Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) says that ‘I want to touch a dog’ event organiser Syed Azmi Alhabshi has admitted to his mistake in organising the event in a meeting with them.

“Through the meeting, the organisers have admitted their mistake and taken our advice well to be more careful when organising any programs in the future,” said Jakim director-general Othman Mustapha in a statement today.

The meeting, which lasted for over an hour, was held this morning at Mines Hotel.

Five of the event organisers met with five members of the Syariah Expert Panel (PPS) under Jakim.

Representatives from the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council (Mais) were also present.

Othman ( left ) also added that PPS had advised the organisers that such events disturb the sensitivity of Muslims in the country.

“PPS has given a warning and advised the organisers not to organise programs like this in the future as it touches on the sensitivity of Muslims in Malaysia.”

He also hopes that this would be the end of the issue, which has gained much publicity in the mass media.

“Jakim hopes that this issue is not prolonged by any other parties,” said Othman.

The ‘I want to touch a dog’ event aimed to help Malay Muslims break cultural taboos about touching dogs and attracted about 200 people.

The event on Oct 19, however,  came under fire from religious authorities after Muslims were seen hugging and kissing the dogs, an animal considered unclean by Islam.

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