Banning Beer Sale?

An interesting development took place in the West Malaysian state of Selangor, where the state executive councillor (EXCO) Dato'Dr.Hassan Ali called for the resignation of another state EXCO, Ronnie Liu, as the latter had allegedly interfered in a raid on a 24-hour convenience store selling beer. It seemed that a local council had confiscated the beers and Ronnie had ordered them to return it to the store.

Dr.Hassan is calling for the ban on selling alcohol in Muslim majority areas. The North Borneo Herald agrees and disagrees with him. First, we agree that alcohol should not be sold to Muslims, and secondly we disagree with the term "Muslim-majority areas".

Though according to Islam it is an offence for Muslims to consume alcohol, the practise of drinking seems to be common among Muslims. This blog does not know the extent of beer-drinking among Muslims in West Malaysia, but there are Muslims drinking beer in Sabah.

Shopowners who sell beer should refrain from selling beer to Muslims. However in Sabah, it is sometimes difficult to tell a Muslim from a non-Muslim. With the ever increasing number of Sabahans, Sarawakians, Filipinos and Indonesians working and studying in West Malaysia, one wonders if retailers there can tell the difference between Muslims and non-Muslims.

The best way would be to label the section where beer is kept as a Non-Halal Section as is the practice in some hypermarkets. Secondly, the cashier should ask the customer if he or she is a Muslim or non-Muslim when the person is purchasing beer. When the cashier is unsure, he or she can request for identification, since Muslims would have the word "Islam" printed on their MyKads.

This is much better than banning the sale of alcohol in so-called "Muslim-majority areas". Let's say if a convenience store in Muslim-majority Putatan does not sell beer. A Muslim could easily drive to Christian-majority Penampang and buy beer, which is just ten minutes away! Similarly if shops in Papar town do not sell beer, Muslims can take an eight minute drive to Christian-majority Limbahau and buy beer. And the same with Muslim-majority Membakut and Christian-majority Ulu Membakut, or Kudat and Matunggong, or Kota Belud-town and
Narinang! The list goes on and on.

And the if ever there is to be a ban, Muslims should also not be allowed to buy yeast, tajau (jars used to make rice wine) or any other materials which might be used to make alcoholic drinks*.

However when one sees the majority alcohol-consuming Muslim youths drinking cheap liquor, would it not be better for them to drink beer, which has less alcohol percentage and more expensive? The conclusion, is just refuse selling beer to Muslim patrons.

*the North Borneo Herald is concerned with the increasing consumption of home-made alcoholic brew ever since beer prices were increased by former premier Datuk Seri Abdullah A.Badawi