Tuesday, October 31, 2017

SINGAPORE — Three travel agencies here, which had worked with a Malaysian firm to promote its Islamic-themed cruises, have stopped the arrangement due to low demand from Singaporean Muslims, the companies told TODAY.

On Monday (Oct 30), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a press release that it has banned two foreign preachers – Ismail Menk from Zimbabwe and Malaysian citizen Haslin Baharim – from entering Singapore, after it learnt that they were engaged to preach on a “religious-themed cruise” that will depart and end in Singapore late next month. The preachers were previously barred from preaching in Singapore.

A check by TODAY found that the trip is organised by Malaysian company Islamic Cruise, which listed three Singapore travel agencies - AQ Travel and Tours, Raffles Holidays and Daaz Travel - as among its agents worldwide. According to its website, the firm has organised more than 20 Islamic cruises since 2014.

It advertised the cruise with Mufti Menk as the “most awaited Islamic cruise of the year”, and a “spiritual voyage to Banda Aceh”.The trip from Singapore to Aceh, which will be conducted on Nov 25 to 29, is specially catered to Muslim travellers. The programme is filled with activities such as Islamic forums and sermons being conducted on board the cruise.

Participants will also get to watch a documentary film on Muslim converts and be given a copy of Mufti Menk’s new book. In Aceh, travellers will visit its historical places, including the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque, a landmark that stood firm following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated a huge part of Aceh and other Asian countries. There will also be shopping trips conducted at the city.

The MHA noted that Mufti Menk has been known to preach “segregationist and divisive teachings”. For instance, he has propagated that it is the “biggest sin and crime” for a Muslim to exchange Merry Christmas or Happy Deepavali greetings with non-Muslims. The ministry added that Haslin has expressed views which promote disharmony between Muslims and non-Muslims, who he describes as “deviant”.

A director of AQ Travel and Tours, who declined to be named, said his agency had approached Islamic Cruise in August to promote the trip but it later cancelled the arrangement a month later because no Singaporeans had signed up for it.

He noted that the steep prices could have put people off, with the cheapest package costing about S$1,227. “Islamic themed-cruise trips are very common in Malaysia… And we thought we could tap on the market but the demand from Singaporeans is low,” said the director, who has been in the travel industry for about 15 years. His firm specialises in haj and umrah travels. It also organises Islamic tours to countries such as Spain and Turkey.

Before Daaz Travel ceased operations last December, its former managing director Shahruddin Sogol said that apart from the cruise involving Mufti Menk, there was only one previous instance in which he worked with Islamic Cruise to promote its trips but he could not recall the exact date.

He also noted that Islamic-themed cruise has not taken off among Singaporeans here. “Singaporean Muslims have not caught on it. They’re more interested in the usual cruise trips. Islamic Cruise was supposed to delete my agency’s name from the list (on the website) but clearly they didn’t do that,” said the 49-year-old.

His firm, which offers umrah packages and tours in regional countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, closed down after four years as it was not doing well financially.

Meanwhile, an employee of Raffles Holidays would only say that the firm is no longer an agent with Islamic Cruise. The Malaysian company could not be reached for comment.

Source: http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/low-take-sporeans-islamic-themed-cruises-travel-agencies