M Kulasegaran, the Human Resource Minister of Malaysia has said that Zakir Naik should be sent back to India. The Malaysian cabinet is about to discuss permanent residency of Zakir Naik and therefore, the statement of Kulasegaran who is a prominent member of Malaysian cabinet can be a decisive voice. “It’s time for the fugitive foreigner to leave Malaysia and to face charges of terrorism and money-laundering charges in India,” said the lawmaker.
Malaysia considers itself a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-racial nation. Islam is the official religion of the country and Muslims comprise 61 percent of the population of Malaysia but there is good number of Buddhist, Christian, and Hindu population. Buddhists comprise 19.8 percent of the population, Christians 9.2 percent and Hindus 6.3 percent.
According to Kulasegaran, Zakir Naik is trying to create fissures in the multi-racial nation of Malaysia to win the favor of Muslim majority. Zakir Naik has been trying to propagate hatred against the Hindu and other non-muslim communities in Malaysia.
Malaysia, along with other countries of Southeast Asia, has been influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism for centuries. Islam came to the country in 14th century and spread over the decades. However, the people of the country still follow many Hindu and Buddhist rituals and the culture is still very syncretic.
The nature of Islam followed in Malaysia is not the Wahhabi/Salafi interpretation of the religion. The inclusiveness of Hinduism is still prevalent in Malaysia and therefore majority of the followers of Islam do not agree with Zakir Naik’s hardline interpretation. The Hindu-Buddhist culture of thousands of the years could not have been wiped out by monotheistic Islam which had just 600 years of history on the islands of Malaysia.
The ruling Democratic Action Party, or DAP of which Kulasegaran is a member stands for social democracy, secularism, social justice, progressivism, and multiracialism. These ideals are very hard to be found in any Islamic majority state. It is very much possible that Zakir Naik will be deported to India by DAP government.
Previously, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed its first chargesheet against the controversial Islamic preacher, Zakir Naik and others in a case of money laundering. The central agency has also identified assets worth Rs. 193 crore and has already attached properties valued at Rs. 50.46 in connection with the case this far. The ED has filed the chargesheet in the Mumbai Special Court under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The attached properties include investments in mutual funds, the Islamic International School building in Chennai, 10 flats, three go-downs, two buildings, and land in Pune and Mumbai. It also includes 10 bank accounts. Indian agencies have therefore, been pursuing Zakir Naik and aiming for the preacher to be extradited from Malaysia.
Of late, Zakir Naik has been in the news in the wake of unconfirmed reports which revealed that the suicide bomber and the mastermind behind the attack on the Shangri La hotel in Sri Lanka, identified as Moulvi Zahran Hashim was found to be inspired by Zakir Naik. Hashim has a history filled with instances displaying Islamic supremacy. He had also posted several YouTube videos, in which he preaches incitement. Moulvi Zahran Hashim was inspired by Zakir Naik, which becomes crystal clear when in one of his videos, he asked, “What can Sri Lankan Muslims do for Dr. Zakir Naik?” As per reports cable operators in Sri Lanka reportedly blocked Zakir Naik’s Peace TV following the Easter terror blasts in Sri Lanka. An ISIS affiliated group in India, inspired by Zakir Naik, was also caught attempting to poison the Maha Prasad in a temple to kill over 40,000 people. There is no doubt that Zakir Naik has been trying to radicalise the people of Malaysia to achieve similar outcomes in the southeast Asian region