1Black Tees, 1 Black coffee and ...1 Black heart?

Serve better? Is it halal?

Theme : 1BT 1BC
Venue : Old Town White Coffee
Me : I am not attending...why?

1. Malaysiakini posted on 8th June 2009 about the 1BlackMalaysia campaign on kopi 'O' session at various Old Town White Coffee outlets this 11th june 2009.
2. The coalition for free and fair elections (Bersih) urged all parties to respect the peoples' right to wear black and coffee 'O.
3. Actually, I have no problem with that. I have even posted on "what's wrong with black" before. Go ahead, buy all the stocks of black tees....
4. As for coffee? No problem with that either. And since kopitiams are sprouting with names like Pak Li's, Old Town White Coffee, Hai Peng, Uncle Lim etc, why is Old Town White Coffee becomes "the choice" venue? Is the organiser one of the owners? I have enjoyed coffee the old fashion way, sometimes dipping roti kaya into the cup and sometimes sipping coffee from the saucers.
5. So, if I have no problems with Black tees and Black coffees, then I should not have any problem with the occassion, right? Wrong! I have problems but let me put it at the later part of the posting...
6. I did not see any problem with the gathering. It is an open invitation to a public gathering. If the police did not barricade the area, these 1Black Tees 1Black coffee (1BT 1BC) will die a natural death. Give it 3 weeks the most. Why? Because the 1BT 1BC campaign has few venues and thus not concentrated to a focal point plus it is done on a Thursday, a working day. Further, I did not see the necessity to equate what happen to Perak as the death of democracy in Perak and Malaysia. In fact, I see what happen in Perak as the living proof that democracy is alive and abused in Malaysia.
7. Which leads me to ask this question, why do we need to mourn with 1BT 1BC? Shouldn't we be celebrating? Why celebrate? Because this is the opening for the rakyats. We have been patiently waiting for more than 50 years and finally BN has started to disintegrate. BN is imploding, BN is having mid-life crisis which should be capitalised by the rakyats. So, my question is, why mourn when we should be celebrating?
8. Which comes to 1Blackheart...and before I proceeds any further, let me declare that this is non-personal. As I have said earlier I have minor problems with the occassion. I have put it why mourn when we should be celebrating. And the second is why choose Old Town White Coffee? I have nothing personal against the franshise, in fact I am happy that they make it big. What ires me is, to my opinion, Old Town White Coffee is not sensitive to the Muslims.
   
9. The white coffee may have the "halal" certificate issued by the relevant authorities but what about the rest of the menus? There are some postings from various blogs who have openly question these "halalness" before and yet the management of Old Town White Coffee did not take any serious efforts to register their outlets as "halal" restaurants. It is their choice and they have all the rights to do that.
10. 1BT 1BC may be a good slogan but, as I say it, the venue is non-conducive for Muslims. It will not be surprising if there will be Muslims who drives up to saviour 1BT 1BC, and some may come from Bersih to support the occassion. Again, I will stress here that Old Town White Coffee is not sensitive to Muslims because some of the menus served are "non-halal". An example is Nissin noodle served in the outlets. It is non-halal. "Halal" coffee does not "halal-ise" non halal noodle. And what does that means? The outlets may be non-halal outlets!
11. With that said, are we progressing towards kicking out BN, when we have not learn to appreciate our Muslim brothers. If we are not sensitive to their needs now, what assurance do they have that we will be sensitive to their needs if and when BN is shown the exit in GE 13? 1BT 1BC is already a clear example. It demonstrate the insensitivity of some towards the rest of the community. And this happens when PR is running 5 states and denying BN the 2/3 majority. What happen if PR runs the country?
12. PAS may be worried with this trend. If they are not, I am. So, for those who are dead set in joining 1BT 1BC campaign this Thursday, go ahead. There is no stopping you. This scribe will not be there, not because I am against the 1BT 1BC campaign, but more concern on the "halal-ness" of the outlets.
13. This leads to the all important question - what assurance do we have that PR will respect others? If this simple issue is not properly addressed, then bigger issues will also be treated the same. And if that happens, what will stop the rural masses to return to BN's fold? At least BN have set up halal hubs to promote "halal" food. What has PR done?
14. One word to the organisers. When you organise campaigns in the future, please be more sensitive to the needs of others. Don't be blinded by hatred towards BN to such an extent that you forget to think on the sensitivity of others whose support is crucial.
15. I have said my part, now it's your turn...
    

Till then...G'nite M'sia...wherever u are...