Only right to respond with reason

TWO weeks into a new year and an old issue rears its head again. A Muslim MP made a statement about the “inappropriate” way alcoholic drinks were displayed to the public in a shopping mall in Penang. Judging from the reactions the statement garnered, Malaysians still do not know how to deal with sensitive racial and religious issues 60 years into nationhood. At this rate, we will never change. I would like to present a different strategy to handle this issue that will, hopefully, offer a way we can live together in some semblance of harmony.

A few days before that statement was made, I already had an inkling that something like it might crop up. How? Well, when I was at a mall in Kuala Lumpur recently, I saw a lot of lovely hampers being sold in the central concourse. I love looking at hampers and have bought a few over the years, so I went over to check them out. When I saw that the prices went up to over RM1,000, I wondered if they might have alcohol in them; close scrutiny did indeed reveal bottles of alcohol.