Looks like Valentine’s Day wasn’t what was expected for some couples this year.
In the heart of Kuala Lumpur, 10 people were arrested for alleged khalwat (close proximity) following a Valentine’s Day raid at several hot spots in the city by officers from the Department of Federal Territory Islamic Affairs all done to curb a vice among Muslims.
“We believe the numbers are quite small and it could be because that many are away from the city due to the public holidays,” its senior public relations officer Tuan Asmawi Tuan Umar, who spoke on behalf of the Jawi director, said at a press conference after the raid early Thursday. (source)
This Valentine’s Day raid operation began at midnight around the area of Jalan Raja Luat and Jalan Ipoh. There were about 60 Jawi enforcement officers, with the help of police, who went around to raid about eight different budget hotels other little hidden corners around the Taman Tasik Titiwangsa area.
During their raid, they caught a 13-year-old boy with his 16-year-old girlfriend at a budget hotel. The boy told the officers that they were ‘running out of cash and couldn’t call their parents because they had forgotten their parents’ telephone numbers”… and ofcourse, the reasons kept running through.
By 4am, officers caught a handful of eight people ranging from the ages of 25 to 50 years old, and that also included a couple who had RM15,000 in cash on them.
It is said that all the arrested couples are looking at a possible charge under the Syariah Criminal Offences Act (Federal Territories) 1997 that carries a big fine and ofcourse, imprisonment on conviction.
The people that were caught during this raid were all either, underage, drinking alcohol, dressing inappropriately and Muslim men with non-muslim woman. Each one have been fined and dealt with their own hand of consequences.
