India, the world’s top palm oil buyer, is shunning purchases from Malaysia after the Southeast Asian nation’s prime minister criticized its policy in Kashmir, sparking the latest trade spat in the region, says Bloomberg.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad last month told the United Nations that India “invaded and occupied” Kashmir. Since then, the wire agency said many Indian buyers of palm oil have started shifting to Indonesian supplies amid concern that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will curb purchases of the vegetable oil from Malaysia.
“India will replace Malaysian palm oil imports by buying more from Indonesia and increasing edible oil supplies from Ukraine,” it cited Bipul Chatterjee, who heads the CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics and Environment in Jaipur, India. “It’s the first time ever that India has used its heft as a trade partner to express unhappiness about a political statement.”
“China and the U.S. often use trade ties as a means of power,” Chatterjee said. “It seems India has also entered the game where trade is not just trade, it is also a weapon.”
Any action by India to stop palm oil purchases from Malaysia will hit at the heart of the Southeast Asian country’s industry. Palm is Malaysia’s biggest agricultural export, while India is its top buyer, buying some US$@ billion worth of palm oil between January and September.
Mahathir’s comments on Kashmir have sparked anger among India’s citizens too, with the #BoycottMalaysia hashtag trending on Twitter, and netizens calling on people not to travel to Malaysia and avoid trade with the nation.
“This is a reaction from traders so we cannot react to their personal decision,” the report quoted Mahathir as telling reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, referring to Indian buyers avoiding Malaysian palm oil. “If the government launched a boycott or something like that, then we will have to work diplomatically perhaps to reduce the kind of action that they have taken.”
Minister of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that India had had traditionally good ties with Malaysia, which had strengthened in recent years.
Hence, he said that India was ‘surprised’ and ‘deeply regret’ the comments made by the Malaysian prime minister, adding that it was not ‘based on facts’.
ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs / Punjabis in Southeast Asia and beyond.Facebook | WhatsApp +6017-335-1399 | Email: editor@asiasamachar.com | Twitter | Instagram | Obituary announcements, click here |
By Dr Manjit Singh Sidhu | PRIDE OF LIONS | MALAYSIA |
Datuk Balwant Singh Kler was born on 11th September 1938 in Jesselton (Kota Kinabalu), the capital of Sabah State. He is the illustrious son of Datuk Gurbax Singh Kler, the ’Father of Sabah Sports’.
As such it is not surprising to find Balwant’s love of sports over the years. Datuk Balwant had his early education in a Christian school, All Saints School, Kota Kinabalu, upto 1949. The following year Balwant was sent to Punjab by his father who was anxious that the son should know something about Punjab and its culture.
In Punjab he studied at Morinda College for four years before going to Khalsa College, Amritsar for a Bachelors Degree. This primer college has an interesting history. Some prominent Sikhs wanted to name it ’Loyal Lyall Khalsa College’ but the then sensible British Governor told the assembled Sikhs sycophants to name it simply Khalsa College. Balwant studied here from 1955 to 1959. While studying there he used to go to the Golden Temple and have a dip in the holy waters of Guru Ram Das ’sarovar’ (tank) that surrounds the Golden Temple.
While in the college, he was active in sports like athletics, Kabbadi, Gatka, Boxing and Swimming. He represented Punjab University and Punjab state in swimming and boxing. He broke the 35 years old 1500 free style swimming record (in Punjab). He was given the athletic roll of honour in 1958 and his name is written in the college hall on the Athletic Roll of Honour List.
In 1975, he was promoted as [Sabah] State Sports Director and he retired on the 10th September 1993.
Extracted from Pride of Lions: Eminent Sikhs in Malaysia, a 295-page book authored by Dr Manjit Singh Sidhu featuring 57 Malaysian Sikhs. Dr Manjit is also author of Sikhs in Malaysia, which captured the results of interviews, conducted in 1978 and 1979, of 100 Malaysian Sikhs who were born in India and Pakistan. See here and here. The retired Malaysian university lecturer is also author of ‘Sikhs and Sikh Institutions In Pakistan’. See here.
ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs / Punjabis in Southeast Asia and beyond. You can leave your comments at our website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We will delete comments we deem offensive or potentially libelous. You can reach us via WhatsApp +6017-335-1399 or email: asia.samachar@gmail.com. For obituary announcements, click here
Lest the title be a turn off, I assure you any reference to Trump in the White House will be so brief that you will likely miss it. Gurduara politics that often sickens us will come in, but somewhat tangentially.
