Speed reading or seedy reading?

Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at UCSI University, Cheras. Recently he wrote in to Malaysiakini to lament Dr P Ramasamy's letter criticising Rayani Air, the new airline which claims to be syariah compliant. Rayani Air is owned by a married couple, Ravi Alagendran and wife Karthiyani Govindan, both of whom are Hindus.

Malaysiakini reported Dr Ramasamy, Penang's DCM II, acknowledging that the two Hindu owners are "... primarily eyeing the Muslim market in Malaysia as 60 percent of the population is Muslims. The airline will be syariah compliant - only halal food will be served; Muslim staff will have their heads covered, and if non-Muslims are employed, they will have adhere to Islamic attire. There will be prayers before take-off and landing, no alcohol will be served, and pork will be prohibited."

However, I don't agree with Dr Rama's argument that "It is apparent that this husband-and-wife team have little regard for the non-Muslims in the country. Although they are Hindu, they don’t seem to understand that starting an airline on a syariah-complaint basis will have negative effect on the use of the airline by non-Muslims. Obviously, Rayani Air will not treat non-Muslims as equals in their travels and this will contribute to yet another form of polarisation in our already much-divided society."

Where is the evidence that "Rayani Air will not treat non-Muslims as equals in their travels"?

Ravi Alagendran and Karthiyani Govindan are just exploiting the Muslim market for their start-up airline. It's a reasonably smart strategy for a newcomer, to carve and secure a niche in the Malaysian Muslim market. And why not!

So long as there is no application of hudud legislation such as punishment by chopping off hands of pickpockets or flogging those found guilty of, say, yamseng-ing on board a Rayani Air flight I don't give a shit that it's syariah complaint.

Besides, passengers are the cash kings and queens so those not happy with the airline's syariah compliance needn't travel with the company.

In fact in some 'no-frills' airlines, if you don't cough up the dough for alcoholic drinks, the no-alcoholic-drink service would also be virtually syariah compliant, wakakaka, well at least for those who don't pay, so what's the issue?

After all, Rayani Air is a very small operator having only "... 350 staff, eight pilots and 50 cabin crew ... fly[ing] to Langkawi from Kuala Lumpur, with plans for expansion to Kuching and Kota Kinabalu" and reportedly with only two aircraft in its fleet.

Syariah compliant or not, it's just a means of air transportation and only within Malaysia so in actuality there will hardly be time for any decent yamseng-ing between KL and Langkawi.

BUT and a big BUT!!!

Prof Mohamad Tajuddin in criticising Dr Rama should not have twisted the latter's words. For example, he criticized Dr Rama, saying "I am absolutely shocked to read that Ramasamy has equated this couple’s idea of a syariah-compliant airline to one for whites only or Buddhists only. What nonsense is this?"

What Dr Rama wrote had been "Just imagine what will happen to the minorities if the government of India gives out licences for airlines to cater mainly for the Hindu majority in India. What if Sri Lanka promotes airlines that cater for the Buddhist majority? Or if European countries give preferential treatment to whites rather people of colour or blacks? We condemned apartheid in South Africa but aren't we are doing what we condemned?"

Where was it that suggest Dr Rama had "equated this couple’s idea of a syariah-compliant airline to one for whites only or Buddhists only"?

In fact Dr Rama warned about the apartheid paradigm if others emulate Rayani Air's unique catering for a specific religious or racial group.

Though I don't agree with Dr Rama's 'worries' (for reasons stated above), I am disappointed with Prof Tajuddin's preposterous twists in his accusations against Dr Rama.

Is he professor of architecture or fiction writing?

Another of his accusations against Dr Rama was: "Furthermore, asking the couple to act like AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes who mixes cheap fares with sexual appeal in the form of scantily dressed stewardesses says a lot about Ramasamy’s opinion perhaps on the issue of dignity for women."

This was what Dr Rama had actually written in his original letter: "Perhaps Air Rayani founders should learn some useful tips from Tony Fernandes, the CEO of AirAsia, and the number one airline in Malaysia."

"Fernandez was successful not only because he had the right management skills, but he also made it possible for ordinary people to travel cheaply and safely. He cared for those who could not afford to travel because of the practices of some airlines in imposing exorbitant fares."

Dr Rama had talked of Tony Fernandez' management skill and the cheap fares offered by his airline AirAsia.

Prof Tajuddin's preposterous insertion of "... sexual appeal in the form of scantily dressed stewardesses says a lot about Ramasamy’s opinion perhaps on the issue of dignity for women" was a nasty non-Queensbury ruled blow below Dr Rama's belt. Real f* kotor lah.

But Dr Rama has been kindly diplomatic in advising the Prof not to 'speed read' his letter, wakakaka.

The way I see it, Prof Tajuddin might have naughtily and opportunistically used Dr Rama's letter (some parts of which, as discussed above, that I personally disagree with) to recklessly throw shit to satisfy his own prejudice based on his own religious interpretation.

And WTF does Prof Tajuddin mean by 'scantily dressed stewardesses'?

He insults the stewardesses' dignity by his sexist male-chauvinism.

I wish such 'pious' Muslim leaders would stop their disrespectful misogynistic comments on women's body parts or attire. Keep the f**k out of women's personal space and privacy.

And most importantly for an academician, he should check his f* facts before launching attacks because if he doesn't, he'd and indeed has f* shot himself in his own foot. Malu saje!