Cultural activities in Bahrain 'should comply with Islamic principals'

Manama: All cultural activities and events hosted in Bahrain should fully comply with Islamic principles and social values, the government has said.

The call announced on Sunday following the Cabinet's weekly session is part of the recommendations made by a parliamentary investigation committee in its report over alleged irregularities in the 2007 Spring of Culture.

"The Cabinet has agreed on the recommendations submitted by the parliamentary committee that investigated the Spring of Culture festival held in 2007. The Cabinet has stressed the importance of the commitment of the Information Ministry [the organisers of the festival] to the Islamic principles and Bahrain's laws and regulations in all its events, programmes, shows and texts," the Cabinet spokesman said.

Extravaganza

Information Minister Jehad Bu Kamal, who was appointed last September, has often said that the ministry's activities would be in line with Bahrain's values and mores.

The spring festival waded into controversy in March 2007 for staging a show, Layla and the Mad Man, written by Bahraini poet Qasim Haddad and featuring dances by a Lebanese troupe to rhythms by Arab composer Marcel Khalifa.

Islamists, who command 32 of the 40 seats in the Lower House, objected to the dances, although they did not see them, saying that they were overtly suggestive and disturbingly immoral and took the ministry to task for allowing the show.

Their attitude sparked a countrywide debate between liberals who hailed the courage of the 'heroes', Haddad and Khalifa, and conservatives who charged the ministry of "ignoring people's feelings and national values" by allowing it.

An ad hoc investigation committee formed by the parliament concluded that ministry officials were guilty of negligence and carelessness and called for a closer monitoring of the festivals organised or hosted in the country.

Bahrain, one of the most liberal countries in the Gulf, had often hosted festivals and concerts but the emergence of Islamists in the elected Council of Representatives in 2006 has limited music events.

Controversy

Last April, several MPs launched a campaign to bar Lebanese star Haifa Wehbe from singing at a concert in Manama, but their threats to take action against officials and to stage a sit-in at the concert venue did not materialise.

The singer, well-known for her sexy looks and revealing outfits but aware of the controversy, donned a modest Arabian Gulf traditional dress.