‘Melaka Maju 2’: Why must a Pasti kindergarten be demolished?

***
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful; blessings and peace be upon Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.

Reflection
ABUNDANCE
1. Lo! We have given thee Abundance;
2. So pray unto thy Lord, and sacrifice.
3. Lo! It is thy insulter (and not thou) who is without posterity. (Surah 108, Al-Kauthar)
***

IN my article posted earlier entitled ‘Melaka Maju’: The magic is gone’ I mentioned my concern that Malays/Muslims were being ‘chased’ out of their lands.

In the name of development, some Malays/Muslims were sidelined, they were told to vacate their lands and surrender their properties, paving the way for projects that benefitted those in power and a chosen few.

An Islamic kindergarten run by PAS (Pasti) named Pasti Jaya Insan in Bukit Katil, some ten kilometres from Melaka city is next in line to be demolished; thanks to Melaka’s state leaders, the majority of them from Umno, for their ‘kindness’ and ‘far sighted views’.

On the ground of the Pasti Jaya Insan building that also houses PAS operations room, would be built a new road connecting busy Jalan Bukit Katil to a nearby housing estate.

Bukit Katil PAS Information Chief, Yusuf Wahab, said his side had received letters from the State Government asking them to sign an agreement, paving way for the demolition of the Pasti building and the construction of the new road.

It was said that the Umno-BN led state government would used force to acquire the land by banking on ‘Akta Pengambilan Tanah 1960’ (Appropriation Land Act 1960).

In his effort to stop the demolition of Pasti Jaya Insan, Yusuf, better known as Cikgu Yusuf and his team have sought out and worked on many avenues such as distributing hundreds of cards to residents including greeting cards during the last Eid (Aidilfitri).

Their latest effort was in organizing a Pakatan Rakyat demonstration on the grounds of the Pasti after Friday prayers on 22nd October that attracted some 500 supporters and sympathizers.

In his greeting cards, Cikgu Yusuf among others wrote: “This (demolition of the Pasti building) is unjust and cruel actions of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government upon the people especially children as their place of learning would be torn down. Let us show our sympathy and be united and work together to defend and protect this Pasti.”

Cikgu Yusuf when met by writer said; acquisition of the land was the latest strategy of the Umno-led state government to pull down the PAS- owned building which houses its kindergarten and operations room.

“Prior to this, they did they carried out all sort of tactics including summoning the Pasti’s administrators to court, accusing teachers of preaching Islamic knowledge without permit from the Islamic religious council. But the cases are still pending, thus those in power have lost their patience in seeing that the Pasti’s activities ceased,” says the former Melaka PAS Information Chief.

Cikgu Yusuf said the Pasti Jaya Insan building is more than 50 meters from the main road and during peek hours such as the morning rush, it would in no way obstruct traffic flow.

He said building a new road from Jalan Bukit Katil to the new housing estate via the Pasti grounds was not an urgent matter as there are already a few alternative roads for residents there.

“If they really felt bad and had to build the new road, why not choose other routes. In fact they could build the new road beginning from the intersection of Jalan Bukit Bayan-Jalan Bukit Katil, thus upgrading the three-forked intersection into a four-forked one. But why must they choose the Pasti ground that is more than 300 meters from the intersection?” asks Cikgu Yusuf.

He claimed that the original site for the new road planned by the authorities did not run through the Pasti grounds but interference by top state Umno leaders victimized the PAS kindergarten just to satisfy their thirst for power.

He also said that there were several other Pasti buildings in the state slapped with demolition orders by the city council, including those accused of not having Certificate of Fitness (CF).

Melaka PAS State Chief, Ustaz Abdul Ghani Abdul Rahman who spearheaded the Pakatan Rakyat demonstration on the site, said they protested the acquisition of the Pasti land not because they were against development such as building new roads and setting new housing estates, but the state government must be fair and just to all ‘rakyat’ – irrespective of their political beliefs.

He said every decision made must not be based on narrow minded political views for the benefit of the chosen few or the leaders themselves.

“PAS do not go against development but leaders must be fair to all. Our country is on the brink of collapsing because cronyism is flourishing, corrupt leaders are still being elected because the practice of cronyism. I do hope the people who have power to elect leaders through elections; wll get rid of these leaders who are very afraid of loosing power.

“Whatever their reasons (tearing down the Pasti building), we do not agree and we will fight to the end because their action is an act of cruelty to their political rivals with the misuse of government machinery in getting their dirty agenda fulfilled,” says Ustaz Abdul Ghani.

Melaka DAP Chairman, Goh Leong San, said Pakatan Rakyat would defend the peoples’ right and would go against directives from the state government led by Chief Minister, Mohd Ali Rustam who had make a mock on democracy.

“We hope the people would be united and I will raise the matter in the next seating of the State Assembly,” said Goh who is assemblyman for Kesidang.

State KeADILan Youth Chief, Hairiz Nordin, regretted there was no discussion between the two sides and he was in the opinion that Umno-BN leaders were afraid of the growing support for PAS and Pakatan Rakyat especially from the younger generation, so they ordered the Pasti building to be demolished.

He said Pakatan Rakyat would make the rakyat know about the development and fight till end over this issue because Pasti has for decades been providing quality education especially on Islamic knowledge to children at a very young age.