A PENANG state government official was allegedly slapped by demonstrators at a protest outside the Simpang Enam mosque here today.

The New Straits Times reported that members of several Muslim interest group and Pas were voicing their dissatisfaction over what they claimed was the state government’s interference in the issuance of fatwas in the state.

A fracas broke out when the Penang chief minister’s information officer, Zaidi Ahmad, approached and “touched” ” Jalinan Muslimin Pulau Pinang chairman Mohamed Hafiz Mohamed Nordin.

Plainclothes policemen tried to defuse the situation, and asked Zaidi to leave. He refused, and questioned the demonstrators on why they were protesting.

It was at this juncture that Zaidi was slapped by the protesters.

Speaking after the incident, Hafiz was quoted as saying that Zaidi had provoked his group.

“He touched me, resulting in the others shoving him aside. No one knows what he will do to me if they didn’t do so. Anyway, we are looking at lodging a police report over this incident.”

It was reported that Pas had claimed that several fatwas in Penang had been put on hold because of meddling by the state executive council.

A member of the Penang fatwa committee, Md Saleh Ahmad, had accused the state executive councillor in charge of Islamic affairs, Abdul Malik Abul Kassim, of asking the body to change decrees to be “in line” with the DAP-led Penang government’s aspirations.

However, Penang mufti Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor was reported to have said that the state executive council was not meddling with the fatwa committee’s work, only recquiring the body to submit the decrees to the state exco for vetting before approval by the King. – May 26, 2017.