| Ampang, Malaysia | 12 Feb 2017 | Asia Samachar |
Two Sikhs were asked to leave the Gurdwara Sahib Lembah Jaya Ampang for allegedly attempting to disrupt a sermon by Dr Karminder Singh today.
One of them, identified as Malkit Singh and believed to be a retiree from the Malaysian armed forces, was also believed to be involved in a similar incident in the darbar sahib of Gurdwara Sahib Selayang Baru not too long ago.
In this latest incident, one youth wearing a black patka stood up in the darbar sahib of the Lembah Jaya gurdwara while Dr Karminder, a senior Malaysian civil servant and a lay parcharak, was still making his presentation.
He began speaking in a loud voice, disrupting the talk that was already into its 90th minute.
Some members of the gurdwara management committee (GMC) requested the youth to allow the speaker to continue his presentation, but the youth continued to speak in raised voice.
At this juncture, a senior committee member escorted the youth out of the darbar sahib of the gurdwara in Selangor.
When walking back into the darbar sahib, Malkit was alleged to have stood up and confronted the Lembah Jaya GMC president Harbans Singh Gill Kaleke.
“When he refused to sit down and continued to speak loudly, we asked him to leave the darbar sahib,” Harbans told Asia Samachar. “These are not our regular Sanggat members. We have never seen them here before. The Sanggat is united in not wanting such disruptions.”
The rest of the Sanggat members remained calm and Dr Karminder continued with his presentation.
“We have a lecturer speaking on our platform. If you don’t agree, don’t create a ruckus in the presence o Sri Guru Granth Shaib and the Sanggat,” said Harbans.
Jaswant Singh, the gurdwara’s assistant treasurer, said this was the first such incident at the gurdwara.
One member of the Sanggat alleged that Malkit had signaled the youth in black patka just before the youth stood up to speak while Dr Karminder was in the midst of his lecture.
“I was seated at the back row. I saw what was happening,” he told Asia Samachar.
When contacted, Malkit confirmed that he was at the Lembah Jaya gurdwara but declined to elaborate on the incident over a phone conversation.
Dr Karminder’s lecture session was part of the Family Day Camp organised by the Coalition of Malaysian Sikh Organisation (CMSO) together with the gurdwara and Sikhi Vichar Forum (SVF). The camp series is themed Leadership of Sri Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS) in the 21st Century.
After lunch, Bibi Inderpal Kaur from Toronto, Canada, continued the camp with her lecture.
Such camps have been held at a number of gurdwaras, including Seremban, Kajang and Klang.
In the Selayang incident on 16 Dec 2016, Dr Karminder was giving a talk on ‘Ek Granth, Ek Panth, Ek Maryada’. The talk was twice interrupted by two Sikh men on the pretext of raising questions.
When driving home after that session, two unidentified men on a motorcycle swung a brick at Dr Karminder’s car, in what is believed to be an attempted assault to cow him from sharing his thoughts on the Sikh faith.
‘Ek Granth, Ek Panth, Ek Maryada’, a slogan mooted by the Malaysian Gurdwaras Council (MGC), is meant to promote the centrality of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS).
The incident was followed by a number of conflicting reports on the social media, with some versions later turning out to be untrue.
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