There was a time when there were so few Sikh faces on the streets in America that we pined for one. There never was talk about disciplinary issues or political shenanigans in or about gurduaras; there really were too few to kvetch about.
Things have changed and how! There are over 250 gurduaras in the country and at least 20 within my commuting distance. Years ago, we closed our eyes in the face of likely corruption in gurduara management. Now the many possibilities remind us that sometimes ignorance is bliss.
Quite expectedly, our attitudes have changed. The current refrain in the sangat often goes “We have a peaceful sangat. We allow no politics within the gurduara. We go regularly for the katha, keertan, and langar This triad makes a heavenly abode. Nothing could be better.”
In the gurduara that I often attend, there a is moratorium on any speeches, unless it is someone from the Managing Committee. Sometimes I think this reduces the sangat to what I would uncharitably label “driven-cattle,” not a holy sangat. If the sangat does not talk about management – needs and efforts – it seems that the path is less inclusive and more regressive. My counter point is that absence of open hostilities is not peace which is a state of mind. To me this is fake peace, deceptive solitude of the cemetery.
I have visited or heard from perhaps 90 percent of the gurduaras in this country and they all finger the same villain – human ego, in the management. What follows indubitably then are a few lines from Guru Granth condemning human ego and we quickly return to the status quo. And those who restrict speeches in gurduaras (also spelt gurdwaras) smugly articulate the virtue of their ways, often with a beatific smile.
And I wonder:
True that we need not replicate Trump’s talents or eccentricities in gurduaras but what exactly do we mean by politics in gurduaras?
Look at a happily married couple. Do they ever disagree? That would be questioning the obvious. Surely, they disagree, at times even aggressively and brusquely. Same about larger units like close families. Watch little children at play; they are no different. When the functioning unit is larger than a family it becomes a community. Do they ever disagree? We know the answer. People who love each other and will die for each other can kill each other, and will disagree on matters trivial or critical. Why should they never disagree in gurduaras? Yes, disagree without becoming disagreeable.
Sociologists tell us that religion arguably is the glue that unites a people. Be not afraid of differences. Remember that without differences of opinion there is no progress possible. A sense of some discontent with what exists is necessary to drive new ideas and improvement.
In a lifetime in academia – teaching and research – I must have told a zillion students that when you listen to a lecture it should leave you somewhat uncomfortable. If not, then you might just as well have slept through it. If you read a research report your thoughts should go to questions that need further exploration and answers. That’s the only way to progress.
One-upmanship, too, is in the human DNA and it is universal. It is through differences that individuals continue to self-test their own abilities and capabilities, and how they are perceived by others in and outside the community. This state of mind is fundamental to our sense of self and our place in the community and society. The only way to negate this would be to reject the world and make our home in an isolated cave or mountain peak. Even this remedy is only a figment of our imagination and has no life in reality. It is not the solution.
When we differ in speech and/or action are we then creating the bugaboo of the derided word – politics?
Think a moment with me and step into the vast treasury of the Guru Granth. Guru Nanak dismisses kings as being like tigers and dogs (Rajey seeh mukaddam kuttay, p.1288); further he opines that Babur who had invaded India at that time had metaphorically brought a marriage party of evil and sin, and was now violently demanding a dowry (Paap ki junj lae Kablo dhaaya jori mangae daan ve Laalo, p. 722). Do these read like non-political statements at any time anywhere? Or when Guru Nanak emphatically challenged us on the second-class status of women by asking why should we diminish women who give birth to every one including kings (So kyo manda aakhiyae jit jamaen rajaan ….. p. 473. I cited only one line here; I assure you the whole hymn is magically powerful.)
Remember also that today the position of women at work and home as equal partners with men in society is the defining pivotal issue in progressive societies. Remember that it was only in 1920 that women in America got the right to vote. Are these not political issues that are consistent with daily worship in gurduaras? More than a lot of verses in the Guru Granth speak of war and peace, inequality, justice, human rights, and condemn the vice of caste that is still so prevalent in Indian society. If these are of no concern to modern politics in sane societies, I don’t know what else would be.
Clearly, in rubbishing free speech and opening the community center (gurduara) to people and their differences we are diminishing our goals and abilities. Also true that speech needs well-constructed guard rails that remain essential. But diatribes about the evil of politics in gurduaras destroys only “low hanging fruit.” And that is counterproductive.
