“WHY so cute with the jubah!” was the praise accorded by a female Muslim commenter to a Facebook post of bluish floral abaya and tudung-clad Federal Territories Minister Hannah Yeoh who appeared in a Nur Ramadan programme with village folks of Kampung Padang Balang at the Saidina Ali Mosque in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur.
While the DAP lawmaker was praised for dressing appropriately by Madani Muslims in line with the spirit of the event and its venue, she always finds herself caught between a rock and a hard place for wanting to being respectful rather than making a fashion statement.
A total of 200 aid recipients received donations from the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP) and the MAIWP Zakat Collection Centre which was graced by ABIM (Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia) president Ahmad Fahmi Mohd Samsudin as representative of Religious Affairs Minister.
As a sign of support for the community efforts here, Yeoh further donated RM10,000 to the Padang Balang Village Children’s Heritage Association (PEWARIS) to assist with welfare programs and community activities in this village.
“She’ll be ticked off for disrespecting a religious event if she doesn’t don a tudung. If she does, she and her gang (DAP) are accused of harbouring an agenda,” lamented a male commenter in the Segambut MP’s defence with another berating detractors for failing to take into heart her charitable deed in an auspicious month.
“This is so unlike some Malay leaders who pretend to be pious yet good at trading insults and slanders,” he jibed.
Simplistic thinking
True enough, an opposition-slant digital creator chanced upon the tudung-clad DAP deputy secretary-general to drive home the message of a hidden agenda whenever “non-Malay leaders wear tudung or songkok 
”.
Editor’s Note: The ruler icon is a slang which depicts “don’t being naive or simple-minded”.
“There’s already a fishy smell in the air. Do understand whenever she dons a tudung
… Do be careful,” reacted Kelantanese entrepreneur Wan Mahassan whose FB post elicited 6.7K likes, 3.4k comments and 912 shares at the time of writing. “I’ve even placed so many rulers .”
The post sparks hilarity with the historical account of the late People’s Action Party (PAP) co-founder and former Singapore premier Lee Kuan Yew donning the songkok when stepping into Malay villages during election campaigns in the 1960s.
“Like this. Eventually, part of Malaya (Singapore) became colony of a foreign race,” warned a commenter while another described the donning of Malay/Muslim attire as “a ploy to con the Malays”.
Describing Yeo as “God’s ambassador”, one commenter cautioned that “the show (presumably national poll) is about to start once she has started to don the tudung”, hence Malays are forewarned “not to be fooled by this most dangerous act”.
Apparently one Malay woman expressed gratitude to Yeo for knowing how to respect the “auspicious Muslim month” but was chastised for “being blind and getting played out (by DAP)”.
Another commenter took a swipe at detractors by teasing that not every single non-Muslim politician who wears a tudung “is fishing for vote as she could be interested in converting to Islam and likewise Muslims who don’t read the Quran are more despicable than those who insult the Quran”.
Well, the bottom line is that the poster and detractors themselves could be the ones with hidden agenda to woo fence sitters to vote for the opposition faction in the upcoming 16th General Election (GE16).
As aptly highlighted by a non-Muslim commenter, the tudung or headscarf for that matter is not just meant for Muslims given “it is commonplace for non-Muslim women to wear headscarf in Arab countries”.
“Does the holy book specify that non-Muslims can’t wear the tudung?” he pointedly asked.
- Focus Malaysia
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