BY DARSHINI KANDASAMY
GEORGE TOWN, Malaysia—It was a swelteringly hot afternoon inward George Town, the uppercase metropolis inward the northern Malaysian province of Penang, but that didn’t dissuade the hundreds of Muslim protestersgathered exterior the Masjid Jamek Shaik Eusoff mosque afterward Fri prayers on July 20. The protesters, all men together with to a greater extent than ofttimes than non members of Islamic groups similar Institut al-Qayyim together with Perkasa, were demonstrating inward back upward of Zakir Naik, a hugely pop Islamic preacher. According to his fans, he’s a respected Muslim scholar who belongs inward Malaysia. The Indian government, however, says he’s been spreading loathe speech, laundering money, together with funding terrorism. Penang Deputy Chief Minister Ramasamy Palanisamy wants him deported dorsum to his native Republic of Republic of India to seem upward trial.
Naik’s supporters say he’s done naught wrong. They desire his correct to preach Islam, Malaysia’s official religion, to live safeguarded, together with demand Ramasamy live arrested for challenging the religion. This isn’t the kickoff fourth dimension Ramasamy’s been caught on the incorrect side of Naik’s supporters. He’s been calling for Naik’s expulsion for years, together with 1 of his offices was fifty-fifty firebombed inward 2016 afterward he posted unflattering comments most Naik on Facebook.
The cleric’s remain inward Malaysia has ever been a contentious one, but it became a renewed flashpoint afterward tidings that the authorities had failed to deed on an extradition request filed past times Republic of Republic of India inward January. But now, Malaysia has a novel government. The Alliance of Hope (PH) came into might 3 months agone inward a shocking election win heralded as a “victory for Asian democracy.” Ramasamy together with others desire the novel ruling coalition to honor the country’s extradition treaty alongside India.
Although a wanted human inward Republic of Republic of India together with fifty-fifty barred from the United Kingdom, the physician-turned-televangelist soundless commands the admiration of millions of Muslims to a greater extent than or less the world, including inward Malaysia. That presents the authorities alongside a tricky dilemma. It’s trying to motion away from the Malay ethno-nationalist together with religious politics pushed past times fallen Prime Minister Najib Razak, directly facing corruption charges. But inward a dry reason that’s to a greater extent than than threescore per centum Muslim, together with where fundamentalist views similar Naik’s remove maintain made disturbing inroads, treatment the rogue preacher is a challenge.
Naik kickoff came to Malaysia inward 2012, settling downward for goodness inward 2016 when Republic of Republic of India began its investigations. He lives inward a lakeside condominium inward the country’s administrative capital, Putrajaya. From early on, he developed a unopen human relationship alongside onetime federal together with province officials, as good as religious leaders. This led to him existence granted permanent residence inward 2012 together with an award for his contribution to the evolution of Islam inward 2013.
He was fifty-fifty offered three islands past times the primary government minister of Terengganu, a conservative province inward eastern peninsular Malaysia. Meanwhile, upward north, too the Penang protesters, his defenders include Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, the respected mufti, or religious advisor, of the province of Perlis. It’s no surprise, then, that Naik is revered past times a large number of local Muslims, alongside audiences of tens of thousands of people for his alive talks.
Born Zakir Abdul Karim Naik inward Bombay inward 1965, Zakir qualified as a doc but traded inward surgical gloves for Islamic preaching inward 1991. He founded the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) that twelvemonth together with a nonprofit English-language satellite television set network, Peace TV, inward 2006. Peace TV has claimed to orbit over 200 million viewers, but in that place is trivial independent information to dorsum this up.
Zakir has given thousands of talks to a greater extent than or less the world, most of them inward English. Appearing inward his signature trace of piece of work organisation suit, together with known for his rapid spoken communication together with thick Indian accent, the cleric has earned praise together with ire inward as large numbers for quoting science, as good as scriptures from other religions—including Hindu Vedas together with the Bible—in his lectures on Islam.
His critics accuse him of misinterpreting the religious texts he spouts, together with say some of his preaching borders on loathe speech. Others say he defends terrorism, pointing to infamous quotes such as his defense forcefulness of Osama bin Laden: “If he is terrorizing America, the biggest terrorist, I am alongside him. Every Muslim should live a terrorist. The affair is that if he is terrorizing a terrorist, he is next Islam,” Naik said inward a video.
Suspicions of propagating terrorism grew afterward the 2016 Islamist terrorist assault inward Dhaka, when a People's Republic of Bangladesh paper reported that 1 of the attackers had 1 time posted a Zakir quote on Facebook. India’s counterterrorism way presently began investigating Zakir for funding terrorist activities via the IRF; the foundation was banned for 5 years together with formal charges were filed tardily concluding October.
