Selangor Sultan says state PAS chief’s statement after royal audience about Bon Odori inaccurate 

Participants clad in traditional Japanese dance on the stage during Bon Odori Festival in Shah Alam July 21, 2018. ― File picture by Azneal Ishak

By Radzi Razak

Friday, 17 Jun 2022 12:40 PM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 ― The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah today said that Selangor PAS Commissioner Datuk Ahmad Yunus Hairi’s statement after he was summoned for an audience to discuss matters pertaining to the Bon Odori festival was not accurate.

His Majesty’s private secretary Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani said the part where Roslan said “His Majesty wanted to know our stance on the Bon Odori celebration. His Majesty gave his views and we also conveyed to His Majesty that we respect His Majesty’s stand,” is not accurate at all and clarified that this was not what happened during the audience.

Mohamad Munir said His Majesty only stated about His Majesty’s stance not to restrict the Japanese cultural festival “Bon Odori” which will be held in Selangor since it is only cultural in nature.

“His Majesty also did not prevent any Muslim from attending it until an in-depth study was done on the festival whether it was religious or cultural in nature to avoid confusion among the community, especially the Muslim community,” he said in a statement today.

Datuk Munir said other than Yunus, during the audience before His Majesty at Istana Bukit Kayangan Shah Alam on Tuesday evening, several members of the House of the Ruler of Selangor were also invited to witness the meeting, namely, the Chairman of the Selangor Islamic Religious Council, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, Tengku Seri Wangsa Diraja Tengku Datuk Ramli Alhaj Tengku Shahruddin Shah and Datuk Setia Salehuddin Saidin.

Previously, Yunus had urged the Selangor state government on June 10 to prohibit Muslims from participating in the Bon Odori festival.

This was despite Sultan Sharafuddin instructing the Selangor Islamic religious department (Jais) last week to allow the Bon Odori festival scheduled for next month to proceed.

The Selangor sultan had also said he himself had attended the festival several years ago and did not find it detrimental to the practice of the Islamic faith.