Men can watch if women athletes decently clad: Mufti
By IAN MCINTYRE
KOTA BARU: Men are allowed to watch women’s sports events if the athletes are decently clad.
Perlis Mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin said there were two elements which organisers of sporting events such as athletics or activities which require much physical movement have to observe.
The first is to advocate fitness through health-beneficial physical activities and the second is that such activities do not arouse males.
If both can be balanced, then males should be allowed to view female athletes in action, Dr Mohd Asri said in an interview.
He was commenting on a statement by state women and sports committee chairman Abdul Fatah Mahmood that males would be allowed to attend the opening ceremony but not the events at the inaugural Malaysian All-Women Games to be hosted here this Saturday.
Some 1,000 female athletes from throughout the country will be participating in the two-day event, which Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat will open.
Dr Mohd Asri said it was any government’s right to sanction any sporting event on its terms and conditions.
“It is not to politicise. The PAS-led state government has its way of dealing with it, and efforts to prevent any negative elements from emerging during sporting events is appreciated,” he said.
“During Prophet Muhammad’s days, even his wife Aishah participated in horse racing in public, but she was clad decently.”
