KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) should not interfere in the Immigration Department’s blacklist, MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said yesterday.
Liow had reportedly disagreed with Immigration Department director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali, who said his department would be collaborating with Jakim to bar individuals entering the country for a recently banned beer festival.
“Drinking may be a sin in Islam, but for non-Muslims, we still have our freedoms and choice to drink or not. It’s not up to them to decide and MCA will continue to fight for our right to do so.
“I may be a vegetarian, and don’t drink, but I recognise other people’s freedom to drink. So what sort of name list does Jakim have?” the transport minister asked, as quoted by English daily The Star.
Liow also added that travellers should not be barred from entering the country just because of the cancelled Better Beer Festival, which he said was done due to security reasons.
“If it’s for the gay party, that’s a separate topic. We can respect some of the homosexual community’s viewpoints, but their lifestyle is not recognised in Malaysia,”Liow said.
Yesterday, the Immigration Department reportedly said it would bar individuals coming to Malaysia for a beer festival that it claimed contradicted Malaysia’s “culture”, despite the government’s claims the event had been banned due to a terror threat.
Mustafar was quoted saying in Balik Pulau that his department was working with the police and Jakim to identify those individuals, as well as people coming for a purported gay party scheduled in Kuala Lumpur.
