More on The Incident at B1A4 Fanmeet:Authorities want girls’ help in K-Pop band ‘hugs n kiss' probe

[jrt131n.livejournal.com]

Local religious authorities have asked for the three tudung-clad Malay girls, who were seen behaving in an improper way on stage with a K-Pop band, to come forward over the controversy, The Star Online reported today.

The three had been seen in a YouTube clip getting hugs and kisses from members of the K-Pop band B1A4 at a mini-concert held at the Live Centre in Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur on Saturday night.

Federal Territory Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) said today that the three K-Pop fans will be able to assist in its investigations.

The Star Online quoted Jawi director Paimuzi Yahya as saying that the actions of the women and band members went overboard, as it was against Islamic teachings and offended the sensitivities of the Muslim community.

"The Jawi enforcement division has opened an investigation under Section 29 of the Syariah Criminal Offences ( Federal Territories ) Act 1977 (Act 599 Indecent Acts in Public Places.)

"Those who are involved are asked to come forward to help in the investigation," he said in a statement today.

According to The Star Online, Paimuzi explained that the particular Act can be enforced against people who behave indecently and in contravention of Islamic law in a public place, and is punishable with fines of not more than RM1,000 or six months jail or both.

The three-minute video clip of the B1A4 stars hugging and kissing the female fans on stage went viral on social media yesterday, drawing much criticism from viewers.

The Star Online also reported that TGM Events, the organiser of the mini-concert have since expressed their regret over the incident and declared that the three Malay girls had willingly stepped onto the stage.

Source: themalaysianinsider


Ops note: I'm hoping that everything gets settled and that this isn't drawn out to long. I really don't know what to make of it really. If the three girls come forward, what are they going to do? Ask question? I had wonder if they would drag B1A4 into this, but from what I was reading from commentator that this applies to Muslims only. If I'm wrong and we have people who are a bit more knowledgeable about laws like the one stated in the article then please, by all means share with us. Sucks that something that was suppose to be a fun memorable day for those three girls got turned upside down. I can't even image how they must feel right now

Comments

[yuie-ai.livejournal.com]

im a muslim myself. and wear a hijab too..
- first these girls are at wrong for giving a consent to b1a4 members to do those things..they are at age who know what they can, cant, should and shouldnt as a muslim, especially when they are wearing hijab, showing what religion are they..
- second the medias using misleading title like molest, rape etc.. it pull attention from kpop likers, kpop antis, and kpop-nugu. bring all sorts of reaction. and yes, muslims are mad..theyre ashamed for what happened. a lot of em blame that girls, the who-know-nothing and the antis blame the guys.. if u are non-muslim, u r probably dont understand why..
-third, for me..everyone makes a mistake..everyone can lost theirselves at the moment..BUT everyone deserve a second chance..

i have read ignorant comments about my religion, i dont give a f*ck about em .. i prefer to stay positive n fix myself. let em stay in negativity, and hope this issue can be handle properly.

[aleexnews.livejournal.com]

Well said, I agree completely. People who aren't Muslims won't understand what 'the big deal is' but sharia law and the word of God is serious. And if these girls are showing the world that they are Muslims by wearing the hijab then they are expected to be behave as Muslims should behave in public. Now I know not everybody is perfect, I have my own faults too, but I can see where the religious authorities are coming from.

[shintotchi.livejournal.com]

This is foolishness.

[torontok.livejournal.com]

pm

[yuie-ai.livejournal.com]

my english is poor, so sorry about it.

[jrt131n.livejournal.com]

Your English is just fine. Thank you for giving your thoughts on the matter.

[turtles-tszx.livejournal.com]

They probably going to give them counselling brainwashing , we have mini taliban going on and people are afraid to object for the fear of being label as liberal or murtad/kafir.

Yes, it only applies to muslim only as it's under sharia law? B1a4 wont be in trouble but the management probably have to pay fines or something. But it's the first time for such things to happen, the reason why the religious people/department is so pissed and being hoo haa over it is bcos the girls wear hijab and dress decently. Majority of them already have bad sentiments towards kpop bcos they see it as something that distract the malay muslim especially women straying away from islamic way(lol).

[miracle-candle.livejournal.com]

their fear in proven in this situation. the girls lose themselves and caught in the moment and forget how they should behave as Muslims. you can see how the bilasa guys were hesitate to do first by seeing how modest they were dressed and the girls consented the actions. the girls are wrong to behave as such but everyone makes mistake and all those vile comments and name callings are uncalled for.

i wish me media stopped being stupid by using the word 'molest' to describe the event. they should be ashamed of themselves by trying to make this blow out of proportion. they gave Islam a bad name by doing so.

