GEORGE TOWN: The Consumers' Association of Penang (CAP) is calling on all Muslims to resolve to make this Ramadan more meaningful and spiritually enriching.
Ramadan, said CAP president Mohideen Abdul Kader, is supposed to be a month of intense devotion for Muslims. However, for some, it has become a month of feasting and wasteful spending.
"For the past 10 years, CAP has been carrying out campaigns against wastage, overindulgence and extravagance, traits which are condemned by Islam and other religions.
"The campaign was initiated by our late president S.M. Mohammed Idris, who was horrified by the large amounts of food waste and extravagant spending of the Muslim elite during this holy month while millions of people have no adequate food, shelter, education and healthcare.
"As such, with Ramadan fast approaching, we are reminding Muslims to once again avoid wastage and practice charity," he told newsmen at the CAP office at Jalan Masjid Negeri here today.
Mohideen said Muslims should avoid breaking fast in hotels and instead break their fast (iftar) in their own homes or mosques with family members and friends.
"Invite your non-Muslim neighbours to break fast with you. This way, we build goodwill and understanding among Malaysians," he said.
He said the breaking of fast, traditionally in the home with the family members or in the mosque in a spiritual environment, has become a "feast with a 100-dish spread" in hotels and restaurants.
He said it had been turned into a source of profits for these enterprises.
"Excessive varieties and quantities of food prepared for 'iftar' and 'sahur' leads to wastage. A lot of food is thrown away by hotels and families into the waste dumps.
"The Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp) reported, in 2016 that each Ramadan, some 200,000 tonnes of food go straight into the rubbish bins. This quantity of food could feed 180 million people.
"Throwing away food is a sin as it deprives food for the needy and the future generation. It also depletes resources and contributes to environmental degradation through the pollution of seas and rivers and discharge of carbon dioxide, responsible for global warming.
"One of the objectives of fasting is to feel the pain of hunger experienced by the poor and marginalised so that we will have empathy for them. Millions of people in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Palestine, Myanmar, India, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Pakistan and Afghanistan are facing starvation and yet we are throwing away huge quantities of food in the holy month.
"The rich should share their wealth with the poor and needy instead of indulging in an ostentatious way of life. Use your wealth to uplift the poor and marginalised out of poverty and oppression and support worthy causes," he said.