PETALING JAYA: There have been calls to change the name of local whisky Timah, but others say it does not matter as long as Muslims do not consume it.

       Religious Affairs Minister Idris Ahmad (pic), who is from PAS, was among those calling for a name change, but party deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the name was the Malay word for "tin".

       Tuan Ibrahim, who is also Environment Minister, said that "Timah" is not a Muslim name or a person's name but a type of metal.

       "Furthermore, the logo is a picture of a man. There is no man named Timah," he said.

       He added that liquor was still prohibited, or haram, in Islam, but the rights of non-Muslims to drink it had to be considered as well, reported the PAS mouthpiece Harakah Daily.

       Idris Ahmad had said that the brand name could cause confusion to the community as well as religion and agreed to the call for the company to change it.

       In addition, Idris said he would discuss the matter with the Home Ministry and the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry

       In a Facebook post on Saturday (Oct 16) Timah's manufacturers clarified that the name is derived from the Malay word "tin".

       "Timah whisky harks back to the tin-mining era during (the) British (colonisation of) Malaya.

       "The man pictured on the bottle is Captain Speedy, one of the men who introduced the whisky culture back then," it added.