BIG BRO - Segamat Islamic Religious Department

From MM Online:

Segamat council officers go undercover as cooks, secretly photograph non-fasting Muslims

BY G. PRAKASH

Mosque committee members prepare for iftar at Masjid Jamek in Seberang Jaya May 21, 2019

Picture by Sayuti Zainudin

KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 — Segamat Municipal Council (MPS) officers are disguising themselves as food stall operators, cooks and waiters in a bid to catch Muslims who do not fast during Ramadan.

MPS president Mohd Masni Wakiman told English daily New Straits Times (NST) that the council in Johor was working with the Segamat Islamic Religious Department to track those Muslims down, especially at stalls under MPS’ supervision.

Mohd Masni said there are 185 licensed stalls and food outlets under MPS at 15 locations.

These include Segamat, Bandar Putra IOI, Segamat Baru, Jalan Segamat Muar, Taman Yayasan, Buloh Kasap, Jementah, Batu Anam and Bandar Utama.

He said MPS has 32 enforcement officers, including two officers who are good at making roti canai, tea and mee goreng mamak, who will disguise themselves as cooks and waiters to catch Muslims eating at the 185 food stalls.

“We have specially selected enforcement officers who are dark-skinned for the undercover job.

“They sound convincing when they speak the Indonesian and Pakistani lingo, so the customers will believe they are really hired to cook, serve meals and take orders,” he was reported as saying.

No 3 roti-canai specialist apologise to MPS president Mohd Masni Wakiman for not having dark skin

wakakaka

Mohd Masni added that once the order is sent, the enforcement officer will secretly take a photograph of the person enjoying the meal and immediately alert the Segamat Islamic Religious Council for them to take appropriate action.

Fasting is a very disciplined self enforced course of action. Followers of many religions fast though in different fashion. Even non-religious groups do fast, like in Australia where many fast occasionally for 48 hours in unity with the Hungry of the World.

However, Islam in Malaysia definitely has official enforcement of fasting by Muslims during the month of Ramadan.

Last year in Tunisia there were public protests called 'Mouch Bessif' or 'Not by Force.' They referred to the view that no one should be forced to fast during Ramadan. I don't know what was the outcome.

In the USA and Australia there is a criminal law called 'entrapment'. It means a practice whereby a law enforcement agent or agent of the state induces a person to commit a criminal offence that the person would have otherwise been unlikely or unwilling to commit.

I wonder whether MPS president Mohd Masni Wakiman boasting about MPS having ...

... two officers who are good at making roti canai, tea and mee goreng mamak, who will disguise themselves as cooks and waiters to catch Muslims eating at the 185 food stalls.

“We have specially selected enforcement officers who are dark-skinned for the undercover job.

“They sound convincing when they speak the Indonesian and Pakistani lingo, so the customers will believe they are really hired to cook, serve meals and take orders,”

... would fall under law enforcement agent or agent of the state inducing a person to commit a criminal offence that the person would have otherwise been unlikely or unwilling to commit?

But disregarding the so-called 'entrapment' law, is it necessary to spy on and nab non-fasters, like 'peeping toms' spying on and nabbing Muslims committing khalwat offences?

In 2007 in Terengganu, the UMNO state government initiated an ‘ingenious’ plan ('ingenious' as reported by Star Online, wakakaka) where Mat Skoding’s or spies will be recruited from locals to tip-off the state religious department of immoral activities, like cases of close proximity and vice, essentially 'Peeping Toms" too - for more see my 2007 post Mat Skoding - bounty hunters for gatal females.

Yes, some years ago, Putrajaya's Islamic Department set up an Islamic Snoop Squad or official 'Peeping Toms', wakakaka, as proposed by JAWI in 2006 to peep on Muslims committing 'sins' like khalwat, adultery etc.

Then-PM AAB was so incensed by the invasive-to-privacy proposal that he told JAWI to cease and desist, stating the Cabinet's official policy would always be to deny any such proposals in the future or in any State.

This was in the wake of an early rebuke by the Cabinet to Mohd Ali Rustam, then Malacca's Chief Minister, on a similar 'Peeping Toms' scheme in 2005. Rustam was ordered to bugger off with that shameful disgraceful podah peeping proposal.

The AAB Cabinet was determined that no group would ever be permitted to spy on people on so-called religious moral grounds. Bravo to AAB, the MOST religious of any Malaysian PMs.

"... no group would ever be permitted to spy on people on so-called religious moral grounds"?

But the Segamat Islamic Religious Department has today decided otherwise.

It's definitely Big Brother, a term borrowed from the 1949 dystopian novel "1984" by George Orwell. Orwell's book provided the contemporary meaning of Big Brother, meaning a government that is always surveilling the masses.