DAP Johor state committee member Dr Boo Cheng Hau is advised to focus on people-centric issues like the current soaring prices of basic necessities, instead of obsessing over what attire is worn by DAP women leaders when visiting mosques or religious places of worship. For a DAP male leader to make a fuss over the proper clothing worn by DAP Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh when visiting a mosque is no different from extremist and primitive PAS leaders who want to control what women can or cannot wear.
This would not only be gender insensitive but also show that we are just as intolerant and regressive as the extremist PAS leaders. Hannah has done no wrong and should be praised instead of being criticised. Would wearing a turban or head covering when visiting a Sikh temple receive similar criticism? Unfortunately, such unjustifiable criticism by one state leader has cast a bad light on the entire party.
Showing respect to another religion in a religious place of worship can not be taken to be seen as abandoning our own faith. Neither should it be seen as an act of appeasement. In fact, there should be more support for mutual respect and tolerance for differences in our multi-racial society to encourage unity in diversity.
Let us focus on pressuring the government to inject RM 3 billion in a National Price Stabilisation Fund to curb the soaring prices for eggs, chickens, bread, vegetables, cooking oil and even ice cubes as well as imported fertilisers, insecticides and construction materials and labour, that has adversely affected the livelihood of the rakyat by cutting the purchasing power of many households by more than half.