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Tag: ban

  • Women’s Wing Of Malaysia’s Parti Amanah Negara Calls For Airwave Ban On Despacito

    Women’s Wing Of Malaysia’s Parti Amanah Negara Calls For Airwave Ban On Despacito

    The women’s wing of Malaysia’s Islamist party Parti Amanah Negara has called on radio stations in the country to stop playing Despacito, the Spanish hit song, because of its supposedly sexually explicit lyrics.

    Despacito is a single by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi and Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee that features Justin Bieber. The song has reached the top position in weekly charts all over the world, including in Malaysia.

    Angkatan Wanita Amanah Nasional (Awan)’s Arts and Culture chairperson Atriza Umar said that she viewed it seriously as many young children were singing the song without actually understanding its lyrics.

    She said that local Malay radio stations were also playing the song resulting in it becoming a phenomenon that was hard to stop.

    She hoped that Despacito and other songs that have sexual and violent lyrics not suited to Eastern culture and Islam could be banned from being played.

    “I regret that these problematic songs are not censored by the ministries responsible,” she said in a statement on Wednesday (July 19).

    She also praised the artistes and individuals who have taken the initiative to alter the lyrics of the song to make them more decent despite it going against copyright rules.

    Atriza also hoped that local artistes could work together to provide entertainment that was morally upright and yet had high commercial value.

    “We respect the right to be entertained but there should be clearer guidelines so that the entertainment does not spoil people but make them better,” she said.

    Amanah is a splinter party of the other opposition Islamist party, Parti Islam SeMalaysia. It is one of the members of the Pakatan Harapan opposition alliance.

    According to the Billboard music chart, Despacito has led the Billboard Hot 100 chart (dated July 29) for a landmark 10th week.

    On Wednesday, Billboard said that since its release in January, the song has garnered more than 4.6 billion streams across all platforms, setting a record for the most-streamed song of all time.

     

    Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/

  • Alternative Return Flights Arranged For Singaporeans In Mecca; May Be Used For Future Pilgrimages

    Alternative Return Flights Arranged For Singaporeans In Mecca; May Be Used For Future Pilgrimages

    Close to 300 Singaporeans who are in Mecca for umrah, a minor pilgrimage, are scheduled to return on alternative airlines, after Qatar Airways’ licence was revoked by Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

    Mr Mustafa Jumat, vice-president of the Association of Muslim Travel Agents Singapore (Amtas), told The Straits Times yesterday that most Singaporeans have settled their return flight details. They also did not experience any major disruptions to their travel plans.

    “Qatar Airways assisted them and directed them to alternative airlines,” said Mr Jumat. Some of these alternatives include Malaysia Airlines, Etihad Airways and Emirates.

    Although the schedules of Singaporeans in Mecca are largely unaffected, their return flight routes will differ, with different stopovers.

    The disruptions started on Tuesday, when Saudi Arabia revoked Qatar Airways’ licences and ordered it to close its offices within 48 hours.

    The move came amid a diplomatic rift between Qatar and a powerful bloc in the Arab world – Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – who are accusing it of supporting terrorism across the region.

    On its website, Qatar Airways indicated that all flights to the four states will be suspended “until further notice”.

    Should the ban continue, Mr Jumat said that alternative travel plans may be required for groups scheduled to go on pilgrimages in October and November this year.

     

    Source: http://www.tnp.sg/

  • Disney Lodges Appeal On ‘Beauty And The Beast’ Ban In Malaysia

    Disney Lodges Appeal On ‘Beauty And The Beast’ Ban In Malaysia

    KUALA LUMPUR: In a new twist to the ongoing Beauty and the Beast saga in Malaysia, Walt Disney has lodged an appeal with the Home Ministry about passing the film without cuts.

    But Malaysian Censorship Board (LPF) chairman Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid said: “Movie companies cannot impose conditions on LPF. We will not budge.

    “As far as I know, Disney has already sent a notice of appeal to the Film Appeal Committee under the Home Ministry, so now the decision of whether to release the film without cuts is up to them.”

    Yesterday, Malaysia’s Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz said Walt Disney was right in refusing to edit Beauty and The Beast, as he criticised the country’s censors for cutting a “gay moment” in the movie.

    “If you edit, the plot will not be the same any more,” Mr Nazri, who is also an MP with the ruling Umno party, said.

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg

  • EU Headscarf Ban Ruling Sparks Faith Group Backlash

    EU Headscarf Ban Ruling Sparks Faith Group Backlash

    Companies may ban staff from wearing Islamic headscarves and other visible religious symbols under certain conditions, the European Union’s top court ruled on Tuesday, setting off a storm of complaint from rights groups and religious leaders.

    In its first ruling on an issue that has become highly charged across Europe, the Court of Justice (ECJ) found a Belgian firm which had a rule that employees who dealt with customers should not wear visible religious or political symbols may not have discriminated against a Muslim receptionist it dismissed for wearing a headscarf.

