Wednesday October 31, 2012

PAS fears celebrating the demon that is Halloween

By NELSON BENJAMIN
nelson@thestar.com.my

Jeepers creepers: A group of students from a local university having fun during a Halloween party on campus.

JOHOR BARU: PAS, which has consistently frowned on concerts, has now raised the red flag on Halloween parties where teenagers are dressed up in ghoulish costumes.

Johor PAS Commissioner Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamed wants parents to keep an eye on their children participating in Halloween parties.

“We hope the costumes are proper. If there are no proper checks by the parents or the authorities, this can lead to moral decay.

“Such parties can get wild where alcohol would eventually be consumed,” he said, adding that guidelines should be drawn up.

He said PAS was not against Western culture but insisted that “guidelines were necessary when it involves other cultures, especially from the West or the East from Japan and Korea, being brought into Malaysia”.

Dr Mahfodz said there must be some form of moderation in accepting such cultures, including the popular Gangnam dance style by PSY but the PAS leader did not elaborate.

Other party leaders said they were disturbed by the media coverage given to such parties, which one PAS leader likened to “worshipping the Satan”.

They refused to accept the arguments that it was merely for entertainment, adding that the authorities should not allow such parties to flourish.

MCA central committee member Datuk Ti Lian Ker said he was astonished by the latest stand taken by the party leaders.

“They have consistently protested against concerts, insisted on non-Muslim models not wearing shorts and sleeveless blouses on billboards but to frown against Halloween parties involving mostly children is outrageous.

“They have insisted on gender segregation in a cinema in Selangor where they do not even have a majority but PAS seems powerful enough to have its way even at district council level,” he said.

Ti said there were non-Muslim voters who did not believe that the push by PAS would not affect them, but he reminded them that the party had successfully stopped a cinema planned by a non-Muslim businessman in Bangi.

He said he was not surprised that PAS had called for “caution and moderation” on the Psy's hit dance style, presumably because “the dance movements are unacceptable to PAS”.

News

Wednesday October 31, 2012

PAS fears celebrating the demon that is Halloween

By NELSON BENJAMIN nelson@thestar.com.my

By NELSON BENJAMIN
nelson@thestar.com.my