Kota Bharu is in the limelight again for ordering the removal of all posters portraying women without the 'tudung' or Islamic head-dress. This includes posters of western women and non-Muslims.
Kota Bharu Municipal Council (MPKB) president Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman said, "it would better to use only posters featuring men. This way there would be no wrongdoing and no controversy."
The posters mostly located next to products or hung within shop premises must be removed within seven days of receiving the notice signed by Abdul Aziz and issued under the MPKB by-law on advertising 1990.
Failure to adhere to this ruling meant that MPKB would forcibly remove the posters without further notice and recover the cost incurred from the premises owner. Legal action would ensue against those who resisted.
In 1996, the MPKB issued the rule that men and women must queue at separate counters in supermarkets. This received wide coverage from foreign and local press as it inconvenienced couples shopping together.
This rule was enforced after Pas came into power in 1990. The state government also banned movie posters depicting women except those with the women's hair painted over as if wearing the 'tudung'.
Other laws included compulsion for all Muslim women to wear the tudung, separate hairdressing salons for men and women, and the separation of men and women at public performances. Failure to adhere to these rules would mean revocation of business licenses.
Several shop-owners told Bernama that the MPKB's latest action was childish.
They said MPKB should instead focus on repairing public facilties and upgrading cleanliness levels in the city and overcoming dengue cases.
However, a Bernama survey showed that several business premises had adhered to the ruling. A shop selling VCDs altered a poster by pasting some paper and painting over a woman's hair so it looked like she was wearing the tudung.
Meanwhile, Abdul Aziz said traders should not question the ruling as the MPKB merely executed Pas' Islamic policy - 'Development with Islam'.
He said the matter was not new as traders in Kota Bharu, including non-Muslims, have been exposed to the Islamic head-dress ruling for women for the last 12 years.
Abdul Aziz said MPKB had verbally advised and given ample time, to the relevant parties to create awareness, on the state government's policy since the early days' of Pas' rule.
The ban of posters of women without the tudung at business premises included all materials regardless of the poster size or models' religion.