In Malaysia: Faces of pigs blacked out from pages of New York Times

[Confuseous]

KUALA LUMPUR - Seemingly innocuous pictures of pigs in the front and middle pages of today’s International New York Times (NYT) have been blacked out in the Malaysian edition of the paper, raising both amusement and concern among readers.

A frontpage story in the international newspaper featured a picture of piglets standing in the snow but the printers of the Malaysian edition, KHL Printing Co, had blacked out the faces of each animal.

A continuation of the story about rising demand for pigs reared in the open on page 19 of the paper got the same treatment, with the faces of two adult pigs blacked out.

A representative from the printing company based in Shah Alam told the Malay Mail Online in a telephone conversation that pictures of pigs are not allowed in a Muslim country like Malaysia.

“From last time also we do this. If there is picture of nudes or like this we will cover. This is a Muslim country,” the spokesman said when asked why the faces of the pigs had been censored.


Full article: http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/i...al-edition-of-ny-times&Itemid=2#ixzz2r8Vc9LKl
Follow us: @MsiaChronicle on Twitter

 

[po2wq]

sum ppl r juz s2pig ... religion is a mama of societyz prob ...

 

[Narong Wongwan]

Moral of story: dun fuck around when it comes to Moslem sensitivity

 

[laksaboy]

Malaysia may be a Muslim country, but its bak kut teh is better than the one from Song Fa or Ng Ah Sio. Cheaper too.

 

[Narong Wongwan]

Frankly I dun like Malaysian version of BKT.....it's the herbal kind...

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

blacked out the pictures of some pigs!!!!!! WOW!!!!

 

[laksaboy]

Frankly I dun like Malaysian version of BKT.....it's the herbal kind...

Herbal BKT is the authentic version.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

Those poor mudslime readers would have to gouge out their own eyes if they saw the pigs. Maybe even burn the newspapers and bleach their own hands for the pictures of pigs on the papers. Good thinking of the editor for blanking out those pigs so less mudslimes would be blind or have damaged hands.


In other news sources it's reported that more extreme mudslimes have already prepared to launch a terrorist attack on their own newspaper and on the new york times but the boat sank due to the distance of nyc from mudland.

At press time they were still unable to explain why good mudslimes would want to commit terrorist activties cos it is banned in the religion but somehow just kept on attracting ppl to do it and also couldn't explain why terrorists mudslimes actually consider themselves even better and more pious mudslimes compared to mudslimes that didn't commit terrorist acts. I mean think about this a satanist knows he's probably hated by all christians if he fornicates in front of a statue of jesus but a terrorist mudslime thinks he's a better mudslime even though mudslimes keep on telling us he's the worst mudslime or a non mudslime at all. Now think about this suppose a supposedly devote christian say an altar boy or maybe a pastor decided to murder ppl in the name of christ they would think themselves the worst christians of all or even a non christian yet if they were mudslimes they would think themselves the best mudslimes of all. Something to ponder on.

 

[halsey02]

Ok, it is not possible to eat pork for the religion says so..pictures of PIGS?? How about angry birds? the game....is this banned in Malaysia, or the black out all the bad piggies??

 

[Ash007]

They banned sesame street because of miss piggy, why is this a surprise? Peppa pig was banned as well.

 

[lianbeng]

blacked out the pictures of some pigs!!!!!! WOW!!!!

lianbeng replies: they should photoshop some of their national leaders' faces onto those pig faces lah!

 

[songsongjurong]

Corruption,fleecing rakyat by the Billions, BOLEH! Babi? TAK BOLEH!

 

[hockbeng]

KUALA LUMPUR - Seemingly innocuous pictures of pigs in the front and middle pages of today’s International New York Times (NYT) have been blacked out in the Malaysian edition of the paper, raising both amusement and concern among readers.

A frontpage story in the international newspaper featured a picture of piglets standing in the snow but the printers of the Malaysian edition, KHL Printing Co, had blacked out the faces of each animal.

A continuation of the story about rising demand for pigs reared in the open on page 19 of the paper got the same treatment, with the faces of two adult pigs blacked out.

A representative from the printing company based in Shah Alam told the Malay Mail Online in a telephone conversation that pictures of pigs are not allowed in a Muslim country like Malaysia.

“From last time also we do this. If there is picture of nudes or like this we will cover. This is a Muslim country,” the spokesman said when asked why the faces of the pigs had been censored.


Full article: http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/i...al-edition-of-ny-times&Itemid=2#ixzz2r8Vc9LKl
Follow us: @MsiaChronicle on Twitter

such stupidity!
and so many sporeans still want to invest there

 

[tanwahtiu]

This pig thing could be from the time of Simon Decobar. He managed to get rid of the Romans and held Israel for 3 years AD-66 the jewish revolution. Finally the Roman took back the country and put a big pig statue on the holy temple site to insult the Jews.


From then on, pigs are more or less taken as a respect than poke at. So non-Muslim should respect why muslim (offshoot of Jesus brother Jame's) not to mention pig thing.

Go fuck the Italians assholes if you see one for humuliate the Jews.

Imagine if Romans put a chicken, then muslim don't eat chicken no KFC.

Put a cow, no beef steak or McDonald beef burger to eat.

