Ramadan in China | Mixed messages

China curbs Ramadan fasting in Xinjiang

Al Jazeera, 02 August 2012

XINJIANG, Aug 2: Chinese authorities in the northwestern province of Xinjiang have banned Muslim officials and students from fasting during the month of Ramadan, prompting an exiled rights group to warn of new violence.

Guidance posted on numerous government websites called on Communist Party leaders to restrict Muslim religious activities during the holy month, including fasting and visiting mosques.

Xinjiang is home to about nine million Uighurs, largely a Muslim ethnic minority, many of whom accuse China's leaders of religious and political persecution.

The region has been rocked by repeated outbreaks of ethnic violence, but China denies claims of repression and relies on tens of thousands of Uighur officials to help it govern the province.

A statement from Zonglang township in Xinjiang's Kashgar district said that "the county committee has issued comprehensive policies on maintaining social stability during the Ramadan period.

"It is forbidden for Communist Party cadres, civil officials (including those who have retired) and students to participate in Ramadan religious activities."

The statement, posted on the Xinjiang government website, urged party leaders to bring "gifts" of food to local village leaders to ensure that they were eating during Ramadan.

Similar orders on curbing Ramadan activities were posted on other local government websites, with the educational bureau of Wensu county urging schools to ensure that students do not enter mosques during Ramadan.

'Administrative methods'

During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk and strive to be more closer to God, pious and charitable.

An exiled rights group, the World Uyghur Congress, warned the policy would force "the Uighur people to resist [Chinese rule] even further."

"By banning fasting during Ramadan, China is using administrative methods to force the Uighur people to eat in an effort to break the fasting," said group spokesman Dilshat Rexit in a statement.

Xinjiang saw its worst ethnic violence in recent times in July, 2009, when Uighurs attacked members of the nation's dominant Han ethnic group in the city of Urumqi, sparking clashes in which 200 people from both sides died, according to the government.

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Malaysians are nice good people. And like all good people, they have had their share of the ups and downs of the grind.

now, grim prospects cast dark clouds in the distant horizon - economic life is in the doldrums with national and household debts poking holes in the roof. Not all, but there are sections of the citizenry who might need more than hunger to shake and rattle them to squarely look at the reality - our country is mismanaged: has been and still is.

No butt rocking will make the problems go away. No inquistion of the once nascent dissent that now has taken many forms, some of which have been night vigils, peace walks and sit and protest, will blot out the nastiness of mistaken beliefs.

Ramadan should make us steadfast in certain things: the search and pursuit for a better life, the endless unfairness that need to be ceased and the nurturing spirit that strives to enrich the human spirit.

Question! Should we stay HUNGRY and revel in it? Or should we lift some forgotten element that's been eating away our innards? If it was there God given, should we diminish virtues and continue in denial? There are universal platforms for different realms of enlightenment and spiritualism. There are action oriented global causes to weed out poverty and hunger

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Why would the Agong have to sack a non-cabinet member he didn't appoint? Deputy Ministers are not Cabinet Ministers. Members of any new government have to take their oaths but the CJ is there to witness, plus some other guys! It's a complete monotony this oath taking is. But it has to be done. If I were the Agong, I would sack PM Najib for disaffecting my dignity and more so might have made me break my fast!

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