Banning speech is not a solution; it’s appropriate only in the context of time and place. Given these constraints, the essence of free speech is a prerequisite to peace and progress. We need to value free speech and community involvement both inside and outside the gurduara Yet, we always need to know which issues are best addressed, also when and how, in what setting. Closing our eyes to politics whether in family, community, society, gurduara, or the world around us is not progressive.
In life can we ever construct a politics-free zone? I surely hope not! I would bet that it is not possible.
I.J. Singh is a New York based writer and speaker on Sikhism in the Diaspora, and a Professor of Anatomy. Email: ijsingh99@gmail.com.
* This is the opinion of the writer, organisation or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.
ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs / Punjabis in Southeast Asia and beyond.Facebook | WhatsApp +6017-335-1399 | Email: editor@asiasamachar.com | Twitter | Instagram | Obituary announcements, click here |
Recently there was a meeting of sorts: a congress, where some of us were regarded as foreigners – the subject of vitriol – although born and bred on this very soil. When I read that there was a food-poisoning “epidemic” after the event, an age-old adage came to mind “You reap what you sow”. Perhaps that is malignant of me, but it’s disturbing to think that something like this could garner support, from university students, no less.
The lies being told at that congress, masked as a “vision” for the people who attended it makes my skin crawl. What is a lie? According to the Cambridge English dictionary to lie is “to say or write something that is not true in order to deceive someone”. Have the attendees been deceived? It appears so, but they will never admit it.
I remember a time when politicians, even those who referred to religion, like Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, who never used race as a weapon, never once mentioned the oft-mentioned, but non-existent “social contract” (the term has questionable roots, now commonly attributed to Abdullah Ahmad, a former member of parliament, whose derivation of Rousseau’s Social Contract Theory honestly leaves much to be desired– it is not from a credible source nor official document – most people are referring to Wikipedia when they believe it is legitimate). If anyone were diligent enough to open the Malaysian Federal Constitution, or rather just google “Federal Constitution”, it would become clear that there is no provision, not a single mention of a social contract.
Are we not citizens? When did we become strangers in our own land? It seems as though this has been going on forever. A political tool is what we have become. To sow dissonance, to gather support – take your pick. Any day of the season, what suits “their” agenda.
Who is “they”? “They” are politicians who fail to subscribe to the principles of our society: equality, diversity and interdependence. They instead use certain sectors of society for political motives, as easy targets. The question is: why? Why do this when it causes uproar, when it causes discontent, when it puts a strain in the fibre of our society? These are the questions that keep me up at night.
The answer, I think, is quite simple: it is because doing so is easier than coming up with concrete solutions to the many issues in Malaysia, the paramount of which is education and poverty (where we are in dire need to update the Housing Income Survey (HIS) to account for the statistically invisible like Orang Asli settlements, disabled persons, foreign workers and refugees – this is to reflect the true status quo and subsequently be able to come up with solutions).
Without having to deal with this kind of nitty-gritty, without having to consider the promises made, this kind of politics plays at ingrained biases, stokes xenophobia to win support – and it works, right? So, why bother solving problems in the nation? No need to worry that the World Bank says “Malaysia’s civil service has stagnated”, that the Selangor water crisis has been a pandemic for as long as I can remember, why worry that the leader of our nation went for the United Nations General Assembly and had not much to show for? We, after all, failed to ratify the ICERD or the Rome Statute (To what end? For what reason, we may never know – ignorance is bliss). No need to fret over the fact that our protectionist policies might be drag on trade, and we definitely do not need to be concerned about the US-China trade war: this does not affect our trade-reliant country at all (I am being facetious, of course).
This is the news that has been dominating our headlines. In other frontiers, a young girl uttered the words “How dare you?”, instigating a maelstrom of reactions, dominating the international conversation this past week and her sharp question incessantly repeated on online media and in print.
In uttering those three words, Greta exposed the lies of climate crisis, the deception of political actions (or rather inactions). The same question could in fact be posed for a range of different issues, and the same unfolding of deception would be apparent. Even Greta is not safe from backlash, so many have tried to simplify the complexity of her message, liquefying it and reducing it to fodder for trolls, without ever bothering to read the IPCC Climate Report. Shooting the messenger has become a fashion all over the world.