KUALA LUMPUR - Seemingly innocuous pictures of pigs in the front and middle pages of today’s International New York Times (NYT) have been blacked out in the Malaysian edition of the paper, raising both amusement and concern among readers.

A frontpage story in the international newspaper featured a picture of piglets standing in the snow but the printers of the Malaysian edition, KHL Printing Co, had blacked out the faces of each animal.

A continuation of the story about rising demand for pigs reared in the open on page 19 of the paper got the same treatment, with the faces of two adult pigs blacked out.

A representative from the printing company based in Shah Alam told the Malay Mail Online in a telephone conversation that pictures of pigs are not allowed in a Muslim country like Malaysia.

“From last time also we do this. If there is picture of nudes or like this we will cover. This is a Muslim country,” the spokesman said when asked why the faces of the pigs had been censored.


Full article: http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/i...al-edition-of-ny-times&Itemid=2#ixzz2r8Vc9LKl
Follow us: @MsiaChronicle on Twitter

 

[topspin]

Little by little extremism is creeping in and when it is widespread enough Malaysia will bring a lot of trouble to this region. Extremist links between Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Brunei can cause a lot of chaos and havoc and affect everyone badly.

 

[looneytan]

Frankly I dun like Malaysian version of BKT.....it's the herbal kind...

Some more looks like overused torn hum

 

[yellowarse]

Frankly I dun like Malaysian version of BKT.....it's the herbal kind...

I prefer the herbal BKT, especially the really good ones served in some 花园屋 restaurants in Petaling Jaya. Our local BKT is too peppery and insipid.

 

[Jlokta]

blacked out the pictures of some pigs!!!!!! WOW!!!!

They should do the same here. Black out the faces of the 超级白.

 

[BuiKia]

The Mats has an extreme view towards pigs. Try to buy them a piggy bank or even a stuff toy and see what happens.

 

[BuiKia]

You guys remember this? You appease them again and again and they will push and push. No wonder they are pushing the hijab thing all the way this time round.

There is such a thing as being too culturally sensitive. The Straits Times reports that fast food giant McDonald's opened up a virtual beehive in Singapore when it deliberately omitted pig characters from its latest toy promotion, earning the ire of netizens and Chinese customers.

The pig toy was suppose to be part of a 12-character Doraemon set depicting the animals of the Chinese zodiac calendar. However, management at the Golden Arches decided not to include the pig toy to avoid offending Muslim customers, and had a Doraemon Cupid toy in its place instead -- a move which seriously upset Chinese customers keen on collecting all 12 toys in the series. A flurry of irate emails and demands by collectors and customers followed, and now the fast food giant has reversed its decision, adding a pig toy back to the promotional line-up (Updated January 25, 2010).

McDonald's apologizes

According to the Straits Times, the fast food chain was apologetic about the initial decision to yank the pig character. McDonald’s Restaurants communications director Linda Ming said the chain excluded the pig toy out of sensitivity for its Muslim customers and chose Cupid instead to commemorate Valentine’s Day, which coincides with the first day of the Chinese New Year this year, on Feb 14. "We seek our customers' understanding that it has never been our intention to be disrespectful towards any religion or culture."

But the damage is already done. Blogs and forums are already calling it an overreaction and experts say it showed a lack of cross-cultural understanding. Sociologist Daniel Goh said that if McDonald’s did not consult Muslim opinions before making the decision to exclude the pig toy, the company had then assumed Muslim sensibilities, which amounted to a form of self-censorship.

Dr Mohamad Maznah, a visiting senior research fellow with the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS), said to the Straits Times that she felt the restaurant was just being cautious, although she doubted the Muslim community here would have been upset if the pig toy had been included. Dr Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied, an assistant professor of Malay Studies at NUS, said, "Pigs and dogs are not non-halal, except when they are consumed."

Backlash from the blogsphere

Blogger Vlad Tepes posted that "this decision makes about as much sense as Afghanistan’s lone hog which has been quarantined due to fears of swine flu, a virus that the rest of the advanced world realizes is not contracted by direct contact with pigs, or the fatwa issued by Malaysian Muslim clerics against the evils of yoga."

Rajesh Chhabara wrote on the CSR Works blog that "McDonald's lack of cross-cultural understanding points to a common trend among multinational companies who often neglect to deploy corporate responsibility managers with local insight in Asia. What McDonald's should have done was to engage with the Muslim community's leadership to discuss the promotion and the dilemma it faced."

Forums have been inundated with opinions. Pappy commented on the Straits Times report that "McDonald's wrongly interprets the halal certification, and takes political correctness to the extreme to cater to the religious extremists. It not only disappoints the Chinese with its insensible decision, it also makes the vast majority of our moderate Muslims look bad."

lich_king asked why McDonald's didn't apply the same rule to the bull toy as well, as, according to McLogic, that could offend the Hindus who don't eat beef. Pauline Koh wrote in to the ST Forum, saying "In this case, the pig is one of the Chinese zodiac signs -- part of Chinese culture and customs -- and it is just a soft toy, not food. Will the sight of a Doraemon collectible pig soft toy offend anyone? Was the decision based on a recommendation from MUIS (the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore)?"

http://travel.cnn.com/singapore/none/mcdonalds-pig-toy-fiasco-371923