MALAYSIA — Malaysian police have started their investigation on Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang on his remarks regarding non-Muslims dressed like senseless animals, therefore, Muslims had the right to determine dressing rules for them.
The investigation into PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang’s statement, according to the police, is focused on sedition and offences under the Communication and Multimedia Act.
Bukit Aman Crime Investigation Department deputy director (forensic/strategic planning) deputy comm Datuk Suresh Kumar G. Suppiah said the investigation is being carried out under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948 and Section 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998.
“The investigation is ongoing and the public is advised not to speculate in any way that will disrupt the process,” he said in a statement on Sunday (9 Jul).
“Action will be taken against anyone who threatens the peace and safety of the country,” added DCP Suresh Kumar.
Hadi wrote in a post titled “Minda Presiden Pas” on his official Facebook page on 28 June that “They (non-Muslims) should not be so liberal that there is no shame like ‘senseless animals’ and dishonour, which are sweeping Western countries now”.
He said those who do not dress according to the code of Islam are like animals without morality and the capacity to think.
Hadi, who is also the Marang Member of Parliament in Muslim majority state of Terengganu, said non-Muslims must dress modestly to protect their dignity and to be respected by all religions and civilised nations.
Hadi’s remarks came after a 35-year-old woman was fined by the Kota Baru Municipal Council on Sunday (15 Jun) for being “indecently” dressed in a pair of shorts at her shop in Jalan Merbau, Kelantan.
Terengganu and Kelantan are states in Malaysia with a majority of Muslim population with Islamist party PAS as state government.
Local council Islamic dress codes are enforced on non-Muslims
Earlier, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said there could be serious consequences for tourism in Kelantan if more women were fined for wearing “indecent” clothes.
The woman, clad in a pair of shorts, was found to have breached Section 34 of the local council’s Business and Industrial Trade By-Laws 2019.
Council president Rosnazli Amin defended his enforcement officers’ action, saying the by-laws had existed for a long time and that many locals, including non-Muslims, understood them.
Tiong urged Pas leaders in Kelantan to learn from Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia that have developed their tourism sector without denying the rights of people of other faiths.
Tiong said Articles 3(1) and 8 of the Federal Constitution stated that non-Muslims are free to practise their religions and are protected from discrimination.
Hadi defies secularism and aspires to apply Islamic rules for non-Malaysian
Hadi wrote in another post on 31 May on his official Facebook page that non-Muslims’ well-being would be threatened if they “cross the line” in their behaviour towards Muslims in Malaysia.
In the same post, he said that Democratic Action Party (DAP) has been nothing but a nuisance to the country ever since the party was founded and has “gone too far”.
Hadi once again painted DAP as the purveyor of secularism through the “Malaysian Malaysia” concept.
“They are trying to bring the agenda of secularism and ‘Malaysian Malaysia’ which revises the country’s principles and seeks to dilute the Malay-Muslim race with the non-Muslim community in a liberal way by marginalising the national language, defending apostates, taking measures against new brothers who converted to Islam and extreme measures through the statement of its leaders,” he said.
Hadi said that the events of 13 May 1969 should serve as a lesson, adding that DAP’s bad influence would ruin the country’s peace and stability.
He also criticised Malays who espouse DAP’s ideology and accused those who champion the Malay agenda as racist.
“Now, they are trying to push through a cunning political and economic agenda, but they are also open and extreme towards Malay Muslims and Islamist parties with accusations that together they bring Islamophobia which is spread among non-Muslims.
“Believe me, they will definitely lose and ruin their own peaceful and free position now,” he added.
