Kota Bharu, Kelantan, fitness enthusiasts were left disappointed last Friday. Their much anticipated “aerobathon” was shut down by the city’s PAS-led municipal council, which had issues with an event that would mix both male and female participants.
Now, human rights lawyer Azhar Harun has spoken up, criticizing the council’s move to shut down the fitness fest organized by Wanita MCA (the women’s division of a minority party in the state, not a spin-off of the YMCA).
He told Free Malaysia Today that the cancellation was a sign that PAS, (the conservative Islamic party) that governs the state, was not shying away from enforcing Islamic laws on non-Muslims.
In the past, PAS has gone to great lengths to reiterate that their syariah governing of the state would only apply to Muslims.
Kelantan state Executive Councillor Abdul Fattah Mahmood had earlier stated that the decision was a longstanding state policy to require the segregation of men and women in public activities. He added that the segregation would not be enforced if the event had no Muslim participants.
He added that MCA was making a burpee out of a bump for political mileage.
However, Azhar says that the municipal council was naive to think that canceling the event would NOT cause a backlash, and that it was a violation of citizen’s rights.
He also added: “It was just an aerobics session.”
PAS, the proverbial Rachel to Azhar’s Ross, does not think they were just “on a break” nor is it “just an aerobics session.”
Kota Bharu MCA chairman Tan Ken Ten said that the event’s organizers had allowed participant mixing for Friday’s session as there were few men interested in taking part in an aerobics session organized by the women’s division of their party.
