PETALING JAYA, Oct 11 — Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Mujahid Yusof Rawa has said that the involvement of the media in “khalwat” raids will be among matters looked at when reviewing the standard operating procedure (SOP) of such raids.
Speaking after the “Rahmatan Lil A’lamin Dialogue” at the Universiti Malaya last night, Mujahid said that there have been many complaints of misuse of power in some “khalwat” raids.
One of the reasons, according to the minister, is because there are currently too many loopholes in the SOP.
“I am here to improve the SOP and the technicalities of it so that we still preserve the sanctity of the private space and the need to preserve the public space,” he said.
Mujahid said preserving the basic principles of protecting one's dignity should be upheld when conducting such raids.
“As much as you want to carry out your duty with the power that is with you, you also have to preserve this very basic principle.
“We have to look into these matters… that is why we speak of the principles of ‘do not peep’ and do not shame others,” he told reporters when asked on reviewing the invitation of the media in following enforcement officers during such raids.
“I do not have the statistics on the misuse, but there had been a lot of complaints. For example, there had been a case where a raid was carried out on a married couple.
“I don’t understand why when we raise the issue (reviewing the SOP), people think we want to allow ‘khalwat’ to continue. That is not the case,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mujahid said that he will be meeting with religious scholars at the Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque tonight at 8.30pm to discuss the matter further.
“It is an input (gathering session)... at the end of the day it bogs down into the technicalities of the SOP.
“The good part is that most of all the Islamic religion agencies that have responded to the spirit of my previous statement, had said that they need to improve their SOP,” he said.
Mujahid was recently criticised when he reportedly said that the federal government intends to put a stop to “khalwat” raids.
He later clarified that the Pakatan Harapan administration only wants to review the SOP of the raid.
