Tiong S Travails The Big Picture

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“And lately, by the tavern door agape,
Came stealing through the dusk an angel shape,
Bearing a vessel on his shoulder; and
He bid me taste of it; and ‘twas the Grape!”
ADS- The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1048- 1131)
Our politicians often take us for fools. But who among us doesn’t think the venom and vitriol heaped upon Sarawak’s Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing, has gone too far this time?
Decent folks know it has as much to do with alcohol as with putting the “other” in their place.
And alcohol, when weaponised, is indeed potent stuff. Ask the Finns who first came up with the idea of sealing a glass bottle full of alcohol (or petrol) with a cloth wick to act as a fuse before turning it into a hand-thrown incendiary weapon against the invading Russians, the pejorative “Molotov cocktail”.
It is now the weapon of choice of criminals, gangsters, rioters, football hooligans and urban guerrillas. It's effective against tanks when dropped into their turrets, but it will be difficult to stop this tank of a man called Tiong, political Molotov cocktails and all.
We need more politicians like him, not fewer.
Much-loved MP
So here is the big picture, starting with Tiong, the MP from Bintulu, Sarawak. Before serving as minister in this coalition government, he was special envoy to China under the Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri Yaakob-led governments, tasked with building trust and confidence with our largest trading partner since 2009.
His home constituency is fiercely supportive of him. He never misses an invitation to sing, dance and drink with them, wearing the much-loved baju burung.
Politics aside, he is the quintessential “man of the people”. “Agi idup, agi ngelaban”, as the Dayaks say. Fight to your last breath. Bravo!
And bravo again for delivering as a minister. His tireless energy and drive have made us overtake Thailand for tourist arrivals this year.
He achieved this by focusing on work, not politicking, not by seeking cuts, commissions and gallivants under the guise of belajar sampai melancong. Well done, Tiong! Syabas!
ADSTourism to the rescue
Tourism is the lifeline of millions of Malaysians, without the need for intermediaries. In comes the tourist and out goes his money into the pockets of the taxi driver, tour guides, restaurant, gerai and motel owner, tour service provider, divemaster and the like.
Our tourism revenue in 2024 was a whopping RM292 billion. Beat that!
When governments fail the people, like in Greece and Sri Lanka, tourism comes to the rescue, putting food on their tables. And yes, the posters and brochures don’t lie: warm smiles, happy people, great food and drinks (not just teh tarik), and the sights and sounds of “Truly Asia” draw tourists to our shores.
And increasingly, tourists “inform” themselves before booking their tickets. By all accounts, Afghanistan is an incredibly beautiful country, but who wants to visit a theocracy where mullahs rule the roost, playing God? Or North Korea under a Supreme Leader, sharing the same title as the top dog in Iran?
Modern tourism is driven by air travel, and some of the biggest fleet operators are from the larger Middle East. It includes Turkish Airlines, Emirates and Qatar Airways. Like our national carrier, they all serve alcohol, whether beer, wine or whiskey, with a sweet smile: “Another drink, sir? And you, madam?”
Arts and culture
Now for some arts and culture. Poetry was highly regarded in pre-Islamic Arabia. Clans and tribes competed fiercely, writing and reciting poetry and spawning a new genre, khamrayat, “wine verses”, centred on life, love and wine itself - the later world of Hafez, Abu Nuwas, Khusrao and Omar Khayyam!
And like Tiong, the Arabs too loved to tipple, and it was a hard habit to kick. The first Caliph imposed a punishment of 40 lashes, perhaps convinced that a fast-expanding empire needed sober soldiers, not drunkards. But that did not deter the imbibers. The second Caliph increased it to 80 lashes.
Still, the drinking continued. By now, the polymath Ibn Sina was regularly prescribing wine for ailments like unsettled nerves, melancholia, insomnia and poor digestion. It must have given them a sense of cheer and well-being.
Like Tiong, wherever and whenever he travels, he shares his brand of cheer.
Back in the Middle East, the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, dominant in the Ottoman Empire, decreed that drinking without getting drunk is permissible. Other traditions, mazabh, argued that only grapes were to be avoided, allowing the drinking of fig, plum and fruit wines, especially distilled ones.
In the Anatolian heartland of the Caliphate, raki was particularly favoured and praised. In the Balkans under Ottoman rule, the traditional fruit spirit made from plums, slivovitz, was the toast of the Serbians, Bosniaks and Albanians.
They fought each other often, but just as often, drank together.
What history tells us
Half a continent away, the newly converted Turco-Mongols - also known as the Moguls - brought to the various Islamic Empires and Emirates they founded, the habits of the steppe nomads whose drinking bouts attained epic proportions. Most of Timur the Lame’s descendants died from hard drinking, not fighting.
Besides, the Ottomans, Timurids and Safavids all belonged to a tradition of hard-riding and hard-drinking horsemen whose rulers banned alcohol while privately consuming it themselves.
Men like Selim the Drunkard, the Ottoman Caliph and son of Suleiman the Magnificent. There were many more.
But all these rulers were sober enough to know that in cultures and societies that grow grains, unlike the desert Bedouins, an excess harvest is converted into alcohol.
Wine-soaked sociability oiled the gears of early Islamic societies. Sultans and courtiers drank together, ensuring frankness and trust among them.
And they were also keenly aware that their religion was spreading in a wine-drinking culture. In the lands first conquered by Islam - Syria, Egypt and Iran - there were vineyards everywhere.
For centuries, Muslims remained a minority, and drinking was common among their elites. Like in British Malaya.
The story of drinks and drinking at both the grain and granular level is very different from what we are told by those intent on weaponising it.
An honest look at history will dispel the rising tide of hate hurled against the “other”. Otherwise, tourists will find out that our multiculturalism is more fume and famous.
On a sober note, khamr, the Arab word for all intoxicants, wine included, is derived from the root word meaning to “cloud” or “shroud”. Surely non-drinkers need to stay clear-headed. Or else it will be hard to tell who really is intoxicated, whether with wine or with power. - Mkini
MURALE PILLAI is a former GLC employee. He runs a logistics company.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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