CASTMET denies singer Marinatasha's allegations

Real estate company, CASTMET Sdn Bhd has denied allegations made by singer, Marinatasha Isnariah Mustapar who was asked to leave the stage because she was wearing a headscarf during a dinner function organised by the company at Bukit Kiara on January 18.

Its managing director, Tan Keh Wah said that the company has never discriminated any individuals based on religion, race or even belief.

“I would like to stress that our company is not racist and we have never discriminated any individual based on religion or race,” said Tan.

Tan said Marinatasha was stopped from performing as she was not the artist agreed upon by the company and event management.

On January 6th, the CASTMET 2014 Annual Dinner Committee held a meeting and CASMET Sdn Bhd had invited Mohd Solih Toha, a representative from the management company.

“During the meeting, a consensus was met where a group of musicians will interact with the guests by singing and dancing,” said Tan to reporters at Bukit Damansara on Tuesday.

During a rehearsal on January 15, the organisers (CASTMET Sdn Bhd) were introduced to the group “Rufus” who were supposed to perform during the event.

“The group consists of a singer, a drummer, a lead guitar, a bass guitarist and a keyboard player and we were informed by the head of the group, Nazri that the singer who arrived during the preview event, Marinatasha was only a backup singer for the rehearsal and we felt that she was not suitable for the event,” said Tan.

Tan added that the decision not to involve a singer wearing headscarf is because alcohol would be served during the event.

“According to the agreement, the singer should interact with the guests and many of them would be non-Muslim men and in preserving the dignity and sensitivity of the Muslims, the company has decided not to involve any singers wearing headscarves during the event,” said Tan.

Through the event management company, Tan was informed that the main singer for the event was not Marinatasha but former Akademi Fantasia Season 8 contestant, Zafarina Jamhari or Farina.

However during the event, Marinatasha was called on stage by Farina to perform two songs with her.

“Whilst on stage, Marinatasha announced in front of everybody that she was supposed to be the main singer that night but wasn’t allowed to perform because she wore a headscarf,” said Tan.

Marinatasha Isnariah Mustapar, 32, said that it occurred during the developer’s dinner event at Bukit Kiara on Saturday.

She claims that she was supposed to sing with ‘Rufus’ but was told to leave the main stage by a company representative.

After the event was concluded, the CASMET representative met with her to ask her about her outburst and how she accused CASMET of being racist.

Once the news of the incident was spread through a blog, CASMET made a police report after receiving a threat from a non-governmental organisation who threatened to hold a demonstration in front of their after Friday prayers.

“Our company actually encourages Muslim women to wear headscarves, we even supply headscarves as part of their uniform,” Tan adds.

As the managing director of the company, he has invited Marinatasha to his office to resolve the issue.

“I have invited Marina and her mother to come to our office, to see how its like here where most of our staff are Muslim bumiputera, and that this issue can be resolved properly,” he said.

Marinatasha has rejected the offer and stresses that she does not want to go to CASMET’s offices.