KUALA LUMPUR: It’s Ramazan in Malaysia and by day waiters are idle, office canteens deserted, and workers are sluggish. But as night falls, roadside food stalls and lavish hotel buffets explode into life as Muslims break their fast in style.
Ramazan, the most sacred month in the Islamic calendar which is this week drawing to a close, sees many of the world’s one billion Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours.
But it also triggers an annual late-night phenomenon of feasting, shopping and revelry in this predominantly Muslim country where food is an obsession.
Countless stalls sprout up on popular thoroughfares, selling a vast array of food for the breaking of fast or “buka puasa”, from cakes to traditional dishes like beef rendang and a multitude of rainbow-coloured sugary drinks.
Housewives and office workers often set up business just for the month, frying up huge woks of “char kuay teow”, or rice noodles with seafood, and grilling rows of “ayam percik”, or barbequed chicken seasoned in coconut milk.
Cashed-up Malaysians hit the capital’s five-star hotels which offer lavish buffets with everything from humble dates to fresh oysters, and price tags around 100 ringgit (27 dollars), twice as much as the ordinary Malaysian’s average wage.
But critics have slammed such excesses during what is supposed to be a month of abstinence and piety.
“Consumers have the right to make a choice. But I would say that 100 ringgit is too high,” said Tourism Minister Leo Michael Toyad.
Malaysians seem to disagree though, and hotels can barely meet the demand from customers who spill out of restaurants and share tables hastily thrown up in corridors.
Religious leaders have also called for restraint, partly as this year’s Ramazan has been struck by the devastating South Asian quake which killed 55,000 people in Pakistan and 1,300 in occupied Kashmir.
“Muslims should not make the fasting month a month-long feast to satisfy their urges,” royal religious adviser Abu Hassan Din Al-Hafiz told the state media.
“It is totally inappropriate ... Islam promotes moderation,” agreed Abdullah Mohamed Hassan, the mufti for Malaysia’s Kelantan state.
But despite the harsh words, Malaysians relish the opportunity to shop at late-night markets and taste traditional foods often not available at other times of the year.
In the upscale suburb of Taman Tun, traffic is at a standstill every afternoon near the hugely popular Ramazan Bazaar as Malaysians crowd the stalls in the hours before the breaking of their fast, buying ready-cooked food to be eaten at home.
Busy working professionals like lawyer Ika Zaman, 35, said it was easier to buy dinner than spend the afternoon cooking, especially when home-made dishes can’t even be tasted until sundown.
“For working people, it’s the convenience, and the abundance of choice at resonably low prices,” she said as she eyed a hawker stirring a fragrant wok of char kuay teow.
One stallholder who went into business just for the month is Nur Liza, 21, who sells “roti john” or ground meat cooked with eggs and onions in a french loaf, a popular cheap dish during Ramazan.
“Our roti john sells out pretty early in the day,” she said as she packed up her stall in the predominantly Malay and less-affluent district of Keramat.
In the capital’s Jalan Masjid India bazaar in downtown Kuala Lumpur, otherwise grimy back lanes are lined with cheerful stalls displaying swathes of multi-coloured silks and chiffons, brightly-coloured scarves and traditional Malay dresses which are a must for Muslims during the festive season.—AFP