These are real issues, climate change is real, economic downturn is real, poverty is real. Certain members of society who have a different skin colour needing to be ostracized – is not real.
When will the rhetoric of race be put in the back burner or rather buried altogether? When will we focus on growing our nation, on implementing change? Shall we all just dream to leave the country, is that the way to go?
Clearly not. No matter how Malaysia treats me, I would choose it over a foreign land any day. As a young child, I was in the UK and suffered the worst form of racism. Most days in school was an exercise in torture, the many comments of “my people” living in trees, of us lacking civilisation.
This is not what Malaysia is. In fact, there are a number of things that are more advanced in Malaysia than even the UK. One of them being our growth, we are growing every year whereas the UK is stagnant, the same as it was eternities ago: no change, mouldy Victorian housing, a lack of openness to technology, movies that reach the cinema long after everyone around the world has watched it and now Boris Johnson. But, I digress.
With the year more or else coming to a close, I can’t help but wonder: what has Malaysia achieved in 2019? There seems to be only one saving grace, that our GDP is growing. This is what I will think about when there is more race-based garble thrown at us next week.
Parveen Kaur Harnam is a Kuala Lumpur-based lawyer. The article must have been prompted the Kongres Maruah Melayu (Malay Dignity Congress) on 6 Oct 2019 in Shah Alam, Malaysia
* This is the opinion of the writer, organisation or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.
ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs / Punjabis in Southeast Asia and beyond.Facebook | WhatsApp +6017-335-1399 | Email: editor@asiasamachar.com | Twitter | Instagram | Obituary announcements, click here |
Gurdwara Sahib Bhamo (Bhamaw), Myanmar – Photo: Supplied
Reported by Rajveev Singh | MYANMAR |
Sikhs in the Kachin state of Myanmar drove some four hours to a town about 200 kilometres away to hold a special function in a gurdwara that is no longer operational.
Today, some 100 Sikhs from Myitkyina descended upon the town held a number of programmes in the gurdwara. There are chatter, laugher and a hive of activity at the otherwise quiet building that serves as the Bhamo gurdwara.
It was a special day of joy and events at a Sikh gurdwara that is otherwise largely abandoned for the rest of the year simply due to circumstances.
Bhamo is located some 3,600km to the north of Singapore or about 1,800km from Bangkok or some 450km from Mandalay. The Irrawaddy River runs on its left and the China border is located about 100km to its right.
But every year, the Sikh Sanggat from Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state, will make their way to this town for the up-keep of the Sikh place of worship as well as to engage with the local community.
There are no more Sikhs in the Bhamo (also spelt Bhamaw). Many of the Sikhs, who were originally from India, had left for India in the 1960s during the nationalisation. Another exodus happened in the 1990s.
“There is no Sikh left in this area now,” Gurdwara Sahib Myitkyina committee president Manmohan Singh told Asia Samachar. “We come annually to have a programme here, we change the nishan sahib.”
The town of the northernmost state of Myanmar may no longer have any Sikh population living there, but the beautiful gurdwara building well maintained. It is understood that a local Hindu family takes charge of it.
Manmohan, Myitkyina secretary Aatam Singh and others in the delegation had prepared Guru Ka Langgar which was distributed to the local community as the commemorated the 550th birth of Guru Nanak, joining various other gurdwaras in Myanmar in doing so. The mood was one of joy and laughter as they went about preparing the food.
This time around, they had prepared 2,000 Langgar boxes.
They also performed kirtan and had a nishan sahib selami, i.e. the changing of the Khalsa flag. Interestingly, it was noticed the nishan sahib was red in colour.
They had also extended donations to the Buddhist monks and the old folks home.
ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs / Punjabis in Southeast Asia and beyond.Facebook | WhatsApp +6017-335-1399 | Email: editor@asiasamachar.com | Twitter | Instagram | Obituary announcements, click here |
Path da Bhog: 28 Oct 2019 (Monday), 9am-12pm, at Gurdwara Sahib Bentong, Pahang
Contact: Daljit Singh 012 2144131
MAVA THANDIA SHAVA
*Your unconditional love will be deeply missed
| Entry: 13 Oct 2019; Updated: 23 Oct 2019 | Source: Family
[ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs / Punjabis in Asia. How to reach us: Facebook message or WhatsApp +6017-335-1399. Our email: editor@asiasamachar.com. For obituary announcements, click here]
Malaysian Sikh riders on a cancer charity rider reach Takht Sri Hazoor Sahib in Nanded in the state of Maharashtra, India. – Photo: Supplied
By Asia Samachar Team | INDIA |
They are riding thousands of miles away from home for a good cause. The Malaysian Sikh bikers yesterday (11 Oct 2019) reached Takht Sri Hazur Sahib in Nanded in the state of Maharashtra, India.
