didnt singapore issue a similar edict years ago? at least that's
what's reported here
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/11/23/nation/2626876&sec=nation
Huh? Got such a thing meh?
As a matter of fact, MUIS (the Islamic Religious Council of
Singapore) recently stated in the news that yoga can be done by
Muslims as long as you just do the physical aspects of it and leave
out the Hindu spiritual aspects of it.
Similarly, silat has its roots in pre-Islamic South-East Asia
when most Malays were animists. It involved such stuff as calling
upon spirits of the earth and stuff like that. When Islam came, all
that spirit-calling stuff was taken out, and silat remains being
taught only in its physical form.
At the end of the day, if it's just an exercise without all that
chanting and stuff, then it's okay.
If those nincompoops want to ban yoga for its Hindu roots, they
had jolly well ban silat as well for its animist roots. Else, I'm
calling their bluff.
