Malaysia’s cabinet to discuss permanent residency of controversial Islamic preacher

Malaysia’s cabinet will discuss the permanent residency of controversial Indian Islamic preacher Zakir Naik on Wednesday, said a minister who believed Naik should return to India to face charges of money laundering and hate speech.

In a joint statement, Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo and Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran said they have bluntly asked Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad to deport the controversial Mumbai-born Muslim preacher.

“We have raised with the prime minister and the Cabinet this morning.

“The issue of the presence of Zakir Naik in Malaysia and the recent event held by him in Kota Baru over the weekend and other statements he has made which has caused controversy.

“We have expressed our position which is that action must be taken and that Zakir Naik should no longer be allowed to remain in Malaysia,” Gobind and Kulasegaran said.

Naik, who has lived in Malaysia for about three years, has come under fire for his recent comments that Hindus in the Southeast Asian country had “100 times more rights” than the Muslim minority in India and that they sometimes believed in the Indian government more than the Malaysian one.

Malaysia’s Minister of Human Resources M. Kulasegaran said Naik’s comments could have been aimed at creating a fissure in the multi-racial nation so he could win the favour of Muslims.

He said Naik did not deserve the status of a permanent resident and that the matter would be discussed by Cabinet, which meets on Wednesday.

Naik, who has repeatedly rejected the charges against him in India, denied the allegations made by Kulasegaran and others in Malaysia.

“My praise of the Malaysian government for its Islamic and fair treatment of Hindu minorities is being twisted and misquoted to suit political gains and create communal rifts,” he said in a statement to reporters on Wednesday.

India banned Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation in late 2016, accusing him of encouraging and aiding its followers to “promote or attempt to promote feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious communities and groups”.