Johor not following Terengganu's path: Better things to do than act on bodywear
Published on: Tuesday, March 03, 2015
Johor: The state religious authorities have more pressing issues than impose fines on Muslim women for, among others, wearing indecent clothes or not donning their head scarves.Rubbishing an online posting claiming that there was a plan to impose such fines, Johor Islamic Religious chairman Abd Mutalip Abd Rahim said it was malicious and intended to paint a negative picture of the present administration. "The posting, which has been circulating online for the past few days, is completely untrue," he said.
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"My mobile phone has been inundated with calls and messages from Muslims wanting to know if Johor would impose such a ruling soon."I would like to reiterate that this is not true as we have other pressing issues concerning Muslims in the state," said Abd Mutalip.The posting, which went viral over social media, warned that Muslim women who failed to don head scarves would be slapped with an RM80 fine for their first offence while they faced an RM120 fine for indecent dressing. It also claimed that Muslims riding motorcycles with those unrelated to them would be punished by an RM80 fine for men and RM100 for women, and that all businesses had to stop operating from 12.30pm until 2.30pm on Fridays.
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Those caught behaving in an "unIslamic way" would also have to undergo counselling by the Islamic and Malay Heritage Council (Maidam), which is in Terengganu. Abd Mutalip urged those who received such messages to first check their facts or clarify with the relevant authorities before forwarding these.
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New guidelines are being enforced in Terengganu on appropriate clothing for local and foreign tourists.The guidelines will be made available to tourism agents nationwide.State government portal teganukita.my qouted state Tourism and Culture Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jidin Shafee as saying the guidelines would also be issued to tourism officer in neighbouring countries, including Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.He said the guidelines were in line with the state Syariah Criminal Enactment (Takzir), which was passed in 2001.Jidin said the state government was confident that there would be no drop in the number of tourists depite the enforcement."Before any action is taken against women who are dressed indecently in public, the new guidelines and reminders will be issued."He said a discussion was held with the state Islamic asnd Malay Customs Council to come up with the guidelines, which were based on syariah law.Jidin, who is also Permaisuri assemblyman, was speaking after attending the state-level Quran Recital and Nasyid Competition at Kolej Bestari in Setiu.He said even though Takzir had been in place since 2001, there was a need for the new guidelines to ensure adherence by tourists.He said since the law on appropriate dressing was announced by Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad razif Abdul rahman two weeks ago, tourists had adhered to it.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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