Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Mydin - Banning Dutch Product


Check out this interesting news - Mydin banning Dutch Product

This is what I thought, if Mydin sincerely do NOT wish his customer to buy Dutch product, why not consider pulling all Dutch products from Mydin shelves?
Being the owner of such a large supermarket, you should know better that :
  • most if not all Dutch Lady product are produce here with the raw material obtained from Australia and New Zealand.
  • the fact that the product is manufactured here means that any drop in sales will seriously affect the performance of the local Dutch Lady operation.
  • the Mother company may consider pulling out from operating from Malaysia and move to more civilised countries which offers lower pay with higher productivity like Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.
  • Are Dutch Lady and Phillips (Bosch) just to name a few, are majority owned by the Dutch? But then again, what has the action of a Dutch man got to do with banning the product from that country?
To me this is nothing more than an excuse to have some cheap publicity from the current brouhuha generated from Fitna. And the fact that they have not pull out Dutch Lady products from the shelves clearly shows that profit still matters. Money still rules, doesn't it? Besides, there are no shortage of shops and supermarkets that sell Dutch Lady products. There are really no significant inconvenience if people really wish to buy any Dutch Lady product. They just don't go to Mydin, that's all.... :P

By the way, I have a bone to pick with Berita Harian. Allow me to quote them -

" Filem itu juga menunjukkan kenyataan daripada paderi yang radikal yang menyebut sural Al-Quran dengan menyelitkan imej serangan 11 September terhadap Pusat Dagangan Dunia (WTC) New York. "

Now, why would they name the radical Muslim cleric and preacher as Paderi? Can any muslim out there clarify on this issue? When has an imam become a paderi? Can they be used interchangably? Or was it because the writer wants to mislead the public since it would NOT be appropriate to name them as Radical Muslim Cleric/Preacher? (Imam yang radikal?)

Datuk Amir Ali Mydin, did you really really watch Fitna, for once? I am still waiting for a single Muslim to explain the verses in Al-Quran that is mentioned in Fitna. Instead of channeling your energy towards unproductive anger, why not spend some time to explain the meaning of the questionable and hateful verse mentioned in Fitna ?


Updates

- Dutch Lady has, through in internal email on 4th April advise her staff not to wear any T'Shirt, jackets that will identify themselves to be the staff of Dutch Lady. The employees are also advise to remove all car windscreen sticker. It was reported that one of the staff of Dutch Lady (Section 14, PJ) was assaulted due to the same reason. The Management of Dutch Lady had also removed all the sales and transportation vehicle that are painted with the company logo, replacing them new, white colour Proton Iswara on the same day.

- For those seeking alternative (fair) explanation to the verses mentioned in Fitna, here's one possible source - http://mymines.blogspot.com/2008/04/fitnaindeed.html

9 anak ayam bother to comments:

Anonymous said...

I suspect the offense is that the Dutch film-maker said that Muslims should cut out the parts of the Koran that talks about violence against non-Muslims.

Any defacement of the Koran is something that every Muslim has been taught to defend against.

But Christians shouldn't be so quick to judge. A careful reading of the Old Testament tells of Yahweh being partial to Judges and Kings who did strove to maintain the worship of the One God. And there were a lot of violence as well, then.

Same God, different dispensation, perhaps? Not so nice and neat, eh?

Chicken Feet aka KaKiaYam said...

anonymous 1:06, not to sound to be defending the film or it's maker, but Al-Quran was not defaced in the film at all. It merely ask the muslim themselves to remove the (so called) hate sowing parts of the Quran. To me, the ball then is till at the feet of leaders of Islam to explain to Muslims themselves on why this should not be done.

I didn't judge them. But I do expect some proper and detail explanation from well-informed Muslims on the said verses and scriptures. Whether these verses do exist or otherwise, and whether the meaning of these verses were purposely quoted out of context. I don't think my request is in anyway offensive since I live in a Muslim majority nation where the leaders insist on leading the nation according to Islamic values and principles.

As for the Old testament, well, didn't do much study on the Old Testament. But I do know of many questionable verses (and violence) which need to be understood in context. Some is explainable, some not. But I take comfort of the fact that the message of Jesus Christ is simple and clear in the New Testament.

Anonymous said...

Actually Mydin is getting FREE advertisement, moreover they tagged Holland's items with red - easier to find and buy.
Mydin got sued not too long ago, when by an actress her endorsement of using her image on Mydin billboard expired and they continued using it until they were sued.
So free adv. carried by the major MSM - could have done better, I say.

myop101 said...

hello...

i still pump my petrol ay shell and eat ferrero rocher. i tried looking for the low fat dutch lady milk but realised it has either been removed or sold out. meanwhile, i don't think i have any philips goods but i am seriously looking for a CD player to replace my old sanyo.

to me, i don't see why i must put these companies into trouble. afterall, whatever this person has said which is supposed to be wrong, then why don't muslims themselves condemn those violent actions that are perpetrated by radicals? their constant demand to kill someone for criticising their religion is very disturbing to me.

why must he be killed? why don't they start a forum to have a discussion with him and publicise the proceeding in the net? isn't that better?

myop101 said...

oops...turns out ferrero rocher, as pointed out by my friend, is from Italy.

hehe...sorry...

Chicken Feet aka KaKiaYam said...

Yo brother myop101!

i hope you won't take into offence my comment in lulu blog. Just take that as a side remark from a brother. :)

By the way, someone manage to explain the verses in Fitna. Do forward this link to as many people as possible, including Muslim themselves. Most of them are not able to explain these verses confidently and hence become defensive.

Now, to allay both muslims and non-muslims fear -

http://mymines.blogspot.com/2008/04/fitnaindeed.html

So let's call it a day.

Case close, let's move on....

myop101 said...

dear kaki.ayam,

no la... no offense taken.

don't worry about it...:)

Bengbeng said...

it will blow over..people have short memories. personally i would b more concerned by the rising price of goods on the supermarket shelves.

zorro said...

Excellent posting and an even more excellent moderation of comments in this box. I salute you brother.

Just for info Haris Ibrahim of The People's Parliament has made some comments on this controversy.
Much cheers, brother.