A restaurant in Malaysia sacked an employee after a video of him wearing a crucifix at work went viral last Sunday, kicking off a public outcry.
The latest mass expression of discontent linked with food could further widen the racial and religious divide in the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian nation.
The video of the crucifix-wearing man was meant to show the serpentine queue outside a restaurant in the heart of Kuala Lumpur well-known for its meat-filled flatbread.
However, many Muslim-Malay viewers were annoyed seeing the crucifix hanging from the worker’s neck. More-over, he was wearing the son-gkok, a Malay traditional headgear.
The restaurant faced a barrage of criticism. Was it trying to hoodwink the public into believing it was a halal establishment by making a non-Muslim wear a Malay-Muslim songkok? Some also questioned if the food and the preparation were halal.