Zakir Naik’s preaching and Mahathir’s indifference is turning Malaysia into a hotbed for Islamic radicalisation

Zakir Naik is the man Friday of Mahathir

malaysia, Mahathir, Zakir Naik

The Special cell of Delhi Police has caught three extremely dangerous terrorists who had links with Syria and Malaysia. According to police, the intention of these ISIS terrorists, who were arrested in an encounter in northeast Delhi’s Wazirabad, was to carry out a major terror attack in India to impress IS. The three terrorists- Khaja Moideen (52), Syed Ali Navas (32) and Abdul Samad (28) – are accused of the murder of a Hindu leader, Suresh Kumar and were trying to get in touch with Zakir Naik and IS leaders. 

“Under the influence of Zakir Naik, one of the arrested terrorists even shaved off his beard. They were planning a major terror attack in India to impress IS,” said a member of the police force. Team of Delhi Police has been looking for these terrorists, who have fled under mysterious circumstances after released on bail, since last few months in Tamil Nadu and on India Nepal border. 

“Police teams of different states including Karnataka, Kerala, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana are interrogating the three militants arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police. The interrogation is underway in the presence of officers of R&AW and IB,” said another member of Police team. 

It has been evident in the last few months that, the Malaysian government, under the leadership of 94-year-old Mahathir Mohammed, is trying to Islamize the Malaysia society. In the process of Islamization of the Malaysian society, Zakir Naik- the controversial Islamic hardliner from India- is his man Friday. 

A few weeks ago, a public university in Malaysia has declared Naik as ‘icon of the Islamic world’ in a university question paper. A question in Universiti Malaysia Perlis examination paper on Ethnic Relations reads, “ZakirNaik is one of the icons of the Islamic world. He is very active in spreading true Islam and following the Quran and Sunnah of Rasulullah SAW. He is able to reason and to answer every question that is asked to him. However, in Malaysia, he is no longer allowed to deliver his preaching. In your opinion, as a Malaysian, why does this happen?”

According to Associated Press, authorities in Malaysia have arrested more than 160 people in the past two years for suspected ties to ISIS. Militancy and terrorism have seen a steady rise in Malaysia over the years. Between 2013 and 2016, around 250 people were arrested because of their ties with the Islamic State. With Mahathir’s Islamization drive, religious and ethnic chauvinism is on a further rise in the country.

Malaysia used to consider it a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-racial nation. Islam is the official religion of the country and Muslims comprise 61 per cent of the population of Malaysia but there is a good number of Buddhist, Christian and Hindu population. Buddhists comprise 19.8 per cent of the population, Christians 9.2 per cent and Hindus 6.3 per cent.

Before being elected to power, Mahathir promised a liberal regime compared to his predecessor and therefore was supported by linguistic and ethnic minorities. But, as witnessed in the last year, Mahathir is following ‘Bhumiputra (son of the soil) policy’ of Malaysia. Even Mahathir’s previous regime (the early 1980s to early 2000s), with Ketuanan Melayu as its core ideology, favoured ethnic Malay community, which constitutes almost 70 per cent of the country’s population. Mahathir is now also drifting towards radical Islam.

Ethnic Malaysians have practised a more tolerant and vibrant version of Islam which is very different from the version of the religion practised in the western part of Asia. Even his own daughter had castigated him for trying to Arabize a proud Malay nation. And the result of this is evident in the rising number of cases of Islamic terrorism in Malaysia. In order to strengthen his claim on the PM’s chair for a full term, the Malaysia Prime Minister is destroying the society. 

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