Malaysia’s Mahathir toughens stance against controversial Indian Muslim preacher Zakir Naik

Police in Malaysia on Monday questioned controversial Indian Muslim preacher Zakir Naik for allegedly making racist remarks, as Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad joined a chorus of government officials criticising the controversial televangelist’s comments on race relations in the Southeast Asian country. Alongside the premier, several ministers have in recent days also flayed Naik for his strident comments about the country’s Indian and Chinese communities. Seven of Malaysia’s 13 states have now banned him from delivering sermons. The official stance is an about-turn from a few days ago, when the 94-year-old prime minister said the government could not accede to calls to expel Naik, a Mumbai native, back to his home country as he would be “killed” there. In India, media outlets that back Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government cheered Naik’s predicament. Naik has for years held permanent residency in Malaysia after fleeing to the Muslim majority nation to escape money laundering and hate speech charges at home. The current controversy stems from comments Naik, 53, made in recent sermons, over which a police probe is under way. In Malaysia, hopes for racial unity. The reality? Growing division At one event, Naik said Malaysians asking for the expulsion of a “guest” such as him first had to ask Chinese Malaysians, the country’s “old guests”, to leave first. He also angered the Indian community by saying local Hindus had 100 times the rights of Muslims in India. Mahathir on Sunday pressed home that the government would not tolerate Naik’s attempt to “participate in racial politics”, especially since he was not a Malaysian citizen. “[As] a permanent resident, you cannot participate in politics. You can [make] religious speeches, you can preach. But he wasn’t doing that, he was talking about sending the Chinese back to China, and Indians back to India,” Mahathir said when asked about the government’s latest stance. “We are very careful about how we say things that are sensitive to the different communities in this country. I would never say that kind of thing,” he said. Mahathir added that police investigations were ongoing and the government would deal with the matter in accordance with the law. Who is Zakir Naik, the preacher India’s chasing, and Malaysia’s loathe to give up? Among others who have slammed Naik are Mahathir’s housing minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, and several other cabinet ministers who are of Indian descent. Naik, who was on Monday due to appear before police for the second time in four days, appeared defiant however. His lawyers served four people – including three government officials of Indian descent – with notices of demand for allegedly defaming him. He earlier filed a similar demand against M. Kulasegaran, Mahathir’s human resources minister. The controversy is one of several racially charged issues Mahathir has had to grapple with in recent weeks that analysts say are hurting his Pakatan Harapan coalition – an alliance comprising four parties across the political spectrum, including his Malay-only party. Mahathir and other ethnic Malay officials, cognisant of Naik’s sway with local Muslims, have in the past trod carefully regarding his residence in Malaysia – a long-time gripe of politicians from minority groups. Naik has held permanent residency since 2012, when now deposed ex-prime minister Najib Razak was still in power. Naik’s arrival in Malaysia coincided with a concerted move by Najib to embrace more conservative parts of the country’s Malay-Muslim base as he came under threat from the multiracial alliance now in power. The former leader – currently on trial over corruption charges – has so far kept mum about the preacher’s troubles. Zakir Naik should be expelled, say ministers Naik, a doctor, has in the past said that if Osama bin Laden “is terrorising America – the terrorist, the biggest terrorist – I am with him”. His Dubai-based television channel, Peace TV, broadcasts, among other programmes, a show called Strengthening Your Family – The Valley of the Homosexuals, in which gay people are reportedly described as “worse than animals” and more “corrupted and contaminated than pigs”. The channel is banned in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, with Britain’s telecoms regulator Ofcom also considering a ban. The preacher is blocked from entering Britain and Singapore. Connect with us on Twitter and Facebook