LETTER | The recent incident involving an older Malay-Muslim man and his physical assault of a younger Chinese man who was eating in public during Ramadan is, unfortunately, not an isolated incident.
That such an act is neither shocking nor surprising speaks volumes of how common moral policing is in Malaysia, and how some degree of violence is also, unfortunately, not unheard of.
Moral policing in Malaysia appears to be relatively limited to the Malay-Muslim community, where many people monitor and even enforce the religious activities of others, with such “vigilance” being heightened during Ramadan.
But as the above incident shows, such behaviour can erroneously affect our non-Muslim friends as well. So why is moral policing so prevalent in our community? And is it actually a good thing?