Its Religious Bureau chairman, Azdy Mohd Arshad, said Ramasamy, as a deputy chief minister and an academic, should not have referred to Zakir as “syaitan and penipu” (Satan and a cheat) on his Facebook account.

Penang GPMS was disappointed Ramasamy had incited hatred in Hindus towards Zakir, he said in a statement here.

Azdy said it was wrong in law to restrict or prevent religions from implementing their teachings.

Ramasamy should be more rational and responsible and find out more about Zakir’s background before making any statements, he said.

He invited Ramasamy to attend the Zakir public lecture and dialogue at the Kompleks Masyarakat Pulau Pinang on April 15 to have a better perspective of Zakir and Islam.

Earlier, a public lecture by the Indian Islamic preacher Zakir, scheduled for April 17 at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) in Malacca, was cancelled on the advice of the police.

UTeM Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Shahrin Sahib said the lecture on “Similarities between Hinduism and Islam” was scheduled to be held at the main hall of the Durian Tunggal main campus of the university.

“As a centre for knowledge excellence, UTeM believes it is a good programme, but as the host it has had to cancel it after taking several matters into consideration,” he told Bernama in a statement on Monday.

– BERNAMA