SACKING a restaurant worker for wearing a crucifix must surely be the first of its kind in Malaysia.

Not only is it discriminatory, but this is totally unacceptable, and a strong, unequivocal message must be conveyed to his employer.

This shouldn’t be about the worker not willing to file a complaint against the boss of this popular Chinese beef bread restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. Instead, Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar shouldn’t shrug it off and give the impression that this is not a priority. We hope he will take this up.

Malaysians know the identity of the restaurant and its representative has even appeared on video to apologise for its staff wearing a crucifix.

The minister said there’s no need to investigate this because “we have not received any complaints” and “if we receive any complaints, we will look into it and appropriate action may be taken.”

Most likely, the representative swiftly fired the worker and said it was an oversight on their part, out of fear that it would lose its predominantly Muslim clientele after the video went viral.

In fact, she admitted she couldn’t sleep peacefully because of the footage, which she anticipates will affect the business.

The controversy began when a TikTok video depicted a worker at Mon Chinese Beef Roti in Bukit Bintang wearing a necklace with a crucifix while preparing food.

The controversy began when a video, showing a worker at a Chinese Muslim restaurant in Bukit Bintang wearing a necklace with a crucifix while preparing food, went viral. — TikTok

The video – which has been taken down – eventually elicited many negative responses from Muslim customers stating their uneasiness at a staff wearing the songkok and Christian cross.

But instead of standing up for its employee, the manager of the said outlet – identified as Sofia – apologised for their oversight and promised to be thorough in screening staffs’ background to avoid offending local Muslim sensitivities.

This reeks of a classic knee-jerk reaction and crisis management at its worst. There’s no provision in Malaysian labour laws that says wearing a crucifix or a Buddhist amulet is illegal.

In fact, the restaurant should now apologise to Malaysians for this gross violation of our laws.

For example, wearing a songkok isn’t tantamount to one being Muslim. It’s not a religious headgear but an elegant Malay hat.

Some cool heads have prevailed following the travesty, with many netizens including Muslims, expressing sympathy for the fired staff, saying it’s more important the food is halal and clean.

The overreaction and slanderous remarks were, like the employer’s approach, perhaps a knee jerk reaction, too.

I don’t think any logical Malaysian can accept how the restaurant handled the issue. It chose to embrace social media reactions without thinking thoroughly of its actions, in this case, a young worker losing his livelihood.

His “crime?” Wearing a cross and making some customers unhappy in the process. His punishment? Getting fired by a fearful restaurant representative.

So, do we accept this simply because no report was lodged, as if the ministry can’t trace the worker and conclude an acceptable parting of ways? Or is it not even going to reprimand the restaurant for this highly discriminatory dismissal?

When the restaurant manager said it would now be more vigilant in its recruitment of staff, does that imply that it would not hire non-Muslim workers, like Myanmar nationals who are mainly Buddhist, or Christians?

If we allow the restaurant to go unpunished, then we can’t lament in the future when we hear of workers being thrown out for wearing the songkok, tudung or putting holy ash on their forehead, which is a Hindu custom.

By staying silent on the restaurant’s actions, it means we are condoning this unjust and prejudicial response against an employee on the grounds of ethnicity and religion, and allowing social media to dictate what’s wrong and right.

This popular restaurant chain is believed to be a Muslim concern from China, with its predominantly Muslim staff hailing from the republic.

It’s great that they’ve chosen to invest in Malaysia, but we have laws here that forbid discriminatory sackings.

It’s strange, but we seem to be living in a time of whim and fancy. What was totally acceptable before is suddenly inexplicably “wrong.”

How and why has this happened? Is this the future that beckons?

Tough questions not for the meek and scared, perhaps.

It’s strange, but we seem to be living in a time of whim and fancy. What was totally acceptable before is suddenly inexplicably “wrong.”

KEPALA Batas’ MP could have spared herself and us a lot of grief by simply apologising for her blunder and moving on.

Instead, Dr Siti Mastura Muhammad faces an impending suit for claiming that DAP leader Lim Guan Eng is related to Communist Party of Malaya leader Chin Peng and late Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

She remains resolutely defiant and is reportedly standing by her bizarre claim. Police have also begun an investigation on her.

It has also been reported that she has handed over “reference material” on her claim of a family conspiracy in DAP with her lawyer saying it’s up to the police to determine whether the material is authentic.

