The Federal Territories Islamic Department (Jawi) has claimed that the four Muslim women dropped from Miss Malaysia World 2013 had insulted Islam by insisting on participating.
In a press release this evening, Jawi said the participation in beauty pageants was against a fatwa (religious edict) gazetted under the Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Act 1993 in Feb 8, 1996.
"(The fatwa) ruled that participation or organisation or contribution in any form for the organisation of any beauty pageant is haram(forbidden) and sinful for Muslims. Thus, (their) statement is deemed to be an insult to Muslims," read the press release.
The press release was in reaction to an article titled "Peserta Islam nekad tanding ratu cantik (Muslim participants insist on participating in pageant)" which appeared on page 13 of Berita Harian today.
The article states that all four participants - Katrina Ridzuan, Miera Sheikh, Wafa Johanna De Korte and Sara Amelia Muhamad Bernard - still wanted to participate, but only quoted Wafa Johanna and Sara Amelia.
Four face fine, jail
In view of this, Jawi said that its enforcement division has opened an investigation paper under Section 7 of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997.
Section 7 relates to "Insulting, or bringing into contempt, etc., the religion of Islam". Upon conviction, an offender can be fined up to RM3,000, jailed up to two years or both.
The Miss Malaysia World 2013 pageant will take place on Aug 1 at Duchess Place, Kuala Lumpur. The winner will then represent Malaysia during September’s Miss World 2013 competition in Indonesia.
Miss World organisers have decided to drop its bikini contest segment and replace it with an event where participants would don a sarong, in a mark of respect to Indonesia's conservative values.
For the Malaysian leg, pageant licensee and organiser Anna Lim said she had decided to adhere to Federal Territory mufti Wan Zahidi Wan Teh's statement that Muslims were *not allowed* to take part in any beauty pageants and disqualified the quartet.
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