LETTER | “Can you speak Bahasa Malaysia? This is the land of the Malays, speak in BM.”
This one sentence encapsulated the exchange that went down between a man shopper and an innocent beer promoter in a local hypermarket.
Why race should have even been relevant in the shopper’s borderline harangue beats me. Unfortunately, playing the race card comes as no surprise in Malaysia.
If you have a senior member in Umno warning that the Malay-Muslim community will “run amok” if Putrajaya ratifies the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd), then this incident is seemingly an extension of that.
Let’s talk about the offended shopper’s comments. I’m not sure why he asked her to speak Bahasa Malaysia in the heated exchange, as if that would have made her beer promoting 'more halal’ from his point of view.
This wasn’t an exchange about a Muslim’s outrage at beer being sold in a constitutionally Islamic country per se.
Instead, I’d argue that it was a threat to a conservative mindset and psyche that simply does not tolerate anything (or from the video, anyone) that isn't putting Islam on a pedestal or propagating its ideals at the expense of the validity of other races and religions.
Kudos to the beer promotor; she was not fazed, as the 45-second clip showed. She proceeded to confront the man’s bigotry, asking him outright if he was being racist. And who could blame her for wanting to speak whatever language she felt comfortable with, be it English or Chinese.
Next, she questioned him about whether he was forcing any religious propaganda on her.
A can of beer should not be viewed as a threat to the sanctity of Islam. It seems like a banal statement, but one that is very relevant to this incident.
This incident is just one very microscopic example of how non-Muslims in Malaysia may be perceived, so that even an innocuous promotion of a beer product constitutes an insult to the majority faith in Malaysia and necessitates the knight in shining armour that is condescension.
Her confrontation really highlights what is wrong with Malaysia when it comes to racial and religious harmony. For all the talk on bumiputera rights or Malay supremacy, Malay political and religious elites have hardly been the ones to take charge when it comes to asserting the importance of people of different creeds getting along.
Establishing and maintaining social harmony is a delicate act, whether in a small or big country. The humble beer promoter in the video makes up in the department where the elites are lacking. She practically tells the man how his comments are racist and are not welcomed.
In other words, in no context should a Muslim or an individual of any other faith be allowed to spew such hatred, especially in a country that professes multiculturalism.
I say hatred because the man could be heard saying “F**k you” accompanied by a middle finger, almost to say that she should go and promote beer somewhere else where Muslims won’t be offended.
It doesn’t take much to sympathise with the lady promoting the beer, despite her steadfast composure.
Where I would sympathise with the man is his family. Some angry Malaysians went on to share pictures of his wife and daughter. This definitely does not bode well for the child’s experience in school and possibly his childhood.
The reaction to bigotry should not be to shame the bigot’s family. Calm minds should prevail where the man, and many others like him, are simply called out for berating a non-Muslim and hurling obscenities at him/her.
What we have learnt from the video is that yes, Malaysians speak (and can choose to speak) with different tongues. However, at the end of the day, we are all Malaysians, trying to eke out a living and trying to live our own faith in a multicultural country.
SYED IMAD ALATAS is a member of the publications team at the National University of Singapore's Middle East Institute.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
