Interfaith Dialogue UKM

It was almost 20 years ago since I last stepped on the stage of the Dewan Tun Abdul Razak (DECTAR) in UKM. Two days ago I walked on the stage again, where I received my graduation scroll in 1990. Not as a graduating student but as a panelist for an interfaith dialogue organised by UKM students.The event was organised by Kelab Pertubuhan Kebajikan Islam UKM and with the cooperation of the UKM Buddhist Fellowship.

Maybe due to the recent controversy on the usage of the term "Allah" by the Catholic Weekly Herald and torching of some churches and throwing of wild boar heads into two mosques compound, the organiser managed to invite representatives from only three religions namely Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. I was informed that the organiser had approached many Christian speakers but were politely declined.

Other than having a decent discussion on respective religious beliefs, I had the opportunity to meet up with an UKM lecturer who was staying in the same hostel as me during my student days. He was also the moderator for the dialogue.

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Dectar is the main hall used by UKM for many important events especially the annual convocations. The presence of about more than a thousand students (and some outsiders too) can be considered good but the representation was rather disappointing as most if not all who were there are Muslims. I did not notice any Hindus (except the Hindu panelist of course) and most probably no Christians were there too. I met some Buddhist student leaders who were involved in organising the dialogue and some juniors whom I had  met in other programs.

The audience did asked some interesting questions in a friendly and respectful way. The last interfaith dialogue which I attended in UKM 20 years ago was furiously heated with a very confrontational audience. Since this dialogue was conducted in the Malay Language, I think some the words used might be alien to the non-Buddhists who are exposed to Buddhism for the first time.

The organiser took my suggestions to record on tape the proceedings of the dialogue as a reference and also to pre-empt any interference from unreasonable or rowdy audience.

It was a courageous effort by the students to organised such an event as I was informed it has been many years since an open interfaith dialogue was last held in UKM. Since nearly all the audience are of the Muslim faith, it can be deduced that they are also keen to know and understand the nature of their fellow Malaysians beliefs. But what about those other than Islam, are the students not interested in interfaith dialogues?

Having interfaith dialogues is not to convinced others to convert to one's faith or ridicule others but as a platform to know each other better and learn to respect and celebrate the differences as fellow human being and man of faith. - Loka

Note : Due to some miscommunication by the students, the information on the backdrop/poster was inaccurate. I was formerly the Secretary General of YBAM, not as stated in the poster.

Serpent-like racial monster within

What is so surprising about this guy who allegedly make racial remarks and threatened to take away the citizenship of fellow Malaysians? We didn't hear these nonsense for the first time, aren't we?  And surely we do not expect this to be the last anyway. Lurking underneath the smiling faces and shout of unity under the Malaysian umbrella, lies the vicious and serpent-like racial monster within their subdue conscience.

Waiting for the moment to unleash itself from the grinning teeth and bear-hugs of comradeship, these inner serpent-like subdue conscience will be spurting out wild fire of unhappiness, hatred and displeasure during moments of unguarded tongue and a disillusion state of mind.

The serpent-like conscience has been there for a long time amongst many living around us, has been continuously nurtured and developed by those who will do whatever it takes and at all cost to maintain their political and racialistic dominance in a country that adopts parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy.

These serpent-like racial monster can be a colleague sitting next to us in the office; a neighbour who mind his own business all the time; a loyal customer of the mamak stalls that we patronized regularly; an old friend from our school or university days and can even be amongst those with the YB titles. Hopefully these YBs can be Yang Bertaubat soon if the serpent monster is still lurking within.

We need to show our compassion to these serpent-like racial monster who can't even develop their own heart and mind in a state of mindfulness and peace. If this fails, we better continue to pray harder  and harder for a better Malaysia tomorrow.  - Loka

Seige mentality of some SJK (C) governors

Below is an article extracted from the blog http://www.hannahyeoh.com/ of Subang Jaya assemblyman, YB Hannah Yeoh which points to the seige and arrogant mentality of certain people given some "power" and authority to decides on the future of our children. I was informed there are still some unpaid amount of debt close to RM 2 million not paid to the contractor which is already overdue more that two years. Why are the people managing the hall still acting like they are so loaded with cash! - Loka

The SJK (C) Chee Wen hall was built with 100% donations from the public, including parents of the students and followers ofall religions and  members of all political parties!

SJK(C) Chee Wen and its Board of Governors

A new DAP branch in USJ 1 is being established and under the leadership of DAP Selangor, this new branch is planning a fund-raising dinner in March 2010. We were looking for a suitable venue for the dinner and the idea of having it at a hall in the only school in USJ 1, SJK(C) Chee Wen was considered. It had a suitable hall which would be able to accommodate the dinner crowd and the rental of the hall would go some way towards the school's building fund. I approached the Advisor of SJK(C) Chee Wen's Board of Governors (BOG) Dato' Lee Hwa Beng to find out if the school hall would be available for rent.

