Screenshots

saya telah membaca melihat berita mengenai isu tersebut (high 5 dan walls) di laman web PPIM. Tiada apa yg meragukan malah sebagai orang Islam juga merasa terpanggil untuk berfikir mengenai kehalalan roti high 5 dan walls. Dalam Islam, jika sesuatu pekara itu meragukan atau bercampur antra baik dan buruk, kita perlu memenangkan pekara yang meragukan itu. Contoh, jika kita ragu samada roti high 5 itu halal atau haram, kita perlu memenangkan yang haram, iaitu tidak membeli produk high 5. kita dapati kilang di shah alam memang bersih, tapi kilang di nilai sangat2 jijik dan najis(lihat laporan PPIM). Kami tidak tahu kilang yang mana satu membekalkan roti kepada kami.jadi ianya meragukan.

Aiskrim walls yang dimaksudkan memang mengandungi lambang salib. tidak salah utk kami membantah. kerana ini adalah percubaan untuk menyebarkan unsur agama lain kepada penduduk yang majorinya beragama islam.

1. Sila lawat laman web PPIM untuk mendalami pekara ini lebih lanjut. Tiada siapa hendak menjadi super agama disini. kami hanya mempertahankan agama kami.

2. Islam amat toleran kepada agama lain. Tapi hanya Islam agama yang diredhai oleh Allah.

yes...it is indeed a Sunday meant for pondering!

first and foremost, I am still pondering if it's "being religious superficially in Malaysia," or "being superficially religious in Malaysia?"

for some people this might seem trivial but most of the time the answer is right before our eyes.

it's just that we either can't or won't see it.

very, very cryptic, huh?

Setelah melawat laman web PPIM dan melihat gambar-gambar biskut tersebut yang kononnya terdapat imej salib, saya membuat kesimpulan bahawa imej-imej tersebut tidak lebih daripada kebetulan. Agak menghairankan mengapa sesetengah orang cuma dapat melihat "elemen-elemen tersembunyi" pada produk-produk terkenal dan berjenama sedangkan biskut yang dimakan selama berpuluh-puluh tahun terlepas dari pandangan. Selepas ini apa pula, imej-imej tersembunyi dalam kain batik dan pua kumbu? Adakah Da Vinci meletakkan salib-salib ini dalam biskut tersebut? Dah Benci Kot?

Trans: After visiting PPIM's website and viewing the pictures of the biscuit that allegedly contains crosses, I have come to a conclusion that those images are nothing more than a coincidence on the design of the biscuits. It is surprising why some people chose to see the "hidden elements" in famous branded goods, but chose to ignore the biscuits that they have eaten for the past couple of years. What's next, hidden images in pua kumbu and batik? Did Da Vinci placed the crosses on the biscuit? Dah Benci Kut?

How do one spread a religion by potraying a certain shape? Wouldn't one need to involve some sort of preaching? If it is indeed, then the act of 'spreading a religion' would be in the act of 'preaching' or in the 'shape' itself?

Bagaimanakah seseorang cuba menyebarkan unsur agama lain dengan lambang salib? Perlukah seseorang itu berkhutbah dengan lambang salib itu untuk berbuat sedemikian? Jika perlu, mungkinkah penyebaran unsur agama lain disebabkan pengkhutbah dan bukan kerana satu lambang?

The narrow interpretation of religion by a group of religious fanatics is further going to tarnish Malaysia's image as a moderate Muslim country.

Such news items are often picked up by the foreign news media and beamed across the world. The recent Langakawi intrusion into the home of an American couple by religious zealots and an array of other incidents, is creating an image that Malaysia is joining the ranks of intolerant Islamic states.

These acts by religious zealots is resulting in the following;

1. The further alienation of non Muslim Chinese and Indians and also the more moderate secular Muslim.Many are now considering investing outside the country and even contemplating migration. The fear is that this is only the beginning of the gradual Islamisation of the country. Some feel that the more radical fringes of Muslim society are slowly but surely muscling their way into the mainstream with the ultimate goal of creating an Islamic State with syariah laws.

2. The action of these religious zealots will furher alienate Malaysia & the economy with serious consequences on the future standard of living of the average Malaysian, particularly the lower income group. The latter may be hit by the double whammy of inflation & stagnant income growth or even unemployment.

3. The marginalistion of the poor, a large group of whom are bumis, may be fertile ground for recruitment of religious extremism.In times of economic doom, many find solace in religion.

4. The scapegoats in times of economic difficulties, is often, in multiethnic groups, the relatively more affluent communities, namely the non Malays. This is exactly what happenened in Indonesia in 1998.It is no coincidence that a large number of the less affluent Malays perceive that the Chinese are the more affluent group in Malaysia.What is even more dangerous is the exploitation of this perception by selfish politicians. In this scenario you have a powder keg or a tinderbox situation, if this is not properly handled. Even a tiny spark can cause an explosion. And there is no guarantee that this cannot happen here.

kuncisudu,

Sikap anda yang terlalu defensive dan paranoid menyebabkan orang memandang rendah kepada orang Islam di Malaysia.

Anda menyebut: ini adalah percubaan untuk menyebarkan unsur agama lain kepada penduduk yang majorinya beragama islam.

Tiada indikasi langsung untuk menjusitifikasikan perasaan tersebut. Adakah rasional untuk anda merasakan begitu, atau adakah ia berdasarkan sikap prejudis anda terhadap semua yang bukan Islam?

Jika anda benar-benar yakin akan Allah dan Islam sebagai agama benar, mengapa perlu anda merasa takut jika ada satu tanda yang kebetulannya serupa salib? Adakah anda akan menghalang anak-anak anda membaca huruf 'X'? Adakah anda akan menolak sebarang pelawaan jiran anda untuk ke rumahnya kerana ada potret Jesus atas pintu mereka? Kita hidup dalam masyarakat berbilang kaum dan sikap mencurigai dan syak wasangka tidak akan memajukan negara kita.

Anda menyebut bahawa Islam itu suatu agama yang toleran, dan anda benar. Tetapi sikap anda langsung tidak mencerminkan sifat toleran agama itu sendiri. Kita sebagai orang Islam memang diseru mempertahankan agama kita jika ia diserang. Saya rasa amat mustahil untuk seseorang yang rasional dan sederhana (2 sifat yang juga diseru dalam Islam) mencapai kesimpulan kes walls ini sebagai satu serangan terhadap Islam.

Tetapi, jika anda sendiri merasakan ragu-ragu, tahanlah diri anda sendiri daripada membelinya. Itu hak anda sendiri, dan saya sokong hak anda itu. Tetapi usahlah membesarkan isu kecil ini dengan memperkatakan ini kononnya serangan terhadap Islam.

