Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – When his online lecture on how multicultural performing arts transcend race was cancelled in early June by the Islamic Center of a famous university in Malaysia, Ramli Ibrahim was both confused and angry.
An official statement from the University of Technology Malaysia (UTM), one of Malaysia’s most respected public universities, said, “The Islamic Center of the university has instructed the organizers to cancel the plan for undisclosed reasons.”
Ramli is the art director of the famous Sutra Dance Theatre in Kuala Lumpur. He is a Malay Muslim. He is well-known for his choreography of Indian classical dances (especially the Odissi style). He called UTM’s Islamic Center “Narrow-Minded” and “ Paranoid”. The center did not respond to Al Jazeera’s questions about the cancellation.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – When his online talk on how multicultural performing arts should transcend race was cancelled in early June by the Islamic centre of a prominent Malaysian university, Ramli Ibrahim, was both puzzled and angered.
An official statement by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), one of the country’s most highly regarded public universities, said that “the organisers have been instructed by the university’s Islamic centre to cancel the programme over undisclosed reasons.”
Ramli, the celebrated artistic director of the Kuala Lumpur-based Sutra Dance Theatre, who is a Malay Muslim and globally renowned for his choreography of Indian classical dance, notably the Odissi style, went online to call UTM’s Islamic centre “narrow-minded” and “bigoted”. The centre did not respond to Al Jazeera’s questions about the cancellation.