It really sounds like a shabby defence. Whether it’s a book, article, dossier or even a work by an academic or a political party if the material is faked or flawed, it doesn’t absolve a person for having used it against someone. Ultimately, that would simply make it fake news. The debutant PAS lawmaker should know better for someone with an impressive academic qualification, including possessing a doctorate.

She should have seen the red flags. No, not of the communist kind, but warning signs that these things can’t amount to the truth.

It’s simply too far-fetched. Why weren’t any of these “sepupu” links in any of our textbooks? I’m sure she didn’t fall asleep in history class, unlike many of us. She must have been a bright spark in school.

But it now appears otherwise. Malaysians would like to see her source of information to back her claims, if it’s even credible at all.

At the recent PAS convention, she said Chin Peng, real name Ong Boon Hua, was cousin, or sepupu, to Guan Eng’s father, Kit Siang.

She also erroneously referred to Kuan Yew’s surname as Lim instead of Lee in her haste to link Kit Siang to Kuan Yew.

This is even worse because she failed to get the surname of the first Singapore Prime Minister right.

She even insisted that Kuan Yew still lived in Singapore. Well, Elvis Presley must still be alive and living in Las Vegas if we go by her logic!

Siti appears to have a knack for conspiracy theories.

If this didn’t already tickle our funny bone, she insisted that Guan Eng’s wife, Betty, is related to other DAP leaders including Anthony Loke, Teresa Kok and Nga Kor Ming.

Conspiracy theories: They definitely don’t have a place in our Parliament.

Siti has instead tried to deflect attention on her by demanding updates from the police on the 3R (race, religion and royalty) investigation on Guan Eng, who is DAP’s chairman. Guan Eng has claimed that a news report on his speech in Mandarin was distorted.

Lim clarified that he had spoken about a 70-year-old Hindu temple which had been demolished by the Kedah government in 2020, and not what had been reported by the news portal.

This is a problem plaguing many politicians – lacking humility to admit fault. They always think they are infallible.

Whether it’s an ego problem or just plain stubbornness, many politicians think conceding to a mistake impacts their credibility. If only they realise that most of them don’t score well on trust ratings.

Amazingly, they also believe apologising can make them vulnerable, or compromise their power and status, which would make them look inadequate or incompetent in the eyes of their party members.

Dr Siti Mastura remains resolutely defiant and is reportedly standing by her bizarre claim. — Screencapture/RTM

It wouldn’t be surprising if her own party thinks that by saying sorry, it would make them appear meek, and a fight, even if it means a suit, would make PAS look better.

After all, defamation cases drag on for years, and by that time, no one will remember them anymore. A quick apology would, presumably, make Siti look weak.

Eventually, everyone gets tired and will likely settle for an amicable agreement by tendering an apology. By then, the entire nation would have lost interest and may not even recall the incident.

With the media though, we have become accustomed to being blamed for misquoting and getting our information wrong. Politicians often accuse us of reporting out of context or supposedly bad reporting.

Of course, there are sloppy as well as rogue reporters. Likewise, there are honest and forgiving politicians, too.

YB, the police have more important things to do than worry about your half-baked claims of Lims being related to Chin Peng, and the court’s time is certainly better served elsewhere than listening to you.

The Parliament has suffered enough ridicule with this latest episode. Spare Malaysians from further embarrassment, please.

I don’t know about “sepupu” or other familial ties, but this has made the MP for Kepala Batas the mother of all outrageous historical claimants.

IF the bottom of the barrel had already been scraped by some of our recalcitrant Members of Parliament spanning racist to sexist remarks, then Kepala Batas MP Siti Mastura Muhammad’s claim has bore a hole right through.

The debutant PAS lawmaker ludicrously claimed that DAP leader Lim Guan Eng is related to deceased Communist Party of Malaya leader Chin Peng and late Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

Speaking at the recent PAS convention, she said Chin Peng – whose real name is Ong Boon Hua – was cousin, or sepupu, to Kit Siang, Guan Eng’s father.

She also erroneously referred to Kuan Yew’s surname as Lim instead of Lee in her outrageously ignorant attempt to link Kit Siang to Kuan Yew.

If that didn’t do enough to put us in stitches, she accused Guan Eng’s wife, Betty, of being related to other DAP leaders including Anthony Loke, Teresa Kok and Nga Kor Ming.

Well, the “Lim Dynasty” accusation on many DAP family members has been bandied about for a while, but the family tree certainly hasn’t extended to the CPM and People’s Action Party founder.

