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https://says.com/my/news/malkith-singh-malaysian-superhero-sikh Meet Malkith Singh: A Part-Time Clerical Staff And A Full-Time Malaysian Superhero Sikh The 64-year-old man has been cooking food at gurdwaras across the country since 1974. By Sadho Ram — 26 Dec 2021, 06:02 PM — Updated less than a minute ago Cover image via Sadho/SAYS At around 4pm last Sunday, 19 December, this SAYS writer sent out a tweet with a photo of a turbaned man cooking in an oversized kadhai The man, with a beard white as milk, was preparing food for thousands of people who had been left stranded across the Klang Valley and beyond in the aftermath of continuous heavy rain for over three days. He was cooking in the community kitchen (langar) at the Gurdwara Sahib Petaling Jaya (GSPJ), where the Sikh community had sprung into action after they received SOS messages past midnight, 19 December. In fact, they were so quick that some 5,000 free hot meal boxes were already sent out around 2pm. It was around that time that a GSPJ representative reached out to SAYS, asking if we could help spread the word about the flood relief work being organised there so that they could serve more flood-affected victims. As I reached there, I was shown how attendees — who had gathered at the gurdwara for a religious camp — were busy preparing and packing food boxes as the turbaned man was hard at work in the kitchen. Which is when I snapped a photo of him and posted it on Twitter, not realising it will soon inspire thousands of Malaysians — regardless of their race and religion — to volunteer at the gurdwara. The tweet spread like wildfire, thanks to some of the prominent handles and social news sites boosting it across social media. By the end of the day, it had already been retweeted more than 14,000 times. Under the tweet, people started asking "how can we help?" and "is there a fund where we can donate?" while expressing their immense gratitude towards the turbaned man for his Seva (selfless service). The photo had prompted an outpouring of emotions from Malaysians, who soon took to calling him 'uncle'. Soon, I started getting queries from people about him, who he is, his health, and if he is getting enough rest. They were concerned for him. The next morning, I went over to the gurdwara to join thousands of volunteers who had come from all over the Klang Valley to help in the flood relief work that would see over 100,000 food boxes being sent out. I was also hoping to talk to the man, who had become a sensation on social media and beyond. However, it didn't go exactly as I had hoped. I was told he doesn't like talking about himself and that he prefers to do Seva from behind the scene. So I dropped my plans to talk to him but insisted on his name so at least people know who the man was. "Malkith Singh," one of the members of the GSPJ management told me in a matter-of-fact tone. The next morning, I shared more photos of him in the kitchen, this time with his name. Within minutes, people started showering their affection on him. Some called him more efficient than the entire Malaysian government, some called him a national treasure that must be protected at all cost, while others promised to forever remember and honour his contributions. There were also those who took inspiration from the photos and drew artworks of him. Image via @atikah_rostam (Twitter) and @FatinAziz__ (Twitter) Seeing how photos of him in the kitchen were inspiring Malaysians, both young and old alike, I decided to share the reactions with the man himself, hoping it would convince him to change his mind. It took some time, but he finally agreed to talk to me while insisting on not publicising his face. Prior to that, I think what also helped was that I had been in the kitchen with him, helping with the cooking. It allowed him to open up to me and as he let me shadow him around the kitchen so I could take more photos and later on Friday evening, 24 December, he would sit down with him over a cup of chai. A Sikh by blood, Malkith Singh is a Malaysian by birth He was born in 1957 in Taiping, Perak. According to Malkith Singh, he first started cooking at the Gurdwara Sahib Taiping in 1974. At the time, he was only 17. "I feel Seva is best done through cooking," he said, adding that he has practically cooked in all the gurdwaras across the country, with his longest service being at the Gurdwara Sahib Titiwangsa. "I go whenever anybody calls me. Cooking is one of my passions," he shared with me. Malkith Singh with his friend during the interview with this SAYS writer. Image via Sadho/SAYS A part-time clerical worker at a private legal firm here, the 64-year-old has two kids, a son and a daughter, who is a deputy public prosecutor Malkith's full-time thing, however, is being a Malaysian superhero. You see, he doesn't just cook food at langars in gurdwaras. He helps provide shelter to families by building their houses through contributions from the Sikh and other communities, he delivers donated rations to people who cannot afford to buy anything, he