    The judgment on that and a French case came on the eve of a Dutch election in which Muslim immigration is a key issue and weeks before a similarly charged presidential vote in France, where headscarves are banned in public service jobs.

    French conservative candidate Francois Fillon hailed the ECJ ruling as “an immense relief” to companies and workers that would contribute to “social peace”.

    But a group backing the fired employees said the ruling may shut many Muslim women out of the workforce. European rabbis said the Court had added to rising incidences of hate crime to send a message that “faith communities are no longer welcome”.

    The judges in Luxembourg concluded the dismissals of the two women may, depending on the view of national courts, have breached EU laws against religious discrimination.

    They determined that the case of the French engineer Asma Bougnaoui, fired by software company Micropole after a customer complaint, may well have been discriminatory.

    Reactions, however, focused on the findings that services firm G4S in Belgium was entitled to dismiss receptionist Samira Achbita in 2006 if, in pursuit of legitimate business interests, it fairly applied a broad dress code for all customer-facing staff to project an image of political and religious neutrality.

    “BACKDOOR TO PREJUDICE”

    The Open Society Justice Initiative, a group backed by the philanthropist George Soros, said the ruling “weakens the guarantee of equality” offered by EU laws: “In places where national law is weak, this ruling will exclude many Muslim women from the workplace,” policy office Maryam Hmadoun said.

    Amnesty International welcomed the ruling on the French case that “employers are not at liberty to pander to the prejudices of their clients”. But, it said, bans on religious symbols to show neutrality opened “a backdoor to precisely such prejudice”.

    The president of the Conference of European Rabbis, Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, complained: “This decision sends a signal to all religious groups in Europe”. National court cases across Europe have included questions on the wearing of Christian crosses, Sikh turbans and Jewish skullcaps.

    In the Belgian case, the ECJ said: “An internal rule of an undertaking which prohibits the visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious sign does not constitute direct discrimination.”

    It was for Belgian judges to determine whether Achbita may have been a victim of indirect discrimination if the rule put people of a particular faith at a disadvantage.

    But the rule could still be justified if it was “genuinely pursued in a consistent and systematic manner” to project an “image of neutrality”.

     

    Source: Today

  • Firms Can Ban Wearing Of Religious Symbols: EU Court

    Firms Can Ban Wearing Of Religious Symbols: EU Court

    European companies can ban employees from wearing religious or political symbols including the Islamic headscarf, the European Union’s top court ruled on Tuesday (March 14) in a landmark case.

    The European Court of Justice (ECJ) said it does not constitute “direct discrimination” if a firm has an internal rule banning the wearing of “any political, philosophical or religious sign”.

    The Luxembourg-based court was ruling on the case of a Muslim woman fired by the security company G4S in Belgium after she insisted on wearing a headscarf.

    The ruling came on the eve of a Dutch election in which Muslim immigration has been a key issue and a bellwether for attitudes to migration and refugee policies across Europe. Terror attacks by over the past year or so have raised alarms in the continent, where the wearing of religious symbols, and especially Islamic symbols such as the headscarf has become a hot button issue.

    Mr Manfred Weber, head of the centre-right European People’s Party, the biggest in the European Parliament, welcomed the ruling.

    “Important ruling by the European Court of Justice: employers have the right to ban the Islamic veil at work. European values must apply in public life,” Mr Weber said in a tweet.

    The ECJ was ruling on a case dating to 2003 when Ms Samira Achbita, a Muslim, was employed as a receptionist by G4S security services in Belgium.

    At the time, the company had an “unwritten rule” that employees should not wear any political, religious or philosophical symbols at work, the ECJ said.

    In 2006, Ms Achbita told G4S she wanted to wear the Islamic headscarf at work but was told this would not be allowed.

    Subsequently, the company introduced a formal ban. Ms Achbita was dismissed and she went to court claiming discrimination.

    The ECJ said European Union law does bar discrimination on religious grounds, but G4S’s actions were based on treating all employees the same, meaning no one person was singled out for application of the ban.

    “The rule thus treats all employees of the undertaking in the same way, notably by requiring them, generally and without any differentiation, to dress neutrally,” the ECJ said.

    “Accordingly, such an internal rule does not introduce a difference of treatment that is directly based on religion or belief,” it said.

    However in a related case in France, the ECJ ruled that a customer could not demand that a company employee not wear the Islamic headscarf when conducting business with them on its behalf.

    Design engineer Asma Bougnaoui was employed full-time by Micropole, a private company, in 2008, having been told that wearing the headscarf might cause problems with clients.

    Following a customer complaint, Micropole asked Ms Bougnaoui not to wear the headscarf on the grounds employees should be dressed neutrally.

    She was subsequently dismissed and went to court claiming discrimination.

    The ECJ said the case turned on whether there was an internal company rule in place applicable to all, as in the G4S instance, or whether the client’s demand meant Ms Bougnaoui was treated differently.

    The ECJ concluded that Ms Bougnaoui had indeed been treated differently and so the client’s demand that she not wear a headscarf “cannot be considered a genuine and determining occupational requirement”.

     

    Source: Today