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I'm in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Just had the delightful spectacle this morning at the breakfast buffet - religious police came and took away some Arab tourists for eating during daylight hours. THe Arabs were kicking and screaming and protesting that Arab custom permits travellers to eat. The Malay religious police answered that since they were doing it in full headscarves, they were insulting the religion, and that Malaysian law makes no provision for travellers - all Mahometans must fast in this land.

They'd had a little scene with the manager of the hotel, who said that they had to remove their headscarves before eating in public, 'please don't make it so obvious'. They refused. The manager offered to bring breakfast up to them so they could eat in their rooms. They wanted to buffet. He warned them that if they ate in full headscarves in public, he was obliged to call the police. They did, and so did he. Whee.

The fine for first-time violators of the fast (both those eating/drinking/smoking and those non-Mahometans who supply them) is 1000 Malaysian Ringgit (roughly 280 USD) and up to 6 months jail. Second-time violators get a fine of 2000 Ringgit and up to a year's jail.

What fun.

The Portuguese colonialists intermarried the local Malays here nearly 500 years ago. Obviously, when they sacked Malacca (which was a booming centre of trade and Islamic missionary activity), they brought Christianity with them and that is the short story of how Malaysia's Portuguese and Catholic community came about.

With that being said, I am a creole Portuguese and I look very Malay. Since my mother is Chinese, I look even more Malay. 6 years ago, I had breakfast in a coffeeshop during the holy month of Ramadhan and I was caught by the police - NOT EVEN RELIGIOUS POLICE. As a 15 year old, I panicked, but couldn't.

They detained me and brought me to the station where I was told to wait. When the senior police officer at the station(a family friend and a Muslim btw) saw me there, he was shocked. When I told him that I was caught for eating in the open, he just went "Oh my God, I'm so sorry... those idiots" and gave his two junior patrollers a nice tongue lashing. I could have left, but I just stayed on for a good laugh.

Minutes later, they came out from the senior officer's room and apologised profusely for wrongfully detaining me. And they asked me, "why didnt you show your IC?" All I could answer them was "why didnt you ask?". They really wanted to make up for what they did so I told them to send me home... in a radio car.

Malaysia is famous for this kind of hypocrisy anyways. There is something wrong with the system of this country. Islam is being prostituted in this country to suit the Government's aims. To know what I actually mean, read this article by Malaysia's new hero at:

http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/holds.php?itemid=7989

You'd be surprised at what is actually happening. Now you know why I'll be heading to Australia for further studies.

oink, indeed . . .

Wow, I didn't know Malaysia had religous police! Come to think of it don't all Muslim countries have them? Even ones the claim to be "secular" like Turkey?

I'm reading a book right now called "Prayers for the Assassin", the book takes place in 2045 and the U.S. is now called the Islamic States of America and Shia law rules the land. Has anyone else read this?

They do. Heck, they even offer rewards for those who convert to Islam here (money, land, titles, high positions etc) or 4-figure rewards for those who proselytize to "kafir". All these sanctioned by the Government. However, this is not condoned by the 9 Malay Rulers (who are heads of Islam in their respective states) nor the Paramount Ruler himself (elected from among the 9 Malay Rulers for a 5-year term.), who is the head of Islam in the states who don't have a Malay Ruler.

Nevertheless, the so called "Civilisational Islam" Government talks about Islamic values but disregard (and even insult) their Islamic authority. Even my Muslim friends are fed up with the Government here. Now you know why it took 30 years for a community to get their church. The Sultan of that state once said that there needs to be more non-Muslim places of worship. However, a Catholic Church came up only 30 years after he said that. So much for regarding authority.