Hasan Ali joins Jais raid

(The Star) – Controversial PAS leader Datuk Dr Hasan Ali joined a rare raid on drinking spots at Mutiara Damansara and Petaling Jaya, which saw the arrest of 41 Muslims.

Among those nabbed in Ops Mungkar were 18 people who were caught taking alcohol, an offence under Selangor’s syariah law.

They include six women.

Dr Hasan said the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) has strong evidence to charge them for alcohol consumption under the Syariah Criminal Enactment 1995, which provides for a jail term of up to two years and a fine of not more than RM3,000, or both.

Unlike other states, Selangor does not whip offenders caught drinking alcohol.

Dr Hasan said the other 23 pub goers caught in the raid, including 13 women, would be required to attend counselling sessions.

“They will have to give their statements on Jan 11 and 12, before Jais fixes the dates for counselling,” he said at the Jais office here yesterday.

He said the raiding party, which included the Bukit Aman police, was led by Jais director Datuk Marzuki Hussin following a tip-off. Those arrested were aged between 18 and 58.

“We could see there was entertainment going on and the drinking (of alcohol),” said Dr Hasan, who is in charge of Islamic affairs in the state executive council.

He refuted suggestions that the operation was connected to the recent controversies surrounding him.

Dr Hasan, the former Selangor PAS commissioner, is embroiled in a feud with the leadership over the party’s policy switch from an Islamic state agenda to a welfare state.

In August, he defended the Jais checks on the Damansara Utama Methodist Church and had also locked horns with the state over the sale of alcoholic beverages at convenience stores and the mushrooming of massage centres.