Two sides of the law: One standard for Hannah Yeoh and another standard for Zakir Naik?
By Nehru Sathiamoorthy
YOUTH and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh is not only Malaysian; she is a minister.
Despite that, the DAP lawmaker had over 182 police reports lodged against her after being accused of trying to turn Malaysia into a Christian nation although she herself has vehemently denied the accusation.
According to the police, two investigation papers have also been opened against Hannah, one under the Penal Code and another as a police inquiry paper.
In contrast, Zakir Naik is not a Malaysian. He is actually an Indian citizen. Moreover, he is wanted by the Indian authorities for inciting extremism and money laundering-related cases.
In the few years that he has been given refuge in Malaysia, he has already been involved in multiple fracas with various personalities in the country.
Zakir’s reputation as a rabble rouser is so strong that there is even a gag order applied on him by the Malaysian police in August 2019 to prevent him from giving speeches in the interest of national security and to preserve racial harmony.
Just last August, PMX Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim came out to clarify Zakir’s status in Malaysia by stating that Malaysia will not consider extraditing Naik to India only as long as the preacher avoided causing trouble.
YOUTH and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh is not only Malaysian; she is a minister.
Despite that, the DAP lawmaker had over 182 police reports lodged against her after being accused of trying to turn Malaysia into a Christian nation although she herself has vehemently denied the accusation.
According to the police, two investigation papers have also been opened against Hannah, one under the Penal Code and another as a police inquiry paper.
In contrast, Zakir Naik is not a Malaysian. He is actually an Indian citizen. Moreover, he is wanted by the Indian authorities for inciting extremism and money laundering-related cases.
In the few years that he has been given refuge in Malaysia, he has already been involved in multiple fracas with various personalities in the country.
Zakir’s reputation as a rabble rouser is so strong that there is even a gag order applied on him by the Malaysian police in August 2019 to prevent him from giving speeches in the interest of national security and to preserve racial harmony.
Just last August, PMX Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim came out to clarify Zakir’s status in Malaysia by stating that Malaysia will not consider extraditing Naik to India only as long as the preacher avoided causing trouble.
Zakir Naik addressing participants of the Perlis International Sunnah Convention 2025 (Image credit: Dr Zakir Naik/Facebook)
Lobsided justice?
Despite that, Zakir Naik had given a speech before a crowd at the Perlis International Sunnah Convention 2025 which was held from Jan 24 to 26 where he openly called on Malaysian Muslims to intensify efforts to spread Islam to non-Muslims.
In so doing, he declared that Muslims would have to answer in the afterlife if they were slack in their effort to convert non-Muslims to Islam.
When asked about the status of the gag order prohibiting Zakir Naik from giving public speeches in Malaysia, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail could only remark that he will have to check on the status of a purported directive before he can confirm whether the ban on Naik was still effective or had been withdrawn.
Zakir Naik – unlike Hannah – was not interpreted to have remarked about his advocacy of Islamic proselytisation to occur amongst non-Muslims, mind you. These were his actual words. He is not even denying it.
Lobsided justice?
Despite that, Zakir Naik had given a speech before a crowd at the Perlis International Sunnah Convention 2025 which was held from Jan 24 to 26 where he openly called on Malaysian Muslims to intensify efforts to spread Islam to non-Muslims.
In so doing, he declared that Muslims would have to answer in the afterlife if they were slack in their effort to convert non-Muslims to Islam.
When asked about the status of the gag order prohibiting Zakir Naik from giving public speeches in Malaysia, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail could only remark that he will have to check on the status of a purported directive before he can confirm whether the ban on Naik was still effective or had been withdrawn.
Zakir Naik – unlike Hannah – was not interpreted to have remarked about his advocacy of Islamic proselytisation to occur amongst non-Muslims, mind you. These were his actual words. He is not even denying it.
On the contrary, Hannah had to go through a baptism of fire because some people interpreted that she intended to turn Malaysia into Christian nation.
People always assume that the role of the authorities is to uphold justice in the land but in reality, their role is to merely to institute law and order.
We all know that justice is not possible by mere mortals. We all know that not all crimes are solved. It is not the case that every wrongdoer is punished or every innocent person will be vindicated.
No favouritism, please
The authorities are not “special people” who are connected to the heavens. The skies do not part and voices from the beyond does not instruct our authority about how to carry out justice in the world.
The sacred role of the authorities is merely to maintain the concept of reciprocity in society under the name of enforcing law and order, to upkeep peace and prevent any unrest to ferment in the land.
The basic law of reciprocity is simple. It follows the golden rule. “Do not do to others what you don’t want to be done to you”.
As long as we can continue believing that the laws of reciprocity hold in our land, then there will be peace without unrest, even if justice cannot be fully implemented.
It is when the authorities struggle to uphold law and order, that murmurs of discontent will start to percolate in the hearts and minds of the people.
There are of course, legal, social and political reasons why actions have been quick to be taken against Hannah but not Zakir Naik although Hannah is a prominent personality and a Malaysian citizen while Zakir Naik is merely an outsider who has been repeatedly warned not to disturb the peace in Malaysia.
Despite all that, it is still incumbent upon the authorities to institute law and order in a more effective manner to prevent the notion that the laws of reciprocity can be willfully disregarded in the land. – Feb 7, 2025
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