“The latest preaching by Zakir Naik in Indonesia proves what Hindraf has always been stressing – that Zakir Naik is a threat to national security, public order, morality and peaceful co-existence of multi-racial Malaysia,” Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy said in a statement today.
Zakir told a gathering at the Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia in Bandung on April 2 that Muslims should always choose one of their own rather than a non-Muslim as a friend or leader.
Responding to a question from the audience, Zakir said: “If you have a choice between the two, believer and unbeliever, don’t take unbeliever (in) preference to believer. If you do that you will not get the help of Allah except by way of warning.
“If you have to choose someone for protecting you, for helping you, if there is a choice between an unbeliever and believer – let him be Mahatma Gandhi, let him be Theresa May – if there is no iman, (even if) he may have got the Nobel prize for peace, the person who has iman, is a believer, is far superior than an unbeliever.”
He added that Muslims should also select a person of their own religion rather than a non-Muslim as their government leader.
When the questioner from the audience told him of a Christian leader she admired who built infrastructures and mosques, and helped the poor, Zakir said this did not matter.
“A Muslim should not vote for non-Muslim even if he has done good work like building buildings (infrastructure). What good work has this Christian done?” he asked.
Saying that iman meant belief in the Quran, he added: “So who is better? Person who has iman or person who gives you money? Paradise in the next world is more important or getting a house in this world is more important?”
In a written reply during the current Dewan Rakyat sitting, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said the Malaysian Immigration Department would not restrict Zakir’s access to the country as he had not broken Malaysian laws.
The home minister also said Zakir was not listed as a terrorist in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1988 and 1267.
He was replying to M Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat), who had asked the home minister to state why Zakir had not been blocked from entering the country.
The Hindustan Times reported last year that Zakir held dual Indian-Malaysian citizenships. The Malaysian home ministry denied the claim.
Zakir is moving around freely in Malaysia although he is wanted for questioning in his homeland, India, for money-laundering and terrorism-related issues.
Waytha said Zahid’s answer showed his inability as home minister to grasp and comprehend issues of national security and peaceful co-existence of multiracial and multireligious groups in Malaysia.
He also said Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar had not responded to questions raised by Hindraf on Zakir posing a national security threat.
He said it included one question on whether the police’s counter-terrorism unit had come out with findings on the possibility of Zakir radicalising, or motivating and inspiring, Malaysian Muslim youths, as well as the more than one million Bangladeshi and Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia.
He asked if the police had contacted the security services of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the United Kingdom to seek details of Zakir’s alleged involvement in inspiring terrorism-related activities as well as money laundering.
Waytha said there were reports earlier that Zakir had shifted his operations to Nepal, and his sudden appearance in Malaysia and unwillingness to return to India raised strong suspicion “he is up to something sinister”.
He added that Hindraf had, through its lawyer, written to the director-general of the Immigration Department on whether he would exercise his powers under Part II, Part III and Part V of the Immigration Act 1959 to remove Zakir, but that also “fell on deaf ears”.
In November last year India banned the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), the NGO Zakir operated, categorising it as an ‘unlawful organisation’, for five years.
The Times of India had earlier reported that the government of India intended to ban IRF, citing Zakir’s “objectionable and subversive” speeches.
It also cited criminal cases filed against him and other members of IRF in Mumbai and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra and Kerala, as well as his “dubious” links with Peace TV that allegedly features “communal” and “pro-jihad” content.
The Hindustan Times also reported that India’s National Investigation Agency had issued a notice to Zakir to present himself for questioning on March 14. Zakir did not show up.
On March 1, a group of 19 people in Malaysia, including Waytha and lawyer Siti Kasim, filed a suit against the government here for allegedly harbouring Zakir.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owwPqXTYM74
Charge me in Malaysia or international court, Zakir Naik tells India