Anecdotal "evidence," only, so it's not really "proof" of anything, but ...
A few of years ago I was in Malaysia visiting a friend and I stayed at a very nice hotel in Kuala Lumpur to adjust before heading up to Penang. The hotel served complimentary cocktails every afternoon in a beautiful lounge on the next to the top floor ~ the top floor was a swimming pool and very popular "sky bar." Anyway I was seated at a nice, quiet table by the windows, looking out at the Petronas Towers when one of the pretty young hostesses approached and asked if I would mind sharing my table with (she pointed) that nice English couple. Of course I didn't mind, and after brief introductions we chatted. The lady was disappointed that my trip was only to KL and Penang; "neither is the "real" Malaysia, you know," she said, "and while the governments in the Chinese majority provinces (which KL and Penang are) are fair and efficient they, the Chinese, lack the real warmth and friendliness of the Malay people."
"Why are you in KL?" I asked. Medical care for her husband, she replied and then her husband chimed in, saying something like: "And we're looking for a new home. The Malays are nice and friendly but the imported
sheiks and
imans are making life harder for us expats."
"How so?" I asked. "Look," he replied, "we've lived in <name of a 'hill station' town> for
n years, ever since I retired. There is a small
ish expat community and we were always made welcome and we thought we fitted in well. There was one English style pub in the town, run by a local Malay fellow; it was, almost, everyone's 'second home' and he did a good business, so he told us. It was the expats' social centre and also very popular with the locals. Then a new
iman came to the big mosque. He was from somewhere in the Middle East and he, immediately, went to war with the pub. He wanted it closed and no amount of explaining that it was all legal and proper and in accordance with Malay law would change his mind: it, serving alcohol to foreigners, was a sin. First of all most of the locals stopped coming, but we expats just had more social events there ~ we, for example, stopped our regular dinner parties in our home and invited all our friends to the pub, instead. The owner was grateful but he explained that he was under intense pressure from the
iman. Then the police, apologetically explaining that they had no choice, the
iman insisted, began to harass the owner with trumped up complaints. Last month he folded. I need some more, better medical attention anyway so, along with some other expats we've decided to move to 'less friendly' Kuala Lumpur ~ where the government and police are under proper control in accordance with the laws of the land ... because KL is a majority Chinese province. Maybe they aren't 'nice' and 'friendly' but, by god, they are honest and efficient." His wife, rather sadly, agreed.
In Penang I went out early one morning to go up the "mountain," actually just a big hill, but with a lovely view as the clouds lift. When I got to the cable car station there was a big crowd. Everyone was surging towards cars, lots of pushing and shoving. A middle aged lady took my arm and said, "Come with us, we have room in our car." Well, I spent a good part of a very pleasant morning with this family: Mother and father around 50, I would guess, older daughter (with a babe in arms) and husband maybe 25, and younger daughter maybe 17. I was pretty used to "dress codes" in Malaysia ... Malaysian girls look, mostly, rather like this:
... while Malaysian-Chines girls look more like this:
... anyway this was a Muslim family and while the older daughter was dressed in trousers, a long sleeved top and a hijab, the younger, 17
ish, girl was dressed in short shorts and at-shirt.
In due course the topic took to families and jobs. Mom and dad were both school teachers: he was vice principal of a Muslim high school and his wife taught at one of the better Chinese schools. His two daughters had both been educated in the Chinese schools. He then explained that, despite what some local
imans said, he, a well educated Muslim, could find nothing that said his wife or daughters had to dress in a certain way. "We are all," he said, "commanded to be modest in our lives. Anyone who knows my wife and daughters will affirm that they are good, modest women. My older daughter dresses as she does to mollify her husband's family. I accept that even though she and I know that the
Holy Quran says nothing about it. My youngest daughter dresses as she does because she's a teenager and she hopes it might shock me ... it doesn't," he said, with a grin, "so score one for me." I told him my KL hotel story and asked if there as any such 'pressure' in Penang. "Some
imans might like to apply those sorts of rules here," he relied, "but this is Penang and we respect and obey the laws and no one would dare try to pressure me or my wife. Threatening my job, for example," he said, "would be sufficient grounds for me to ask the local, provincial (Chinese) government to expel a foreign cleric, and I would do so, if pressured, and everyone who matters knows that."
Anyway, a tale of two cities ...
Mosques are a basic school where your children learn the Subject of Terrorism.
