PETALING JAYA – Religious Affairs Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar, has urged Muslims to keep calm and let the Malaysian authorities investigate a controversial socks issue involving KK Super Mart.
“Give trust to the authorities to conduct their investigations and to determine the true cause, and I hope those involved do not repeat this after their apology, as well as involve 3R (race, religion, royalty) issues,” he said.
Dr Na’im was met by reporters at the Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque earlier on March 17.
Photographs of socks with the word “Allah” printed on them, which were being sold at a KK Super Mart outlet in Bandar Sunway, went viral online on March 13. It quickly drew widespread criticism from social media users, with some even calling for the convenience store chain to be boycotted.
In response to the backlash, KK Super Mart, in a Facebook post on March 13, apologised for its oversight in selling the offensive pairs of socks. In its post, it added that it had stopped their sale.
Dr Na’im said KK Super Mart and the vendors involved in the selling of the offensive socks must learn from this, adding that the issue was a very sensitive one, more so during the holy month of Ramadan.
“I am saddened and disappointed over what had happened. We are in the month of Ramadan and there are those who say to not be overly sensitive with the issue of ‘Allah’ being printed on socks, but this can’t be left on its own.
“Allah is our Creator and the act of putting ‘Allah’ on our feet is a huge insult that Muslims can’t ignore.
“The apology has been made, but surely we hope that in the future, KK Super Mart does not take such things lightly, and any audit department should inspect goods that have been brought in from abroad,” Bernama quoted him as saying.
Dr Na’im added that such a sensitive matter was “hard to forgive”.
“It is extremely sensitive. The Muslims must be given the space needed (to forgive this act),” he said.
He also said he had instructed the Islamic Development Department to summon KK Super Mart’s management to discuss the matter.
The management of the store, during a press conference on March 16, apologised for its oversight in selling the socks.
“I humbly apologise to all Malaysians, especially those from the Muslim faith,” said KK Super Mart founder K.K. Chai.
He said the product management of the items concerned was done entirely by a vendor via a space rental system at its convenience stores without the supervision of KK Super Mart employees.
Dr Chai said inspections were carried out at 800 of its branches nationwide, and only three outlets carried the socks and 14 pairs had the word on them.
Also present at the press conference on March 16 was Mr Soh Chin Huat, owner of vendor company Xin Jian Chang.
“The socks were imported from China and were among sacks containing 1,200 pairs each of different designs, so I overlooked and did not do a full inspection of each item.
“The incident has opened my eyes to be more careful when bringing in products from abroad and I apologise for this,” said Mr Soh. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
