“We told the sultan our position and most importantly, we told him that we are, all the way, supportive of the palace’s role in uniting the rakyat.
“We have no problems with each other,” Selangor PAS secretary Roslan Shahir Mohd Shahir said, according to the New Straits Times.
He said the sultan only wanted to know Selangor PAS’ position on the Bon Odori festival, adding that Sultan Sharafuddin had given his views and Selangor PAS had conveyed to him that they respected his stance.
Roslan also said Selangor PAS would abide by religious affairs minister and party vice-president Idris Ahmad’s stance, who earlier advised Muslims against participating in the festival.
On Wednesday, Sultan Sharafuddin summoned the state PAS chief, Ahmad Yunus Hairi, for an audience at Istana Bukit Kayangan.
While the royal office did not elaborate on the details of the meeting, the audience came after Yunus urged the Selangor state government on June 10 to prohibit Muslims from participating in the Bon Odori festival.
This was despite Sultan Sharafuddin instructing the Selangor Islamic religious department (Jais) last week to allow the Bon Odori festival scheduled for next month to proceed.
The Selangor sultan had also said he himself had attended the festival several years ago and did not find it detrimental to the practice of the Islamic faith.
The brouhaha over Bon Odori was sparked after religious affairs minister Idris Ahmad reminded Muslims not to take part in the annual summer festival, claiming that the celebration was “influenced by elements of other religions”.
Sultan Sharafuddin later called on Idris to attend the Bon Odori festival to “understand the difference between religion and culture”.
When queried by reporters on whether he would be taking up the Selangor sultan’s call for him to attend the Bon Odori festival, Idris repeatedly refused to comment.
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