On the Awkward Dinner

Am really sorry if I have to say this. I mean, it's not that I'm against people of the other religion or anything. But sometimes I just thought things couldn't be improved should there be at least one who couldn't accept the beliefs of another religion.

See, the time when we were doing our district posting, there were 15 of us there. 6 Chinese, and the remaining Muslims where 2 were mixed Malay-chinese. Since there were only 15 of us and no one else, it did help strengthen our bonds as friends. We sort of go out for outings together. On paper. Because things didn't actually went according to plan when it comes to real activities. Apparently, some of them just didn't get things organized, and in the end, none of the activities we planned were achieved.

So after the second week, and when things get more adaptable, when I finally started to tune in to life again, I started to ask the Chinese friends to go outing. Birds of the same feathers flock together, it's natural ain't it? Again, I'm not promoting racism or anything, it's just my humble opinion. I respect my friends for who they are, and I believe they have the same respect as well. So most often than not, we travel in separate cars; the Chinese in one, and the Malays in the others. The reason, simple. Indeed, we were more comfortable speaking in our own mother tongue. No doubt, we wouldn't mind speaking in Malay, really. But the Malays themselves too, automatically went into the same car.

So once, we had the spontaneous idea of visiting Fo Guang Shan Dong Zen Temple in Jenjarom. 5 of us Chinese contacted the other one who was in the community clinic outside of the hospital, where she was there with 3 other Malay friends. It was a Buddhist temple, so naturally we didn't think it's appropriate to ask the other 3 Malay friends along. Which, was quite fine by all of us; although one of them who was a mix Malay-Chinese was quite keen to tag along, but was disappointed by the fact that there wasn't enough space in the car.

And somehow, spontaneous plans came right after when we were picking up our Chinese friend in the clinic, where we thought we would head over to Carey Island for the seafood restaurant, deemed to be Halal. After much arrangements made over the phone with the other colleagues in the hostel while we were on the road, the dinner plan was finally settled. It was, after all, a plan we all had earlier when we first moved to Banting.

We arrived in the restaurant at 6.45pm. The 6 of us Chinese, from the temple. The Muslim colleagues went for their prayers at 7.10pm. And by the time they arrived, it was already 8.00pm. The thing is, the restaurant we went to, Kang Guan Seafood Restaurant, despite the "No Pork Served" sign on the wall, didn't really have the official Halal's sticker by the Islam religion board or something, Jakim.

Furthermore, being operated by Chinese owners, it was also a place for the Indians for beers. So naturally, there were all sorts of banners and signboards bearing words such as "Tigers" and "Heineken". We were worried you see, because we knew one of our friends was very particular. But when we saw a married Muslim couple came into the shop, we were relieved, thinking they could at least help us convinced the staunch Muslim.

So. They arrived at 8.00pm, although we agreed to be at the restaurant at 7.30pm. Because we didn't want to finish our dinner late you see. But to our surprised, none of them actually walked in for about 5 minutes or so. We were at the table, looking at them, anticipating them to come in. They were outside, by the car, still contemplating of whether they wanted to walk into a shop that bore the alcohol banner. And the rest in the restaurant looked on, including the Muslim couple on the other table. Imagine the awkwardness.

Finally, the 2 mix Malay-Chinese girls came in and sat down. Hunger finally took control. Slowly, the other Muslim colleagues came in. Due to the congestion on one table, we decided to split the dishes into two, and moved the other set to another table where most of the Muslims were seated. To our surprise, the Muslim males not only didn't eat, they decided to walk out of the shop. What was supposed to be a happy group dinner, turned out to be an awkward racial intolerance.

Had we known they were that staunch a Muslim, we wouldn't even want to include them for the dinner. But we did so because we thought we were of a same group, and some of them Malay colleagues who did ate, voiced their interest in joining us for the seafood dinner. But then again, I suppose it boils down to how open one sticks to his or her own religion and how open he or she is in accepting the believes of another religion, that enables the racial harmony.

I'm not saying all of my Muslim friends were like that. Perhaps it was our wrong to ask them to come along to a seafood restaurant operated by the Chinese. But we could at least has some heads up whether or not they could come to such a place. So the next time we go outing again, we wouldn't ask them to come along, in case we popped by a shop with a clock sponsored by a beer company.

At least we finally learned, some things were meant to be the way it was and would be. No matter how hard we try, these things just couldn't be changed. 1Malaysia? Hard to, when there's extremist under the blanket.

One last thing, as we walked out of the restaurant after our dinner, we saw a group of Malay men, clad in military clothes, either the army or the RELA volunteers, walking into the shop. Maybe, my friends were not convinced it's a Halal place just as yet.