One man’s meat, another man’s poison?

The generic word for meat in Malay, “daging”, is quite commonly understood as referring to beef.

The generic word for meat in Tamil, “erraichi”, is quite commonly understood as a reference to mutton.

The generic word for meat in Chinese, “rou”, is widely understood as to refer to pork.

It’s amazing how, essentially, the same word can be understood as three different meats in different languages, and cultures.

This is just one simple example of how culturally diverse our various communities are, carrying with us, from our respective ancestral motherlands, thousands of years’ worth of cultural and religious heritage, shaped by harmony and strife, war and peace, and everything in between – and along with it, rather divergent world views.

Even more amazing, is that we somehow worked our way around all that to reach a common point of understanding, not only coexisting, but building a country around it, and doing a pretty decent job at that. Despite our differences in perspective.

Our forefathers elected to look beyond and keep our focus trained on nation building, propelling the economy and on giving their children an opportunity to do what they never could. To some it was a peaceful, war-free environment.

To others, it was an opportunity to grow and prosper. To yet others, a chance at an education and to break the social class order set by those who colonised us. But to all – a chance to have a country, a homeland to call our own. Despite our differences.

A few days ago, it was reported that a billboard promoting a Chinese movie – Journey to the West 2 had one of its characters removed from the billboard due to religious sensitivities.

Chu Bajie, one of the four protagonists in the story, was a heavenly general punished to walk the earth in his current form and accompany the hero of the story to obtain a holy Buddhist scripture. Though a playboy and a kaki bodek, Chu is mostly a positive character and a loyal friend.

Chu Bajie’s only real fault to have him removed from the poster is that Chu happens to be a pig. That alone would be sufficient to make him anathema, while his sand demon and monkey brothers-in-arms don’t seem to have quite the same effect. Chu joins in the ranks of other loveable pig-inspired characters like Mrs Piggy and Babe.

Well, I guess we should be thankful the movie made it in at all, given our censorship board’s strict and erratic standards.

In the same movie, another character is present – a bull. Despite Hindu sensitivities, little problem is expected if it appears.

Generally, Hindus in Malaysia are tolerant bunch – you see this in times like Aidiladha where they may be uncomfortable with the sight of cows being sacrificed, but hardly comment as such, out of respect for their Muslim sisters and brothers.

Neither do Hindus generally avoid eateries or functions where beef is served.

This kind of give and take is what enabled Malaysia to endure for so long, so well.

But recently, the actions of some appear bent on compartmentalizing and segregating Malaysians further, by advocating religious restrictions across the board, in the process crossing the rights of other Malaysians.

Using religion as a reasoning point is ideal as people do not question it, out of fear of divine or human retribution, with the line in between often blurred.

One such example is the serving of alcohol aboard our national airline. Being a Malaysian flag carrier, they hire Malaysians of all races and religions, to serve clients from all around the world, of all races and religions. No Muslim flight attendant should be forced to serve something against his or her religious beliefs, but why should he or she?

There should be other flight attendants on board, of other religious beliefs that do not prohibit the handling of alcohol who would probably be happy to do it for him or her. If it is that much of a bother, why join the airline in the first place?

Each religion in Malaysia have lived harmoniously alongside the other by practising tolerance and understanding. What we sometimes fail to understand is, this tolerance is not only demonstrated in allowing worship and the existence of another religion in their respective homes and places of worship, but in recognizing that our common space is a shared one. And that attempting to take a little of that shared space to tailor to our beliefs, would actually deny another’s their own way of life, religious or otherwise.

One man’s meat is another’s poison, after all. – January 5, 2016.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.