COMMENT | Anything resembling a cross supposedly confuses Muslims; they claim the kebaya worn by airline stewardesses is too revealing and dictate that names of food and beverages like hot dogs and ginger beer must be changed to avoid confusion.

Don’t forget that Oktoberfest, a harvest festival in Germany, has been called a “pesta arak” (alcohol party), the Bon Odori, the Japanese annual cultural festival, is “unacceptable to Muslims”, and greetings, like “Merry Christmas” or acknowledging Valentine’s Day, have been flagged as potentially confusing.

So, do we remove the plus (+) sign from our arithmetic books and redesign the aprons at our airports so that they don’t confuse Muslim passengers?

Now, even a water festival in Kuala Lumpur has drawn the ire of religious czars, Umno has been forced to join the chorus - brandishing its “religious badge” to avoid exclusion - with Deputy Prime Minister and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi entering the fray.

But then again, Malaysians have to be reminded that...