makes sure the vulnerable don't go to bed hungry, and he has been doing this for over four decades by being true to the concept of Seva — selfless service without any expectation of result or award for the deeds performed. Malkith told me that he doesn't see anybody's race or religion. "Be it Malay, Chinese, or Indian, I try to help everyone as much as I can," he said, adding that his son assists him in doing so through their Persatuan Sikhinside Malaysia (SikhInside) group. According to Malkith, in March 2020, they also started cooking for people who were the worst hit by the movement control order (MCO), the Malaysian government's lockdown measures to curb COVID-19. Image via Sadho/SAYS Speaking about the massive crowd of volunteers at the GSPJ, Malkith shared that this is the first time he has seen this many non-Sikhs inside a gurdwara as it's mostly just the Sikhs or a few Indians who come "Something that has amazed me is the non-Sikhs coming. Because we have always been dealing with the Sikhs only, and we usually deal with non-Sikhs is when we are giving out rations," he said. "But never like this," he shared, referring to how different races have come together to volunteer there. And Malkith considers this an extremely beautiful 'confluence'. According to him, it has always been tough to get the Malay community to show up at the gurdwaras. But seeing how a major portion of the crowd coming into the GSPJ compound consisted of Malays, the management created a separate room upstairs for them to offer their prayers. Still, there were many Malays who were unsure if they could just drop by to help. I personally received dozens of private messages, asking me if it's okay for them to come. However, the volunteering work at the GSPJ hasn't been without its share of religious controversy with many doubting if the food was halal To put such doubts among Muslims to rest, former religious affairs minister Datuk Seri Dr Zulkilfi Mohamad Al-Bakri paid a visit to the gurdwara on 22 December and even helped Malkith in the kitchen. Zulkilfi also assured the Malays that eating food from non-Muslims who are not "People of the Book" is permissible as long as it does not involve their slaughtered animals. The former Federal Territories Mufti said that he knew the Sikh religion through the concept of Seva. He described the GSPJ kitchen setup as very clean and tidy, adding that he was impressed to see the management of the aid distribution system which involved various religions and races. Meanwhile, for those concerned about Malkith's health, he shared that seeing the youngsters coming there to help, he feels more motivated Malkith, who has been coming over to the gurdwara kitchen at 6am daily from Sentul, told me that he really feels inspired by the energy of all the youths inside the compound. "I feel happy seeing them, and I just want to cook for everybody. Please tell everybody who are concerned for me that doing Seva through cooking is something I'm really passionate about." Malkith Singh in the kitchen on Friday, 24 December, as he let me shadow him around. Image via Sadho/SAYS

Handing over the memorandum to the Counselor of Indian Embassy in Malaysia. The Sikh Representatives spoke out against the desecration of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and the counselor ensured that the memorandum will be handed to the higher authorities that it is addressed to. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10150671097824977&id=20299654976

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The Court of Appeal ruling on the Allah issue yesterday has given wide-ranging discretionary powers to the Home Minister to make pre-emptive executive decisions, says Tony Pua. By: Sikh24 Editors KUALA LUMPUR (October 15, 2013)The Malaysian Court of Appeal decided this week that the government can controland banthe use of the word Allah, Arabic for God. The ruling has also given wide-ranging discretionary powers to the Home Minister to make pre-emptive executive decisions. The judgement read by Justice Mohamed Apandi Ali stated that the Home Minister had sufficient material before him to ban Catholic weekly The Herald from using the Allah word as such usage if allowed will inevitably cause confusion within the community. In a swoop, the court has empowered the Home Minister to make pre-emptive executive decisions to ban words or publications which he deems will cause confusion, said Petaling Jaya Utara MP and DAP National Publicity Secretary Tony Pua today. He added that with such powers, the Home Minister will be able to rule that Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikhs Living Guru and Holy Book should be banned due to the use of the word Allah in Gurbani, the Gurus word. Should any church in East or West Malaysia be declared illegal for the widely accepted use of the term Allah, and the court will deem itself to have no plausible reason for the High Court to interfere with the ministers decision, he said in a statement. He pointed out that the ramifications of the Court of Appeal decision to empower the Home