I'm from Bandar Baru Sentul Perdana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Basically, I`ve been lacto-vegetarian every Thursday for the past six years due to religious reasons, but when I turned 21 in January 2003, I decided that I have to be more responsible by going strictly vegetarian. With the help of ongoing prayers, I have managed to despise meat. I also can`t stand eggs, but my mum and some of my relatives sometimes force me to eat eggs due to their worry that I may suffer from vitamin B-12 deficiency. Thanks to Bhagavan Shri Sathya Sai Baba, I'm confident that it won`t be too difficult to cut down my egg intake.
Who is Bhagavan Shri Sathya Sai Baba? Please refer to www.sathysai.org or www.kingdomofsai.org for more information. He is, naturally, GOD himself. I never have any intention to destroy anyone`s faith but rather to be a catalyst of glory to existing religions and faiths, as long as they bring the message of righteousness and truth, love, peace and nonviolence.
I became a devotee of Bhagavan Shri Sathya Sai Baba at the beginning of 1997, and since then I have been strictly veg (lacto veg) every Thursday, since I do lots of prayers and rituals on that day. It was only about 1 1/2 years ago when I decided to become a full vegetarian since I was turning 21 and felt strongly that it was time in life that I made a serious commitment. Life has become so sweet since then; my friends are very suppertive of my decision.
I have a lot of veg friends, basically those who are from very religious families. You see, vegetarianism is very much a religion-related issue here. You hardly come across people who are veg merely due to compassion for living organisms or for health reasons (although I'm not saying that there aren't any Malaysians in this category; it's just that I only know a few of them).
Nowadays I stuff myself with low-sugar and Vitamin B-enriched soymilk. Besides that, mock meat is very abundant in Asian countries such as Malaysia and Singapore, especially mock fish (and all other types of seafood), mock chicken, and mock mutton. They taste even better than real meat, and they don't stink at all! Furthermore, they can be cooked in various ways and don`t need much time to prepare. For example, making sweet and sour chicken wings for a family of five may take an hour, but a dish of sweet and sour mock chicken drumstix for a family of five only takes 15 minutes - what a relief!
Mock meats are very popular among Non-Malays. Initially, it was the Chinese community who introduced mock meat to the community, especially Chinese Buddhists, but now even some Malays appreciate them as well. It will take time before vegetarianism can really spread among many here. I think that vegetarianism is only an option, not a necessity in Islam; that`s the religion 100% of Malays observe.
Chinese vegetarian restaurants are abundant in most areas in the country, but not Indian ones. Indian restaurants are forced to offer both veg and non-veg food in order to survive! The Chinese and Indian restaurants here should take more initiative to inculcate the benefits of a well balanced vegetarian diet in the minds of folks here.
--Jay is a 22-year-old almost lact-ovo-vegetarian college student from Bandar Baru Sentul Perdana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
