![\"http:\/\/buletinonline.net\/http:\/\/buletinonline.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Dr%20Roslan.JPG\"](\"https:\/\/buletinonline.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Dr%20Roslan.JPG\")
Persatuan Ulama Malaysia (PUM) declared today that MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek and his son Tee Yong had shown their disdain of Islam with their remarks about PAS\u2019 Tenang by-election candidate Normala Sudirman\u2019s refusal to shake hands with male voters.<\/p>\n
They hurt Muslim feelings, PUM secretary-general Mohd Roslan Mohd Nor told a press conference here.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could sour relations between the various religions in Malaysia,\u201d he said. \u201cIslamic affairs should be handled only by Muslims. Such comments can ruin unity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The MCA president had upset various Malay and Muslim quarters for accusing Normala of bad manners because she declined to shake hands with male voters during her campaign rounds.<\/p>\n
His remarks were seen as an attempt to portray not only PAS, but Islam as well, as extremist and thereby scare the Chinese, who make up close to 39% of Tenang\u2019s more than 14,000 voters.<\/p>\n
Tenang falls under the Labis parliamentary constituency, which is Chua\u2019s stronghold. It is now helmed by his son.<\/p>\n
His lifeline as MCA president depends on his ability to deliver the Chinese votes. Barisan Nasional saw its majority slashed to almost half in the last election and the deterioration was attributed to the swing in Chinese votes.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, PUM also criticised Singapore leader Lee Kuan Yew for his comments on the island state\u2019s Malay-Muslim population.<\/p>\n
He wrote in a recently launched book that the Muslims there should be less strict on Islamic observances to aid integration and nation building.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis statement is almost anti-Islam and also reflects a baseless Islamophobia. In fact it is not based on historical facts and current reality,\u201d Roslan remarked.<\/p>\n
He said the Islamic golden age thrived on strict observation of religious injunctions. \u201cThis view that Islam is a hindrance to progress is inaccurate and narrow,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Roslan said that the Muslims in Singapore were among the \u201cmost moderate\u201d in the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Persatuan Ulama Malaysia (PUM) declared today that MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek and his son Tee Yong had shown their disdain of Islam with their remarks about PAS\u2019 Tenang by-election candidate Normala Sudirman\u2019s refusal to shake hands with male voters. They hurt Muslim feelings, PUM secretary-general Mohd Roslan Mohd Nor told a press conference […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"better_featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4489"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4489\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}