Other people in other countries face the same problem."
Shafi said, "Do they face the same restrictions of family life as I do?"
"What restrictions?"
"Religious restrictions. You have that frame with you. Religious tradition, family life, the society, the village community. Then you come into the city, where people are running, people are free. The values contradict.
"You see, in the village where I was brought up we have the bare minimum. We have rice to eat, house to live. We didn't go begging. In the city you can buy a lunch at ten dollars (Malaysian dollars, $2.20 to the American). Or in a stall you can have a lunch for fifty cents. That excess of nine-fifty which the city dwellers spend will be spent by us on other purposes. To us, with our framework and tradition and religion, that is exdcessiveness.