This is the second of the give Sikh takhts that they will visit in a journey crossing five nations. After covering all the five Sikh takhts — all of them located on in India — they will cross into Pakistan where they will head for Kartarpur, Pakistan, where Guru Nanak spent the last leg of his life after passing the guruship to Guru Angad.
Here, they will join fellow Sikhs and people of all faiths to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.
The ride, coordinated by the Santana Bikerz Mc, was flagged off by Malaysian Minister of Communications and Multimedia Gobind Singh Deo on Sept 25.
They are raising funds for the National Cancer Society Malaysia (NCSM) to help them manage the younger patients.
The initial team of 5 riders rode through Thailand and Myanmar before crossing into India. Here, they were joined by the second batch of riders.
To donate, click here. This fund raiser is supported by Sikh Naujawan Sabha Malaysia (SNSM) and Malaysian Gurdwaras Council (MGC) and Asia Samachar]
ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs / Punjabis in Southeast Asia and beyond.Facebook | WhatsApp +6017-335-1399 | Email: editor@asiasamachar.com | Twitter | Instagram | Obituary announcements, click here |
Central Gurdwara Glasgow – Photo: Hudson Martins Riberio
Central Gurdwara Glasgow – Photo: Hudson Martins Riberio
ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs / Punjabis in Southeast Asia and beyond.Facebook | WhatsApp +6017-335-1399 | Email: editor@asiasamachar.com | Twitter | Instagram | Obituary announcements, click here |
PATH DA BHOG:26 October 2019 (Saturday), 10am to 12pm, at Gurdwara Sahib Ampang – Ulu Kelang followed by Guru Ka Langgar | Malaysia
Surjit Kaur Deol (1932-2019), Taman Dato Ahmad Razali
SURJIT KAUR DEOL
Passed away peacefully on Saturday, 12th October 2019
Deeply missed and always remembered by:
Husband: Late Balbir Singh Deol
Children / Spouses:
Mohinder Kaur
Gurdeep Kaur
Dato Jespal Deol / Datin Salwa Yussof-Deol
Grandchildren / Spouses:
Amarpreet Kaur Deol- Sidhu / Jai Pal Singh Sidhu (Great grand-children: Gurliv Ariya Kaur Sidhu)
Harveenpreet Kaur
Pereenpreet Kaur
Hannah Deol
Sarah Deol
Path Da Bhog: 26 October 2019 (Saturday), 10am to 12pm, at Gurdwara Sahib Ampang – Ulu Kelang followed by Guru Ka Langgar.
We wish to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to the doctors and nurses of IJN and to all our relatives and friends for their support and acts of kindness for which we would be eternally grateful.
| Entry: 12 Oct 2019; Updated21 Oct 2019 | Source: Family
ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs / Punjabis in Southeast Asia and beyond.Facebook | WhatsApp +6017-335-1399 | Email: editor@asiasamachar.com | Twitter | Instagram | Obituary announcements, click here |
Accomplished musician and a roving Sikh preacher Dya Singh and jatha have released a beautiful 10-minute tribute to Guru Nanak as the world celebrates the 550th birth anniversary of the founder of the Sikh faith.
‘Dhan Gur Nanak’, released free on the social media, is accompanied with a basic video containing nothng too fancy, but carrying salient messages of Guru Nanak.
Born in Malaysia, Dya who now resides in Australia. The Dya Singh World Music Group performs full scale concerts on ‘music for the soul’ based on North Indian classical and semi-classical styles of music with hymns from mainly the Sikh, Hindu and Sufi ‘faiths’.
ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs / Punjabis in Southeast Asia and beyond.Facebook | WhatsApp +6017-335-1399 | Email: editor@asiasamachar.com | Twitter | Instagram | Obituary announcements, click here |
India, the world’s top palm oil buyer, is shunning purchases from Malaysia after the Southeast Asian nation’s prime minister criticized its policy in Kashmir, sparking the latest trade spat in the region, says Bloomberg.
