Loudspeaker ban: Penang State Secretariat probes leak in official letter

The Penang state government takes a serious view on the leakage of the state official letter prohibiting the use of loudspeakers outside the mosques and surau, except for the prayer call, which will be gazetted soon.

The chairman of the State Committee on Islamic Religion, Domestic Trade and Consumerism, Datuk Abdul Malik Abul Kassim said the State Secretariat was investigating to find out the party that leaked the letter before taking stern action.

"The action by the party who leaked the letter was malicious and tried to create chaos. I feel this is not a serious matter to raise. It is just a decision and has to go through many processes before it becomes an edict," he said at a media conference, here Wednesday.

On Tuesday, this matter was stated via a letter from the Penang Mufti Department dated Sept 1 concerning the decision of the Penang Fatwa Committee meeting dated July 1 and 2 and confirmed in the Penang State Fatwa Committee meeting last Aug 23 and 24.

The letter quoting excerpts of the Penang State Fatwa Committee Meeting had said that the meeting agreed that the regulation decided at the State Fatwa Committee Meeting dated April 7, 2011 on the prohibition against reading the Al-Quran before dawn using the loudspeakers outside the mosques and surau must be improved by including the prohibition on using the loudspeakers outside the mosques and surau for all programmes.

Abdul Malik said the decision of the Fatwa Committee had been disclosed to him and the Penang Islamic Religious Affairs Department (JHEAIPP) as the department responsible for further action.