Thanks to social media, Malaysians now get to see the viral video of the MP parading her utter stupidity.

Her constituents must be cringing in embarrassment for voting this politician in who, for some miraculous reasons, has managed to wrest the Kepala Batas seat, once an Umno stronghold. It was long held by Tun Abdulllah Ahmad Badawi, our affable former premier.

It’s stunning how she could have made the claim, and with such bravado, too. No doubt she wanted to link Guan Eng to two historic figures unpopular among some Malay factions, but the logic or lack of is simply incomprehensible. It surely must take some talent to do that.

It’s obvious she has little to zero understanding of her fellow Malaysians. Yes, we may be ethnic Chinese, but we are Malaysians first.

The Chinese community comprises many dialect groups and most times, we don’t understand or try conversing with each other.

Likewise, there are Malays who come from Javanese, Bugis, Minang, Achehnese and even Thai descent.

Let’s clear her haze by starting with the three names Siti Mastura mentioned – Chin Peng was a Foochow born in Sitiawan.

Kit Siang was born in Batu Pahat and Guan Eng in Johor Baru. They are Hokkien, while Kuan Yew was Hakka.

If she’s reading this, I believe Siti Mastura is now even more confused. Since the video went viral, she has evaded the media at the Parliament House.

The outspoken one has opted for radio silence, believing it will be forgotten, and is likely hoping she can hide behind the age-old “the video was edited and taken out of context” spiel spewed by politicians.

Well, let’s educate her further since we’ve already begun. Surnames among the Chinese can be complicated. Most of us are not Lee or Nguyen, unlike Koreans and Vietnamese.

So, Wong, like my name, is Cantonese. The Hokkien equivalent is Ooi and among Mandarin speaking Chinese, it’s Huang. Both the common denominators are derived from the grassroot word “yellow”, where the genealogy begins.

In Indonesia, it’s spelt Oey, especially among the Chinese community in Kalimantan, while the Lim is altered to Liem.

Then, there’s Tan, which means magnificent in ancient Chinese. Most are Hokkien but among the Cantonese, it’s usually Romanised to Chan, exemplified in the popular Hong Kong movie star, Jackie Chan’s name. Some Teochew even spell it as Tang.

The Lim surname is certainly one of the most prevalent in the Chinese community with an estimated 20 million people worldwide with it, roughly 800,000 of whom are in Malaysia alone, reveal reports.

The Hakka, Hokkien, Teochew and Hainan communities Romanise it to Lim while the Cantonese speaking community, especially in Hong Kong, uses Lam.

By the way YB, not all Lees are Chinese. As is common knowledge, Lee is a popular surname in South Korea, too. But there are also many Caucasians with the Lee surname.

Kung fu star Bruce Lee is not related to Baywatch star Pamela Anderson’s ex-husband and rock band Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, or Christopher Lee, who famously played the fanged vampire Dracula in many horror movies.

I can forgive Siti Mastura for this one since she wasn’t born yet and likely lacks exposure to popular culture. She unfortunately missed these Lees or else she wouldn’t have her Lees and Lims all mixed up.

For sure, these “Lees” can’t be “sepupu” of Kuan Yew.

As a Penangite, I’m grossly embarrassed by her blunder. We thought Doraemon, the MP, not the cartoon character, was comical, but this Kepala Batas MP has etched her name in the annals of Malaysian Parliament for the most absurd claim so far.

We may come in different colours and creeds, but ultimately, we’re one and the same, if that’s still news to our honorary voices of the people. And in Malaysia, we wish everyone for our festive seasons. So, Happy Deepavali to those celebrating and the rest of our great country. May the light shine upon us.

Improvements are apparent, but we must still brace ourselves for a turbulent year ahead.

WHEN the ringgit’s value continues to slip against the skyrocketing cost of living, not many Malaysians are interested in listening to complicated economic reasons for the depreciation.

The ordinary Malaysian worker who is struggling to put food on the table and pay his bills, only wants to know what the federal government is going to do about it.

For Opposition politicians, this offers an opportunity to score brownie points and blame the government for its purported failure to competently handle the country’s finances.

But that’s their job. The present government leaders did likewise when they were on the other side of the fence, too.

In fact, when the unity government came to power and the ringgit strengthened, they were quick to claim credit.

At the recent Conference of Rulers’ meeting, the Rulers also wanted to know why the ringgit is sliding and what the government had to say about it.