Zakir, meanwhile, consistently denies the charges against him. He has condemned acts of terrorism together with says his preaching remove maintain ofttimes been taken out of context. Zakir’s Malaysian lawyer, Shaharudin Ali, meanwhile, says his customer volition non speak alongside reporters. Indeed, Naik, directly 52, communicates only through Facebook updates together with press statements sent through his lawyer. In a recent such statement, he said accusations that he incited terrorism were meant to “demonize Islam together with Muslims.”
It’s a viewpoint many of his supporters hither concord with. In Malaysia, ethnic Malays shape over one-half the population together with are legally mandated to follow Islam nether the country’s complex organisation of national together with religious balance. The previous government, led past times the once-powerful United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), had for decades wielded Islam together with the hope of Malay superiority as a blunt yet effective political tool to move on other races inward depository fiscal establishment check together with to remain inward power. It doesn’t accept much for criticism against anything linked to Islam to live deemed un-Islamic together with therefore, a threat to the Malay population.
That leaves novel Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad walking a tightrope. The 93-year-old Mahathir 1 time headed UMNO for 22 years, component subdivision of the National Front coalition he toppled inward May. He, himself, admits to having played the religion card inward the past, demonizing rivals (including his electrical flow allies) as “anti-Malay” for political gain. But the novel authorities he leads has promised to shed the race together with religion-based politics that was the hallmark of Malaysian governance for to a greater extent than than half dozen decades.
Mahathir gave the powerful Finance Ministry portfolio to an ethnic Chinese leader of 1 of PH’s element parties, the Democratic Action Party, to which Ramasamy is also a member. This is simply 1 of many high-profile appointments for non-Malays, almost all of which remove maintain been questioned past times Islamist politicians. Deporting Naik could live 1 moderate mensuration too far.
“This is a litmus exam for the novel government,” said Bridget Welsh, a political scientific discipline professor at John Cabot University together with an practiced on Malaysian politics. “The novel authorities has come upward into might inward a unlike Malaysia together with they are directly facing a hard employment navigating this minefield, given the high grade of politicization. I retrieve the novel authorities does non wishing to gear upward off that bomb too early.” Send the cleric dorsum to India, Welsh said, together with PH risks existence seen as giving up, making it an slow target for attacks past times far-right conservatives seeking to gain political leverage.
So, for the fourth dimension being, Mahathir has repeatedly refused to extradite Naik, maxim concluding calendar month that Naik is protected past times his permanent residence condition unless he breaks whatever local laws. Yet as good as populace sensibilities, Mahathir also must bargain alongside divisions inside his ain administration. This includes ethnic Indian politicians who supported Naik’s expulsion inward the past times but directly remove maintain to toe the federal authorities line, leaving Ramasamy seemingly the exclusively vocalization for this cause.
One of the most prominent critics is Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy, a Hindu-rights activist who is directly the government minister of national unity together with social well-being. Waytha Moorthy was 1 of nineteen plaintiffs inward a 2017 case that sought to remove maintain Naik declared a national threat together with expelled. But Waytha Moorthy’s spokesman directly says he can’t speak most Naik due to the courtroom case, which was thrown out inward February. Others leaders include Gobind Singh Deo, M. Kulasegaran, together with Xavier Jayakumar, all of whom are directly senior members of Mahathir’s novel cabinet.
Yet some believe the authorities is existence too cautious. Saravanan Murugan, a Hindu fellow member of parliament who was a deputy government minister inward the Najib government, questions the quiet of these ministers who 1 time criticized his ain Malaysian Indian Congress party, component subdivision of the ousted National Front coalition, for doing naught on Naik. He is sure as shooting Malaysia volition last life afterward Naik together with said that most Muslim Malays hither volition sympathise the determination to extradite. After all, he said, Malaysians are really tolerant together with respectful of the unlike faiths together with cultures—a trait he said Naik does non share.
Critics similar Saravanan say failing to deed endorses Naik’s incendiary preaching together with sends mixed signals on novel Malaysia’s commitment to upholding dominion of law. Mustafa Izzuddin, a swain at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies inward Singapore, points to the possibility of this existence used as a “diplomatic precedent” past times other countries to turn down Malaysia’s extradition requests inward future.
Even so, Abdul Wahed Jalal Nori, a senior analyst at the Institute of Strategic together with International Studies Malaysia, said the authorities volition accomplish to a greater extent than past times doing less, together with needs to process Naik as a relatively pocket-sized fry issue. After all, expectations are high for it to solve much bigger problems, such as stabilizing its resources together with fighting corruption.
“Zakir has a large number of followers locally together with abroad. What create yous retrieve volition plough over if Malaysia decides to shipping him dorsum to India? The opposition volition selection that upward together with invest inward this. Muslim communities inward other countries volition start out to inquiry what is happening inward Malaysia—so it volition move a bigger number which could atomic number 82 to greater instability,” he said.
“In the end, what is genuinely solved?”
Darshini Kandasamy is an award-winning journalist based inward Malaysia. She is currently an assistant editor at Malaysiakini, an online tidings site. @darshkanda.
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