The "Bak" Stops Here

Technorati tags: Humor, Religion, Islam, Ignorance, Bak Kut Teh

Walski really wanted to say something about this yesterday, but because of the mad rush at work to get stuff done before the long-ish weekend, he didn’t get an opportunity to do so.

Once again, Malaysian Muslim “authorities” proudly display their SAPI-ness on their sleeves…

Just in case you were wondering, SAPI is a Walski-created acronym, which stands for ‘Stupidly Arrogant & Prejudicially Ignorant’. Sapi is also happens to be a Malay language word (not very frequently used on the Peninsular) which means ‘cow’. And no, it’s no coincidence. And yes, it is meant to be insulting (assuming, of course, the insultees even have a clue what Walski’s on about).

But at myAsylum, there’s no insult without just cause, and the sheer stupidity and ignorance proudly displayed in this case, which in turn paints a picture of all Muslims being so feeble-minded, warrants insult. Because, quite frankly, they brought it upon themselves – reaping what they have so SAPI-ly sown.

And just to set the record straight, The Star did not mistranslate the original Bahasa Malaysia article, which you can read via this posting at The Malaysian Insider. The original article (published by Utusan – no SAPI surprises here) stated:

Penggunaan istilah bak kut teh halal boleh mengelirukan umat Islam di samping bertentangan hukum syarak kerana bercanggah dengan kaedah fiqah yang ditetapkan oleh Islam.

Ketua Penolong Pengarah Jabatan Kemajuan Agama Islam Malaysia (Jakim) Lokman Abdul Rahman berkata, bak kut teh tidak boleh dianggap halal kerana ia masih mengekalkan penggunaan nama yang haram mengikut hukum Islam.
(source: The Malaysian Insider)

Nevermind that JAKIM thinks all Malaysian Muslims are as stupid as they are, What really perplexes Walski is this: how the fuck can “bak kut teh” be an illegal name?
(proudly proclaiming ignorance, a Hokkien lesson, and more, in the full post)

Unless, of course, one is ignorant of what it actually means, and lets one’s prejudice take over. So, here’s a lesson in basic Hokkien:

bak means 'meat'. ANY meat.

kut means (literally) 'bone', and

teh means 'tea'

So what’s so bloody illegal about meat-bone-tea? Even if you took the phrase ‘bak kut’ in isolation – literally, “meat bone”, which is generally used to refer to spare ribs – there’s no direct reference to pork. And in case you didn’t know, cows and sheep/goats have spare ribs, too – basic biology, people.

As far as Walski knows, there's no prohibition on the consumption on meat in general stated in the Quran, except for the meat/flesh of swine/pigs. And you would definitely not be able to find the term bak kut teh anyplace in the holy book.

Part of the article also quotes the secretary-general of the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia – better know as PPIM – Datuk Dr. Maamor Osman.

Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia secretary-general Datuk Dr Maamor Osman also disagreed with the introduction of bak kut teh halal.

“I am worried that misusing the term will slowly reduce the disinclination of Muslims towards pork. I hope Jakim can take strict measures to ensure that the food does not get halal certification,” he said.
(source: The Star)

To jolt your memory, PPIM are the same forsaken einsteins who took so much offence to cross-like patterns on biscuits.

You know, it's exactly this sort of authoritative dumbing-down stupidity that paints Muslims overall in a less than complementary light. So can you really blame the bad press that Muslims get the world over, when they themselves do and say the most ludicrous of things, and do it proudly, at that?

Walski's not entirely sure if PPIM had anything to do with the JAKIM statement, but it wouldn’t surprise him one bit if that were the case. Likely, what he thinks happened is that PPIM (dumbass ignoramuses that they are) made a complaint to JAKIM, who in turn didn’t think twice to support the consumer organization.

A clear-cut case of the blind leading the stupid…

Well, whatever these ignoramuslamists think they know, and proudly proclaim in all their ignorant glory, the bak definitely has to stop here.

Walski’s terminally made-up concatenative terminology attribution footnote: The term ignoramuslamist is another one of those words Walski made up. It consists of the the English word ignoramus, and muslamist, modified from the made-up word muslamism, penned by writer Ali Eteraz, from an article he wrote for Jewcy.

Just like Malaysian drivers and parking, when there doesn’t exist a word to adequately describe an idea, Walski simply makes one up.