Syed Jaymal Zahiid
Selangor Muslims who serve alcohol are caught between the devil and hungry children.
KUALA LUMPUR: Loqman, a 32-year-old resident of Ampang, is one of the many Muslim bartenders in Selangor who have been shaken by the news that they may no longer be allowed to work where alcoholic drinks are served.
He has two daughters, one seven years old and the other five. His wife works at a retail outlet. She earns RM950 a month, and this makes her a poor urbanite according to a United Nations’ definition.
To Loqman, an unskilled worker with no education papers, the ban means that he will lose his ability to support himself and his family and to provide education to his children.
“I couldn’t sleep when I heard about it,” he told FMT. He did not want his full name to be revealed, knowing that many of his co-religionists would look down on him for his “non-halal” profession.
The news of the ban was widely reported last week. Apparently, the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) had decided to revoke the licenses of businesses found to be violating the Selangor Syariah Criminal Enactment, which bans Muslims from working at premises selling intoxicants.
Debate
Among the states of Malaysia, Selangor is at the forefront of modernity and industry. Entertainment is one of its major industries.
The urban and suburban areas are full of bars, clubs and pubs, providing jobs to thousands, including those in the so-called “non-skilled” category.
The news of the ban has sparked some debate. Religious conservatives feel that there are many alternative “halal” jobs out there. They argue that Muslims working at the “haram” joints will be susceptible to the “evils” they breed.
But Loqman said the conservatives had failed to observe that entertainment outlets tended to be more accommodating to unskilled workers than were other employers. This accommodating attitude includes giving the workers opportunities to earn more than their basic salaries.
“In clubs and all, we get tips,” he said. “Our basic is about RM1,200. But with tips, especially from foreign customers, we can earn RM300 to RM450 extra.”
Loqman’s situation reflects a wider predicament, a microcosm of a national problem. The country’s unemployment rate remains low—at 3.2%—but wages have stayed stagnant for about 10 years.
Meanwhile, prices, particularly of basic needs, have been rising relentlessly.
Loqman believes that the Najib administration is earnest in trying to rectify this. But to the opposition, Putrajaya has been slow in implementing policies to bolster development that would benefit people like him.
Introducing a minimum-wage policy, halting the influx of cheap foreign labour, overhauling the education system to create a larger pool of skilled workers—none of these seems as important to Putrajaya as mega infrastructural projects and short term growth.
And it is exactly this lack of understanding of the plight of low-income earners, who make up the Malaysian majority, that has created the mess for people like Loqman, he argues.
The fact is that low-skill jobs pay low wages.
“If other low-skill jobs pay well, of course I will take them,” Loqman said. “But until that happens, this is the best thing for me.
“Plus, show me the statistics to say that just because we work at alcohol serving outlets, we are drinkers as well.”
He said he was only trying to make an honest living. “Why take that away from me?”
Anyway, Loqman got a reprieve of sorts yesterday when Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim confirmed that the state would study how the ban would affect livelihoods before deciding whether MPSJ should implement the guideline as a by-law.
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