Making Punk A Threat Again Part 5, 023, 503
• have a mohawk
• sit close to the opposite sex, hold his/her hand
• if you are a boy, wear headscarfs, if you're a gal don't

Saturday August 23, 2003

http://thestar.com.my/services/printerfriendly.asp?file=/2003/8/23/
nation/6120930.asp&sec=nation

Decent’ haircut, courtesy of the KB council

KOTA BARU: Muslims here with hairdos deemed improper can be hauled up
to the municipal council where they will be given a “decent” haircut. 

The council’s Islamic Development Department, set up to enforce decency
laws within the municipality, has added the need to rid hairstyles
influenced by other cultures which it deems unsuitable as part of its
enforcement duties. 

In an effort to rid “skinhead and punk” culture among teenagers, the
department officers made an example of a 17-year-old teenager by
cropping his red dyed “Mohican” hairstyle at the council office
recently. 

The school dropout, wearing tattered jeans, was part of a group that
often roamed the streets here, much to the chagrin of council leaders,
who then ordered the department’s enforcement unit to track down the
group. 

The boy was finally “nabbed” by enforcement officers at Dataran MPKB in
the heart of the town on Tuesday. 

A spokesman for the department said that before the boy’s hair was
cropped, he was lectured not to emulate “destructive culture because it
is against Islam.” 

The group had earlier made a verbal request that the department allow
them to gather at the Dataran MPKB in punk clothing to celebrate
National Day.  

The spokesman said the department rejected the request on grounds that
it was an unhealthy influence on their peers and might tarnish the
image of the town in the eyes of visitors.  

He added that he believed that the group would still continue with
their plans and his enforcement officers had been ordered to monitor
the situation for National Day. 

The department was set up in 1990 after PAS captured the state from
Barisan Nasional. However, the department carries out enforcement only
once in a while. 

“They only became active again recently,” said a local resident, adding
that the department only acted against Muslim couples.  

In a related development, the spokesman added that 43 women were fined
between RM20 and RM50 each for not wearing headscarves at their
workplaces for the first six months of this year. 

Council president Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman said most of those fined
worked in restaurants, telecommunications outlets and shopping
complexes. 

Abdul Aziz said the fines were imposed after they were repeatedly
warned to abide by the Islamic dress code. 

The two actions follow reports that the council is not only watching
out for Muslim couples holding hands in its parks but also people who
dress indecently. 

Department director Ropein Hassan revealed that 59 couples were fined a
total of RM2,700 in the first six months of the year. Most of them were
fined for “sitting close to each other.”  

end.


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