KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 — A DAP lawmaker today asked Johor Umno Youth chief Hairi Mad Shah if he is going to criticise the Muslims in Dubai for breaking fast in a Sikh temple after the latter chided Johor Baru MP Akmal Nasrullah Nasir for attending a similar event held in the state earlier this week.
Ramkarpal Singh in a statement, took a swipe at Hairi calling him “ridiculous and an affront to our culture,” after Hairi condemned a buka puasa event attended by Akmal at the Johor Gurdwara Sahib on Tuesday.
“Is Hairi aware that recently in Dubai a gurdwara did the same thing, opening its doors to Muslims to break fast and giving them a place to pray?
“If breaking fast at a gurdwara in Dubai is accepted, why not in Malaysia?,” he added.
Earlier this week, Hairi slammed Akmal’s decision to attend a buka puasa event at the Sikh temple titled “Majlis Iftar Muhibbah Bersama YB Akmal Nasrullah Nasir”, calling it insensitive to the Muslims.
The event was held in a community hall separate from the Sikh worship area.
Hairi labelled the event as extremely unfortunate and said he hoped the event venue will be changed or cancelled.
He further explained that there are many more places that Akmal can hold the break fast event, such as in a mosque, surau, orphanage, old folks home and also in his own parliamentary service centre.
Akmal, despite the brickbats, went ahead with the event that saw some 300 people attend, where he had previously said that attending the event would not make him a lesser Muslim or erode his faith.
It was reported on Monday that the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara in Dubai, had opened its doors to Muslims there, offering them a room to pray and giving them a free meals to break their fast.
Ramkarpal also pressured Umno’s central leadership to clarify their stance on the Akmal’s cross cultural event, following Hairi’s comments.
“People like Hairi are doing a disservice to multicultural Malaysia which is most unfortunate by creating a false perception that Muslims and non-Muslims should not break fast together at a non-Muslim place of worship.
“Umno must now state if what Hairi said is its stand or if it was his personal stance,” he said.
