PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, Aug 14 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Two Federal ministers have raised the issue of the presence of Zakir Naik in Malaysia and statements made by him deemed controversial, in the Cabinet and with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Wednesday.
Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo and Human Resource Minister M. Kula Segaran in a joint statement said they had expressed their position that action must be taken and that Zakir should no longer be allowed to remain in Malaysia.
“The prime minister has taken note of our concerns. We leave it to him to consider the position and to decide soonest possible what will be done to deal with the problem,” they said.
Gobind and Kula Segaran also reiterated the concerns raised by many over Zakir’s speeches and statements which they said have been inflammatory in nature.
“We, therefore, express our objections to Zakir Naik, in the meanwhile, holding any further events here in Malaysia or making further statements which impact on race relations and public order,” they said.
On Tuesday, Dr Mahathir reportedly said the problem the government faced was that Zakir cannot be sent back for fear of being killed.
However, he said he is open to the idea of sending Zakir to any other country.
Among Zakir’s alleged controversial remarks was at an event on Aug 3 where he reportedly claimed Malaysian Hindus were more loyal to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi than Dr Mahathir.
–NNN-BERNAMA