After Sandwich Ham Spat Brewing Between Nga Kor Ming And Umno Youth Pas Over Alcohol Sales

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UMNO Youth has ticked off Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming for his lack of fundamental understanding of Muslim sensitivities by retaining status quo on alcohol sales while reminding those who are prohibited from consuming the beverage to abstain from buying it.
Its chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh continued to back the proposal by Ipoh City Council to impose ‘blanket ban’ on alcohol sales in “almost 100% Muslim locales” by contending that such measure does not rob the rights of non-Muslims from drinking alcohol.
‘But if you want to buy and drink, do so outside the Muslim-majority areas for distance between areas where alcohol sales are prohibited and the Ipoh city (where the sale of alcohol is allowed) is not very far,” the Merlimau state assemblyman berated in a Facebook (FB) post.

“As alcohol is a sensitive issue for Muslims, the need to sell it in Muslim-majority areas doesn’t arise at all.”
On Jan 18, Ipoh Mayor Datuk Rumaizi Baharin said a council-level meeting had approved a policy to study the demand for alcohol sales prohibition from Malay-majority locales before implementing it.
He further revealed that a similar ban was enforced in the Manjoi area in 2020 and 2021 after widespread protests from residents.
But Nga who is also the National DAP vice-chairman and the party’s Perak state chairman begged to differ on grounds of preserving harmony and peaceful relations among the different ethnic groups and to avoid the issue being politicised by certain quarters.
Taking the issue to another level, Akmal who is also the Melaka Rural Development, Agriculture and Food Security Committee chairman contended that the focus “should be to ensure that the number of accidents caused by drunk drivers decreases, not to encourage more people to get drink”.
“I also want to ask what steps the government has taken to reduce the number of accidents caused by drunk drivers?” he enquired. “You have to understand that (sensitivity of Muslims) rather than just shooting your mouth off.”
Aside from the Russia-trained medical doctor, PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhi Shaari chided Nga who is also the Teluk Intan MP that he should not be telling the public that he wanted “to emulate Caliph Umar Al-Khattab if he remains pro-alcohol sales in Muslim-majority areas”.
“My suggestion is that it is better to remain silent if the minister doesn’t understand the goal of the policy to limit the sale of alcohol in Muslim-majority areas,” the Pasir Mas MP hit out on his FB page.

“It would be more appropriate for the minister to declare Joseph Stalin as an idol for the latter is indeed known as a dictatorial leader who encouraged his people to drink alcohol.
“He (Stalin) is said to have promoted vodka as a national symbol and a source of national income (for the then Soviet Union) through alcohol taxes. Stalin was also one of the leaders of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.” – Focus Malaysia

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