COMMENT | It is not so much about racism that the canteen operator was told to cease operation, but the lack of transparency in MIC education bureau chief P Kamalanathan’s own response to the saga that raises concerns.

The allegation made by a certain individual was that the Indian food service provider at Politeknik Seberang Perai was told to cease operation on “grounds that his stall was not syariah compliant”.

Kamalanathan’s statement, saying that there was no element of racism, is nothing but a smokescreen of the real issue.

In my opinion, it was not even a religious issue but the forced compliance to a set of rules imposed by another party and this is what Kamalanathan failed to address.

This is the real issue, nothing to do with the service provider being an Indian. It has to do with the reluctance of the operator to comply with certain syariah regulations.

The fact that the Facebook posting had attracted an online petition of over 300 people within a short period clearly shows that the Indian food stall operator has his or her own fans.

It is one man’s meat and another man’s poison. You cannot blame the operator for killing the chicken in a certain way because he is a non-Muslim and caters to the needs of non-Muslims in the polytechnic.

I am asking Kamalanathan this question: Is there a need for the Indian operator, who may be a Hindu, to also be syariah compliant, since the stall has its own clients?...