A city of two tales

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Some of you have probably read ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, the story about the French Revolution. Well, in Malaysia we have ‘A City of Two Tales’, a story about the Malaysian ‘Islamic Revolution’, Islam Hadhari to be exact, and that tale recently happened in the city of Kuala Lumpur.

By now all Malaysians have probably heard about the Federal Territory Religious Department’s raid on a night club and the arrest of 100 Muslims who were patronising the establishment, presumably to drink. I will not waste time by going into detail as it was all over the news so you should know everything you need to know about it. What I want to do is relate the second tale, the untold story, of how double standards are being practiced in Malaysia.


One day I was on a Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Terengganu to Kuala Lumpur. It was a day flight during the month of Ramadhan. The Malay steward asked me whether I wanted anything to drink. I thanked him and told him I was fasting, so no thanks. Understandably I did not look Malay at all so he would not know I was fasting. So I forgave him for this. Certainly if he knew I was a Muslim he would never have offered me a drink while the sun was still up in the month of Ramadhan.

Or so I thought.

The steward then asked two other Malays in the seats in front of me, who you would have no problems recognising them as Malays, if they wanted a drink. They accepted the offer and drank all through the 50-minute or so flight to Kuala Lumpur.

I was flabbergasted. I called the steward over and asked him whether he is a Muslim. He confirmed he is. I then asked him whether he is aware that we are now in the month of Ramadhan. Again he confirmed he was fully aware of this. I then asked him why he was serving drinks to Muslims when it is a crime for Muslims to eat and drink in public in the daytime in the month of Ramadhan.

You are not forced to fast in the month of Ramadhan if for some reason or another you do not wish to or are not able to. Those who are travelling or suffer from gastric or pregnant ladies and so on can be exempted from fasting. But you should only eat and drink in private and not openly in public from what I understand. Every year we read in the newspapers stories of Muslims being arrested for eating or drinking in public during the month of Ramadhan. This appears to be the law in Malaysia. So why is Malaysian Airlines above the law? Why is Malaysian Airlines an accessory and encouraging Muslims to violate what is clearly Malaysian law?

The steward was most indignant. Malaysian Airlines offers every passenger on its flight beverages regardless whether they are Muslims or not. It is up to the passengers to accept or reject the offer. If I am not happy with this I can bring it up with the management, the steward told me. This has nothing to do with him. He is just carrying out company policy.

I decided to just drop the issue and slept through the rest of the flight while the two Malays in front of me continued to drink, joke and laugh until we touched down in Kuala Lumpur.

On another Malaysian Airlines flight I took, an international flight, I was sandwiched between two Caucasians who apparently were American oil workers. Before the flight could even take off they asked the Malay stewardess for beer and she obliged them. Within seconds they had guzzled down the beer and asked for another.

Less than an hour into the flight they were clearly quite tipsy. Their language was already transforming into four-letter words every second word. They would keep saying things like “Jesus Fucking Christ,” and this irritated me like mad. Jesus is as much a Prophet to the Muslims as it is to the Christians and I assumed they were Christians though I never asked them.

I summoned the stewardess and asked her in Malay whether it was necessary to get these two Americans drunk. They were becoming very loud and boisterous and their beer-laced saliva was all over me. They were talking and laughing loudly with me in between and their saliva was spraying my face and clothes.

The stewardess informed me that they were paying passengers so they have every right to drink anything they want. If I do not wish to be sandwiched between people who drink beer or liquor maybe next time I should fly first class.

I gave up. I had intended to perform my prayers on the flight but now that my clothes were contaminated with beer I would have to skip my prayers. Later on during the flight, by the time they were really drunk, one of them spilt his beer all over me and now I was no longer just sprayed but bathed in beer.

The mind boggles that Muslim stewards and stewardesses are being made by Malaysian Airlines to handle liquor and serve Muslims beverages during the month of Ramadhan. If the same thing was done down on the ground, not only those indulging, but those who are an accessory to this ‘crime’ would also face the wrath of the religious department. But on a Malaysian Airlines flight what is a crime on the ground is apparently not when in the air.

The Federal Territory Religious Department would probably justify the arrest of the 100 Muslims by saying that Muslims should not drink liquor. In fact, they should not even buy, store or serve liquor so all those ‘accessories’ as well have committed a crime.

Fine! I am not going to argue with this. The law is the law. But what about Malaysian Airlines?

Well, Malaysian Airlines is not in Kuala Lumpur. It is in the air. Anything in Kuala Lumpur comes under the jurisdiction of the Federal Territory Religious Department. Anything in the air comes directly under God’s jurisdiction so God will take care of it Himself.

Okay, now I understand.