BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Syariah Enforcement officials yesterday gave verbal warnings to a few eating establishments and told them to remove Christmas decorations, Brudirect reported.
The Bulletin called the Syariah Enforcement hotline which confirmed that personnel had visited a few establishments in the capital to instruct them to remove the decorations.
The Bulletin hotline was made aware of the operation as it received phone calls to inform that enforcement officers under the Ministry of Religious Affairs had visited their eateries and had instructed staff to take down such public displays.
A staff from one of the eateries said the enforcement personnel came to their restaurant in the afternoon and “verbally warned” the management against exhibiting decorations that are against Islamic beliefs.
“They showed us their enforcement badges while instructing us to remove the decorations,” said the staff member when contacted by the Bulletin. “We did not receive any written instruction or official statement prior to this visit.”
The staff member further added that the personnel had quoted a number of specific clauses under the Syariah Penal Code Order 2013 while asking the restaurant to remove the decorations.