Minister were wide-ranging. It is not the place of the Court of Appeal to decide who are the majority and what they want, and they certainly have no competence to do so. It should be emphasised again that the role of the court is to determine legality and not making highly subjective moral judgments on ill-defined subjects, he said. Deciding Religion on behalf of the church Pua further said that the Court of Appeal judges had decided on behalf of the church on what was deemed integral part of the faith and practice of Christianity. The court found Allah not integral to the church and hence they find no reason why the respondent is so adamant to use the name Allah in their weekly publication, he said The court has no role in deciding what is integral or otherwise in any religion practised in Malaysia. Such a finding is completely irrelevant to a decision over the legality over the use of Allah. Hence the court have clearly overstepped its boundaries into the realm of theological discourse, and more critically, breached the Article 3 of the Federal Constitution which allows for other religions to be practised in peace and harmony, and and Article 11 which states that every religious group has the right to manage its own affairs, he added. He warned that the long-term impact of the Court of Appeal decision was well beyond the issue of the churchs use of Allah. This decision in regards to the Catholic Church could have a huge impact on Sikhs. Decision must be appealed He added that the court had given itself the power to make discretionary judgments not on the basis of the constitution and the law passed by the parliament, but by the judges own personal viewpoints and bias. Secondly, the court trampled on the rights of the minority by endorsing the oppression by the majority as well as to give discretionary and absolute pre-emptive powers to the Home Minister for actions against anyone deemed to be wrong. The whole argument behind the judgment is clearly unreasonable and cannot be left to stand, he said. He said the decision must be challenged in the Federal Court not just because it affects a particular religions use of a specific term, but on the implied powers of judges as well as the executive branch of the government to make discretionary decisions and mete out punishments without legal or factual basis. The Court of Appeal yesterday allowed an appeal from the government to bar The Herald from using the word Allah in its Bahasa Malaysia edition, overturning a 2009 High Court ruling which favoured the Christian publication. The panel of judgesMohamed Apandi Ali, Mohd Zawawi Salleh and Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahimwere unanimous in their decision that there was no infringement of constitutional rights as claimed by the publishers. http://www.sikh24.com/2013/10/muslim-majority-malaysia-could-ban-guru-granth-sahib-ji-the-living-guru-of-the-sikhs/#.Ul1-cFCkros

Malaysian Sikhs angry at Sikh politician shaving bald Singapore: Malaysian Sikhs are angry with a local Sikh politician who has shaved his head bald at a Chinese temple in the Northern Peninsular city to protest against money politics in the General Election being held today. Jagdeep Singh Deo, a candidate for the Datuk Keramat state seat in northern peninsular Malaysia, joined other Chinese candidates campaigning in the General Election to protest by having their head shaved bald. Before shaving their heads, the candidates knelt before the Goddess of Mercy (Guan Yin) Pavilion in Kek Lok Si Temple in George Town for the divine intervention to stop money politics in the election. The Penang State Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng together with a group of other people was present at the prayer ceremony held at temple. But the Sikhs in the country have reacted to the act of Jagdeep, son of prominent Malaysian lawyer and opposition leader Karpal Singh. The Gurdwara Sahib Kangar president Pritpal Singh has described Jagdeep's act as an insult to Sikh religion, the basic tenet of which is never to shave their hair. Pritpal said Jagdeep had forgotten the fundamentals of his own religion in his bid to uphold his cause against money politics. Jagdeep's facebook shows he and his family were not Amritdharis and he has cut his hair and was not wearing a turban. But this time he has shaved bald, according to a report by the New Straits Times yesterday. "Cutting your hair or going bald without any medical reason is unacceptable. It is worse coming from a public figure like him," the New Straits Times quoted Pritpal as saying. "There are many other ways of showing one's displeasure. As a Sikh, it is his communal duty to bear in mind the sensitivity of all Sikhs and their religion," Pritpal said. Lawyer Ranjit Singh Dhillon has also criticised Jagdeep for forsaking his religion for cheap political stunts. "For a Sikh to go bald in public is too much. It is an insult to the religion and the community," said Ranjit. http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/malaysian-sikhs-angry-at-sikh-politician-shaving-bald_846577.html