Wan Ji said that for a long time, Muslims in Malaysia had been under the impression that everyone must respect them during Ramadan because they fast.
“Islam does not forbid eating in public. The issue of sensitivity and sentiment is a Malay issue,” said Wan Ji, who is head of the Angkatan Muda Keadilan religious bureau.
His remarks were in response to a posting by Facebook user Mrym Lee, a member of the Dialog Jalanan activist group, in which she lamented on the extent of moral and religious policing in the country,
She had described how she and a friend had been verbally abused after deliberately eating in public in a protest against such policing.
Wan Ji said the way the Malaysian Muslim community must improve their thinking, and stressed that from a shariah perspective, it was not wrong for Muslims who were not fasting to eat in public places.
He said attitude could be changed, if the section of Muslims who always demanded respect, without themselves showing respect for others, changed their thinking.
“It can be done through education, be it in schools or through sermons at mosques and suraus.”
Mrym, who has over 2,000 followers on Facebook and Twitter, sparked an online debate after recently posted her views on moral policing.