Have all Cabinet Ministers assimilated, internalized and understood the new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s overarching philosophy encapsulated in the slogan “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now”?
There are at least three Cabinet Ministers who clearly have not.
This is why there could be such a New Straits Times report (never mind the bad English) below:
‘Conversion case will take a while to solve’ KUALA LUMPUR: It will be quiet a while before a solution is found into the case of the three children who were converted to Islam by their father without their mother’s knowledge. Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said yesterday that strategies had been identified to find a solution to the problem. “We have identified the issues and discussed them but it will take a while before a solution can be found as it involves several agencies,” he said after a meeting with Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon (Unity) and Maj-Gen (R) Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom (Islamic Affairs). The trio are members of a committee tasked with finding a solution to the problem. The three-member committee was set up following a mother’s report that her children, aged 1 to 12, were converted to Islam without her knowledge by their father. The mother, M. Indira Ghandi, 35, had turned to the Hindu Sangam branch in Ipoh after her husband, K. Patmanathan, 40, now Muhammad Ridzuan Abdullah, converted the children without their presence and without informing her. He allegedly used the children’s birth certificates to get them converted. The children are said to be in the custody of their father. Dr Subramaniam said the committee was doing its best to find a quick solution.
There are at least three Cabinet Ministers who clearly have not.
Tsu Koon, Subramaniam, Jamil – have you heard of “Performance Now”?
This is not the first time such heart-wrenching cases occurred where irresponsible people used religion to evade their family responsibilities and commitments.
There had been a long list of unresolved controversies since 2005, from Moorthy to Subashini, Rayappan and now Indira Ghandi.
The rights and wrongs are very simple and straightforward. Why is the Barisan Nasional government taking five long years and still unable to resolve the injustices caused by irresponsible conversion of non-Muslims who are married through civil laws to evade obligations contracted in civil law marriages?
Clearly, the three Ministers of the new Najib Cabinet (including Super-Minister responsible for KPIs for Ministers) do not understand “Performance Now”.
But do the rest of the 29-strong Cabinet and Najib himself understand the meaning of “Performance Now”?
The Cabinet meeting tomorrow will be the test whether it is not just Tsu Koon, Subramaniam and Jamil who do not understand “Performance Now”. The rest of the Cabinet including the Prime Minister will be all in the same boat – if the Cabinet is incapable of resolving the Indira Ghandi issue, returning the year-old baby daughter Prasana Diksa to the mother and restoring peace of mind to Indira and her two other children, Tevi Darsiny 12 and Karan Dinesh 11.
As DAP Perak State Assemblyman A. Sivanesan, Indira’s lawyer, said at our media conference with Indira and the children in Petaling Jaya earlier today, the host of heart-breaking cases can be simply resolved by making it mandatory requirement for all those attempting to convert to produce evidence that the person has fulfilled his civil marriage commitments when registering with the Islamic Department.
Over to you tomorrow, Najib Cabinet. Performance Now!