Kelantan PAS Youth will not compromise with those who want to reopen cinemas in the state as it may lead to social ills, online party organ HarakahDaily reported today.

"We want to stress that Kelantan has to maintain its current situation without the need for cinemas for the youth.

"We fear that the advent of cinemas invites a multitude of problems and worsens social ills," the movement's chief, Ahmad Fadhli Shaari, was quoted as saying.

He added that such entertainment ill-suits Kelantan's image as a storehouse of knowledge.

Ahmad Fadhli said this at a press conference after handing over a memorandum to Kelantan Menteri Besar Ahmad Yaakob.

The memorandum was reportedly in protest of purported plans to reopen a cinema at a shopping mall in Kelantan.

According to the report, a shopping mall in the state capital had already allocated space for a cinema, and was awaiting approval from authorities.

Cinemas were a part of everyday life in Kelantan prior to their mass closure in the 1990s, after it was deemed to contravene the Entertainment Control Enactment 1998.

Ahmad Fadhli said reintroducing cinemas may disrupt Kelantan's status quo as a state governed in line with Islamic principles.

"Actually, there are many conditions which must be adhered to including not creating a romantic mood amongst the audience. It is better not to have cinemas.

"However, the state government must think of other alternatives including organising free public screenings," Ahmad Fadhli was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the menteri besar said the state government had yet to receive any application to reopen cinemas in Kelantan, according to the report.

But he said an application may have been made with the local government, and that it had not yet been referred to the state exco.