Just consider what would have been the international reaction if a Christian-majority country would have shown on TV ads aimed at non-Christians telling them what they should or shouldn’t do during religious celebrations. I guess even Ban Ki-Moon would have protested:
“While the station retracted the advertisements within 48 hours of first screening them and issued a public apology, this episode is telling of the dominant interpretation among members of the Malay bourgeoisie there about the value of Ramadan,” writes Bahrawi. “Ending each advertisement is a condescendingly moralizing message that puts the onus of betterment on the culturally ‘other’ when the focus should be an improvement of the self.
“In one, non-Muslims are explicitly told: “Do not be loud or obnoxious.”
“In another, it was: “Do not be greedy and eat in public.”
“More than spell out the exclusive nature of Islam, the advertisements are revelatory of the inability of Malaysia’s ultra-Malay elites to overcome ethnic tensions with the minority Chinese,” writes Bahrawi. “Ramadan or not, the advertisements suggest that their rose-tinted view of Malaysia is one colored by race-tinted glasses.”
via Malaysian TV station pulls Ramadan commercials aimed at non-Muslims – Beliefnet News.
Related articles
- These Malaysian adverts miss the point of Ramadan | Nazry Bahrawi (guardian.co.uk)
- ‘Racist’ Ramadan adverts pulled in Malaysia (telegraph.co.uk)
- Malaysian TV station cuts ads that offended non-Muslims (independent.co.uk)
Wow – I would have loved to see the ads. Ramadan is a joke – all they do is skip lunch. And they all gain weight due to gorging at Iftar.