MPKB fining non-Muslim hair dresser an attempt by PAS to drum up us-vs-them battlefronts
By Chua Hock Kuan
This local authority once again finds itself in controversy after issuing summons against a hair salon operator for allowing its female staff to cut the tresses of a male client.
In view of the six upcoming state elections (PRN), are MPKB and other local authorities in Kelantan under pressure from higher-ups within the PAS state government to target non-Muslim shop operators in an attempt to pit an us-versus-them battle?
With a predictable uproar by non-Muslims and Muslims alike, is PAS hoping to exploit this situation to goad sympathisers and fence-sitters that its religious credentials are under assault and needs to be defended?
This latest incident rekindles an exact incident in 2012 where MPKB had dished out the same summon against a female hair stylist for an identical offence.
As there have been no known news reports for 11 years about non-Muslim hair dressers being fined by local authorities in Kelantan for tending to customers of the opposite gender, is this a confirmation that all hair salon operators were compliant about this non-gender mixing by-law and now suddenly turned non-compliant?
Or were the local enforcement officers lackadaisical for 11 years and with the state polls looming, the PAS government via its state civil servants has to ramp up holier-than-thou measures in a bid to defend PAS-helmed states and capture three other potential states?
Separately, if the Kelantan PAS state government deems it an offence for hair operators to tend to customers of the opposite gender, would an offence be similarly committed if workers in coffee shops, cafés, restaurants, wet markets, super market and airline attendants respectively serve patrons and passengers of the opposite gender?
Being acquainted and having formed genuine friendships with many Kelantan Muslims, MCA Kelantan is aware that the common Kelantanese folks are neither extremist nor racist but are instead hospitable and a gracious and welcoming community.
They should not be mistaken with the actions and policies of the PAS-led Kelantan state government. – July 17, 2023
Chua Hock Kuan is the MCA Kelantan State Liaison Committee chairman.
IT IS not even one month when outrage erupted over the Kota Bharu Municipal Council (MPKB) slapping summons against a non-Muslim boutique operator for purported “indecent clothing” as she wore short pants within her own commercial premises.
This local authority once again finds itself in controversy after issuing summons against a hair salon operator for allowing its female staff to cut the tresses of a male client.
In view of the six upcoming state elections (PRN), are MPKB and other local authorities in Kelantan under pressure from higher-ups within the PAS state government to target non-Muslim shop operators in an attempt to pit an us-versus-them battle?
With a predictable uproar by non-Muslims and Muslims alike, is PAS hoping to exploit this situation to goad sympathisers and fence-sitters that its religious credentials are under assault and needs to be defended?
This latest incident rekindles an exact incident in 2012 where MPKB had dished out the same summon against a female hair stylist for an identical offence.
As there have been no known news reports for 11 years about non-Muslim hair dressers being fined by local authorities in Kelantan for tending to customers of the opposite gender, is this a confirmation that all hair salon operators were compliant about this non-gender mixing by-law and now suddenly turned non-compliant?
Or were the local enforcement officers lackadaisical for 11 years and with the state polls looming, the PAS government via its state civil servants has to ramp up holier-than-thou measures in a bid to defend PAS-helmed states and capture three other potential states?
Separately, if the Kelantan PAS state government deems it an offence for hair operators to tend to customers of the opposite gender, would an offence be similarly committed if workers in coffee shops, cafés, restaurants, wet markets, super market and airline attendants respectively serve patrons and passengers of the opposite gender?
Being acquainted and having formed genuine friendships with many Kelantan Muslims, MCA Kelantan is aware that the common Kelantanese folks are neither extremist nor racist but are instead hospitable and a gracious and welcoming community.
They should not be mistaken with the actions and policies of the PAS-led Kelantan state government. – July 17, 2023
Chua Hock Kuan is the MCA Kelantan State Liaison Committee chairman.
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