Malay MailPAS pushes the alcohol agenda as state elections loom
JANUARY 19 — The march included escalator rides, presumably. In a mall, they are ubiquitous.
Last week, Muhammad Fawwaz Mohamad Jan took a group to face Sunway Carnival Mall’s management. He had an agenda.
The Penang outlet displayed and promoted liquor products at its central space in conjunction with Chinese New Year sales. For the Permatang Pauh MP, this was an affront. To him and all Muslims, in his mind.
Beers and spirits in the open, sold where co-religionists may wander by, pass momentarily, notice from around a corner, glance from a nearby doughnut shop or be forced to hear six-packs hit trolley bottoms.
To know forever that cans filled with liquor sound exactly the same as cans with diabetes-inducing carbonated drinks can be too much to bear. Not just around the waist.
Fawwaz told the mall to respect those of his faith.
He seems to set an extremely high bar for himself, to protect Muslims from displays of beers and spirits across the federation. After all, in Malaysia, Muslims are much more ubiquitous than escalators or malls.
It is equally irrational when reversed, where is the ideal isolated spot for physical liquor procurement without the glare of the public? Peddled out of a container on a narrow beachfront with forested areas behind and only accessible by sea?
Policing and caring for a drink culture is considerable but the social-cultural benefits are also appreciated by society. — Reuters pic
Our nation's risks are getting stranger by the month.
Teetotallers are not uncommon in the Dewan Rakyat, and with 49 of the 74 Perikatan Nasional lawmakers from PAS it is safe to say, this time they are well-represented.
Especially Young Turks with no recollection of pre-NEP Malaysia.
Fawwaz turns 40 this year and appears full of vigour. After all, he ended the prime minister’s family’s 40-year monopoly of the Penang constituency. Anwar Ibrahim first won the seat in 1982... before the preacher’s birth.
Personal sins
The MP feels liquor harms people. Fair comment. All civil societies enforce conditions for liquor consumption; it’s a given.
From age-restrictions, refuse drunks policies and (excessive in our case) taxation to cover the health-social costs — and fatten our treasury. Policing and caring for a drink culture is considerable but the social-cultural benefits are also appreciated by society.
Yet, liquor is not alone as suspect lifestyles which people desire. Tobacco products, junk food and aisle after aisle of sugared products in solid, liquid or frozen form. Them things kill too.
How to decide which to permit and which to not?
Democratic societies let people, not governments, determine freedoms. Governments facilitate those freedoms inasmuch as one man’s liberty does not result in the oppression of others.
Further, too much power in a puritanical government results in an oppressive nanny-state. Think Iran and North Korea.
But the MP’s real intentions are thinly veiled, he hates alcohol but is agnostic about tobacco products. Both bring harm, a demand for better or even heavier regulations would be necessary for both, not just one. Why the indifference for one and direct fire and brimstone at the other?
This column objects to the proposed generational tobacco ban despite personal misgivings about smoking as a lifestyle. It likes to leave choices to people and expects government regulations to balance users’ and the general population’s interests.
A democracy is about different people getting along, not forcing a population to conform on the basis the righteous know better than the rest.
Votes attached
On that token, a political angle explains Fawwaz’s over-exuberance or selectivity when it comes to sins.
Liquor is a wedge issue. To separate Muslims from those who are not. Simplified, his party campaigns that the proliferation of alcohol drinks translates to minority encroachment.
It reinforces the us against them fears. With six state elections mid-year, currently split down the middle between PN and Pakatan Harapan, religious insecurities can tilt polls.
Easy to message on the campaign trail. PN means less liquor, Pakatan or BN means liquor in large hampers. Cast your votes, your journey to heaven begins here!
More of Fawwaz’s constituents die of tobacco related diseases than from alcohol consumption, yet he has yet to storm mamaks and food courts in Seberang Jaya to demand an end of cigarette sales or at least prohibit indoor smoking.
While a beer sighting harms emotions — let’s stretch our imaginations — sitting in a restaurant filled with cigarette smoke actually kills people. It is measurable. Where’s the disgust?
As a recovering heart patient, the columnist worries more about second-hand smoke in a bar than loud drunks repeating bad jokes.
Reality wake-up call
The MP fears visibility may socially justify alcohol and increase youth take-up of beers and spirits. Correct. It is applicable to cigarettes too. Casual smoking by several relatives at an indoor family gathering above poisoning non-smoking attendees also socially justifies the habit.
Beer on a trolley carted to the parking lot and Uncle Haris puffing next to grandma, which has harder implications?
More and more people look at their phones than the signboards around them. Malaysians increasingly live in virtual cocoons, and if so, how will PAS protect Muslims from HD quality alcohol ads online?
Fawwaz wants a tailor-made society. One which PAS designs for the population. How to custom build that reality online?
Most bars close at 3am, but millions of Muslims wake up at 4am to see Mbappe, Vinicius Jr or Haaland burn up Champions League nights, with only Heineken ads at half-time and on the electronic boards. How will Fawwaz regulate sensitivities here? Give Gianni Infantino a call?
The same applies to Kedah’s overzealous efforts to shut down lottery shops at a time apps enable Kedahans to gamble 24-7.
Liberty now
The management of Sunway Carnival Mall acquiesced to the MP’s demands.
There is a brand to protect and the mall would rather avoid a public spat with the religious right.
That’s quite understandable.
However, the rest of us without retail businesses, can react.
Point out that quick concessions to the right only harms the country’s prospects. Malaysia ranks fifth out of the 11 Asean countries for 2022 tourist arrivals. Tourist confidence about destinations is related to its permissibility.
Speak up about the need to be a more tolerant society where not all Malaysians have to approve before some Malaysians can access alternative pursuits.
Gerakan came out in support of Fawwaz’s right to express. They did the whole Voltaire defend to the death your right to say it.
Be careful, I’ll tell the party desperate to resuscitate. There are worse things than no election wins on the horizon.
Liberals want everyone to have choices infinitely.
Fawwaz and the MPs with him think the opposite. Their opening salvo is always their hurt sensitivities.
They want choices until they are in power, at which point they’d begin to undo one by one our rights or choices. Till we forget what rights are or lose the temerity to choose.
This is why, a preacher turned MP’s visit to admonish a mall has more repercussions than it appears on the surface. These are the battles that shape the war to protect our freedoms.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