Dato' Lee was very helpful and he assured me that any party, as long as the rent is paid, should be able to use the school hall. I also spoke to the school principal and we were told to fill up the booking form. We then submitted the booking form, made a deposit payment of RM1000 and received an official receipt DS No. 00124 from the management of the school.

Several days later, we were informed by the school that its BOG has decided to block us from using the hall. I spoke to Dato' Lee and he graciously assured me that he would speak to the BOG again. I received a final call from Dato' Lee that the BOG will not change its mind and that we would still be unable to use the hall.

Parents of the school must hold the BOG to a professional standard in managing the affairs of the school, and not allow such politicking to override the best interest of the school. Many parents and well-wishers contributed to the building fund of the school irrespective of their individual political beliefs. Schools are not tools to be used to serve the shallow interests of certain politicians sitting in the BOG. I've said this before, I'll say it again now - 'Set our schools free!'

雪州缺乏近百所佛教寺庙

五地方政府受促拨地建庙

实习记者林志斌

1月28日

傍晚 5点52分

有鉴于雪州目前缺乏大约100所佛教寺庙，雪州佛教发展委员会今日呼吁该州地方政府拨地兴建佛教寺庙，以解决佛教徒缺乏膜拜场所的问题。

该委员会主席黄世界表示，雪州目前缺少80至100所的佛教寺庙；随着人口的增长，若地方政府没做好规划，雪州将在2020年时缺少近200所的寺庙。

他表示，在雪州400万2440名居民当中，25.26%或101万1169人是佛教徒。若根据种族分布，雪州共有123万271名华裔，其中81.26%是佛教徒。

他说，根据雪州城乡规划局于2006年出版的《雪州规划指南与标准》手册，制定建设非回教膜拜场所的条文，即每2600名非回教信徒或每5000名居民，必须拥有一所寺庙。

地方政府拨出有限土地建庙

黄世界表示，配合雪州5个地方政府呼吁居民对《2020年地方规划蓝图》提出建议和反对，雪州15个佛教团体在去年12月16日开会进行讨论，要求地方政府遵守上述建设非回教膜拜场所的条文。



他表示，他们多番与雪州非回教徒宗教场所事务委员会及雪州地方政府事务委员会对话，但是上述5个地方政府的规划蓝图，仍然拨出有限或完全没有土地兴建佛教寺庙，因此希望州政府与地方政府重视此事。

这5个地方政府分别是：乌鲁冷岳县议会、安邦再也市议会、加影市议会、士拉央市议会和瓜拉冷岳县议会。


士拉央目前仅有13所佛教寺庙，根据人口统计，该区需要87所寺庙。至于安邦再也目前仅有9所寺庙，仍需要62所。


上述2个市议会在规划蓝图表示，非回教宗教膜拜场所是根据申请拨地，但是，而雪州佛教委员会却认为，根据申请拨地的说法非常暧昧，而且也不清楚申请的成功率。

而加影及瓜拉冷岳市议会更表示，该地区的寺庙已足够，而不再计划拨地建造寺庙；雪州佛教发展委员会却认为，这两个地区分别需要82所及21所的寺庙，目前当地的寺庙总数是远远不足够的。

质疑乌雪规划草案抵触宪法

佛教发展委员会也非议乌鲁雪兰莪县议会的规划草案，并质疑该草案与我国联邦宪法相抵触。

乌鲁雪兰莪县议会的规划草案里阐明，地方政府有权控制非回教宗教场所的数量与发展；但是联邦宪法第3（1）条文却阐明，虽然回教是我国的官方宗教，但是其他宗教可安宁与和谐在马来西亚任何地方奉行。

联邦宪法第11（1）条文也阐明，国民有权信奉本身的宗教，而第11（3）也指出，每个宗教团体有权管理本身宗教事务、建立和维持本身宗教或慈善事业结构及依法取得、持有并管理。

驳斥星报指增建寺庙很简单

黄世界也驳斥《星报》于1月17日社论的说法，有关社论表示，基督徒申请增建基督教堂非常困难，反观佛教徒申请增建寺庙却非常简单。
黄世界强调，他并非对基督教有意见，而事实上所有非回教信仰者申请增建膜拜场所时都面临难题，因此他希望州政府与地方政府公平拨地于各个宗教。
雪州佛教发展委员会也投诉各区寺庙面临的困境，包括时常需要租借临近的住宅或店屋进行活动，甚至曾因此接获传票。

该委员会也强调，他们并非反对州政府或地方政府的政策，只是希望获得妥当的膜拜场所。

Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/

Buddhists need more temples

Below is the press statement issued by the Selangor Buddhist Development Committee in response to the Draft Local Plans prepared by five local authorities in Selangor. Leaders from 12 Buddhist organizations were present during the press conference held at Chempaka Buddhist Lodge, Petaling Jaya.