Rejim Israel itu serangan terhadap Islam. Iraq itu serangan terhadap Islam. Keinginan kerajaan Belanda mengharamkan burqa itu serangan terhadap Islam. Langkah kerajaan UK meletakkan pengintip untuk mengintip persatuan-persatuan Islam di universiti, itu serangan terhadap Islam. Saya pinta anda, janganlah memperkecilkan perkara serius seperti contoh-contoh di atas; menyamakan mereka dengan satu lambang di aiskrim.

Dan ini tidak sihat untuk persepsi masyarakat bukan Islam tentang Islam sendiri, atau untuk kemajuan negara kita.

'They' or 'We' should maintain the SENSITIVITY of muslim in Malaysia and vice versa. It is not new. How long have we been living in Malaysia? Most of the things are 'multi' here.

maaf, bukan aiskrim, tapi biskut.. :P

Perbuatan sesetengah pihak seperti kes di Langkawi dan roti/biskut PPIM semakin melucukan. Rasanya, mungkin terlalu bosan ataupun terpaksa mendapat publisiti dengan cara sebegitu (yang melucukan).

Mungkin lepas ini, PPIM akan menyatakan pendiriannya untuk mengharamkan huruf 't' kerana ianya seperti lambang salib. Nama penuh PPIM akan bertukar menjadi "Persauan Pengguna Islam Malaysia".

I never knew that Walls has ice-cream called Moo has a cross imprint on it.

After reading the report in its website (PPIM), I also learned a new thing which is the paddle pop ice-cream which we used to stock up for our children also has a cross on its stick. I never realized this.

I should also go and buy some more paddle pop and Moo just to check for ourselves.

Unilever/Walls must be doing a very BAD JOB in trying to convert us Muslims into Christians (God forbid!) since my whole family all along did not even realised this cross thing.

Thank you PPIM now you are putting this cross thing into my mind now. You are doing a better job of highlighting the christian message to me than Walls did. Should I classify PPIM as a Christian missionery now?

These zealots are just parading their religious stripes exactly like what Chun Wai have mentioed. They flexed their ways to have the Red Cross changed to a Lunatic sign. One day even the + sign used in all the maths will be changed to something more Islamic. Some Gods have been so ungrateful to have created all these Unislamic things.

NSDS3HvLDjJd,
"Setelah melawat laman web PPIM dan melihat gambar-gambar biskut tersebut yang kononnya terdapat imej salib, saya membuat kesimpulan bahawa imej-imej tersebut tidak lebih daripada kebetulan"

Walls merupakan syarikat besar pembuat aiskrim, dan setiap product akan melalui saringan yang pelbagai, terutamanya dari jabatan design product dan promosi. Bagaimana ianya dikatakan kebetulan jika ia nya dilihat oleh banyak personnel sebelum ke pasaran.

|^2SaNe|,
Bagaimanakah seseorang cuba menyebarkan unsur agama lain dengan lambang salib? Perlukah seseorang itu berkhutbah dengan lambang salib itu untuk berbuat sedemikian? Jika perlu, mungkinkah penyebaran unsur agama lain disebabkan pengkhutbah dan bukan kerana satu lambang?

kita bercakap tentang biskut aiskrim berlambang salib...

malaysianpatriot,

Such news items are often picked up by the foreign news media and beamed across the world. The recent Langakawi intrusion into the home of an American couple by religious zealots and an array of other incidents, is creating an image that Malaysia is joining the ranks of intolerant Islamic states.

saya setuju, media asing sentiasa mencari peluang seperti ini, sedangkan kebaikan yang dilakukan oleh orang Islam ditutup sebelah mata. tetapi ini bukanlah alasan untuk umat Islam tidak menjaga pekara2 yang menyentuh sensitiviti orang Islam. Jika kami disaran untuk menjaga sensitiviti agama lain,mengapa tidak agama lain menjaga sensitiviti kami???

Vedderian,

kuncisudu,>

Sikap anda yang terlalu defensive dan paranoid menyebabkan orang memandang rendah kepada orang Islam di Malaysia.

apa maksud anda defensive dan paranoid???

Anda menyebut: ini adalah percubaan untuk menyebarkan unsur agama lain kepada penduduk yang majorinya beragama islam.

Tiada indikasi langsung untuk menjusitifikasikan perasaan tersebut. Adakah rasional untuk anda merasakan begitu, atau adakah ia berdasarkan sikap prejudis anda terhadap semua yang bukan Islam?

Anda akan faham jika melihat sendiri lambang pada biskut aiskrim itu dan points saya pada NSDS3HvLDjJd.

Jika anda benar-benar yakin akan Allah dan Islam sebagai agama benar, mengapa perlu anda merasa takut jika ada satu tanda yang kebetulannya serupa salib?

tiada siapa yang takut, cuma menjadi berani untuk menghalang penyebaran lambang ini.

Adakah anda akan menghalang anak-anak anda membaca huruf 'X'? Adakah anda akan menolak sebarang pelawaan jiran anda untuk ke rumahnya kerana ada potret Jesus atas pintu mereka? Kita hidup dalam masyarakat berbilang kaum dan sikap mencurigai dan syak wasangka tidak akan memajukan negara kita.

Points anda di sini sudah tidak rasional lagi.

Saya rasa amat mustahil untuk seseorang yang rasional dan sederhana (2 sifat yang juga diseru dalam Islam) mencapai kesimpulan kes walls ini sebagai satu serangan terhadap Islam.

saya tidak pernah menyimpulkan ini sebagai serangan.

Tetapi, jika anda sendiri merasakan ragu-ragu, tahanlah diri anda sendiri daripada membelinya. Itu hak anda sendiri, dan saya sokong hak anda itu. Tetapi usahlah membesarkan isu kecil ini dengan memperkatakan ini kononnya serangan terhadap Islam.

itu sudah tentu, dan dimana line dalam komen saya yang mengatakan ianya serangan. mungkin anda nak kata penyebaran secara halus. itu mungkin.

Rejim Israel itu serangan terhadap Islam. Iraq itu serangan terhadap Islam. Keinginan kerajaan Belanda mengharamkan burqa itu serangan terhadap Islam. Langkah kerajaan UK meletakkan pengintip untuk mengintip persatuan-persatuan Islam di universiti, itu serangan terhadap Islam. Saya pinta anda, janganlah memperkecilkan perkara serius seperti contoh-contoh di atas; menyamakan mereka dengan satu lambang di aiskrim.

serangan kepada Islam akan dilakukan secara terang-terangan bila Islam lemah, dan akan dilakukan secara senyap dan halus bila Islam kuat.

Dan ini tidak sihat untuk persepsi masyarakat bukan Islam tentang Islam sendiri, atau untuk kemajuan negara kita.

Ya,saya setuju. Marilah kita menjaga sensitiviti setiap agama.

