PAS Sarawak wants Muslim communities to shun Miri's beer festival

MIRI: Muslims must stay away from attending the "Neon Beer Fest Miri 2018" beer festival that was being held starting today until Sunday at the beach of Coco Cabana here.
Sarawak PAS Commissioner Jofri Jaraiee said the festival would bring more harm than good as consuming excessive alcohol could lead to a lot of social problems that not only would affect the festival goers but others too who did not attend the festival
"For example, when they are drunk, they will get dizzy and lose their memory and can cause fights between one another and can also cause an accident when they drive the vehicle in a drunken state," he said in a statement here today.
In addition, he said, the biggest beer festival in Miri City was not in line with the culture and customs of the locals, especially Muslims here.
"Alcohol consumption has been banned by religions, either Islam or Christian or Buddhism. In the Quran, Muslims can refer to Surah Al-Maidah verse 90 while Christians can also refer to the Gospel, Proverbs 20: 1 and Ephesians 5:18," he said.
He said even Buddhist scholars themselves like Master Hsing Yun in his book The Five Precepts says if one takes a little liquor, it is also prohibited.
Meanwhile an Imam, the person who leads a prayer in a mosque, has lodged a police report at Miri Central Police Station at 4.25pm today urging the relevant authorities including the police to prevent Muslims from attending the event.
Abdullah Gani, who is an imam from Darul Ehsan Mosque, claimed that he lodged the report after discussion and agreement with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO), mosque committee members from Lutong and Piasau as well as member of the public.
"We have held a discussion with them today and after careful consideration I, representing the Muslim communities here, want relevant authorities including Jabatan Agama Islam Sarawak (Jais) to prevent Muslim attending the festival,"he said.
To avoid misconception, he said, the police report was intended to remind the police or authorities to act against Muslims attending the festival and not against the organiser of the festival.
According to the police report made available to Bernama today, Abdullah wanted the organiser to put up a notice prohibiting Muslims from attending or entering the festival site. — Bernama