Oktoberfest and intolerance in Malaysia

I am appalled by a statement by Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua who was mentioned in an article saying that Muslim organizations are making a sensitive issue out of a non-sensitive thing. In the same article in The Malaysian Insider, he mentioned that “It does not help build a moderate nation where people respect each other,” in which he defended the statement by saying that the beer festival did not involve Muslims.

I agree with his second statement. Oktoberfest has really shown to the public eye that building a tolerant nation has been very difficult when people don’t respect each other. Particularly in a Muslim majority country where there is an established position of Islam in governance, legislation and in our social sphere, it is totally disrespectful when one claims that such an issue is non-sensitive.

What do you mean, ‘non-sensitive’? Is that meant to be an insult?

Mind you that the issue was first brought up to the public’s attention when a Muslim complained of receiving promotional emails on the event. A chain of reaction soon took over and the public started to realise that these events are being promoted in public.

Tony Pua, by saying that the beer festival did not involve Muslims, are you implying that Muslims are not part of the public who have access to these ads?

Truly, I was surprised at first by your insensitive statement but I later realised that you do have a track record in being disrespectful previously towards a fatwa on Valentine Day that has nothing to do with non-Muslims. It is ironic now that you’re asking Muslims to be ‘tolerant’ on a non-Muslim exclusive event that is being publicised out in the open when in fact you were really disrespectful about a fatwa that was given out exclusive to Muslims. Typical politician. What was I thinking?

To make things worse, DAP’s Lau Weng San had attacked his own Pakatan Colleague, Ustaz Nasrudin Tantawi by saying that there is no issue with the promotion of the event as it is in English, thus making it exclusively for non-Muslims.

I think it is fair for me to say that I speak on behalf of the many Malays in Malaysia who are disgusted by this stereotypical statement by Lau Weng San. I’d like to point out for your information that National Schools do teach English as part of their curriculum and I did not manage to survive three years of my undergraduate study in New York by speaking in Malay.

Perhaps you should be the one speaking against those who demand the sacred word, ‘Allah’ to be used in Malay bibles. If I understand clearly, your statement did imply that the Muslims only use the Malay language.

To DAP reps, please take your politician hats off and start putting on your moral hat. I see no benefit for alcohol, be it religious or not. If you justify alcohol promotion by means of promoting tourism, then I say that there are a lot of things in this world that have no good moral and social impact towards the society yet can be used to promote tourism. This is Malaysia, not Germany. We are a civilised country built on certain values and principles that needs to be respected by all.

If you wish to be respected, I urge that you respect the position of Islam in the public sphere at the same time. As I have stated in a previous article, tolerance is a two-way street. Respect is never given, it is earned.

Mohammad Yusri Jamaluddin
ISMA Activist
MSc Business Analytics,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York