YOURSAY ‘PAS, isn't there anything else we can emulate Singapore?’

PAS: M'sia should emulate Singapore's alcohol law

Myrights: The difference is Singapore came up with it alcohol law with the objective to maintain public order, especially in public places.

But the PAS version is to clamp down on drinking altogether, under the skewed and irrational reasoning that alcohol degrades human intelligence and is the mother of all vices.

European countries, the United States and Japan are the main consumers of alcohol, and are you saying they are less intelligent than you?

Wira: PAS, you ought to understand the background behind the Liquor Control Act in Singapore.

On Dec 8, 2013, the foreign workers started a riot in Little India after a fatal road accident there. A witness reported that rioters at the scene were intoxicated with alcohol and threw beer bottles.

As usual, the Singapore government used a sledgehammer to kill a fly and thus, to the disgust of many law-abiding Singaporeans, the very unpopular Liquor Control Act was passed by Parliament in January this year.

In Malaysia, Muslims do not get intoxicated. If you advocate the banning of alcohol, you are encroaching on the right of the non-Muslims.

Negarawan: PAS and Umno should learn from Singapore that the government must rule based on non-racial and non-religious lines. Please don't limit yourselves to just the alcohol law in Singapore.

Malays in Singapore are generally more progressive and rational in their thinking and religious practices.

In his eulogy for LKY (Lee Kuan Yew), former minister of state Sidek Saniff said that he was one of the representatives from Singapore to visit Israel. Sidek was also humble to borrow the winter boots of Goh Chok Tong, upon the suggestion by LKY to save money.

Mosques in Singapore control the volume of their loudhailers, so as not to disturb the surrounding community. Yet this has not lessened their faith.

In Malaysia, Islam has been allowed to intrude into the civil service, schools, government, and legal system without any consideration for non-Muslims.

This has made it conducive to plant the seeds of Islamic extremism and terrorism, which is now becoming a scourge to the country.

SSDhaliwal: Singapore also does not recognise apostasy as a serious crime and conversion of Muslims is also not prohibited.

PAS, you cannot pick and choose your battles, either you adopt their laws as a whole or none at all. You cannot run with the hares and hunt with the hounds.

Legit: While you are at it, can you also ask the government to abstain from collecting tax revenue on alcohol and gambling and using it to fund Islamic causes?

Odysseus: First, Malaysia is not an Islamic country. It is a country with Islam as the official religion.

Secondly, Singapore did it for the safety and health reasons for its people. By the way, Singapore is clearly a secular country, which separates religion from politics.

The state does not fund the construction of places of worship. You do it with your own money.

Swipenter: PAS, isn't there anything else we can emulate Singapore? Malaysia should emulate good governance, as practised by Singapore, and not just their laws and restrictions on alcohol.

How about giving equal opportunities to all, notwithstanding their affirmative programmes? How about practising meritocracy? How about choosing the best teaching methods and teaching mediums in schools and universities?

How about embracing diversities instead of forced assimilation? What about their anti-corruption practices?

Clearwater: Indeed, I would rather we emulate Singapore in educational excellence, civil service efficiency, weeding out corruption, public transportation, infrastructure maintenance and meritocracy.

Eyespye: I wonder if the Malay Muslim electorate truly supports PAS. I mean, it's obvious: they are engaging in that age-old practice of pandering to the public - in this case, the Malay Muslim voters in Malaysia.

I think the opposition sees this, and from what I can tell it is completely helpless to do anything about it - PKR's just a shell of its former self now, having lost their leader, and having wasted years just doing nothing about putting in place governance and procedures to keep their party alive and move beyond Anwar Ibrahim.

The net effect of this latest crap, I'm sure, is more vitriol from non-Muslims, more sympathy from Muslims, etc. You do know that that's exactly what they are doing in the United Kingdom, right?

Haveagreatday: I understand the sentiments of some other commentators here that PAS should not pick and choose what policies to copy from our eminent neighbour Singapore.

My_Logic: PAS Ulama Central Committee chief information officer Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali Al-Takiri, please talk about the use of tobacco, too.

Why emulate Singapore only for its alcohol law?

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