GHRF president S Shashi Kumar said the excuse Abdellatif gave when issuing his apology yesterday was “very lame and unacceptable”.

“As a tourist and a visitor to Malaysia, he has shown no respect to our laws and people as we are living in a multiracial society,” he said in a statement.

“What were his intentions in reciting the Quranic verses at the non-Muslim place of worship? It was a clear intention to insult and mock a non-Islamic religion.”

Yesterday, Abdellatif said he thought Batu Caves was a historic site rather than a religious one, and that he did not know the iconic 42.7m-tall statue was of a Hindu deity, namely Lord Murugan.

Shashi said: “If the Madani government is serious about combating 3R (race, religion and royalty) issues and does not condone such acts of insults against race and religion, then the home minister should impose a ban on Abdellatif as a lesson to those with ill intentions.”

He pointed to Singapore, which banned individuals like Zimbabwean preacher Ismail Menk, American Muslim preacher Yusuf Estes, and Malaysian Haslin Baharim from entering the republic because of their hardline and divisive teachings.

“Their home affairs and law minister K Shanmugam said that it was ‘unacceptable’ and ‘contrary’ to the values of Singapore’s multiracial and multi-religious society,” he said.

He also said Singapore requires those who wish to talk about sensitive issues to obtain a miscellaneous work pass that will be assessed first.