PAS has flayed the government for not adopting the new alcohol control law practised by Singapore since start of the year.

“As an Islamic country under the Federal Constitution and having a majority of Malays and Muslims, Malaysia should be ashamed by the proactive and realistic actions taken by the Singaporean government to introduce a new law that prohibits the consumption of alcohol in public places after 10.30pm until 7am

“This matter should be taken seriously by the government. If Singapore, with only 14 percent Malays and only 14.9 percent Muslims can pass and enforce this kind of law, ,Malaysia should also be able to do so, and in fact do even more,” PAS Ulama Central Committee chief information officer Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali Al-Takiri said in a statement today.

'Should be done with adherence to syariah law'

Khairuddin, who is Kuala Nerus MP, also called on Putrajaya to be serious in cracking down on alcohol-related problems as according to international statistics, the country spends Australian $500 million (RM1.5 billion) per year on alcohol.

“Even though this is a small figure compared with other Western countries, it is a high figure among Asian countries. Alcohol consumption in Malaysia is around 11 litres per capita. This amount is considered high and is similar to the European countries,” he added.

Khairuddin added that enforcement of laws on alcohol should be done with adherence to syariah law, which “prohibits the consumption of alcohol to preserve human intelligence and also because alcohol is the mother of all vices”.

He said if the selling and consumption of alcohol is properly controlled, many social ills and crimes can be combatted.

Singapore passed the Liquor Control (Supply and Consumption) Bill on Jan 30, under which alcohol cannot be consumed in public places between 10.30pm and 7am every day and take-away alcohol can only be sold up till 10.30pm.

The law, which came into effect on April 1, also designated Geylang and Little India as Liquor Control Zones.