By Kazi Mahmood, IOL South East Asia correspondent

KUALA LUMPUR, December 30 (IslamOnline) - Beer logos and advertisements have caused a rift in Malaysia, leading non-Muslim restaurant owners to fiercely attack a call by a pro-government Chief Minister to ban such logos from billboards and sign boards in the state of Selangor, a state run by the United Malaysia National Organization (UMNO) of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

The Chinese community, feeling attacked by the statement of the Chief Minister of Selangor Mohamad Khir Toyo that beer logos must be removed from restaurants billboards, said their business depended on the sale of alcoholic products.

“As it is, beer advertisements are very difficult to pass through in newspapers and on television, now if the beer logos and ads are removed, it will affect our business,” a restaurant owner in Kuala Lumpur city center said.

Several members of the influential Chinese community said the announcement made a week ago by the Chief Minister was a call close to a certain annihilation of “alcohol sale” in the most liberal state in Malaysia.

Some said it equaled the tension caused in Kelantan and Terengganu, two states governed by the Party Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) where beer and other alcoholic products are banned for public sale.

“Such items can’t be found in restaurants and hotels in these states, the Islamic government there imposed strict rules against the advertisements too that features beer and alcoholic products,” Rajakumaren, an Indian beer vendor, told IslamOnline.

Mohamad Khir Toyo is a member of the UMNO; he became Selangor Chief Minister three years ago and has been credited with a few good results in the most industrialized state in Malaysia. He is also the target of the PAS and the Party Keadilaan (PK) that accused him of corrupt practices.

Selangor, one of the largest states in the country, is popular among tourists for its various attractions and also for its liberalism. Alcohol drips freely in hotels and bars as well as restaurants in Selangor, but efforts are being made to dry out the alcoholic taps there too.

Alongside Kuala Lumpur, the former capital city of Malaysia, Selangor, is the artery of progress and development in the majority Muslim Malaysia, which has a population of 27 million including that of Sabah and Sarawak.

Some 60 to 65 percent of the Malaysians are Muslims of Malay origin, though a tiny proportion of them are Arab and Indian Muslims.

The Chinese community, representing 25 percent of the population is questioning the motives behind the Selangor government’s move to ban beer ads. The Chinese are very strong in business and dominates some 70 percent of businesses in the Muslim country, according to some sources.

On Saturday December 28, 2002, the Selangor state government said it was not banning the drinking of alcohol although it maintained it intends to regulate the excessive advertisement of alcoholic beverages, Bernama reported.

State executive councilor Ch’ng Toh Eng said the state will regulate excessive advertisement found in family-oriented eating outlets. He did not say why and this still confused the Chinese community in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.

Alcohol is available in super markets, restaurants and other shops all over Selangor, with huge advertisement banners and sometimes the beer logos right on top of the signboards of shops selling liquor.

“It is unfair if you ask me to ban the advertisements in such shops, since they depend on this to survive,” said a member of a local Muslim restaurant association.

“It is wise in a Muslim society to ban such things but look around us, there are not only Muslims here and non-Muslims still have the right to procure and drink alcohol freely in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur,” Ali, a Muslim restaurant owner, said .

Currently the Selangor state government is working hard to ensure the Chinese community that it is not harming the rights of the non-Muslims and there is no rise in “Islamization” in Selangor.

However, the state government also has to cater to the increasing demands by Muslims in the state, who want a larger application of Islam in all walks of life in order to prevent the younger generations to fall into the traps of alcoholism.

It is a fact that with the year ending, many young Malays will be seen in the streets or in the liquor selling establishments, gulping beer and other “haram” products to celebrate New Year.