Surau Mischief in Seremban

The angry teenagers who were up to no good in Taman Pulau Impian in Sikamat, near Seremban at least had the decency to show remorse for their dumb act. They had splashed paint at a surau and hurled beer bottles early Monday morning, August 23, 2010.

Credit photo: Khairull Azry Bidin

On Monday night itself, police arrested the culprits. Negri Sembilan police chief SAC I Osman Salleh had told reporters: "Police investigations showed that they did that in retaliation to a surau official who, a day earlier, reprimanded them for playing firecrackers" (Webpage http://www.mmail.com.my/content/47359-police-arrest-four-surau-vandalism-case, posted August 24, 2010).

On Wednesday, the parents of the teenagers had publicly apologized for the boys’ actions.

On Friday, three of the teens – aged between 16 and 17 years – were brought to the Child’s Court and charged on two counts of committing mischief. All three boys face jail time of up to two years or a fine or both. (Another 18-year-old who was detained together with the three youths, has since been released).

Magistrate M. Mageshwary later released the teenagers on RM2,000 bail each and fixed September 22 for a mention of the case, pending a report from the Welfare Department.

Five hours later, the contrite trio attended a buka puasa event at the very venue they had vandalized. According to the Star today, they were seen offering their apologies to surau-goers before joining them for the breaking of fast. Surau committee head Mohd Hasbi Ismail, who spoke to the teens and their parents during the gathering, said he was glad the issue had been resolved. “We have accepted the boys’ apologies and hope that incidents like this will not recur anywhere in the country,” he said (p N5).

The buka puasa event, organized by the state MCA with the co-operation of the surau committee and neighborhood Rukun Te­­tangga unit, was held to foster closer ties among the residents. I congratulate State MCA chief Senator Dr Yeow Chai Tiam for making good what was otherwise a shameful incident that had the potential to flare into something really nasty.

In today's SPL game, Celtic beat Motherwell 1-0, through a late penalty, courtesy of Daryl Murphy (73). It was not exactly a great game for Celtic, but the important thing was to get the three points. And in the EPL game between Liverpool and West Brom, the former carved a similarly narrow 1-0 win over the latter. It was Fernando Torres who struck his first goal of the season by clinically converting a Dirk Kuyt cross from the edge of the box in the 65th minute. Even if the Reds were unconvincing, this win represents their 2000th victory in league football. Not bad, eh?

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