One needs only to observe how Jakim frolics with its power to see the truth in the famous statement that says power corrupts.

Jakim gets to determine for all Muslims in the country what is halal and what is haram, never caring how many Islamic scholars disagree with it. And now it even gets to name items on restaurant menus.

Auntie Anne is facing a halal/haram problem because, according to Jakim, the name of one its offerings may confuse Muslims in Malaysia.

Are Muslims so naive as to think that Pretzel Dog is a pretzel with dog meat in it? Someone should declare it haram to insult the intelligence of Malaysian Muslims.

If Jakim carries on like this, I’ll definitely miss my hot dogs, not to mention kuih badak, badak berendam and air mata kuching. Perhaps nasi lemak anak dara will also cease to be halal because Muslims may think a virgin has been sacrificed to make the dish.

Now you see how regressive Jakim is. It wants to drag Muslims down its silly path.

Perhaps we should give credit to former PM Mahathir Mohamad for creating this wonderful institution just to beat PAS’s conservative Islamic appeal.

As for the current government, it can stop preaching “Moderate Malaysia” if it lets Jakim get away with this.

O K Drieberg is an FMT reader.

With a firm belief in freedom of expression and without prejudice, FMT tries its best to share reliable content from third parties. Such articles are strictly the writer’s (or organisation’s) personal opinion. FMT does not necessarily endorse the views or opinions given by any third party content provider.