Malaysia, like many other countries, is facing the same predicament as our currency continues to free fall.

Other currencies have taken a beating but ours, unfortunately, has been dealt the severest blows in the region. That’s certainly bad for local politics.

But external factors, like the continuously high US interest rates to fend off its inflation and rising geopolitical uncertainties, have been big contributors to our weak ringgit, too.

The US doesn’t care how its actions impact the rest of the world. It only needs to stop its out-of-control inflation.

It’s the highest interest rates in 22 years as the US fights to stabilise prices in its economy.

But there are other reasons as well. For example, Ukraine, known as the “breadbasket of the world,” has been a top exporter of grains including wheat, barley, corn, soybeans and oilseeds, but the troubles there have affected the price of food worldwide.

A year on, and the war with Russia continues to rage.

Before the conflict, an estimated 70% of Ukraine was farmland, but the situation has since changed dramatically.

Global headwinds: The ringgit’s depreciation means food will be more expensive. By 2021, Malaysia had almost doubled its food import bill to RM78bil. — ZAZALI MUSA/The Star

Now, there’s another story unfolding in the Middle East as the world hopes the war between Israel and Palestine will be confined to just the Gaza Strip and won’t draw Lebanon and Syria into it, or worse, Iran, which backs Hamas and Hezbollah.

The ringgit’s depreciation means food will be more expensive. By 2021, Malaysia had almost doubled its food import bill to RM78bil.

According to reports, we bought more than 1.8 million tonnes or around 35% of rice, over 680,000 tonnes of fruits and 1.8 million tonnes of vegetables.

Juxtaposed with this, our exports have shrunk from 120% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2000 to about 70% today, as the world still struggles to navigate past the two-year Covid-19 pandemic.

China, for example, was Malaysia’s number one trading partner for the last 40 years but today, the republic is still sluggish and struggling to get back on its feet economically.

Its recovery has been much slower than expected. Obviously, that has had a big impact on Malaysia as we rely on China a lot.

But according to World Bank lead economist for Malaysia, Apurva Sanghi, the value of the ringgit shouldn’t be viewed as the only metric of the country’s economic strength.

“In fact, the Malaysian economy has many strong points, such as a low inflation rate of 2%, low unemployment, booming semiconductor exports, (some) move towards subsidy targeting and focused push to revive investments,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Other strong points include a deep domestic investor base, Malaysia’s position as global leader in Islamic finance, strong banking sector, low foreign denominated debt and an economy well insulated from disasters compared to the Philippines and Indonesia.

He said Malaysia had a reasonably sized domestic market and ample land, which gives Malaysia “a leg up against Singapore and can improve itself to be a net contributor to global food security.”

Sanghi noted that Malaysia has vast forest reserves and biodiversity, which if managed well, can vault our country to be a global leader.

And all this is now underpinned by a stable government, which seemingly has a clear, four-year runway.

He said the ringgit’s woes had to be viewed in the context of external and domestic factors, short and long-term issues and monetary and government policies, and “specifically how government policies can amplify existing strengths and unique fundamentals that Malaysia has.”

So, while external factors have affected our ringgit, domestic policies matter, too, which the government – and not Bank Negara Malaysia – must fix.

Growth of foreign direct investment inward stock into Malaysia has slowed down and all this lowers long run demand for the ringgit and affects its value.

To be fair to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, he has been shuttling overseas, at a punishing pace, to bring more investment to Malaysia.

Many of the deals announced, of course, need to be translated into real implementation and not mere mind-boggling numbers for public announcement.

Sanghi disagreed with suggestions to peg the ringgit, saying the banking system was strong, well-capitalised, had much liquidity and faced reduced external vulnerabilities.

He questioned who would be responsible for setting the “right” rate, adding that Bank Negara would have to surrender its monetary policy.

Then there is the question – should Malaysia also impose higher interest rates?

Most experts say it would mean a higher cost of borrowing. So both businesses and consumers would cut back on investments and spending.

For example, higher interest rate payment for auto loans, mortgages would go up, causing consumers to spend less.

We don’t need to be economic experts to know that improving governance, boosting trade and increasing FDIs would be one way for Malaysia to improve its ringgit.

The fourth quarter beckons, which is the home stretch for the year end. Let’s not expect much to change overnight.

But we need to take stock of what’s looming in 2024 and be prepared for a bumpy ride with uncertainties aplenty.