Beer Stories

Somedays, I think I have one beer story too many. The story of Singapore model and mother of two, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno being sentened to six strokes of the cane for drinking beer is still fresh on the mind and now, there is a raid at 7-Eleven outlets by Shah Alam City Council officers which had Selangor PAS chief Datuk Hassan Ali (inset) calling for the Selangor state exco member Ronnie Liu to be stripped of his portfolio. The chief had accused the latter of meddling in enforcement action by the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA). In the raid, beer worth RM620 had been confiscated but Liu had said that MBSA did not have the authority to conduct such action and had thus directed MBSA to return the beer and apologise to the outlet’s owner. The PAS chief had also called for a ban on alcoholic beverage sale in Muslim-majority areas. As if all these were not enough, the other day when I was in Pangkor Island, I came across some beer with quaint, unfamiliar names in a mini-market in Pasir Bogak and these, I thought were quite expensive compared to the beer sold in Pulau Langkawi which incidentally, are tax-free and hence, cheaper than some soft drinks and mineral water sold there. All these beer stories really make me giddy and then funnily, I started wondering about Surā-meraya-majja-pamādahānā veramaī sikkhāpada samādiyāmi, the fifth precept of Buddhism which means I undertake the training rule to abstain from drinks [and drugs] that cause heedlessness. Shouldn't that line be rephrased WE undertake the training rule to abstain from drinks [and drugs] that cause heedlessness or WE MUST undertake the training rule to abstain from drinks [and drugs] that cause heedlessness instead?