Rodziah Ismail
Rodziah binti Ismail (born 8 July 1964) is a Malaysian politician and the Selangor State Assemblywoman representing Batu Tiga. She is a state executive councillor with the Welfare, Women's Affairs, Science, Technology and Innovation portfolio. Rodziah is a member of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, part of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition government in Selangor.
Cow-head protest
On 28 August 2009, a group of Malaysian Muslims staged a protest against the proposal that a Hindu shrine be relocated to a predominantly Muslim neighborhood. The 50 or so protestors marched from a mosque to the Selangor state government headquarters at the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Building with the head of a cow – an animal deemed sacred in Hinduism – and "stomped on the head and spat on it before leaving the site".[1] The protest was caught on video by the popular Malaysian news online portal Malaysiakini.[2]
Malaysia’s Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein defended the cow head protests, arguing that building a Hindu shrine is unsuitable because the neighborhood is Muslim, and that “the residents only wanted their voices to be heard [and] it was unfortunate that 'the publicity they received was negative because it was linked with racial and religious sentiments.'"[3]
Rodziah was directly involved in this conflict as the residential area involved was within her constituency and as state executive councillor,[vague] the relocation of the temple was under her purview. The temple will be relocated and constructed as originally planned.[4]
References
- ^ "Malaysian Muslims protest against proposed construction of Hindu temple". The Boston Globe. Associated Press. 2009-08-29. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
- ^ Temple demo: Residents march with cow's head YouTube. Aug 28, 2009
- ^ "Hisham defends cow-head protestors". MySinchew.com. 2009-09-02. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
- ^ Selangor to proceed with temple in Section 23 Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, The Malaysian Insider, October 19, 2010