Missed opportunities in banning festival

THERE has been much debate on the refusal of KL City Hall to approve a permit for the beer festival which has been held regularly in Malaysia over the past years.

It must be highlighted that over 250 different craft beers by 43 independent breweries across 12 countries would have been featured during the event, which would have been held for the sixth time here had it been approved.

To know Malaysia is to love Malaysia, and the gains in terms of tourist arrivals and hotel bookings (at least 6,000 people were expected to attend) would have been enormous.

Malaysia’s competitive tourism ranking would definitely improve in terms of tourism service and international openness.

Many honest and straight-fromthe-heart opinions have been voiced out over this issue.

Whether or not there will be trouble is mere speculation; it’s all about tolerance and respecting the rights of people in our multireligious society.

Most of my family members, cousins, uncles, friends and relatives occasionally drink after work, on weekends, during festivities and get-togethers and so on. It has become part of our social practice.

Yes, we do have some habitual drinkers and we know the harm overindulgence in alcohol can cause to others and to ourselves. Isolated incidents do occur, but so do incest, rape, murder and drug abuse.

Banning this annual festival isn’t going to stop people from drinking. Perhaps we have to see the bigger picture. Quoting Socrates: “Worthless people live only to eat and drink, people of worth eat and drink to live”, I prefer to be the latter.