Catch people for not fasting?

MM Online - Stop arresting people who skip fasting, Khairy tells religious departments (extracts):

KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 — Minister Khairy Jamaluddin urged religious departments today to help the poor instead of nabbing Muslims who skip fasting during Ramadan, a punishable offence under Shariah law.

“Instead of religious depts spending money on enforcement ppl looking for people ponteng puasa, use them to help ‘asnaf’ and to do good,” the youth and sports minister tweeted.

The word “asnaf” refers to those who are eligible to receive zakat collections, including the poor.

“In terms of awlawiyat (priority),it is more important we help the needy than enforce personal religious obligations. There is no compulsion,” he added.

Khairy, however, admitted that it was “difficult,” when a Twitter user suggested that he put his proposal in a manifesto and to expand it to the entire concept of moral policing.

“This is difficult. I will be honest with you. Years of bureaucratisation of religion has created a behemoth. Almost sacrosanct,” Khairy replied @zurairi.

read here on JAWI's religious persecution of innocent Nik Raina

read here on JAWI's refusal to apologise for arresting a married couple for khalwat
read here on JAWI's lascivious bullying of Muslim women at Zouk nightclub

The MM Online headlines is a bit incomplete. It should have read (in kaytee's words, wakakaka):

Instead of religious depts spending money on catching people ponteng puasa, it should use those very expenses to help ‘asnaf’ (poor and those who deserve to receive zakat) and to do good.

But our religious ulama and their staff love to persecute, punish and prohibit people, even when they are innocent like Nik Raina and a married couple who was recently caught for so-called khalwat, a mistake that JAWI has steadfastly refused to apologise for its flabbergasting error - how to apologise when JAWI and sister organisations deem themselves above mortal reproach?

So why should they waste money helping the needy when they so enjoy nabbing people and humiliating, embarrassing and bullying them? More fun what!

Nonetheless I'm glad a Muslim has finally spoken out against so-called 'moral police' (paid by non-MUslim tax money) bullying and punishing people into fasting, which essentially is a covenant of faith between a man and his God - Islam is NOT the only religion that practises fasting but all other religions do NOT enforce fasting.

And KJ is correct that Years of bureaucratisation of religion has created a behemoth, meaning the JAN (jabatan agama negeri-negeri) have grown into uncontrollable monsters.

Guess who proclaimed Malaysia a fundamentalist Islamic state in 2002? For more, read Lim Kit Siang's 929 & 617 Declarations, wakakaka.