Malaysia's cabinet has discussed the permanent residency of Indian Muslim preacher Zakir Naik, with four ministers demanding his expulsion for allegedly making racially sensitive remarks in the multi-ethnic nation.
Naik, who has lived in Malaysia for about three years, has come under fire for his recent comments that Hindus in the Southeast Asian country had "100 times more rights" than the Muslim minority in India, and that they sometimes believed in the Indian government more than the Malaysian one.
Race and religion are sensitive issues in Malaysia, where Muslims make up about 60 percent of its 32 million people. The rest are mostly ethnic Chinese and Indians, most of whom are Hindus.
"We have expressed our position, which is that action must be taken and that Zakir Naik should no longer be allowed to remain in Malaysia," Gobind Singh Deo, minister of communications and multimedia, said in a statement.
"The prime minister has taken note of our concerns. We leave it to him to consider the position and to decide soonest possible what will be done to deal with the problem," he added.
Malaysia's Minister of Human Resources M Kulasegaran said Naik's comments could have been aimed at creating a fissure in the multiracial nation so he could win the favour of Muslims.
He said Naik did not deserve the status of a permanent resident.
Naik, who has repeatedly rejected the charges against him in India, denied the allegations made by Kulasegaran and others in Malaysia.
"My praise of the Malaysian government for its Islamic and fair treatment of Hindu minorities is being twisted and misquoted to suit political gains and create communal rifts," he said in a statement to reporters on Wednesday.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019...cher-accused-hate-speech-190814041745124.html
