Muslims With Cow's Head and Atom Bombs

A Kadir Jasin

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MY berbuka puasa was spoilt by a Reuters’ SMS new service message that I received on my cellular phone.

It reads: “6 Malaysian Muslims charged with sedition for marching with cow head to protest Hindu temple construction.”

But that was not the news that riled me up. It was the next item, which reads: “Iran nearing ability to make atom bombs.”

The two news items put together make the Malaysian Muslims sound like a pathetic bunch.

The reverse should probably make me happier although I am not a warmonger and I am against nuclear armament. And it does not mean that I like to see my Iranian brothers being lampooned, like we are now, for carrying cow’s head in their protest and being charged for sedition.

We may not have to go all the way so as to build a nuclear bomb. We may not even want to build an A bomb at all. But learning the technology is handy.

If the Malaysian Muslims are as advanced as the Iranians or the Pakistanis in the weapon technology, maybe not too many people dare to mess around with them.

So our angry Muslim brothers (and sisters) do not have to resort to parading cow’s head as their weapon of mass agitation and finding themselves at odd with the law.

And we can partake in the cow’s brain, which if correctly prepared, as my beloved mother did, tastes great. But those were the days when my late father was the village butcher and cows were all sane.

Since the discovery of the mad cow disease, which affected the brain, I have set aside my craze for that particular part of the animal’s organ. But I still love the tongue though.

You have to excuse me. Being a county yokel once, I developed a somewhat outrageous palate.

Have you ever tried siput gondang – those juicy swamp snails? No, they are not of the variety that is now ravaging the rice fields around the country. These were the large, round type similar to the ones the French used for their escargot dishes.

See, not only the French ate snails. We the Kedah country bumpkins loved our various escargot (es-ka-go) dishes too.

Even if the Malaysian Muslims to not see the virtues in building up nuclear capacity, I still think that there’s a limit to using a dead cow or resorting to noisy protest to solve any temple issue.

A more lasting legal, legislative and administrative solution must be found bearing in mind that the Hindus have up to 330 million Gods and Devatas that they show their devotion to.

There will be one to many temples in any particular location if some form of regulations is not put in place. That that can put the lives of a lot of cows at risk and many more Muslims will face sedition charge.

Now I am off for a good glass of teh tarik or massala tea with susu lembu to drown my sorrow.