All this talk by Lee Kuan Yew on Singapore Muslims not integrating has left me more than a little reflective, if not somewhat nostalgic.
It was during last year’s Ramadhan that Kelly Teo, a classmate from our Pre-U Class of 1971, made his twice-yearly trip back home from Holland. A bunch of us would gather and celebrate his ‘homecoming’, and thence make a trip somewhere to Indonesia for a round of golf, good food and drink, and strengthen our bonds stretching back to almost exactly 40 years.
Only this time, his trip came during Ramadhan, and our good host Ronald Tan had insisted that we Muslims break fast at his home. I had hesitated, but decided to ask him anyway: Can I also perform my Maghrib prayers in his house? Otherwise, I would have to do it at the nearest mosque, get caught up in other iftar activities there and would not reach his home until several hours later.
“No problem,” he replied. “You’d be blessing our home with your prayers.”
“But I don’t know the direction of the Kaabah,” he added, quite seriously. I laughed, never expecting him to know.
“No problem,” I replied. “I’ll bring a compass.”
And so, this little episode came to a happy ending. I performed my salat and my iftar (breaking the fast) in a non-Muslim home with the owner’s delighted permission,
I can’t remember what we had for dinner (seafood pasta I think) but it was halal. We even had dates from Dubai, courtesy of Abdul Rahman Mohd, another classmate who works there and had also flown in.
Since I performed my Haj in 2003, the gang had stopped asking me if I’d like a scotch just like they were having.
Here is a group of 50-something men and women who have continued to maintain a 40-year relationship forged when we were starry-eyed teens.
It’s a motley group – mainly Chinese, three Malays, three Indians, one Sikh. And the group continues to grow as FaceBook enables us to discover each other.
But we all shed a tear recently over the death of Gurtek Singh, who left us in a motor accident in Amritsar. He was VP for Finance in SATS based in Mumbai and had gone to the holy city on a pilgrimage with his wife and young children. Mercifully, his wife and kids were bruised but not seriously hurt.
We remember well the warm hospitality given by Gurtek and his gracious wife when we visited them for Deepavali.
All of us dropped everything to attend his funeral, the first Sikh funeral most of us had attended.
So, what is this talk of integration that LKY is talking about?
That I could perform salat and iftar in a non-Muslim home; that we could shed a tear for a fallen comrade of another race and religion, are profound living testimonies that no government propaganda could ever match or deny.
Contrary to what LKY thinks, I don’t have to drink beer (or scotch) or partake of non-halal food to be part of the group, to integrate.
In 40 years, we never talked about integration or racial/religious harmony. It came naturally for us. I never had to become ‘less strict in my religious observances’ to be part of the group, because my classmates understood what I needed to do as a Muslim.
In those years, Ang Kok Leong has become more a brother to me than a friend. We used to smuggle food into the coffee house next to the old Hollywood cinema in Tanjong Katong because we couldn’t afford what our richer classmates were consuming. The class differences never prevented us from being part of the group.
I remember well how nervously I walked into the notorious Kampong Eunos to visit Kok Leong during Chinese New Year, and the warm hospitality his father and the rest of the family extended to me.
When Kok Leong’s father passed away, I joined other mourners in the chartered bus that took us to the crematorium. I even remembered the vegetarian lunch that followed.
So, spare me this diatribe of Muslims not integrating. We’ve been doing it since God knows when.
The only people on both sides of the exchange (LKY included) are those with an axe to grind.
.
Rahmansaid
* The writer blogs at http://www.kampungnet.com.sg/
It was during last year’s Ramadhan that Kelly Teo, a classmate from our Pre-U Class of 1971, made his twice-yearly trip back home from Holland. A bunch of us would gather and celebrate his ‘homecoming’, and thence make a trip somewhere to Indonesia for a round of golf, good food and drink, and strengthen our bonds stretching back to almost exactly 40 years.
Only this time, his trip came during Ramadhan, and our good host Ronald Tan had insisted that we Muslims break fast at his home. I had hesitated, but decided to ask him anyway: Can I also perform my Maghrib prayers in his house? Otherwise, I would have to do it at the nearest mosque, get caught up in other iftar activities there and would not reach his home until several hours later.
“No problem,” he replied. “You’d be blessing our home with your prayers.”
“But I don’t know the direction of the Kaabah,” he added, quite seriously. I laughed, never expecting him to know.
“No problem,” I replied. “I’ll bring a compass.”
And so, this little episode came to a happy ending. I performed my salat and my iftar (breaking the fast) in a non-Muslim home with the owner’s delighted permission,
I can’t remember what we had for dinner (seafood pasta I think) but it was halal. We even had dates from Dubai, courtesy of Abdul Rahman Mohd, another classmate who works there and had also flown in.
Since I performed my Haj in 2003, the gang had stopped asking me if I’d like a scotch just like they were having.
Here is a group of 50-something men and women who have continued to maintain a 40-year relationship forged when we were starry-eyed teens.
It’s a motley group – mainly Chinese, three Malays, three Indians, one Sikh. And the group continues to grow as FaceBook enables us to discover each other.
But we all shed a tear recently over the death of Gurtek Singh, who left us in a motor accident in Amritsar. He was VP for Finance in SATS based in Mumbai and had gone to the holy city on a pilgrimage with his wife and young children. Mercifully, his wife and kids were bruised but not seriously hurt.
We remember well the warm hospitality given by Gurtek and his gracious wife when we visited them for Deepavali.
All of us dropped everything to attend his funeral, the first Sikh funeral most of us had attended.
So, what is this talk of integration that LKY is talking about?
That I could perform salat and iftar in a non-Muslim home; that we could shed a tear for a fallen comrade of another race and religion, are profound living testimonies that no government propaganda could ever match or deny.
Contrary to what LKY thinks, I don’t have to drink beer (or scotch) or partake of non-halal food to be part of the group, to integrate.
In 40 years, we never talked about integration or racial/religious harmony. It came naturally for us. I never had to become ‘less strict in my religious observances’ to be part of the group, because my classmates understood what I needed to do as a Muslim.
In those years, Ang Kok Leong has become more a brother to me than a friend. We used to smuggle food into the coffee house next to the old Hollywood cinema in Tanjong Katong because we couldn’t afford what our richer classmates were consuming. The class differences never prevented us from being part of the group.
I remember well how nervously I walked into the notorious Kampong Eunos to visit Kok Leong during Chinese New Year, and the warm hospitality his father and the rest of the family extended to me.
When Kok Leong’s father passed away, I joined other mourners in the chartered bus that took us to the crematorium. I even remembered the vegetarian lunch that followed.
So, spare me this diatribe of Muslims not integrating. We’ve been doing it since God knows when.
The only people on both sides of the exchange (LKY included) are those with an axe to grind.
.
Rahmansaid
* The writer blogs at http://www.kampungnet.com.sg/
Many of the requirements of Kosher food have their foundations based upon health issues. They were incorporated into the Old Testament and thus became spiritual laws.