1. Apa pendapat anda semua mengenai komen saya mengenai High-5???

kuncisudu,

Komen anda amat melucukan. Terima kasih kerana meriangkan hari saya :)

kuncisudu,

Marilah bersama-sama menyanyikan lagu Fanatik dari Kumpulan KRU! :)

[ DELTED ]

Umat Islam seperti kuncisudu lah yang menyebabkan dunia memperkecilkan Islam. Sedarlah wahai saudara umat Islam. Yang melihat ialah Allah S.W.T. samada umat Islam melakukan perbuatan yang wajar. Baliklah ke jalan yang benar.

I think this is making a mountain out of a molehill.

Maybe next time mathematics will be sued in Malaysia, because there is a + sign in it.

Note that the "salib" on the ice cream looks more like a + sign than a cross.

Could this all been the results of many of our Muslims have been to religious schools overseas? It seems that those that are taught in Malaysia are more moderate and tolerant while those taught by overseas religious schools seems to be interpreting the teachings in another light. I might be wrong..

You are lucky Jeff,
since Nov 1st paraquat seems to be allowed in Malaysia again. (the biggest killer ever, and no antidote)

kuncisudu,

If the biskuit is haram to you, then don't buy or eat. Is it necessary to lodge a police report? Some people are just making a living. People like you are splitting our beloved country up and the sad part is you still think you're right.

as a muslim, i am apalled to see what has happened.

dear muslim friends,
is your imaan too weak that when you eat a biscuit with the 'salib' symbol, you will be automatically drawn to christianity?

this is the same case as "reversing coca-cola logo will show you the word 'allah-muhammad' thing".. and it is ridiculous!!

stop this nonsense and religious-hatred! I am sick of it already!

Perhaps the PPIM can also make a report to the Polis and complaint that there are also cross roads and cross junctions in Malaysia? They should also complaint that when they do additions ie 2+2, there is a cross too. Their body also look like a 't' when view in totality with head, body, arms, and legs. Perhaps they would also want to lodge a Polis report on this too? How about them not using the letter 't' which looks like a cross?

If these 'holy' people takes offence to these crosses, just don't use them, don't buy them or consider getting rid of their arms. I am sure the companies with 'hidden' crosses will not collapse just because of a minority of extremists reading too deep into things.

You know, this is not the first time that a concern raised by a Muslim is pooh poohed upon.

I'm not supporting kunci's motion on the cross on the ice cream stick, I've not realised that this was an issue and to be honest, probably a non starter for me.

However, issues such as the High 5 incident, the illegal use of the 'Halal' signange, especially on non-halal food are concerns that deserve attention and understanding. So please, don't push issues such as these aside on a whim or just because of ones own understanding. Discuss this fairly and the truth will shine.

I wonder why these people are so sensitive to harp on such a small issue as a cross that's hardly noticeable by most people. Why are they silent when some muslim leaders abused their powers, are corrupt and racist to the core? Aren't these more serious problems affecting everybody, muslims included. What about the people who send false SMS messages to try to create trouble among the races? Shouldn't these shit stirrers be the target of these muslims so that they are seen as fair in the eyes of their god.

Untuk pandangan blogger dan pembaca di sini. PPIM bukanlah satu persatuan yg mempunyai integriti untuk menyatakan sesuatu.

saya agak mengenali dengan peribadi ketiga2 orang atas di PPIM. Mereka ini adalah orang yg membuat kerja untuk [ DELETED ] dan hal2 lain.

dan sebelum2 ini pun terdapat beberapa isu yang PPIM tidak memberi maklumat yang betul. contohnya isu sosej babi dan beberapa isu lain.

ah well .. crosses on foods or rather a very simple plus ( + ) sign .. well .. if PPIM is really to take actions and the factory has to be shut down .. think about rice pots for hundreds of workers that are working in the factory .. our country is already facing a great deal of problem with the never ending increase of jobless workers and now what .. adding a cherry on top of the icing .. aren`t there enough problems our country is facing ? does a small tiny winy plus sign really burns you in hell ? this is a very very very small matter only .. we uses plus signs EVERYDAY for calculation or even writing the alphabet t .. we must think rationally .. not banging on everything blindly .. think of others as well .. think for the hundreds of workers in that factory .. i bet there are even malays working in it .. so that concludes that they should be hanged to death ? NONSENSE .. if that small plus sign really puts you in doubt of your beliefs then i`m so sorry for you .. your faith is just that strong.

the more these religious zealots protest, the more they made themselves the laughing stock of the world. why? as someone mentioned, it shows how weak their own faith are - they can be easily swayed (convert!) by just a simple cross picture?

I was told that kamel attartuk, threw religious scholars out of a flying helicopter when he founded secular or modern turkey. With chaps like "kuncisudu" around, is it any wonder the european union is very nervous about admitting turkey. Instead of finding ways towards curing major diseases AND DOING USEFUL WORK and contributing to society, muslims like kuncisudu are in fact going in reverse, sow hatred and resort to blackmail and threats. If they wish to emulet the prophet, then they should abandon cars and ride a camel to work, don't watch tv and live like a comatosed robot. The number of muslims killed by their own kind surpass that killed by the israelis. Yet the main focus of hatred is towards the jewish state and its allies. It was said that recently that 150000 iraqis were killed since the invasion by the US, yet how many were actually killed by sectarian violence, i.e. muslims killing muslims.
guys like kuncisudu have long abandoned God and have created a new religion based on their own Man made laws.

My 7 years-old nephew asked me the other day why is there a halal logo in the packet of Mamee and what does it represents. I explained and he listened attentively. He then responded by saying, "Uncle, isn't it mom is right when she says that it's not that what we eat that make us a bad person, it's what comes out from a person mouth that will hurt someone more." I then told him that his mom is absolute right.

kuncisudu,

[ DELETED - Personal attack, not intellectually debating the issue at hand. ]

hi everybody,
it has been a great Sunday.

thank you for commenting on this topic. Your opinion will be great for my academic essay I'm working on.

feel free to comment some more. and visit my blog also.

see you next week.

KUNCISUDU

Switzerland, England, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden flags will be banned as well because there is a + on the flags. :)

mahisasura, agree to disagree and dont hit fellow commenters whom you disagree, otherwise you will become like one of them.

Jeff Ooi. I am surprise that you take no action against racist comments on one of your post related to media monopoly. just letting you know. The comments caused emotional stirr amongst readers so it is wise to pay attention to it.

This is a joke.Just makes Muslims small and insecure. This guys have a different agenda it seems. yes please ban +++++++++, wonder if these guys can do maths?

Yes High5 was an issue and that was good and needed to be address.But to use that to justify this. and he is doing an essay..LOL. what kind of 'smart' ppl we have, waste of tax payers money.

PPIM can you talk to the King of Saudi Arabia. His family is the biggest shareholder of Citibank. What do you say to that...the family that protects.....ehm...

