KL shop says sorry over belly dance performance

KUALA LUMPUR: The Buy & Save store has apologised over its controversial belly dance performance.

The company said it would take full responsibility for the incident and would cooperate with the authorities in their investigations.

Recently, video clips of a group of women performing a belly dance outside a store in Bukit Bintang here went viral on social media, leading to criticisms from the public.

In a statement on Friday (Aug 25), the company said its marketing manager was tasked with engaging an event company for the store’s business anniversary celebrations on Aug 5.

"The manager on-site during the event was not aware of the outfit that would be worn by the dancers hired to do a performance.

"Five minutes into the performance, when the management found that the show was not in accordance with the culture and customs of Malaysia, the event was immediately halted," the statement added.

As an immediate action, the company said it was carrying out an internal investigation and has suspended the manager.

The company, which was established in 2018, said it had conducted 25 other cultural programmes, in which the performers wore traditional outfits to depict the multicultural and multiracial society of Malaysia.

"The company has not and will not carry out any activities, especially marketing activities that violate the Islamic laws of the country, and will always be sensitive to Malaysian culture," it added.

The company also said that it was a fully Malaysian-owned firm with no foreign influence as falsely claimed by some people on social media.