Let's have a beer

This phrase may soon be spoken by local Muslim men (or women, for that matter) without much apprehension, in the same league of that other popular sentence, `Jom kita pekena teh tarik.'

Alcohol-free beer from Iran is now available in Malaysia. The beer is called Istak and is brewed from the same grains (barley and malt) as normal beer except that there is no alcohol content because of no fermentation, or so it seems.I've neither seen nor taste it yet,so I can't really justify how does it taste.

To many people, beer is an alcoholic product. It is part of a group of beverages that Muslims are prohibited from drinking. Even though it is alcohol-free, Istak is sold in bottles that look like any other normal beer bottle. Even the liquid looks like ordinary beer. So you cannot fault the average Muslim citizen to be a bit skeptical. The fact that it is manufactured in Iran, a very conservative Muslim country, does not help allay this doubt.

Who are the people who would want to buy and drink alcohol-free beer anyway? Muslims who have the hidden desire to drink beer but dare not cross the line by taking the real thing? So does 'no alcohol content' really equates 'halal'?

In the end, it all comes down to personal choice. We'll soon see if Istak becomes a popular drink in Malaysia.

10 Signs To Know If U're A Typical Unhealthy Malaysian

1.Each morning,you rush to your local nasi lemak gerai/mamak and patiently line up and order nasi lemak + fried egg + rendang + curry + fried chicken and a huge sotong (squid) along with its sweet gravy for breakfast and teh tarik for your drink.

2. Each time you park the car at your office or shopping mall etc,you are willing to drive like 30 to 40 minutes and some even 1 hour and waste litres of petrol just to find the closest parking spot to the entrance,so u don't have to walk much.

3.Each time you use the putra lrt, star lrt and etc you never take the stairs(some dont even know where the stairs are) and use the escalator like a free funfair ride.

4. Each time for lunch you order stuff that the mamak insist that you must use extra plates to prevent from breaking their plates from sheer weight.

5. Every time some one says high blood preasure , you put your hand and fingers against your neck to check your pulse.

6. You have enough black rings on your eye due to lack of sleep that pandas want to mate with you regardless of gender.

7. Zoologist in Africa bans you from the safari as that the lions can die if they consume your highly cholesterol-filled body .

8. MAS airlines puts you in the last end seat as your weight helps the plane to tilt backwards easily for take off and touch down.

9. Each time you go to a japanese restaurant , the other customers on the other end of the food conveyer never ever see the food.

And finally

10.You can make an engine sound from your mouth like a big 8 liter V8 engine by simply breathing in your lungs as you smoke like hundreds sticks of cigarretes within a week just like a car carburator.(You could even produce exhaust smoke from your mouth)