[ DELETED ]

To:
Kongres India Muslim Malaysia (KIMMA)
Yayasan Bakti Khidmat Masyarakat Malaysia (YBKMM)
Persatuan Pengguna Islam Malaysia (PPIM)

DRBHicom punya Chevrolet kereta pun ade "cross mark". Kalau senang, lu boleh panggil lu punya member mengepung DRBHicom HQ besok.

[ DELETED ]

Oh rocky,

you should have written ci*ibank

please don't create another possible controversy.

kunci,

I hope u can see from the arguments presented by people here, especially by rocky, that your logic falls. Be moderate, not fanatical. Statements like "Tapi hanya Islam agama yang diredhai oleh Allah." is not healthy in this context, because while it may be true it sounds very condescending to many people here.

There is a time to preach, and there is a time to be sensitive. This is not an avenue to come out with statments like that. It only adds to the holier than thou vibe.

Remember, the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had a concept of hikmat (pragmatism without compromising beliefs). He was never a fanatical person who would jump at anything and everything.

Moderation is the key, brother.

Salam

bila kita beli kereta X, kita tak tahu syarikat itu melabur dimana. Itu ada unsur gharar. Ketidakpastian. Jangan beli rumah, sebab pelaburan syarikat itu, kita tidak pasti. Kalau boleh jangan beli apa-apa sebab nampaknya banyak sangat unsur gharar.

Unsur riba pulak, jangan simpan dalam bank atau mana mana institusi kewangan, jangan simpan dalam ASB, jangan simpan dalam Tabung Haji, ada unsur riba. Bila interest ini ditukarkan nama ke yuran dalam PTPTN, nampaknya benda tu telah dihalalkan serta-merta. (hanya menukar nama)

Bagi mereka yang kerja dengan kerajaan, jangan kerjalah, sebab gaji tu haram, datang dari cukai syarikat-syarikat yang tidak boleh bayar zakat. Calsberg, Toto, Magnum, dll.

lambang salib itu satu lambang saja sebab orang tu tak ada kerja buat sudah nampak satu simbol, nak complain polis. Hmmm janganlah buat matematik, kan ade simbol tambah ? 2 + 2 = 4, Alamak itu simbol kristian !!!!

I rasa benda2 camni dah melampau sedikitla. Sikit sikit nak jadikannya besar besar. Itu cuma pattern satu CORAK. I tengok itu sebagai satu hiasan, tapi setengah orang ni nampak itu sebagai ancaman. bukannya orang nak sengaja buat.

Kenapa mereka tak nak report police pasal kereta chevrolet, kan ada simbol salib ? ....

Terlalu banyak benda lar kalau nak report police. Takde kerja buat. Jangan guna huruf kecil t. Salib tu. Mungkin roman tu nak sebarkan, jangan lar guna.

The alphabet "t" looks everything like a cross to me. The Persatuan would sound really funny if pronounced without the letter "t".

kuncisudu,

Anda berkata bahawa rekaan biskut tersebut telah dilihat oleh ramai orang sebelum diedarkan ke pasaran. Jika begitu ramai orang telah melihat rekaan tersebut dan tidak mendapati/melihat (kononnya) tanda salib tersebut, bagaimana?

Tiada konspirasi di sini. Jika anda masih berdiri teguh dengan hujah anda, janganlah menggunakan skru. Kerana pada skru itu terdapat tanda salib. Konspirasi pembuat skru?

Trans:
You said that the design of the biscuit was viewed by a lot of people prior to being marketed. If such a number of people viewed the design and found nothing wrong with it (in this case, a cross sign), then what do you say?

There is no conspiracy here. If you still stand strong with your arguments, I advise you to not use screws. Because there's a cross on the screw. Screw makers' conspiracy?

Best regards (from a Muslim)

every now and then we hear all these type of nonsense (forgive me but i think it's too ridiculous) about "cross", "salib" etc etc which is being compared religiously between islam and christian ...

anyone knows when you bake bread or biscuits etc, there bounds to be time when it's not evenly "burnt" under the oven etc ... so it's up to your imagination on what you want to see ...

if you've illusion that it's a salib, then it's a salib ... if you want to say it's like a bird or a plane or a superman, no one can say you're wrong ...

are these muslims so fanatics and "ber-fikiran sempit" that they'll find whatever way to accuse people of promoting christianity etc in the product ? it seems they're too free and have nothing else to do but to come out with all these minor illusions and make it a big story ...

ever heard of how some our people are being labelled more arab than the arabian themselves ?

goto mamak store and order a roti canai ... stare at it for 5 hours, then imagine there's a cross/salib or better still an image of jesus/virgin mary, then make a big hoohaa of it ... definately people will join you and say "ah ha ! betul lar, ade image salib" ...

what a joke ... go for gardenia lor ... still see the salib, then bake your own bread ...

http://stocktube.blogspot.com

cheers ...

If I may, at the risk of sounding angkat-bakul-ing, point out that the positives to come out of this line of comments here today: That there are plenty of Muslims in Malaysia who do not subscribe to such paranoid pigeon hole thinking.

ROFL. I can wait all fanatic going to die in starvation, if they want to show others that they are not hypocrite.

The rib-bones look like a cross right? So this fanatic cannot take meat. Eat fish? No a chance, you know, the bones.Go vegetarian? Sorry lar, vegetable pattern also resemble some cross. Ok,maybe seaweed is the only thing they can eat.

And they cannot wear cloth, because the weaving pattern, resemble cross. House? perhaps a caves is suitable for them. transportation, oh no, the radiator with lots of those pattern.

Hmmm, who say "serious" fanatic is dangerous. They isolate themselves from the modern world.

Hey just a thought, and maybe slightly off tangent. But then everything is so nebulous today concerning religion, and yet so petty. I felt a compulsion to say this:

What have bakthi 'agama', puasa, shyurga, and neraka, have in common?

The answer is they’re all Sanskrit.

And what’s more those who revere Sanskrit , that is Hindus and to some extent even Buddhists believe that name creates form. Get the drift?

Jalan Mahameru is named foem the Vedic Hindu legend of Mount Meru or mountain of the Gods.

That means the language of sound manifests concretely, so that meaning is direct, and not just an act of interpretation as we say in Malay - ‘nama and rupa which ronical also Sanskrit.

So maybe the Malay language should be purged of Sanskrit, even Malay is Sanskrit,

Hey just a thought, and maybe slightly off tangent. But then everything is so nebulous today concerning religion, and yet so petty. I felt a compulsion to say this:

What have bakthi 'agama', puasa, shyurga, and neraka, have in common?

The answer is they’re all Sanskrit.

And what’s more those who revere Sanskrit , that is Hindus and to some extent even Buddhists believe that name creates form. Get the drift?

