A picture of Lebanese singers Elissa and Ragheb Alama in a five-second performance hug at a local hotel during the Eid holiday has prompted another wave of criticism by Islamist members of Parliament against Information minister Mohammad Abulhassan.
“The photograph carried on the front page of Al Watan yesterday is a clear indication that the minister has not followed the regulations set by the National Assembly for holding public concerts in the country,” MPs Waleed Al Tabtabaei and Faisal Al Mislem said.
Al Tabtabaei is well-known for his morality campaigns and calls to observe strict Islamic rules.
The Islamists also accused the minister of negligence in implementing laws and added, “Abulhassan cannot be trusted to fulfil the promises he made earlier to MPs”.
Al Tabtabaei, Al Mislem and an another MP Awad Al Barad are determined to grill the minister on the grounds that he is promoting immorality by allowing musical concerts to take place in the country and then permitting the mixing of the sexes.
Al Barad recently accused the minister of undermining Kuwait’s image in the region “because state-run Kuwait TV has nudity and dancing as its main themes”.
Last May the three MPs decided to postpone the public questioning of the information minister after the cabinet issued new stringent guidelines for public concerts. The National Assembly’s regulations include a ban on all forms of dancing either by the performer or the public and require families and unaccompanied men to sit separately.
It also includes the presence of an information ministry monitor with the authority to stop the show if the organisers violate the guidelines.
Faisal Al Malek, undersecretary, Information Ministry, however, said that the ministry has implemented the rules on public entertainment.
Al Malek said, “All the functions over the Eid holidays were licensed by the ministry and there have been no violations except in a show by the Miami Band.” But he did not elaborate.
The cancellation of shows in Dubai to mourn the death of Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan has seen an unprecedented number of concerts and stage plays in Kuwait this Eid season.
Lebanese singers Nancy Ajram, Milheim Zein and Kuwaiti Nabeel Shuail were the top crowd pullers.
Gulf News
