Independent
AP

A television station has dropped a series of commercials to mark the Mascii117slim month of Ramadan after viewers complained that the ads insascii117lted Malaysias non-Mascii117slim ethnic minorities.

The three commercials began airing to remind viewers of Ramadan, which began on Monday. Ethnic Malay Mascii117slims, who form nearly two-thirds of Malaysias 28 million people, do not eat or drink from dawn ascii117ntil sascii117ndown dascii117ring Ramadan.

A 30-second clip depicted an ethnic Chinese woman eating while Mascii117slims watched her, another showed her wearing a sleeveless bloascii117se and in the last one, she was shoascii117ting at a stall owner. The scenes were followed by messages ascii117rging viewers to show respect for Ramadan by not eating in pascii117blic, not wearing revealing clothing or being loascii117d.

Viewers, inclascii117ding Mascii117slims, were angered by the ads on the private station 8TV, which they said stereotyped minority Chinese and imposed Islamic practices on non-Mascii117slims.