Siti Kasim mocks Ridhuan Tee for cooking up baseless concerns from a religious fanatic lens

 

A WEEK or so ago, Muslim convert preacher Ridhuan Tee Abdullah braved himself to attend the ‘social ills-infested” Rain Rave Water Music Festival in Bukit Bintang (April 30-May 2) to catch a bird-eye view of how revellers indulged in sinful, hedonistic pleasure.

Then he returned with a narrow, lopsided and probably flawed account of the inaugural three-day Songkran-inspired atmosphere by fitting it into the script of the PAS-led rightist fraternity and hardcore Muslim NGOs – to demonise the event at all cost.

While the Facebook post of the PAS-slant Muafakat Nasional deputy president attracted enormous attention from likeminded audience as evident by the 71K likes, 6.5K comments and 11K shares it amassed, human rights activist and lawyer Siti Kasim has challenged the authenticity of his claim.

In fact, the renowned Orang Asli advocate has ridiculed the social media post of the former Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) professor as a testbed to showcase the spinning of untruth and probably the hidden motives of religious fanatics.

Below are her verbatim jabs and jibes on the once speaker on RTM’s (Radio Televisyen Malaysia) Forum Perdana Ehwal Islam talk show:

So Ridhuan Tee Abdullah attends Rain Rave 2026 – a music festival – and comes back shocked that people were dancing, music was loud, water was splashing, the crowd was enjoying themselves.

What exactly did he expect? A tahlil (Muslim prayer) session?

Let’s be blunt. He didn’t uncover maksiat (social ills). He described a normal festival and dressed it up with moral panic.

No evidence of crime. No proof of widespread intoxication. No law broken.

Just vibes he personally doesn’t like. And suddenly it becomes a national crisis.

The real issue isn’t the festival. It’s the mindset. Every time something doesn’t fit his narrow worldview:

• It becomes Western influence.
• It becomes moral decay.
• It becomes ancaman kepada Islam (threat to Islam).

This isn’t analysis. It’s copy-paste outrage. He even complains there was no Bahasa Melayu (spoken) – as if music festivals around the world are language exams.

Meanwhile, Malaysian artists were literally performing there. So what now? We ban anything international unless it passes his personal cultural checklist?

And the most dramatic part? Turning water splashing into a religious insult. Seriously? By that logic:

• Water parks are offensive
• Songkran-style events are sinful
• Even kids playing with water should be investigated

This is what happens when everything is forced into a moral panic narrative. Here’s the reality he refuses to accept:

Malaysia is not a museum frozen in one version of culture. It is diverse, evolving and capable of hosting global events. And yes – people are allowed to enjoy themselves without asking for his approval.

If you don’t like it, don’t go. But don’t attend, observe nothing illegal and then come back spinning fantasies of maksiat just to stay relevant.

This isn’t about morality. It’s about a man who walked into a party and got offended that people were having fun.

Malaysia deserves better than recycled outrage dressed up as concern. –  Focus Malaysia