PAS’ protest against Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s wife Rosmah Mansor took place in several states, except Kuala Lumpur, where it was called off at the 11th hour.
This morning, a statement by Federal Territory PAS Youth information chief Fadhil Osman had given the impression that the nationwide protest was scrapped.
However, the protest took place after Friday prayers in Seremban, Malacca,Terengganu, Penang and Pahang.The protest here was supposed to be held outside the Kampung Baru mosque.
Fadhil had said that PAS would use ‘another approach’ to express its dissatisfaction against the premier’s wife.
According to him, a meeting would be arranged with the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and a memorandum would be submitted to the King soon.
The self-proclaimed ‘First Lady’ of Malaysia had come under fire for promoting the recently held Islamic Fashion Festival (IFF), which Muslim groups said was an insult to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
The event also drew flak from social-networking site Facebook users, where the photo of one of the models wearing a revealing outfit which depicted a reverse image of the Prophet’s name in Arabic across the chest was widely circulated.
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PAS Youth chief Nasruddin Hassan told FMT via SMS that the protest had to be called off because “not many people were aware of the issue”.
“Except for those who have Internet access, not many are aware of it. So we would like to change our approach by submitting a memorandum to the authorities,” he said.
This was necessary, said Nasruddin, for them to take action against the IFF show, which he said, is slated to be held in Kuala Lumpur next month.
He said sending a memo seems to be more effective, judging the swift response to PAS’ protest against a controversial Hari Raya Aidilfitri advertisement by TV3 last month.
The ad was pulled out following intense public pressure, and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission imposed a maximum compound of RM50,000 on the station.
PAS appeared to be the only political party which had submitted a memo to the station over the advertisement which they said ‘insulted’ the Muslims.
“Sending a memo seems much more effective than taking it to the streets in protest to get the authorities to take action against the show,” he said.-FMT