Jalan Mahameru is named foem the Vedic Hindu legend of Mount Meru or mountain of the Gods.

That means the language of sound manifests concretely, so that meaning is direct, and not just an act of interpretation as we say in Malay - ‘nama and rupa which ironically is also Sanskrit.

So maybe the Malay language should be purged of Sanskrit, even Malay is Sanskrit,

Sorry for aout double posting above. Am in the USA have migrated .

I am a Christian. I don't wear a cross and don't believe in wearing one. The cross is merely a symbol. Historically, the cross was a just a method of execution for death penalty during the Roman empire. If Christ died in an electric chair, then the religious symbol will probably be 'h' and not 't'.
Lastly, if we believe that there is God and the first man, Adam, then all of us are related genetically.
Sadly, fanaticism or extremism is found in every religion. It is here to stay until judgment day...of course, that is, if we believe God exists in the place!

We should see that the coda of all faiths and religions asks of man to rise above himself and the trappings of this world, not fall deeper into paralysms.

Drain off all the forms and edicts and what remains is our conscious relationship and appreciation of the UnseenOne (a generic term, and can be just social mores for nonbelievers).

That relationship is not made up of just doing this or that, for those are artifacts constructed to remind us of the need for that relationship; as one's faith grows stronger, the need for artifacts and trivia will weaken; the end of the journey then becomes man-UnseenOne, unified.

Out of this conscious effort by mortals to rise above themselves and the trappings of this world to touch the essence of the UnseenOne will spring forth the inspiration, transient as it may be, to lead better lives in greater harmony even as the hourglass of our lives peters out the last grain of sand.

Life's travails asks us to become better men (and women) for having made conscious choices to rise above ourselves and the artifacts around, rather than blindly follow and so losing the final objective.

Conscience, compassion and keenly reading the real themes of life are what is needed for us to ennoble our lives. Like the deer bravely standing still to face the bullet when it realises it has nowhere else to go (deNiro- Deerhunter), we want to leave this world with some residue of having tried to be more noble than when we came into it.

Life bobs up and down all the time; if we tie ourselves down too much with strings, we increase our own tensions each time the tide changes; cut the strings, open the mind and release the inner kindness.

Please jeff. Its not about religion hooliganism. Its a sensitive issue amongst muslims. Some people may look at this issue as a small and irrelevant matter. But i think other religions should respect the teachings of Islam. The main issue here is that Islam prohibits muslims to replicate any symbols or teachings that can affect the 'aqidah'. The symbol on the Wall's product clearly is a symbol of christianity which if is shown to kids, would have the tendency to raise questions. e.g:
to muslim kids, they might interprate it as Wall's Moo biscuit ice cream with the symbol = delicious, the symbol at churches = must be good to...you see? im not undermining other religions, but we should respect the teachings of Islam and not question it. Islam teaches muslims not to force ,exhert pressure or question the teachings of other religions, so why should other religions question the teachings of Islam..

i think the effort done by PPIM is a noble effort to protect muslims. Who has the guts to stand up for the rights of muslim consumer's? So, i hope that readers would understand the sensitivity of muslims pertaining this issue and the halal issue. Thank u.

komen_isu: "The main issue here is that Islam prohibits muslims to replicate any symbols or teachings that can affect the 'aqidah'. The symbol on the Wall's product clearly is a symbol of christianity which if is shown to kids, would have the tendency to raise questions".

The key word is "prohibits muslims to replicate any symbols.." Does it means that non-muslims cannot use those symbols as it might test the faith of muslims? What makes one think that whatever signs used in Walls were created by muslims? There should be tolerance amongst religions that such symbols should not be wipe out from the face of the earth just because it is feared that a muslim faith will be tested since those symbols may have a great meaning to another religion's faith. All religions should have tolerance of other religions' beliefs. Does it also mean that all churches, temples, and other places of worships other than that of mosques be taken down since a muslim may walk pass such places of worships and may have his faith tested? Let's not interprete too deep in generalising that all symbols to have a religious connotation. We don't live in the dark ages anymore. Besides, we all need to evolved with the changing times.

If a muslim child were to ask about the presence of a church, temple or place of worship other than a mosque, perhaps muslim parents can instead incalculate into them the true muslim values of tolerance and respect for another's belief so that there will be peace and understanding among everyone. There are too much misunderstanding and killings already in the world.

Personally to me Persatuan Pengguna Islam Malaysia has little credibility. Their past actions has proven that their actions are more of economic warfare rather than the pursuit of truth.

Instead we should put the spotlight on PPIM itself. Who are these people? Who is this person Prof. Dr. Izham Nayan?
http://us.geocities.com/internal_intell/index.html
http://www.melayu.com/v2/sembang2/mesej.php?thread=3633
Who are their excos? How are they elected? Who are the members?
What are their objectives and aims? On what basis they make their reports and statements? Is it evidence-based?

Then decide whether they deserve to be taken seriously or not.

Caibenar:"Does it means that non-muslims cannot use those symbols as it might test the faith of muslims? What makes one think that whatever signs used in Walls were created by muslims? There should be tolerance amongst religions that such symbols should not be wipe out from the face of the earth just because it is feared that a muslim faith will be tested since those symbols may have a great meaning to another religion's faith. All religions should have tolerance of other religions' beliefs. Does it also mean that all churches, temples, and other places of worships other than that of mosques be taken down since a muslim may walk pass such places of worships and may have his faith tested? Let's not interprete too deep in generalising that all symbols to have a religious connotation. We don't live in the dark ages anymore. Besides, we all need to evolved with the changing times."

First and foremost, i did not mean that non-muslims cannot use those symbols. Its just that muslims should not be influenced or provoked by these symbols. Kids, at a tender age have all sorts of queries about life. What they see in TV will influence them in a way or rather. Same goes if they are provoked and influenced by the symbols. Forgive me, but its not that all parents are wise enough to cater to their kids in answering the evolutions in life. That is why i said that everyone must understand this.

let us ponder on the meaning in Surah Al-Kafirun in the Holy Quran:

In the Name of Allâh, the Most
Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

1. Say (O Muhammad (Peace be upon him)to these Mushrikûn and Kâfirûn): "O Al-Kâfirûn (disbelievers in Allâh, in His Oneness, in His Angels, in His Books, in His Messengers, in the Day of Resurrection, and in Al-Qadar, etc.)!

2. "I worship not that which you worship,

3. "Nor will you worship that which I worship.

4. "And I shall not worship that which you are worshipping.

5. "Nor will you worship that which I worship.

6. "To you be your religion, and to me my religion (Islâmic Monotheism)."

p/s: Please forgive me if i have offended anyone in any way.

komen_isu,
Im amused by how u twist your way into concluding that the Walls symbol can ultimately affect aqidah.
You are working backwards and thus inevitably you're not objective.

caribenar made the obvious point. Muslims are not permitted to replicate symbols that affect their aqidah. You can't make a blanket rule to affect everyone else; that's blatant non-tolerance.

