Lack of halal food for muslims in Taiwan

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) -  “I learnt to cook while doing my compulsory service in the Taiwanese army,” reminiscences Dr Nouruddin Y. Ma. We are chatting at a café in Taipei, where he is accompanying a media delegation from the UAE and Jordan.“No halal food was served in the army, of course. But Muslim soldiers like me were given separate utensils and supplied with fish, which we could cook for ourselves. This was the respect shown by the government. In fact, my comrades envied me as I would be comfortably cooking fish for myself while they attended the drills. I am very happy and proud to be a Taiwanese Muslim.”There are about 170,000 Muslims in Taiwan, out of which only about 60,000 are Taiwanese citizens, mostly descendants of the ethnic Hui people who migrated from mainland China in the late 1940s.The majority is made up of foreign workers, mainly from Indonesia and Thailand. Put together, Muslims are but a drop in the ocean in this country of 24 million. But they face no discrimination and are allowed to practise their faith freely.AwarenessProfessor Nouruddin, a PhD from San Francisco State University, has made it his mission to increase awareness about Muslim culture among the Taiwanese, and also to make Taiwan a destination favoured by foreign Muslim travellers, especially those from the Middle East.“We have a very limited number of Muslims here. People don’t really understand us. But that is actually an opportunity for us. Chinese people respect anyone who follows any religion — they think that those who go to mosques, temples and churches are good people.”But has the negative press that Islam and Muslims have received, especially since the attacks of 9/11, changed people’s attitudes? “Not at all. There is no effect of any news coverage. Local people just don’t care about international issues. They are simply not familiar with that stuff,” he said./149