Banner reminds worshippers to park properly

JOHOR BARU: As members of the congregation at the Taman Austin Perdana surau arrived for Friday prayers yesterday, they could not help but notice a large red banner.

The wordings on the banner were meant as a reminder for all to park their vehicles properly to avoid obstructing traffic.

It was the surau committee’s way of making sure there would not be a recurrence of the altercation that took place the week before, when a 28-year-old motorist who had repeatedly honked his car horn after finding that traffic had been blocked by haphazardly parked vehicles outside the surau was assaulted by members of the congregation and his vehicle damaged.

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observed yesterday that though vehicles were parked on both sides of the road outside the surau, the road was not blocked and traffic was smooth.

The surau’s bilal, Zulkifli Ahmad, said the committee members wanted to put the incident behind them and hoped such a thing would not happen again.

“I hope everyone will take this incident as a lesson in patience and virtue, and promote tolerance among the people of different religions and cultures,” he said.

On the issue of having more Rela members on patrol, Zulkifli Ahmad said the surau administration had not come to any decision.

Rela director-general Zulkifli Abidin said the committee should consider getting more non-Muslim or female Rela members to control traffic during Friday prayers.

This is because, the four Rela members hired by the surau committee to monitor traffic are Muslim men who have to take part in the Friday prayers.

Meanwhile, Johor Baru Selatan police chief Assistant Commissioner Sulaiman Salleh said police were looking for another five men to assist investigations into the fracas.

On Thursday, the 28-year-old driver who was involved in the fracas issued a public apology during a meeting with several religious authority figures, including Johor Islamic Religious Council adviser Datuk Nooh Gadut. By Halim Said