KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — Selangor religious authorities have disavowed an order for state mosques and prayer houses to conduct special prayers (solat hajat) to stop a US pop star’s concert from taking place on July 25.
The order was from Selangor religious affairs executive councillor Datuk Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi from PAS, who directed that the prayers be held to ask Allah stop the event by Selena Gomez.
“It must be stressed here that any cancellation of the Selena Gomez concert is under the purview of the local authorities and outside the jurisdiction of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais),” it said in a statement today.
The department acknowledged that it has received petitions from the public for the public for the public to be cancelled, and said that it has forwarded these to the relevant parties.
Earlier, the PAS leader claimed that Muslims would not accept such “extreme” forms of entertainment and that the concert by the US pop singer will invoke God’s wrath if it were allowed to take place.
The Islamist party is seeking to block the concert, but Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali has said there was no reason to do so if the event organisers fulfil the requirements set by authorities.
Gomez’s concert is part of her Revival tour and will be held at the Stadium Melawati in Shah Alam.
Concerts held by international musicians and bands in Malaysia frequently see opposition from hardline Muslim groups and PAS Youth in addition to strict regulations from authorities, causing many to give the country a miss during their South-east Asian tours.
