A Cathay Pacific advert which appeared in the South China Morning Post, on October 29, promoting the airline's new service to Istanbul, Turkey, showed a scantily-clad girl pointing at a mosque.
In the same issue there was a four-page special report celebrating Turkey's 75th anniversary, in which there was a picture of the same mosque, namely, the magnificent Sultan Ahmet mosque. A mosque is a sacred place of worship, not a venue for entertainment. Through its tasteless advert, Cathay Pacific has shown a lack of respect for this important religious monument and has hurt the feelings of Muslims.
I am sure all Muslims in Hong Kong will agree with me that it is inappropriate to run a picture of a mosque and a scantily-clad woman in the same advert. We will not tolerate these kinds of adverts.
I hope, out of respect to Islam, that the airline will be more careful in the future and that it ensure this advert is not printed again.
S. A. BUNARI Kowloon
