Call off concerts or we’ll take to the streets: PAS youth chief

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KUALA LUMPUR – PAS remains adamant over cancelling scheduled concerts by international artistes, otherwise the Islamist party is threatening to hold protests nationwide.

Party youth chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari said these concerts are going against the norms and values of Muslims in Malaysia and that hedonism should not be allowed to spread.

He also urged supporters to ensure that this “protest” is heard by Seri Perdana – referring to the prime minister’s official residence in Putrajaya.

“PAS Youth is hoping that the government and relevant ministers consider cancelling and rescinding the approvals given to such concerts.

“It is not the right time and goes against Islam,” he said in a statement on Facebook today.

This is not the first time Pasir Mas MP Fadhli is against concerts by international artistes.

He had said the continuous hosting of concerts was “crazy work” that invites “God’s wrath”.

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Protest against corruption, not concerts, DAP man tells PAS Youth

PETALING JAYA: A DAP MP has called on PAS Youth to organise nationwide protests against corruption instead of concerts featuring international artists.

Klang MP Charles Santiago said PAS Youth chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari’s efforts were better off spent on protesting against corruption, citing the troubled RM9 billion littoral combat ship (LCS) project.

“I call on PAS Youth to hold a nationwide protest against corruption and I assure you that I will join them in that protest,” he said on Facebook, adding that he would wait for Fadhli’s response.

Yesterday, Fadhli, who is also the Pasir Mas MP, called on the government to cancel scheduled concerts featuring international artists as he said they encourage hedonism and were incompatible with the norms and values of Muslim life in Malaysia.

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In rare instance, MCA and DAP both agree: PAS must drop the concert issue

IN a rare instance, political arch-enemies MCA and DAP are on the same page about a current affairs issue – this time, over PAS Youth’s insistence that international concerts should not be allowed in Malaysia.

In separate statements today, spokespersons from both parties agreed that PAS Youth chief Ahmad Fadhli Shari must stop “hyping up” regressive, racial issues to “score political brownie points” and “ruin national harmony” in the process.

MCA spokeswoman Saw Yee Fung said the Pasir Mas MP’s call for the Government to ban all international concerts must be repudiated, adding that politicians should not incite emotions, create confrontations or resort to radical means.

“Although inciting emotions and hyping up racial issues are the most direct and cheapest political ploys, our nation’s democratic values, diversity and the spirit of goodwill within our communities will pull us through to rise above any challenges lobbed by extremists,” she said.

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Retribution for condemning concerts: 10-year jail for ex-imam of Mecca Grand Mosque

THE Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) and other relevant religious authorities can now initiate legal action against PAS Youth – if they wish to – over the movement’s incessant threat of a nationwide protest if the Government does not cancel international concerts.

This is because a precedent has been set in Saudi Arabia – the country Malaysia endears itself most to when emulating religious-related policies and culture.

For condemning concerts and events that he said broke away from the country’s religious and cultural norms, prominent former imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca Sheikh Saleh al Talib has to pay the price by serving a 10-year jail term by a Saudi court in Riyadh, according to US-based rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now.

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