The bigger point however, is the impact on aqidah. We as Muslims are not allowed to go draw crucifixes and hang them on our wall. That's how I interpret the rule. But to then take something as ambiguous as a coincidence like that of the walls symbol and apply the rule to justify PPIM's actions is ridiculous. Are you saying all signs of the cross should be kept far far away from Muslims? How is that tolerant?

Id like to believe my aqidah is as strong as the next Muslim's, but Im sorry, this "everyone is against Muslims" attitude will only further alienate us.

I am a proud Muslim and I can honestly say I have no reason whatsoever to feel insulted or upset with this issue. I'm embarassed at the level of fanaticism and paranoia my fellow brothers displayed here, especially when there is no evidence that ANYONE'S aqidah is being swayed by a symbol! Goodness!

There are real problems in this world you know.

Remember the whole Black Metal thing? This is so similar...

Muslims should not be influenced? Who's being influenced here? Give us evidence of this being the case.

If your fears are actually founded, this is what a 5 year old boy would have to go thru.

1) Study the biscuit and find the 'cross', and actually linking it to the Christian crucifix

2)Instead of shrugging it off or putting it in the back of their heads, they proceed to heroically make the link between the deliciousness of the ice cream and the righteousness of Christianity

3) Forgetting everything that his parents and teachers have taught him about Islam, he then proceeds to believe that Islam may not be the right religion after all; because the crescent sign of Islam does not appear on any of his favourite foods.

4) Without approaching anyone for advice, he then proceeds to have doubts over Islam.

Can u see how ridiculous this is?

If anything, this publicity from the PPIM report would have caused people to notice something they probably didnt notice before.

To Vedderian. Im not going backwards to medievel times..the truth is i believe that this issue was brought up by PPIM due to the fact that the product is consumed mainly by kids. Yes, i repeat kids. Kids who are still not able to understand this evolving world. That is why i feel that PPIM is doing us muslims a fardhu kifayah in bringing up the issue. i feel that PPIM are not there out to stamp other religions, they are professional muslims and they respect other religions too.I agree with u on the black metal thing(and other issues) that it should have been given more attention. but i dont see anything wrong with what PPIM is doing. and i am happy to hear that you are a proud Muslim. May Allah bless u.

p/s: this is just a personal view and not representing any organisation.

I respect your point of view and I understand where you're coming from. I just think we Muslims should not portay too defensive an attitude.

Kids are exposed to lots of things nowadays. There are bigger threats to their aqidahs than a symbol. And in any case I stand by my belief that PPIM's action was unwarranted and unhelpful in our goal to achieve a united Malaysia. Please refer to my earlier post on the concept of pragmatism displayed by our prophet (pbuh) himself.

The task for parents and educators alike is to guide these kids. You cant limit exposure too much; that will only result in a small minded ummah.

I too apologise if I came on too hard.

Salam

just a question, if we are required to be sensitive towards all things Islamic, then are not Muslims also subject to the requirement to be sensitive towards other religions as well? Religious sensitivity must exist in a bilateral manner, respect must be earned by giving another respect...

Yes we are. Some do not reciprocate this respect for sensitivities but those who truly follow the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah do.

There are loads of examples by the prophet(pbuh) of this respect for other religions.

Ohmigod,

To think all these years I have been taking mathematics lessons without realising all those crosses were a cryptic attempt to convert me into Christianity?

And those T-junctions signs... I thought they REALLY meant T-junctions ahead!

All these years of THEM trying to convert me and I didn't even know about it! (Those MOO-MOO ice-creams are delicious, though...hmmm... I wonder what those dots mean... :)

I was about to buy that icecream (biscuit) well before this issue came out when I noticed the small cross on the imprint of Wall's logo on the biscuit itself. I checked the biscuit packaging as well other Wall's products packaging. Zilch. Zero. Tarak. Arimasen. Illek. There was no cross! I left the supermarket without the icecream (biscuit) pondering was it just an economic decision or marketing decision or something more sinister. Why don't Wall's comes out with an honest explanation.

The new age idolatry comes in so many forms don't they?

Jack n' Jill,

Hahahaha...give me a "High 5" dude!!

Actually looking at the myriads..of police reports,.open cases which the realigious zealots of the country have opened against corporates companies and against unfortunate inviduals have actually showed an ugly side of what a beautiful religion [ deleted ] claimed to be.\

[ DELETED - No religious sermons here, please. ]

Start giving and doing more good in the Name of the God you represent and preach.

Dear Jeff,

I am more curious on your allegation that PPIM is a "corporate blackmailer" and wish to know the basis of your allegation.

Regards.

JEFF OOI says: Draw your wisdom from these two links, and related researches and commentaries on the public domain: http://www.mstar.com.my/cms/content.jsp?id=com.tms.cms.article.Article_d1e17557-c0a85062-1eafe130-65c9218f and http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/9/14/nation/15427192&sec=nation. I won't play servant to you.

komen_isu: "p/s: Please forgive me if i have offended anyone in any way".

No offence taken. I believe all of us have a common intention and that is to be tolerant of each other be it race, creed or religion and live happily together as most religions teaches and practise these. However, we will have to always take caution that there will always be others out there with evil intentions to use race and religion to divide and rule and to garner power for themselves. We have seen these happen before in history. It is a powerful tool to use and I believe will be used again and again in the future by greedy people who doesn't care about the repercussions they have created and the needless loss of lifes - the next life loss may be one of yours or one of mine. We just need to watch out that we are not made used of to further these people's insatiable greed.

aiyoooh, some of you guys are really so affected by symbols. are your faith so weakened by them? if seeing crosses put so much fear into you, are you not implying that you are afraid of them? specifically of christianity? if you are not afraid, then why make such a big issue? let people come to your religion by the truth that it contains.

From what i see, Malaysian trend is mostly similar to what in Middle East and Western!

For example...
Israeli forces keep on pounding Palestinian on daily basis and killing the civilian.
But when the palestinian counter-strike and kill a few israelis, the palestinian is called EXTREMIST and they are condemned worldwide

Malaysian, fortunately enough having a few bodies trying to get a good Islamic environment i.e PPIM (on food) JAIS (on moral issues)...

the moral decay among youth is increasing and sensitivity for moslems is ignored gradually, but when these two bodies try to speak out and act, there were called as EXTREMIST, strict and etc...

For moslems, please protect these two bodies instead of banging them....

go figure!

Dear Jeff,

I don't need you to be my servant but alleging PPIM as corporate blackmailer is pretty heavy stuff, which any credible and reliable blogger would need to justify.

