Mujahid says daily spun his views about moral policing

The Star’s frontpage story on Oct 6 based on an interview with Mujahid Yusof Rawa.

PETALING JAYA: Mujahid Yusof Rawa has denied a frontpage report in The Star which quoted him as saying that Putrajaya would stop religious officers from raiding private spaces to nab unmarried Muslim couples suspected of committing khalwat or unlawful proximity.

The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said he was only giving his opinion about offences committed in the private sphere, saying intrusion into one’s private life was against Islamic teachings.

“What I was quoted as saying in the headline of the story was not my words,” he said, referring to The Star’s report titled “No more moral policing”.

“I have never asked that ‘knocks on the door in the middle of the night’ be stopped. These are conclusions drawn by the editors.

“Please read the full interview,” he told TV Al-Hijrah.

He said the Islamic concept of “enjoining good and forbidding evil” should not be implemented through enforcement alone, but also through education and strengthening of family ties.

The Star in its report said Mujahid, the minister in charge of Islamic affairs, “insists that what Muslims do behind closed doors is none of the government’s business”.

“Let’s say you commit something within your personal, individual sphere – I will not interfere,” he was quoted as saying.

The report also suggested that religious officers would no longer raid houses with “knocks on the door in the middle of the night” and “breaking down of doors” to nab couples suspected of committing khalwat. -FMT