Ervan’s Weltanschauung

It’s my first Eid away from home in many years. I still remember the Eid I spent during my London years. Still got the pix of me with Dzariman, Farid, Aida, Marina and some of the UCL guys. Anyway, Eid is Eid, and I am the type of person who when I can’t have it, I just make the best of the situation. I know I can’t celebrate Eid in Malaysia, so might as well I try to experience the Eid festivities in the Netherlands.

Lucky for me, I stay near to the Malaysian embassy, just 6 stops away from my hotel via tram. Went for Eid prayers at the embassy, and got to know some Malaysians who are based in The Hague. Ansari, the go to guy for Shell Malaysian employees. Then I got to know Gerhard and Norhayati, a lovely couple who were based in Germany but on a long term assignment in Netherlands. How I got to know them was funny, as it all started with Gerhard comments on my crocs. And it being a Malaysian open house, I get to eat those Malaysian food that I kinda miss.

Thanks to my PM Skander, I got the whole day off even though I only planned to take half a day off. I did not get any open house invitation, so I decided to explore The Hague by foot. Indeed, today I noticed the minorities of The Hague. My own fellow Muslims.

It’s interesting to note that Albert Heinj, which is their biggest retail supermarket similar to Cold Storage and Giant, sells halal meat. In fact finding a halal food is not a problem, and for those who are not that fussy on their cutleries and plates to be swine free, I’ve been to two restaurants that serve Western & Asian food that do not serve any pork. Although you got to be careful with most Indonesian restaurants that serve sate babi or babi panggang. Even the Chinese restaurant here does not serve roast pork, but put it as babi panggang on their menu!

The influence of Indonesia is prevalent here. You can find katjangsaus as one of the sauce you can have with your patat (chips). For those who are still blur, katjangsaus is sos kacang. And a number of streets in The Hague are named after Indonesian islands like Javastraat, Riaoustraat and Sumatrastraat.

I am impressed that here in Netherlands they are tolerant of other religions as much they are tolerant with legal cannabis and prostitution in Amsterdam. But I guess it’s the Dutch opinion that everyone is entitled to live life as they want it to be. They don’t want to enforce their belief upon others. And hence that’s why a Muslim can lead a life as a Muslim here.

And comparing it in Malaysia with UMNO with its Islam Hadhari, and of course PAS with their brand of Islam. But sometimes, we forget about the minority in Malaysia. We forget about our Hindu friends who can’t eat beef, and accidently served beef in our events, while here, at Albert Heijn, they provide halal meat eventhough the number of Muslims are small. And oh yeah, the Shell canteen too provide halal meat

I guess, by giving a little bit of tolerance, we can make Malaysia better. But it is sad that everything is politicised, and everyone tries to be more Islamic than the other. Especially in politics where you want to win more votes by being more Islamic. But the voters can make the difference, by looking beyond who is more Islamic. Wearing ketayap and long robes does not mean you are more Islamic. A lady who is not wearing a tudung does not mean she’s not Islamic. Don’t forget that what matters most is your heart, and it is between you and God. Then perhaps, Islam in Malaysia will be better presented by having more subtance rather than the current emphasis on form.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 13th, 2007 at 12:24 am and is filed under Current Affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.