K-pop culture can cause young Muslims to lose control of themselves and in turn ruin the image of Islam, the Mufti of the Federal Territory, Dr Zulkfli Mohamad Al-Bakri, was quoted as saying by Mingguan Malaysia today.
Commenting on the controversy surrounding tudung-clad female fans who were hugged on stage by members of a South Korean band during a recent concert, Zulkifli said they should reflect on their behaviour, rather than defending what they perceive as freedom.
“What happened is what happened. It is wrong. There needs to be self-reflection and a promise not to repeat the same mistakes,” he told the weekly edition of Malaysian daily Utusan Malaysia.
Zulkifli said the audacity of the acts themselves showed that the country’s Malay and Muslim cultures were under attack from both Eastern and Western cultures.
“This becomes a problem when we follow the trends to this extent (obsession) to the point that we ourselves lose our control over the Islamic foundation as a result of this ‘invasion’ of both cultures.
“Let it be known that this is not part of Islam. Even now we see that the good morals of Malay culture are being eroded from time to time because of this,” he said.
His comments came after a video of South Korean boy band B1A4 hugging three Muslim fans at a concert last week went viral. The clip sparked outrage among Muslim groups and religious authorities.
Federal Territory Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) director-general Datuk Othman Mustapha said last Monday that the department would arrest the organiser for the band members’ inappropriate behaviour and failure to take precautionary measures seriously.
She said it was a shameful act for artists to embrace “tudung-clad” Malay girls who seemed to be obsessed with K-pop artists.
Jawi also wanted the three Malaysian girls caught on video to assist in his investigation under Section 29 of the Sharia Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1977 (Act 599 Indecent Acts in Public Places).
Jawi director Paimuzi Yahya reportedly said the department would seek a court order to arrest the girls if they refused to come forward to assist in the investigation.
Zulkifli further explained that girls should admit their mistakes and reflect on their behavior.
“We must learn a great lesson from everything that has happened. And we do not want this to happen again, not even from bad to worse,” he said.
The controversy has also sparked complaints from netizens that religious authorities, in addition to persecuting the girls, should also target local entertainment programs which they consider even worse than the concert.
In light of this, Zulkifli suggested that censorship of programmes should begin as early as the pre-production stage instead of the current practice where censorship is carried out during post-production.
“If possible, we should censor films from the scriptwriting process, not right after filming is finished,” he said.
Meanwhile, Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan and Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek expressed their disagreement with the religious authorities’ decision to take the girls to court, saying the threat was not necessary.
They said it would be better if the girls involved could receive counselling. – January 18, 2015.
