Sharia Alert from modern, moderate Malaysia: “Black Eyed Peas perform after ban on Muslims lifted,” by Beh Lih Yi for AFP, September 26 (thanks to Maxwell):
KUALA LUMPUR — US hip-hop band the Black Eyed Peas played in front of a multiracial audience in Malaysia this weekend after a ban on Muslims was lifted, although frontwoman Fergie was forced to cover up.
The event, sponsored by the Guinness brewery, was initally [sic] restricted to non-Muslims, barring the 60 percent of Malaysia’s population who are Muslim Malays.
But after an outcry the government dropped the ban and said anyone aged over 18 could attend, although alcohol sales at Friday’s concert were restricted to areas which signs said were off-limits to Muslims.
Malays are not allowed to drink alcohol while the nation’s Chinese and Indian minorities are not restricted….
The band’s glamorous frontwoman Fergie said however that like other international stars who have come to perform in conservative Malaysia, she was required to leave her sexy outfits behind.
“I have had to change my costume for tonight’s show but I mean the woman’s silhouette is still there, whether it’s clothes or not, whether you see skin or you don’t, you still know the woman’s body,” she said.
She went on stage in a T-shirt and jeans, an outfit far more modest than that worn by many in the crowd of 5,000 who mostly adopted the event’s dress code of “Black Party Chic”….
The controversy over the Black Eyed Peas is the latest in a series of cases that have raised fears Islamic law is on the rise in Malaysia, threatening its secular status….