PRESS STATEMENT

Regarding MDHS, MPKj, MPAJ, MPS, MDHL Draft Local Plans

28th January 2010

Based on year 2000 census report by the Department of Statistics Malaysia, Malaysian citizens of the Buddhist faith comprised 4,419,042 people or 20.2% of the total citizens of this country.

In Selangor there are a total of 1,011,169 Buddhists, which is 25.26% of the state 4,002,440 citizens. Based on ethnic distribution, there are a total of 1,230,271 ethnic Chinese in the state of Selangor and 999,748 (81.26%) of them are Buddhists.

According to the Manual Garis Panduan Dan Piawaian Perancangan Negeri Selangor DE published by Jabatan Perancangan Bandar dan Desa Negeri Selangor, JPBD in June 2006, there are provisions for places of worship for non-Muslims include “one place of worship for every 2,600 devotees or 5,000 residents”.

In response to the calls by the local authorities, namely the Majlis Daerah Hulu Selangor, Majlis Perbandaran Ampang Jaya, Majlis Perbandaran Kajang, Majlis Perbandaran Selayang and Majlis Daerah Kuala Langat for the people to submit objections and proposals on their respective Draft Local Plan 2020(Draf Rancangan Tempatan), 15 Buddhist organizations in Selangor met on 16th December 2009 to discuss and review the five Draft Local Plans.

The meeting decided to establish an action committee known as the Selangor Buddhist Development Committee (SBDC) to take the necessary actions and to submit objections and proposals on the Draft Local Plans.

There are three pertinent matters that the SBDC would like to highlight for further considerations of the respective local councils.

1. With reference to religious practice, we urged the local authorities to adhere to the Federal Government guidelines in relation to the provisions for building of places of worship for non-Muslims, which is one place of worship for every 2,600 devotees or 5,000 residents.

Basing on the proposed five Draft Local Plans, within all the areas under review, there are limited or no allocation of land for the building of Buddhist temples (Vihara Buddha) in all the areas under planning.

We need to have more Buddhist temples (Vihara Buddha) to cater to the spiritual and religious education needs of the devotees.

2. With regards to public amenities, we would like to propose to the local authorities to reserve land and provide allocation to build crematoriums and columbarium complexes especially for the benefit of the Buddhist and Hindu communities who opts for cremation as their last rites. Considering the size of Buddhist residents in Selangor, the building of crematoriums will directly helps the State in reducing land use for burial grounds.

3. We urged the Selangor State Government and all local authorities concerned to live up to the spirit of Article 3 (1)* and Article 11 (1)* and 11 (3)* of the Federal Constitution in regards to the needs of adherents other than Islam to practice their own religion and to build and manage their places of worship.

We urged the Selangor State government and all local authorities; elected representatives and local councillors to seriously consider our objections and proposals as a duty and commitment towards the welfare and interest of the Buddhist community in Selangor.

We are prepared to attend the Public Hearing on the Draft Local Plans and we hoped the local authorities would invite us to attend the public hearing to provide details on our objections and proposals.

This statement is also endorsed by the following Buddhist Organizations in Selangor.

1. PERSATUAN PENGANUT AGAMA BUDDHA FO GUANG MALAYSIA

2. PERSATUAN PENGANUT AGAMA BUDDHA SUBANG JAYA

3. PERSATUAN PENGANUT BUDDHA SERDANG

4. BUDDHIST GEM FELLOWSHIP

5. SAKYAMUNI DHARMA CENTRE

6. DHARMA DRUM MOUNTAIN BUDDHISM INFORMATION CENTRE

7. KINRARA METTA BUDDHIST SOCIETY

8. MUDITA BUDDHIST SOCIETY

9. PERSATUAN AGAMA BUDDHA PU CHOONG

10. CHEMPAKA BUDDHIST LODGE

11. BANDAR UTAMA BUDDHIST SOCIETY

12. LOSANG DRAGPA BUDDHIST SOCIETY

13. KLANG & COAST BUDDHIST ASSOCIATION

14. PERSATUAN PENGANUT BUDDHA KOK DOH RAWANG

15. JINJANG BUDDHIST ASSOCIATION

16. SELAYANG BUDDHIST ASSOCIATION

17. KAJANG BUDDHIST CENTRE

18. PUTRA HEIGHTS BUDDHIST SOCIETY