This Little Pig Went To The Market

It was a scrumptious Balinese-style roast pork in a delightful Balinese restaurant in Jakarta, posted on Instagram.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77e347_e0a287b0a5b44030a304d8643f515508/480p/mp4/file.mp4

Among the 390+ comments, was one biting comment on “how nauseating” the roast looked :

Balinese are predominantly Hindu, and pork, a part of their diet. Therefore offering their typical roast Balinese pork with pride would seem a logical completion of their culinary offering.

The Instagram account JKTGO, which posted the dish, is a local city guide and generates content on various places to visit in Jakarta.

Just for context: Indonesia is a country with the largest Muslim population in the world, where eating pork is forbidden for Muslims accordingly to Islamic law.

That said, Indonesia remains a secular state where the sale of pork in any form is legal. Sure enough, the comment caused a flurry of reactions, including from those that supported that such an intolerant comment be deleted.

JKTGO explained that by allowing such comments to be visible, it would raise awareness to the public that such biased views indeed still exist.

Slurs

Separately, another comment:

Now, just to clarify that the restaurant’s extensive menu does abound with an elaborate offering of Indonesian drinks and delicacies - the overwhelming majority of which do not include pork.

Slide for a glimpse of the menu. Photo credit: putumade.id

Ever the curious cat, I returned to the video and managed to zoom in on the Hijabber referred by the commenter.

You can find her sitting at a table with no food or pork in sight

So, tell me again, what is the problem with the Hijabber's presence?

Have we gone so radical that the mere presence of someone of a particular faith in an environment where there are prohibited food present, becomes justifiable reasons for cynical slurs and social bullying?

The question is : What will we do about it?

Remain as indifferent bystanders as long as it doesn’t directly affect us?

I certainly hope that we do not let judgemental and biased comments like these slide, sowing the seeds of self-righteousness, disrespect and divisiveness, in the name of faith or religion.

Surely we must rise to a higher level of intelligence and humanity than this. We need to identify and distinguish between personal beliefs and fundamental human values.

Thank you @nitzshots, well said.

Do we point out to our children how to recognize and understand how we treat and respect differences?

Or do we let it pass, remain silent, conform to our own exclusive societies that each of us comfortably belong to?

Radical and racist behaviours and beliefs do not mushroom overnight.

They are born out of narrow minded, self-serving thoughts, that slowly creep into the fiber of our being, through countless tolerated slurs and bullying, unresolved disappointments, misunderstandings, misinterpreted values, reinforced by exclusive, self-centered perceptions and group-think.

It’s high time to be less tolerant.

Less tolerant towards disrespectful behaviors to anyone perceived as different.

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Photo credits:JktGo Instagram account