JEFF OOI says: Are you implying that I am not a credible and reliable blogger?

I have read The Star report in print earlier but there was no complaint of corporate blackmailing. Rather it was more of grudging admission of "guilt" by Stanton Markting on the Nilai plant.

JEFF OOI says: Apart from the media reports, it would helpif you consult senior editors who know the behind-the-scene story about implicating High-5 to crush a Malaysian brand, and the victim's side of the story about about dubious and vicious the unauthosied pictures taken at the bread factory were circulated through viral emails. I did all the above BEFORE I came to my conclusion that it was a corporate blackmail.

Regards.

I totally agree with 'Terangbulan'. What is happening here is just like the Israel-Palestine scenario.Better still, look at the head scarf case in France. Muslim ladies who are supposed to cover their 'aurat',are being discriminated for obliging to the teachings of Islam.When muslims stand up for their rights, they are labelled as extremist etc2. When organisations such as PPIM tries to stand up to the truth, they are potrayed as extremists or religious hooliganisms. Mind you PPIM are no saints, but at least they are trying to champion the rights of consumers. And i dont think they are "corporate blackmailers'. Why on earth would PPIM do such a thing? I salute PPIM for standing up for the muslim community.

@joshua

Not very related to the topic, but regardless of anyone's religious belief, all humans alive today MUST have a common ancestor according to a simple mathematical deduction. It's in Richard Dawkin's book "The Ancestor's Tale". It's a proven fact from mathematics.

More info on Wikipedia. :)

And with regard to the topic, as I mentioned above, I am all for moderation and toleration.

I am a Muslim.

I pray five times a day, do the things that Allah ordained and avoid those He ordered to be avoided, to the best of my powers.

I regularly buy chocs, ice cream n candies for my nieces and nephews and friends's kids.

One of the best favoured ice-cream for the kids is the Wall's Moo. I too have eaten them and found them to be tasty.

Now I read this and only now do I notice the cross sign. The kids never saw the cross sign when they are gulping down the ice cream. Mind you, it is not an artwork to be hanged and stared upon for hours, but merely dessert for the sweet-toothed.

This is a silly argument, it should not even be highlighted. Neither then: (in the police report) nor now, in this blog.

Its quite obscene how we all jump into this small, non-matter.

IF I belief that eating the cross will somehow change my faith, isnt that already a major proof that I am having faith in another faith which contributes to me not being faithful in Islam?

There are other more serious things to do and lets make better use of our precious time on earth, all of us.

Most of us wanted to claimed that religion based environment is an ideal environment for economic growth and peace, and yet things that are happenning in the country is contary to whatever it is claimed.
SOme of them claimed that they are peaceful, tolerant and open minded . and yet some thing as shallow as this have evoked a darker side to the claimed nature of their side.

Of course not all of them are like that..but bodies like Jais / PPIM should be established in the first place..because it insults the intelligence and maturity that each individual have to decide what is right and what is wrong. Leaving those decisions to these people who translates differently have cause an entire nation to backtrack a few years ...no economic growth but rather tension starts to build up.
I urged you , stop trying to instigate these tension based news...baptism new is already bad enough..now over a cross logoed biscuit...Come on ..nothing to do meh

Most of us wanted to claimed that religion based environment is an ideal environment for economic growth and peace, and yet things that are happenning in the country is contary to whatever it is claimed.
SOme of them claimed that they are peaceful, tolerant and open minded . and yet some thing as shallow as this have evoked a darker side to the claimed nature of their side.

Of course not all of them are like that..but bodies like Jais / PPIM should NOT be established in the first place..because it insults the intelligence and maturity that each individual have to decide what is right and what is wrong. Leaving those decisions to these people who translates differently have cause an entire nation to backtrack a few years ...no economic growth but rather tension starts to build up.
I urged you , stop trying to instigate these tension based news...baptism new is already bad enough..now over a cross logoed biscuit...Come on ..nothing to do meh

the above are the shape of things to come under PAS. Muslims should not let PPIM nor any other bodies or clerics to lead them. The guidance should come only from God. For God is too Glorious to have partners.
It is interesting to see a mosque being built in Bukit Bintang opposite Pudu Jail. The fact that nobody protested the construction speaks well of the community there when compared to those residing in Shah Alam, who protested against erecting a church.

I don't know why we just look at a biscuit when there is bigger problem out there.

Ya, biscuit is haram, but what about building a bungalow without permit? That one is not haram?

Waht about t junctions. Should this be avoided?

Maybe we should turn all t junctions to roundabouts.

For those who have lodged police reports, my advice to you is to avoid t junctions to instill your message across.

What about t junctions. Should this be avoided?

Maybe we should turn all t junctions to roundabouts.

For those who have lodged police reports, my advice to you is to avoid t junctions to instill your message across.

Guys, as the name suggests PPIM is to protect the muslim consumers. So it has got nothing to do with non-muslims and they got no business to get offended just like the many Chinese associations in protecting their own people. I for once think to make a big hu ha about the cross sign in whatever ice cream that is, is just petty. But I do agree with most of PPIM fights. In fact after being in their website, now I know which business I am suppose to support as Muslim. If you look carefully in this Jeff Ooi blog; it's just a blog trying to take advantage of certain group of people mistakes and and blow it out of proportion to promote his agenda. Know who your friends are...Attached an article I find truly interesting and thought provoking..

The Charade Of Meritocracy
October 2006

By Michael D. Barr

The legitimacy of the Singaporean government is predicated on the idea of a meritocratic technocracy. A tiny number of career civil servants play a leading role in setting policy within their ministries and other government-linked bureaucracies, leading both an elite corps of senior bureaucrats, and a much larger group of ordinary civil servants. Virtually all of the elite members of this hierarchy are “scholars,” which in Singapore parlance means they won competitive, bonded government scholarships—the established route into the country’s elite.

Scholars not only lead the Administrative Service, but also the military’s officer corps, as well as the executive ranks of statutory boards and government-linked companies (GLCs). Movement between these four groups is fluid, with even the military officers routinely doing stints in the civilian civil service. Together with their political masters, most of whom are also scholars, they make up the software for the entity commonly known as “Singapore Inc.”—a labyrinth of GLCs, statutory boards and ministries that own or manage around 60% of Singapore’s economy.

The basis of the scholars’ mandate to govern is not merely their performance on the job, but also the integrity of the process that selected them. The educational system is designed to cultivate competition, requiring top students to prove themselves every step of the way. Singapore’s schools first stream students into elite classes after Primary 3 and 4. They then compete for entry into special secondary schools and junior colleges, before vying for government and government-linked scholarships to attend the most prestigious universities around the world.

