The Coalition on Plan of Action for Malaysia (GBM), an umbrella group of 28 organisations, also condemned the authorities’ harassment of Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa, the director of the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) which hosted Akyol’s trip to Malaysia.
“Akyol is free now, but Malaysian Muslim academics and intellectuals are not free to speak on religion and comparative religion, even in universities.
“Malaysians need to think hard where this country is going, having just celebrated its 54th birthday,” the group said in a statement to FMT today.
On Monday, Jawi summoned Akyol and Farouk for questioning over a charge of “teaching Islam without credentials”, before pressuring organisers of a forum featuring him to call it off.
The prominent Turkish journalist, who is attached to the Denver University in Boston, United States, was subsequently arrested at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) as he was preparing to board a flight to Rome. He was released some 18 hours later.
Jawi said his arrest was based on a “complaint from the public” over a speech he had made at a roundtable discussion titled “Does freedom of conscience open the floodgate to apostasy?” at the Royal Selangor Golf Club in Kuala Lumpur.
It was Akyol’s fifth trip to Malaysia, but his visit this time stirred protests among several conservative Muslim groups over his views on religious freedom.
GBM in its statement asked if Jawi was acting as Malaysia’s “thought police” who go after Muslim intellectuals for speaking on religion without official credentials.
“Do universities and research institutions now need to seek clearance from state religious authorities before having any Muslim speakers on topics involving religion?” it asked.
It added that in contrast, Naik, who is wanted by Indian authorities on charges of money laundering, was allowed to belittle other faiths.
GBM warned that the actions by authorities to curb intellectual freedom “will graduate” to extremism and radicalisation and destroy “our social fabric with sectarian supremacy, segregation and distrust both within Islam and between Islam and other faiths”.
“This will undo not just the Malaysian government’s international PR-campaign called ‘moderate movement’, but the very idea of Malaysia as a diverse and inclusive nation-state,” said the statement which was endorsed by, among others, rights group Suaram, the Japan Graduates Association of Malaysia, the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH), the Muslim Professionals Forum (MPF), Aliran and Pusat Komas.