Teresa pays for Puchong mosque speakers

By Shannon Teoh, The Malaysian Insider

She was locked up for a week on allegations of being anti-Islam but yesterday Kinrara state assemblywoman Teresa Kok donated a sum of RM10,000 to the Surau Darus Salam here for its new speaker system to broadcast the call to prayer or azan.

Kok handing over the mock cheque for the speaker to Imam Haji Harun and the surau management. Pic used with permission from teresakok.com.

The donation was in conjunction with Maulidur Rasul, for which the Seputeh MP also gave RM2,500 each to a local Islamic daycare centre and primary school.

The senior executive councillor for Selangor was accused of asking a Bandar Kinrara mosque, situated in the state seat of Sri Serdang — which neighbours her Kinrara constituency — to reduce the volume of its azan call last year, leading to her arrest and week-long detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

“This donation is in contrast to those accusations,” Kok told The Malaysian Insider today.

“Frankly, I also wanted to donate cattle to the mosque concerned in those allegations,” she said, adding that those plans have not panned out.

This comes after the Bandar Kinrara mosque authorities had itself cleared her of any involvement in the issue, but then denied her request to pay a visit. It is said that this was due to pressure by Umno who have been harping on Kok’s supposed anti-Islam stance.

Kok said the donation yesterday was due to the fact that the speaker at the surau has “not been functioning well for some months” and any balance from the RM10,000 will be used to subsidise the surau's repairs and renovations.

Kok handing over a cheque for RM2,500 to Ustaz Mohd Faizul Azmi Mat Daut, from Sekolah Rendah Islam (Seri) Nurul Hidayah. Used with permission from teresakok.com.

At yesterday's visit to the surau, Kok had stressed again that she was not involved in the petition to protest against the azan call.

Instead, she said her ISA arrest had opened the eyes of the public to the abuse of the law.

Writing in her blog, Kok quoted Surau Darus Salam imam Haji Harun as thanking her contribution and advising her to be patient against accusations by those dissatisfied with her.

Her donation follows a donation of 46 heads of cattle by Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim last year for Hari Raya Haji. But the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has said there is evidence of power abuse in that beef charity.