No ban on Zakir Naik giving speeches, says Saifuddin

FMT:

 

No ban on Zakir Naik

giving speeches, says

Saifuddin

Predeep Nambiar

-20 Feb 2025, 03:13 PM

Mumbai-born preacher Dr Zakir Naik was prevented from giving public talks in Malaysia in 2019.

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Controversial preacher Dr Zakir Naik was previously banned from speaking in Malaysia after he made controversial statements about Hindus and Chinese in Malaysia during a speech in Kota Bharu in 2019. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: 

Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail says there are no orders preventing controversial preacher Dr Zakir Naik from giving public speeches.

Saifuddin told the Dewan Rakyat that while there was a temporary ban in 2019, it is currently not in effect.

“The government has not placed any restrictions on Zakir Naik (giving public speeches),” Saifuddin said in response to a question from RSN Rayer (PH-Jelutong).

Rayer had earlier asked if Naik was still banned from speaking publicly as there were reports that police had issued a gag order agai​nst him in​ 2019.

The Mumbai-born preacher, who is wanted in India for money laundering, was previously banned from speaking in Malaysia after he made controversial statements about Hindus and Chinese in Malaysia during a speech in Kota Bharu in 2019.

The police were reported to have given the directive to the preacher in the interest of national security and to preserve racial harmony.

However, in December 2021, Naik said police had never told him he was banned from speaking in public. He said he had also checked with the then chief secretary to the government.

He said he still gave talks to smaller groups of people during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last month, Naik reportedly gave a speech before a crowd at the Perlis International Sunnah Convention 2025 in which he allegedly said Muslims would have to answer in the afterlife for their perceived lack of proselytising efforts.

According to the news portal Scoop, he allegedly called on Malaysian Muslims to intensify their efforts to spread Islam to non-Muslims and also claimed that Malaysians were not fully utilising laws that permit the propagation of Islam to non-Muslims.

Naik has been wanted by Indian authorities since 2016 for alleged money laundering and inciting extremism through hate speech.

Last August, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he was not willing to consider extraditing Naik to India as long as the preacher avoided causing trouble.

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kt comments:

Why are all PMs of Malaysia (eg. Mahathir, now Anwar) so scared of deporting this rebel-rousing trouble-maker?