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M'sian state to get first cinema in 20 years, but men & women may have to sit apart & lights kept on
Comfy.
Tan Min-Wei
September 07, 2025, 01:57 PM
Cinephiles in the northernmost Malaysian state of Perlis rejoice! For the first time in 20 years, the state will have a movie theatre.
However, the state plans to enact strict gender segregation rules, similar to those of Terengganu.
Seating plan
The cinema, due to open in the capital city of Kangar at the Kangar Jaya Mall, is due to open in December 2025.
Perlis is governed by the Perikatan Nasional coalition, dominating the state legislature with 15 of the 16 available seats, with 9 of those seats belonging to the conservative Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS).
PAS also governs the Malaysian state of Terengganu and has implemented gender-segregated seating in the state since 2020.
According to The Rakyat Post, men and women are not allowed to sit together in cinemas, unless they’re part of the same family.
As such, cinemas in Terengganu have three seating areas, for families, men, and women; and the Perlis state government intends to follow suit.
This is in keeping with Cinema Guidelines issued by the Perlis State Mufti Department, meant to make sure that cinemas comply with Islamic principles.
Furthermore, cinema lights will not be completely switched off in order to monitor activities in the cinema.
Films screened must not conflict with Islamic beliefs, nor should they promote prohibited activities.
The Perlis PAS information chief, Asrul Aimran Abd Jalil, said that the state was inclined towards adopting the same approach as Terengganu “to ensure that entertainment aligns with Islamic teachings.”
Fly to KL
The Malaysian states governed by PAS have had fraught experiences with cinemas in recent decades.
Terengganu has gradually rolled out an ever-increasing suite of measures to ensure compliance with morality guidelines, such as installing CCTV cameras in cinemas in 2017, and gender segregation in 2020.
Perlis has not had a cinema in the state since the last one closed in 2002. Prior to that, there were several operating in the state.
It was not stated why the previous cinemas had closed.
Meanwhile, Kelantan is famously cinema-less, as several attempts to bring one to the state have failed, as it also implements stringent operating requirements.
A state official recently opined that the state being without a cinema was not a problem, as filmgoers could simply leave the state, "fly to KL", in order to seek film entertainment, as quoted by World of Buzz.
Perlis’s situation resembles that of the previous attempt to bring a cinema to Kelantan, in that a space for it is available, and an operator has expressed interest.
But as of the time of reporting, the state government has yet to receive a formal business application.
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