In an exclusive interview with The Malaysian Insider, Jaafar said “seeing is believing” and expressed his confidence that once the critics experienced the services of the airline for themselves, they would be won over.
“We won’t deny that there are some who are sceptical about this concept and are too afraid to try us out. But Rayani Air is open to all races.”
He said some had even asked if wearing short pants was allowed while others had expressed their fears the airline had links to terror group Islamic State.
Jaafar was however philosophical about it and said the people’s scepticism stemmed from a lack of understanding and that the management would simply need to work harder at creating greater awareness about the concept.
The “concept” so far is however limited to female cabin crew wearing headscarfs, halal food and beverages being served to passengers and prayers being recited before takeoff.
However Jaafar said the airline was looking to work with Royal Brunei Airlines to promote the concept to the industry.
The airline was also looking to work with Dr Haron Din of PAS as adviser to Rayani Air if the veteran spiritual adviser of the Islamist party was agreeable.
“He (Haron Din) will advise us on things like how to put this syariah-compliant concept into practice, and this encompasses all aspects.”
Jaafar, who is former deputy director of the Department of Civil Aviation, said implementing a Syariah-compliant concept was rather difficult as no such certification or guidelines existed in the aviation industry.
Rebutting the arguments of critics who have accused the airline of commercialising Islam, Jaafar said, “For example, the owners of beverage company Yeo’s are Chinese, they got themselves a halal certificate, so are they considered selling off the religion’s dignity?
“I don’t think so. Many Muslims would want halal beverages. It’s about widening your market.”
He said there were also others who accused Rayani Air of not being “halal enough” and he conceded that although the closest the airline had was a halal certificate, this would have to suffice for now in the absence of any real guidelines that defined what a syariah-compliant airline should be.
“The closest we’ve got is the halal certificate.
“Sorry to say this, but some Muslims love to talk about complying with the syariah, but they don’t do anything about it. Now we are actually doing something.”