Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Malaysiakini : One suspects not. Is it because Chinese Muslims are under closer
scrutiny? Or is it because the cross triggers a potent allergic
reaction?
This is the second halal food blowup in just one month after nasi kandar babi hit the news in late October. Is it a sign of growing religious intolerance?
Speaking
of ādeceptionā, does that mean non-Malay politicians must stop wearing
the songkok? Can a more āsensitiveā person accuse them of using the
headgear to āconfuseā or ātrickā Muslims into believing they are āMalay
friendlyā?
Itās
not a joke. In 2016, a deputy minister and a ministry enforcement
director claimed āno porkā or āpork-freeā signs at eateries were meant
to āmisleadā Muslims into thinking they are halal.
The
Pahang Islamic Religious Department even ordered food outlets in that
state not to use such signs to avoid, yes, āconfusingā the public.
Against the law
The
current controversy involves the Mon Chinese Beef Roti restaurant in
Kuala Lumpur. If there was any ādeceptionā, I would say they were
pretending to be Jamaican, who pronounce āYa manā as āYa monā!
OK
jokes aside, the place had recently opened and there were long queues,
mainly from Muslims. So the cross-wearing worker was sacked, presumably
to avoid alienating their main customers.
But what they did is illegal, according to former human resources minister M Kulasegaran, who pointed out the country has laws against religious discrimination in the workplace.
Jelutong MP RSN Rayer
He added, āI fear that one day employers might take issue with their workers putting (Hindu) white ash on their foreheads.ā
Bandar Kuching MP Kelvin Yii commented that non-Muslims are allowed to prepare halal food as long as requirements are met.
āThe
restaurant should have simply released a statement assuring the public
that all guidelines on halal food preparations are being strictly
followed,ā he said.
User āNinaās Nazriā posted on X (Twitter) that the sacking was wrong
because āWearing a cross has no bearing on the halal status of the food
served.ā
But others stuck to the ādeceptionā narrative. Were they
overreacting? Is it yet another sign of the growing racial and religious
divide in Malaysia?
Food extremism?
How far can this go? Currently, larger hotels must have a separate entrance and lift for non-halal food.
Will
Muslim customers next insist that food delivery riders serving them
cannot ever have non-halal food in that big box on their motorbikes? In
other words, must food riders be separated between those sending halal
and non-halal foods?
Yeah, food deliveries are all wrapped in (too
much) plastic and are supposed to be put into separate compartments of
the box. But could some molecules of say, hot pork noodles, somehow
evaporate, or worse, leak, and thus ācontaminateā the whole box?
The
beef about ādeceptionā over the beef roti place was that it was not
halal certified - yet. It didnāt matter that the meat in the buns was
sourced from local halal sources.
Restaurant manager Sofia
explained they only recently opened but the process to get certified
ātakes a lot of time as there are many documents needed.ā
Many
have complained that the halal application process is difficult,
time-consuming, and expensive. This is precisely why many outlets just
prefer to say āno porkā instead.
While Jakim has denied their
procedures were difficult, recently on Oct 3, Deputy Prime Minister
Ahmad Zahid Hamidi confirmed there were many complaints that the
approval and issuance of halal certificates took too long - between nine
months and two years. This was reported by Bernama.
Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Thus,
the Malaysia Halal Industry Development Council has decided that
starting in early 2024, the application procedures for halal
certificates will be simplified, with the approval period shortened to
only 23 working days.
And so perhaps the whole controversy over beef roti could have been avoided if the halal certificate had been issued quickly.
The
āsensitivityā over halal food seems to occur more in West Malaysia. The
Sarawak Malays seem to have no issue enjoying their nasi lemak while
their Chinese friends are eating porky kolo mee or kuay chap at the same kopitiam table.
High halal quality?
Rather
than something that divides us, I wish halal was something that unites
us ā as a symbol of quality, like the label āorganicā.
When the
World Halal Forum was held in Kuala Lumpur in 2006, Khairy Jamaluddin
said, āWe want to promote halal as a premium itemā¦ for confidence in the
integrity of (an) entire food chain that is clean, safe, and healthy.ā
In addition, the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (Abim) has called on the authorities to include eco-friendly requirements for halal certification. This is to educate Muslims to take environmental protection seriously.
Halal
is supposed to mean a product that complies with Islamic principles of
hygiene. But what about halal restaurants that are dirty? Weāve all
heard about mass food poisoning from some school canteen operators.
In
the modern context, a product may be halal yet packed with harmful
chemicals such as preservatives, nitrates (burgers and sausages), plus
artificial colourings and flavourings.
Is all that healthy for
Muslims? Perhaps that is a wee bit more important than whether a worker
preparing beef roti is wearing a cross.