[xkat-attackx.livejournal.com]

This is such a mess. I feel so bad for both the fans and B1A4.

[iznanassi.livejournal.com]

Well seeing as it is a law and the way it's worded, they can use their judgement. I'm pretty sure the entire ordeal is already threatening enough for a few teenage girls to learn.

As an outsider I'm more upset at the management. They should've done more research because now these girls are facing consequences for something they're really not responsible for.

[turtles-tszx.livejournal.com]

No one expect this to happen bcos we used to be pretty chill and we do have hugging scene etc in daily drama. In malaysia, syariah law only apply when it comes to marriage etc but never this..

[sra-interesante.livejournal.com]

i know b1a4 won't get in trouble but still feel bad for them
but mostly for those girls .... this is a mess

[thevirginhyeri.livejournal.com]

Christianity is against homosexuality and many argue and angry to Christian to let Christian homosexual into their religion/ Muslim let us be understanding and eccept to not force Sharia to all Muslim . Some Muslim dont want Sharia.

[petecarl.livejournal.com]

Christianity is against homosexuality

That's not true.

[twinkystar16.livejournal.com]

so they're going to actually do something now?
this become a huge issue because the video went viral so JAKIM was pressured to take action against those involved

the syariah law's execution in Malaysia is very poor, the law is there but i don't think JAKIM really have a solid case against the girls
as i mentioned in previous post, the girls probably will get free counseling and worse come to worse only fine, jail time is too much and not reasonable at all

and i'm saying this as a lawyer practicing in Malaysia even though i don't handle syariah cases

[jannytruant.livejournal.com]

Thanks for commenting, that's somewhat of a relief.

[prlsb4swiine.livejournal.com]

True sharia law is not in practice anywhere in the world, so whatever this is it's just Malaysians govt doing whatever.
If I were one of these girls I would not come forward. This seems like a huge "anti kpop" ploy by the media bc oh my godddd kpop is brainwashing our pure innocent girls blah blah blah~~ which is the same tired rhetoric that so many countries and media play all over the world. They're probably very scared though, but I hope they are ok.
Also good to see the islamophobic trolls on omona come out

[seroquels.livejournal.com]

I think LJ just ate my rather long comment T_T

l'm not Muslim, yet I can understand why Muslims are blaming the girls. There is an age of responsibility where you're expected to know how to carry yourself. Personally, I feel like most of the blame should be on the management. K-pop isn't culuturally sensitive (usually) so I'm not surprised they made this error. They should've prepared something else for the fanmeet. There are plenty of ways to interact and get that one on one connection without touching.

I think some of the ignorant comments from non-Muslims can be chalked up to not living in a country where religious laws are just as important and enforced as criminal laws. I mean, the US is supposedly "One Nation, under God" but that's not wholly reflected in our laws (despite some very silly laws that are still there, but not actively enforced.)
Personally, I'm glad my spiritual journey is btwn me and wtvr higher power I believe in.

I really hope the girls are shown leniency if they do turn themselves in.

[adlyeith.livejournal.com]

I hope those girls hide themselves away and never turn themselves in, because it seems like they're going to be facing fines/jail time if they do, which I personally think is very wrong (religious beliefs aside for a moment).

I'm not Muslim, I do not pretend to know anything about the Muslim culture, their beliefs, or anything like that, so all of this has me scratching my head a bit because I simply cannot wrap my head around a religion that would imprison a woman for receiving a hug from a man she isn't married to. I hope I'm not coming across as being disrespectful, but I just cannot understand it.

At the same time, I feel as though the Malaysian government is turning this in to a much larger deal than it needs to be, almost as though they're using this as an excuse for an agenda that they're trying to push. It's almost as if they're just feeding the flames and trying to make the fire bigger. I'm very thankful that my own beliefs, and the religion that I have chosen to align myself with, is my own business and not that of the government.

I sincerely hope that B1A4, and these poor girls, are not punished for what happened, and that this won't deter the boys at future fanmeets elsewhere in the world. They seem to really enjoy being close with their fans, and it would be unfortunate for that to change in the future.

