The Star clarifies Mujahid interview on khalwat raids

ON Oct 6, we ran a story on page four in The Star with the headline "Putting compassion into practice" and "No more night khalwat raids or intrusion into Muslims' private life, says Mujahid" in The Star Online.

The first paragraph of the story says "No more knocks on the door in the middle of the night and no more breaking down of doors by the religious authorities investigating reports of khalwat or other alleged wrongdoings."

We would like to clarify that the paragraph was not attributed to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa and not his quote.

It was based on a reply to a question: "Let's say someone commits adultery behind closed doors, which is khalwat. Now your officers can break down the door and arrest them. Will this change?"

For the record, the minister replied: "I would advise all agencies under me, especially the enforcement officers, to not interfere with the personal sphere.

"This issue of enforcement of what you call khalwat has been misused – not all of it, but there have been times where it has been exploited and misused.

"The enforcement of khalwat falls within the state judiciary and is not exactly under my jurisdiction, but we can have a platform where we meet all state directors of departments of Islamic affairs and share the concerns of the federal government on these issues."

We regret the confusion which had arisen from the said report.