Ban Muslims from Bon Odori, PAS urges Selangor

 

The Sultan of Selangor has urged Islamic officials and the city council to “see for themselves” by attending the Japanese summer cultural festival Bon Odori. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Selangor PAS is urging the Selangor state government to prohibit Muslims from participating in Bon Odori, a day after the Sultan of Selangor said the Japanese cultural festival should be allowed to proceed.

The party’s state commissioner, Ahmad Yunus Hairi, also said the state government should take action against any employers who make it compulsory for its Muslim staff to take part in the festival.

“The state government needs to be firm on the involvement of Muslims. We are not prohibiting others (non-Muslims) from celebrating it, but Muslims should be barred,” he said in a statement.

He said the call to bar Muslims was based on the views of several religious scholars and institutions who said the Bon Odori festival affected the faith of Muslims.

This included the views of the Penang mufti, Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor, who had spoken about the fear that the festival could lead to polytheism. He said Muslims should avoid events which had religious elements, such as worshipping the spirits of ancestors.

The brouhaha over Bon Odori was sparked after religious affairs minister Idris Ahmad reminded Muslims not to take part in the annual summer festival, claiming that the celebration was “influenced by elements of other religions”.

Selangor’s Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah later instructed the Selangor Islamic religious department to allow the festival scheduled for next month to proceed. He also instructed officials of Jais and Shah Alam City Council to attend Bon Odori to “see for themselves” what takes place at the festival.

Yesterday, Sultan Sharafuddin called on Idris to attend the Bon Odori festival to “understand the difference between religion and culture”.

Selangor PAS secretary Roslan Shahir Mohd Shahir said that Idris had not called for the festival to be banned but only advised Muslims against taking part.

“Whether you listen to him or not is up to the individual, we are not forcing (anyone),” he told FMT. He said PAS respected the rights of non-Muslims and was not stopping non-Muslims from celebrating their culture or religion. - FMT