Islamic preacher Zakir Naik has been banned from giving public speeches in Malaysia after being charged for making inflammatory speeches. On August 3, Zakir had stated Hindus in Malaysia have “100 times” extra rights than Muslims in India
Kuala Lumpur: Islamic preacher Zakir Naik has been banned from making speeches in Malaysia. He had earlier been charged by Malaysian authorities with making inflammatory speeches.
Zakir, who is wanted by India over allegations of terror-related actions and inciting extremism by hate speeches, had on August 3 stated that Hindus in Malaysia have “100 times” extra rights than Muslims in India.
He additionally made insensitive remarks in opposition to the Chinese language Malaysian group.
Zakir, 53, a controversial figure who labelled the 9/11 terror assaults an “inside job”, fled India three years ago and moved to Muslim-dominated Malaysia. He had been granted residency by those in power earlier.
India had made a request to Malaysia to extradite the controversial preacher but Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir stated he wouldn’t be deported “as long as he is not creating any problem”.
Mahathir then went on to state that standing could possibly be revoked if it could possibly be confirmed that his actions had harmed his nation’s “well-being”. He said that as a permanent resident Zakir is not allowed to participate in politics.
"You can preach (religiously) but he wasn't doing that. He was talking about Chinese going back to China and Indians going back to India. I have never said such things. But he did. That is politics," Mahathir said.
The Malaysian government has previously appeared reluctant to move against Zakir for fear it could upset some Muslims as well as provide ammunition to political opponents.
Muslims make up about 60% of the 32 million people in Malaysia. The rest are mostly ethnic Chinese and Indians, most of whom are Hindus.
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