McDonald’s Malaysia is looking to expand its fleet of outlets to 750 nationwide by 2030. That’s more than double from its current 370 restaurants across the country, or about 63 new outlets every year for the next 6 years. With between 50 to 100 jobs created from each restaurant, the fast food chain is expected to create up to 38,000 jobs by 2030, despite the ongoing boycott against “Mekdi”.
Mind you, more than 85% of those new jobs will go to Malay-Muslims. And we haven’t even talked about business for local contractors involved in the construction or maintenance of the restaurant. Essentially, McDonald’s was confident that the boycott, which was based on herd mentality rather than common sense, would be temporary. In fact, no one believes that the boycott will be permanent.
The best time to gauge whether the boycott has lost its steam was during the Ramadan and Hari Raya Aidilfitri. As expected, Malays appear to have returned to McDonald’s after a few months of fruitless boycott since October last year. Many had blindly jumped on the boycott bandwagon after the news that McDonald’s outlets in Israel had donated thousands of free meals to Israeli soldiers.
Over the weekend, however, it was clear why McDonald’s is expanding. Business was roaring as truckloads of Malay-Muslims happily enjoyed their favourite fast food during the festival. In fact, the boycott turns sour when some Malay extremists have begun mocking, insulting – even threatening – fellow Malays who dined at the restaurants. It got so serious that police were involved.
At a McDonald’s in Sungai Isap, Kuantan, Pahang, five men have been arrested for provoking and threatening to hit a customer in his 40s, who was at the restaurant with his family. In the incident which took place at 10.25pm on April 12 (Friday), a group of protestors was holding a boycott campaign outside the premises to show support for Palestine, before they began harassing customers.
The victim initially ignored the yelling and provocation, preferring to continue his meal instead. However, as the diner was leaving the outlet, the group of men – including a car salesman, a contractor, a business owner, a bank clerk and an army personnel – threatened to beat the man with helmets. The man’s wife managed to de-escalate the tension, leading to a police report lodged.
Two of the five suspects had past criminal records involving drugs. All five suspects, aged between 27 to 43 years old, were detained, while the case is being investigated under Section 506 of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation – punishable with a prison sentence of up to two years or fined or both if found guilty. This is a classic example of a silly boycott turned extreme.
The story did not end there. Conservative and extremist Malays, clearly not happy that their comrades have started abandoning the boycott, had labelled customers at McDonald’s and KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) as “dogs” and “pigs”. They were incredibly mad and frustrated when fellow Malays refused to boycott, or decided to discontinue the useless efforts.
From the beginning, not every Malay was interested in the boycott, which was instigated by the Boycott Divestment Sanctions Malaysia (BDS Malaysia.) But because majority of the community were doing so, eventually the overwhelming herd mentality forced reluctant participants to also stop dining at McDonald’s out of fear of being called un-Malay, un-Islamic, pro-Jews and whatnot.
In reality, progressive Malays have actually ignored the boycott – cleverly continue to buy “takeaway” food and beverages through “Drive-Thru” to avoid unnecessary harassment or attention. Because not every MacDonald’s restaurant has such drive-thru facility, it creates a perception that all the Malays were boycotting, when in fact it is not.
Think about it, McDonald’s would have closed down for business already if every single Malay – the largest consumer base in Malaysia – stops consuming burgers, fried chicken, French fries, beverages and ice-cream. Arguably, one of the reasons an increasing number of them are returning to the reality is due to the escalating cost of living. “Mekdi” provides a cheaper alternative.
At RM5 for a McChicken, or RM10.95 for a set of double spicy chicken with cheese burger which comes with ice-lemon tea and fries, or RM15.95 for Nasi Lemak armed with two pieces of mouth-watering fried chicken and ice-lemon tea, the McDonald’s promotions are giving Malay restaurants a run for their money. Where can you indulge such menu in air-conditioned and Wi-Fi restaurants?
Those who thought it was fun to blindly boycott the fast food chain just because everyone seemed to be doing so, but has now decided to abandon it, should know how it feel to be harassed, threatened, and cursed. Thousands of McDonald’s staffs, majority of whom are Malays, have had been scolded, thrown with slippers, mocked, insulted and even spat at.
The extremists were so obsessed with boycott that they hadn’t a clue that it hurts Malays more than the Jewish state. Not only McDonald’s Malaysia operator – Gerbang Alaf Sdn Bhd – is a 100% Muslim-owned company, its staffs are mainly Malay Muslims who alongside the delivery riders, who are also Malay Muslims, are the ones mainly affected by the boycott.
McDonald’s Corporation, let alone McDonald’s Israel, does not suffer at all. That’s because the American multinational company is a global chain whose franchises are often owned locally and operate autonomously. The cost involved during the start up of a new restaurant typically ranges approximately between RM2.5 million to RM2.8 million. Additionally, it also pays a 5% royalty fee.
Therefore, in the worst case scenario, Gerbang Alaf will shut down unprofitable outlet and fire all the innocent Malay employees at that particular restaurant. It will then relocate or open new outlet in new town or housing area. And the Jews would laugh 7,500 kilometres away at Malays’ extraordinary stupidity. McDonald’s becomes an easy target because they were too lazy to think.
If McDonald’s could pull out from Russia after 32 years, closing more than 800 restaurants which employed 62,000 people across the country and writing off US$1.4 billion, do you really think the half-baked boycott from a small country called Malaysia will give the brand sleepless nights? On the contrary, the boycott has been applauded by non-Malays for all the promotional deals offered.
Federal Territories mufti Luqman Abdullah has advised Muslims in the country that such extreme behaviour goes against the teachings of Islam. This is the root cause of Islamophobia, which even Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim falsely believed was due to stereotyping of Muslims. If even Malays call another Malays pig or dogs, can you blame non-Malays for considering them as extreme and dangerous?
If the extremists Malays are really serious about wanting to teach Israel a lesson, they should buy a one-way ticket to the Middle East, and fight along their Hamas brothers against the IDF (Israel Defence Forces). But they have no balls to fight, do they? That’s why they only dare to boycott McDonald’s, and bully and threaten fellow Malays who refuse to join in their silly billy Jihad.
It would be much more meaningful to boycott brands associated with Jews or Israel such as Google, Waze, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Microsoft and Apple. But most Malays still could not live without luxury brands like Mercedes, BMW or iPhone. They also can’t survive without Netflix, Adidas, American Express, MasterCard or Volkswagen. Of course, they had to pretend that Mark Zuckerberg isn’t a Jew. - finance twitter
