Power Back to the People’ or ‘Ketuanan Rakyat’ concept?

Well, I hope everything will be put right after wise solutions are found. No offence , but I prefer you to Khir Toyo leading Selangor.
My advice to you, work sincerely. You don’t have to try hard to please everyone