shahrir-umno.com

Syed Abdul­lah Syed Mohamed
2010/01/20

Syed Abdul­lah Syed Mohamed finds more rea­sons than ever to go to Masjid Jamek Ban­dar Baru Uda in Johor Baru

The new Elec­tronic Bank­ing Cen­tre and Kiosk Qariah‘was a-bustle with a crowd made up of mosque-goers and well-wishers on Fri­day at Masjid Jamek Ban­dar Baru Uda. — Pic­tures by Syed Abdul­lah Syed Mohamed

A young girl from Johor Her­itage Foun­da­tion recit­ing verses from the Holy Quran dur­ing dur­ing the ceremory.

Ahmad Lutfi Abdul Latif study­ing the exhibits at the mosque’s pic­ture gallery.

MASJID Jamek Ban­dar Baru Uda Johor Baru made his­tory last Fri­day as the first mosque to be installed with an Elec­tronic Bank­ing Cen­tre (EBC) and a Kiosk Qariah.

At the con­clu­sion of the Fri­day after­noon prayers at 2pm, the hun­dreds of con­gre­ga­tors made their way out­side for a spe­cial ceremony.

They were joined by 300 invited guests, includ­ing Ban­dar Baru Uda Reli­gious School pupils at a tent spe­cially set up for the day.

The Elec­tronic Bank­ing Cen­tre and Kiosk Qariah were to be offi­cially launched by Johor Baru Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment, Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad.

Shahrir, who arrived about 10 min­utes after the guests were seated was accom­pa­nied by the mosque’s com­mit­tee chair­man Suli­man Sujak and other mosque officials.

Also present were Tan­jung Put­eri state assem­bly­man Adam Sumiru, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd (BIMB) strate­gic com­mu­ni­ca­tions gen­eral man­ager Datuk Wan Ismail Wan Yusoh and Johor Reli­gious Coun­cil rep­re­sen­ta­tive Baharud­din Tibe’.

In con­junc­tion with the event, the organ­is­ers held an Islamic arts exhi­bi­tion and a khat (cal­lig­ra­phy) demon­stra­tion by artists from the Restu Foun­da­tion and Johor Baru branch of the National Khat Association.

The build­ing to house the EBC and Kiosk Qariah is located at the main entrance of the mosque.

The EBC has two auto­mated teller machines (ATMs) pro­vided by Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd while the Kiosk Qariah is a sou­venir and snack shop.

Funds for the RM50,000 project was con­tributed by an anony­mous donor and the Masjid Jamek Ban­dar Baru Uda Co-operative, which is headed Shafie Abdul Rashid.

The phil­an­thropist had donated half of the funds for the project.

Mosque com­mit­tee trea­surer, Hus­sein Ismail, 52, said: “The mosque was selected by Bank Islam because of our long, cor­dial rela­tion­ship with the bank.”

He said hun­dreds of res­i­dents regard­less of race and reli­gion had been using the new facil­i­ties since they became avail­able last month.

“The ATM is oper­a­tional 24 hours comes under the Malaysian Elec­tronic Pay­ment Sys­tem,” said Hussein.

“Apart from cash with­drawals, con­sumers can make bill and credit card pay­ments. Mus­lim clients can also pay their zakat and man­age their Tabung Hajim.”

Kiosk Qariah has items like haj caps, tas­bih (prayer beads), women’s scarves, attar of roses and reli­gious books. Snacks, soft drinks, con­fec­tionery and ice-cream are also available.

“Busi­ness has been encour­ag­ing and we’ve employed an assis­tant to attend to the customers.”

In his speech, Shahrir com­mended the mosque com­mit­tee for intro­duc­ing the EBC as it is to the great con­ve­nience of res­i­dents, who pre­vi­ously had to travel quite a dis­tance to the near­est Bank Islam branch.

Wan Ismail gave the assur­ance of BIMB’s full sup­port in the main­te­nance and future upgrade of the EBC.

Suli­man thanked all par­ties for the suc­cess of the launch. “Hope­fully, Masjid Jamek Ban­dar Baru Uda will organ­ise more projects that are ben­e­fi­cial to res­i­dents of this blessed neighborhood.”

Mosque reg­u­lar Mohd Amir Sutan, 66, was delighted with the easy acces­si­bil­ity of the EBC.

Amir, a retiree from nearby Taman Sku­dai Kanan, said: “I’m thank­ful to the com­mit­tee for the facil­ity as I’m too weak to travel to other banks which is quite far from my home.”

Mohd Raimi Rusti, a Stan­dard Five pupil of SK Uda (2) was excited at the launch­ing of the kiosk kariah.

Smartly attired in an all-white baju Melayu, Raimi who attends the nearby reli­gious school, was intently watch­ing a “khat” demon­stra­tion by Yusri Misti.

“Since the kiosk began oper­a­tions over a month ago, I’ve vis­ited it sev­eral times to pur­chase tit-bits and ice-cream. The booth is clean, and con­ducive for shop­ping,” said Raimi joyfully.

Kamariah Ali, 59, a mem­ber of the mosque’s women affairs com­mit­tee was in a cheer­ful mood after the suc­cess­ful open­ing of the new facilities.

“Besides prepar­ing food for the VIPs and guests, the women on the com­mit­tee had worked tire­lessly for in the past two weeks to ensure a smooth event, ” said an exhausted but smil­ing Kamariah.