I have been on a pig farm in my life and I would understand people complaining about the smell however I wonder about this. The Islamists in Malaysia have been using "safety" as a backdoor means of shoving Sharia Law edicts down every one's throat. In the past they've used this to knock down old Hindu Temples, now they're after those nasty pigs.
Malaysian farmers ordered to get rid of 105,000 pigs
Authorities in Muslim-majority Malaysia have ordered ethnic Chinese pig farmers in the south to get rid of 105,000 swine after residents complained about odors and pollution from the animals — considered unclean in Islam.
The government gave farmers in three districts of southern Malacca state until Sept. 21 to reduce the number of pigs from 153,000 to 48,000, otherwise authorities will slaughter them, state police chief Mortadza Nazrene said Wednesday.
The dispute has the potential to raise racial tensions in this Muslim-majority country, as virtually all pig farmers are Chinese, and many of the residents who object to the swine are believed to be Malay Muslims. Pigs are considered unclean in Islam.
The Sept. 21 deadline was issued after negotiations ended a standoff with the farmers on Tuesday when authorities were ready to forcibly start the cull, Mortadza said. At least 400 policemen were deployed to the area anticipating resistance from farmers.
"The complaints have been there for a long time," Mortadza told The Associated Press.
He said villagers and tourist resorts had complained about the smell from the farms, and some alleged that pig waste had been dumped into nearby rivers.
"This is nothing racial," Mortadza said, adding the farms were unhygienic because many have hundreds of pigs cramped in sheds.
Malaysia is one of Southeast Asia's biggest pork producers, but pig rearing has long been a sensitive issue in this multiethnic country, which prides itself on racial tolerance.
Ethnic Malay Muslims comprise nearly 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people. Pig farms are run by ethnic Chinese Buddhists and Christians, who constitute about a quarter of the population.
Pig farmers have been told to either move or sell their pigs.
"Where are they going to move?" said politician Lim Guan Eng of the opposition Democratic Action Party, who visited two of the areas Tuesday. "The villages are built on pig farming, so if you take out pig farming you destroy the villages."
The Malaysian Association of Food Animal Veterinarians also appealed to authorities to understand the farmers' plight and find an amicable solution.
"Pig farming ... contributes to Malaysia's economy, providing gainful employment, producing food for the public, and dutifully paying taxes to government," said association President Vincent Ng.