[demonology81.livejournal.com]

This was supposed to be a happy eventtttttttttttt ah mai gaaaaadddddd. Why why why?! :(

I would want to comment on this, my own religion but... sigh. I hope everything will turn out well for those girls.

:( :( :( :(

[prlsb4swiine.livejournal.com]

Basically yes

[petecarl.livejournal.com]

It's kind of annoying that people are acting like they know how these girls choose to practice their beliefs just cause of the way they're dressed. It sucks that this blew up, since it seems like this law isn't usually enforced for these sort of incidents.

[suxaholic.livejournal.com]

Some of the comments here by Muslim rightwing commentators are disgusting. Just because you are a Muslim does not make your words more ( or less) valid than anyone else. This is only an issue because
They are women. It goes without saying that this would not have been as big of an issue if it had boys.

I believe in equality for all regardless of who or what they are. Women's rights issues are not going to take a backseat with me because of unfair outdated religious customs and beliefs we should be able to criticize discrimination based on gender without hating on islam or be called Islamophobic

[angela-derp-otp.livejournal.com]

ah, this is exactly what bothered me about the whole issue. Thanks for your eloquence.

I vaguely remember you mentioned once you were Muslim, or am I mixing you up with someone else?

[rawbabyoctopus.livejournal.com]

This newspaper article explains that if the girls doesn't come forward as demanded in seven days, JAWI (Islamic Department of Federal Territory) will apply for a warrant of arrest to be issued by the Syariah Court. They'll take action in a week's time before proceeding further. If the girls are found not guilty they will be released free of any charges and will only be given advise. They're also looking in to taking action against the organiser or the ones who approved it (they have to determine whether they have jurisdiction or not as it's limited to only Muslims) for breaching entertainment guidelines.

[twinkystar16.livejournal.com]

How can they issued arrest warrant when they dunno the girls identity

[angela-derp-otp.livejournal.com]

I am at a loss of words.
I appreciate everyone commenting about the situation as a non-muslim myself, this is kind of a tricky situation so my gut reaction is automatically something else. So thanks for giving your point of view.

[stereotastic.livejournal.com]

honestly it's like imperfect people trying to prosecute other imperfect people. hopefully it does not escalate into something huge. there are muslims on malaysian television hugging and behaving closely, and the authorities are having double standards about muslims. i really hope the girls get away from the charges, and that other hijabis learn from this incident. this incident is blown out of proportion.

[torontok.livejournal.com]

Yeah no, Malayasian authorities, get your fucking priorities in order.Y'all are like the politicians in my country fretting about women dancing at rallies rather than focusing on the real issues in the country.Spend these resources fixing some of Malaysia's other issues.

[kazu-kumaguro.livejournal.com]

so all non-muslims who enter Malaysia have to follow the Sharia law my friends don't even follow? Okay, bye, I'll never take a vacation in Malaysia, not that I ever have the best impression about the country anyway.

[kazu-kumaguro.livejournal.com]

anyway I read this public figure comment about Muslim/Malaysian girls should just like talk, dark, and handsome men. Gongchan is tall and handsome, excuse you.

[caramelorchoco.livejournal.com]

Its things like these that just makes me SO fucking pissed off at my own contry. Malaysian authorities have their priorities so fucking messed up and their take and understanding of islamic practices are just so skewed its unbelievable

also i hate that this whole thing was just a chance for misogynistic assholes having a racist spat towards korean idols and saying how kpop is the hand of satan and just shaming everybody involved in this, which is by itself UN-islamic btw you dicks

its just so infuriating how these people tend to blow up so many petty cases and fail to realize the important message of the religion and that is in fact, tolerance. and for a multicultural nation to get this wrong is like???

just ugh

[kazu-kumaguro.livejournal.com]

reading the comments here made me wonder if the muslims are know are the minority sane ones tbh. I mean all my friends are so chill and they gave me different insight of Islam, but seeing this mess makes me wonder if what I have is the distorted view and I should just run away as far as I can from the religion. or maybe this is just Malaysia. sorry.

[impatiences.livejournal.com]

misogynistic and sexually oppressive religious practices from any religion are disgusting.

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

The girls made a mistake but the reaction to it is completely out of proportion, obviously rooted in misogyny and nationalism. I hope they don't come forward and that no one turns them in. One small mistake should not ruin their future career or marriage prospects.

[kazu-kumaguro.livejournal.com]

or maybe they should meet guys who can understand and won't oppress them as much. or is that impossible in Malaysia?