Gerakan Youth chief Lim Si Pin today took PAS Youth to task for calling for a ban on sale of alcohol in Muslim-majority areas in Pakatan Rakyat-held states.

Lim said the call reflected a lack of tolerance in a multi-racial society.

He added that the call was also reflective of PAS Youth's extremist and narrow views which it wanted to impose on young Malaysians in general.

gerakan ndc 101008 lim si pin Lim said although PAS had yet to control the federal government, its youth leaders were already planning to impose restrictions touching on freedom of rights.

"Early this month, PAS Youth had urged the federal government to stop the Michael Learns to Rock (MLTR) concert at Genting Highlands.

"Now, they want to ban sale of alcohol. We shudder to think what PAS Youth will do when the party is given more power," Lim said in a statement.

The movement had also protested previous gigs by Beyonce, Avril Lavigne and Gwen Stefani, he noted.

"PAS Youth is disregarding the feelings and sentiments of non-Muslims who have not faced such a predicament for many years since Malaysia gained independence in 1957," Lim added.

Lim questioned whether PKR and DAP, which are partners in Pakatan Rakyat, would support the ban.

He also questioned whether the DAP, which had asked the people to support PAS in the last general election, would be able to stop PAS from implementing extremist policies.

Festival cancelled, Penang government slammed

Meanwhile, in another development Penang Gerakan today slammed the state government for failing to honour its words to organise a big special two-day event, called Hungry Ghost Festival In Action, at the Esplanade on Sept 16.

The event was cancelled at the last minute because of lack of time and suitability of venue, as revealed by state exco member in charge of tourism Danny Law yesterday.

Responding today, the state's Gerakan publicity and communications secretary Dr Thor Teong Ghee said the people were disappointed with the cancellation and the reasons given for the cancellation.

Thor said that the cancellation offered a negative publicity to the state as a tourism spot, especially when many tourists have planned to visit the state to enjoy the event.

He also rubbished Law's reasons for cancelling the event as being lame.

"If the Esplanade is not a suitable venue, Law should have known about it earlier," he said in a statement today.

He added that Penang now seemed to have a "reputation of announcing important tourism events and cancelling them at the last minute".

"Please do not try to fool the people if you do not have a comprehensive plan for a major event as there are major consequences to face," he said.

He further said that so far the state government had cancelled three major events since taking office in March 2008. The other two were the King of Tennis fiasco and the South-east Asia and Culture Exhibition.