Back home, I wondered if I had handed over “tainted” or “dirty” currency to the tudung-clad mak cik who sold me the santan and operator of the warung.
Did
I inadvertently give “contaminated” notes? This is because the pork
seller gave me the change with his hands after having packed my
purchase. The only consolation is that he wiped his hands on his apron
before the exchange.
With all the hullabaloo over the handling of
alcoholic drinks, especially a suggestion by Pulai MP Suhaizan Kaiat,
who wanted to know if the government can introduce vending machines for such drinks.
Equally astounding was Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's
Department (Islamic Affairs) Zulkifli Hasan, who said the government
always welcomes fresh ideas that can help address concerns about Muslims
having to handle alcoholic beverages at work.
Pray tell me who
will load the vending machines and if there are vending machines to fix
the perfect Singapore Sling or Sri Lankan Arak with coconut water.
Back to the RM100 note which I gave to the pork seller. In all likelihood, he would have banked it into his account.
Like all monies received by the bank, this note is now probably in one of the ATMs somewhere in the country.
Now,
do banks in the country have to use sophisticated machinery or
chemicals in each of its premises to separate currency notes into halal
and non-halal categories?
Or will officers be placed beside
machines that accept deposits to query the customer as to the source of
money he is depositing?
Would he stop a customer who honestly declared that they were the winnings from the 4-D lottery?
Will there be special machines to “cleanse” any form of contamination in the banking system?
Would they have separate counters to deal with “clean” and “contaminated” money? Would seats in banking halls be segregated?
Former
law minister Zaid Ibrahim, responding to Suhaizan's proposal, noted:
“By extension, no Malay drivers should be allowed to drive any vehicles
carrying beer bottles.”
In a post on X, he said: “No Malay customs
officers should be allowed to inspect beer consignments and impose
duties. Lastly, the Finance Ministry needs to employ more non-Muslims
quickly as many business and commercial activities in the country are
not halal-type.”
Muslim sensitivities
In 2018, I wrote: “When I started writing for Malaysiakini,
I made a concerted effort to stay away from two contentious topics -
race and religion. Not anymore. Being pushed to the wall by idiotic and
foolhardy individuals, it is time to break the self-imposed restriction.
“Few want to impose their moral standards and values on the rest of Malaysians. We have to stand up and say it as it is.”
Even
before that, when the ominous signs of “sensitivities of Muslims”
surfaced in 2015, I wasted no time admonishing the carrot-brained idiots
for their stupidity.
Then came the episode of different cups for
different religions. I chided the Education Ministry for its silence in
doing nothing to prevent the segregation of drinking cups placed beside a
water dispenser by labelling them “murid Islam” and “bukan Islam”.
So
many came thereafter - hot dogs, Timah whisky, and mother of all -
certain quarters decreeing that it is forbidden for Muslims to wish
someone Merry Christmas.
When will this insanity stop?
In
2015, the Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainal Abidin asked a touching,
important, and justified question that transcends all boundaries of
religion: “Can the less intelligent be given important posts such as
that of a minister and the like?”
By extension, this should be asked of our lawmakers.