These scholarships typically require several years of government service after graduation, and the scholars are drafted into the Administrative Service, the officer corps of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), or the career track of a statutory board or GLC. The government insists that all Singaporeans have equal opportunities to excel in the system, and that everyone who has made it to the top did so purely by academic talent and hard work. Other factors such as gender, socioeconomic background and race supposedly play no more than a marginal role, if they are acknowledged as factors at all.

On the point of race, the Singapore government has long prided itself on having instituted a system of multiracialism that fosters cultural diversity under an umbrella of national unity. This is explicitly supposed to protect the 23% of the population who belong to minority races (mainly ethnic Malays and Indians) from discrimination by the Chinese majority.

But this system conceals several unacknowledged agendas. In our forthcoming book, Constructing Singapore: Elitism, Ethnicity and the Nation-Building Project, Zlatko Skrbiš and I present evidence that the playing field is hardly level. In fact, Singapore’s system of promotion disguises and even facilitates tremendous biases against women, the poor and non-Chinese. Singapore’s administrative and its political elites—especially the younger ones who have come through school in the last 20 or so years—are not the cream of Singapore’s talent as they claim, but are merely a dominant social class, resting on systemic biases to perpetuate regime regeneration based on gender, class and race.

At the peak of the system is the network of prestigious government scholarships. Since independence in 1965, the technique of using government scholarships to recruit cohorts of scholars into the administrative and ruling elite has moved from the periphery of Singaporean society to center stage. Even before independence, a makeshift system of government and Colombo Plan scholarships sent a few outstanding scholars overseas before putting them into government service, including most notably former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. Yet as late as 1975 this system had contributed only two out of 14 members of Singapore’s cabinet. Even by 1985, only four out of 12 cabinet ministers were former government scholars.

By 1994, however, the situation had changed beyond recognition, with eight out of 14 cabinet ministers being ex-scholars, including Prime Minister Goh. By 2005 there were 12 ex-scholars in a Cabinet of 19. Of these, five had been SAF scholars, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. A perusal of the upper echelons of the ruling elite taken more broadly tells a similar story. In 1994, 12 of the 17 permanent secretaries were scholars, as were 137 of the 210 in the administrative-officer class of the Administrative Service.

The government scholarship system claims to act as a meritocratic sieve—the just reward for young adults with talent and academic dedication. If there is a racial or other bias in the outcomes, then this can only be the result of the uneven distribution of talent and academic application in the community. As Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong put it when he spoke on national television in May 2005, “We are a multiracial society. We must have tolerance, harmony. … And you must have meritocracy … so everybody feels it is fair….” His father, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, was making the same point when, in 1989, he told Singapore’s Malay community that they “must learn to compete with everyone else” in the education system.

Yet if Singapore’s meritocracy is truly a level playing field, as the Lees assert, then the Chinese must be much smarter and harder working than the minority Indians and Malays. Consider the distribution of the top jobs in various arms of the Singapore government service in the 1990s (based on research conducted by Ross Worthington in the early 2000s):

• Of the top 30 GLCs only two (6.7%) were chaired by non-Chinese in 1991 (and neither of the non-Chinese was a Malay).

• Of the 38 people who were represented on the most GLC boards in 1998, only two (5.3%) were non-Chinese (and neither of the non-Chinese was a Malay).

• Of the 78 “core people” on statutory boards and GLCs in 1998, seven (9%) were non-Chinese (and one of the non-Chinese was a Malay).

A similar outcome is revealed in the pattern of government scholarships awarded after matriculation from school. Of the 200 winners of Singapore’s most prestigious scholarship, the President’s Scholarship, from 1966-2005 only 14 (6.4%) were not Chinese. But this was not a consistent proportion throughout the period. If we take 1980 as the divider, we find that there were 10 non-Chinese President’s Scholars out of 114 from 1966-80, or 8%, but in the period from 1981-2005 this figure had dropped to four out of 106, or 3.8%. Since independence, the President’s Scholarship has been awarded to only one Malay, in 1968. There has been only one non-Chinese President’s Scholar in the 18 years from 1987 to 2005 (a boy called Mikail Kalimuddin) and he is actually half Chinese, studied in Chinese schools (Chinese High School and Hwa Chong Junior College), and took the Higher Chinese course as his mother tongue. If we broaden our focus to encompass broader constructions of ethnicity, we find that since independence, the President’s Scholarship has been won by only two Muslims (1968 and 2005).

If we consider Singapore’s second-ranked scholarship—the Ministry of Defence’s Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship (SAFOS)—we find a comparable pattern. The Ministry of Defence did not respond to my request for a list of recipients of SAF scholarships, but using newspaper accounts and information provided by the Ministry of Defence Scholarship Centre and Public Service Commission Scholarship Centre Web sites, I was able to identify 140 (56%) of the 250 SAFOS winners up to 2005.

Although only indicative, this table clearly suggests the Chinese dominance in SAFOS stakes: 98% of SAFOS winners in this sample were Chinese, and about 2% were non-Chinese (counting Mikail Kalimuddin in 2005 as non-Chinese). Furthermore I found not a single Malay recipient and only one Muslim winner (Mikail Kalimuddin). A similar picture emerges in the lower status Singapore Armed Forces Merit Scholarship winners: 71 (25.6%) of 277 (as of late 2005) scholars identified, with 69 (97%) Chinese winners to only two non-Chinese—though there was a Malay recipient in 2004, and one reliable scholar maintains that there have been others.

The position of the non-Chinese in the educational stakes has clearly deteriorated since the beginning of the 1980s. According to the logic of meritocracy, that means the Chinese have been getting smarter, at least compared to the non-Chinese.

Yet the selection of scholars does not depend purely on objective results like exam scores. In the internal processes of awarding scholarships after matriculation results are released, there are plenty of opportunities to exercise subtle forms of discrimination. Extracurricular activities (as recorded in one’s school record), “character” and performance in an interview are also considered. This makes the selection process much more subjective than one would expect in a system that claims to be a meritocracy, and it creates ample opportunity for racial and other prejudices to operate with relative freedom.

Is there evidence that such biases operate at this level? Unsurprisingly, the answer to this question is “yes.” Take for instance a 2004 promotional supplement in the country’s main newspaper used to recruit applicants for scholarships. The advertorial articles accompanying the paid advertisements featured only one non-Chinese scholar (a Malay on a lowly “local” scholarship) amongst 28 Chinese on prestigious overseas scholarships. Even more disturbing for what they reveal about the prejudices of those offering the scholarships were the paid advertisements placed by government ministries, statutory boards and GLCs. Of the 30 scholars who were both prominent and can be racially identified by their photographs or their names without any doubt as to accuracy, every one of them was Chinese. This leaves not a shadow of a doubt that those people granting government and government-linked scholarships presume that the vast majority of high-level winners will be Chinese.

The absence of Malays from the SAFOS scholarships and their near-absence from the SAF Merit Scholarships deserves special mention because this is an extension of discri