COMMENT | Let us get one thing out of the way. The non-issue with Zakir Naik, the alleged money-launderer and religious instigator, is that he and his supporters believe that his freedom of speech (and theirs) trumps the non-Muslim’s freedom of speech in this country. This is par for the course in this country.

The real danger this English-speaking religious provocateur presents to this country is that he could radicalise a specific class of racial and religious provocateurs, galvanise the far-right and influence Malay power structures into acting against the interests of the country in the name of religious supremacy.

In numerous articles, I have elaborated on the phenomenon of “external” religious agents of influence whose agenda is to undermine “native” Islamic practices in the service of disparate Islamic groupings intent on establishing some sort of Islamic caliphate in the region. The use of proxies and other “useful idiots” – a Russian term – is well-known and well-documented.

Furthermore, credible defence journals, non-partisan think-tanks and the collation of reportage by independent journalists, not to mention the pronouncement of radical Islamists, indicate that Southeast Asia is the new theatre of operations for radical Islamic groups. This is beyond dispute.

Ever since Zakir Naik was given refuge in this country, he has meddled in the politics of this country, furthered racial and religious divisions, opportunistically sided with Muslim power groups in this country and furthered nativist narratives meant to ferment dissatisfaction in non-Muslims communities and goad them into a confrontation with Malay/Muslim power structures.

When challenged on this, Zakir Naik engages in sophistry, fabulations and lying to deflect from the fact that his words and actions are designed to spread a particular type of Islam which are at odds with the norms of this country. He has been aided and abetted by Malay political power structures who have used him to further narratives that appeal to certain sections of the Malay/Muslim community who believe that Islam is under siege in this country.

Keep this in mind. This is a country where we are still absorbing the fact that pastor Raymond Koh and social activist Amri Che Mat have been taken by the state – see the Suhakam conclusion. This is a country where religious-political operatives demonise liberals, the LGBTQ community, Christians and Chinese education groups as a threat to Islam.

In this political and religious terrain, the authorities let Zakir Naik wander around, a religious zealot who has said that some apostates deserve the death penalty. In questioning the religious agenda of Pakatan Harapan when it comes to Zakir Naik, I wrote – “These days, it would seem when it comes to these types of provocations, the ruling establishment is silent. Since Harapan took over, we have had provocateurs at Kampung Manjoi, a prime minister hopeful telling us not to spook the Malays, a mufti telling a deputy chief minister of a state to leave the country if he loses a rigged debate and of course, a Malay politician threatened with death because of the fake news that she wants to destroy an Islamic institution.”

Supporters of Zakir Naik, and they are a legion, have attempted to paint – as usual – opposition to his vile rhetoric as attacks against Islam. The fact that this supposed religious confab in Perlis has the likes of Ridhuan Tee Abdullah and Vinod Kalimath, both Naik loyalists and converts to Islam, points to the tone of these religious proceedings.

Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin in asking the organisers of the Perlis event to drop Zakir Naik (for his own good) qualifies his objections because of people with “ill intent”. Now, this is a religious operative who has said horrible things about democratically-elected representatives who have spoken out against Zakir Naik, hence his words should be taken for what they are.

While I am a proponent of free speech, kudos to Perlis police chief Noor Mushar who said that Zakir Naik was welcome in Perlis but he could not give speeches willy-nilly without informing the security apparatus because, "We are a multiracial country and the sensitivities of others have to be taken into consideration."

A couple of months ago I asked the DAP why they wanted a friend like Asri - “The finance minister is meeting with a religious leader who, when he was chiding the DAP for not making its stand clear on P Ramasamy who was accused of being a supporter of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said: 'I could also see this hate and anti-Islam (sentiment) in Ramasamy, which is a trait of the LTTE.'”

My article got a response from Syahredzan Johan, Lim Kit Siang’s political secretary, babbling on about how "New Malaysia" is about building bridges and reaching out to those who you may disagree with. How is that working out for the DAP, Syahredzan? Those cheap words by political operatives babbling on about "New Malaysia", seems reprehensible considering that Zakir Naik loyalist Asri is backing the plays of an alleged money-launderer and racial and religious provocateur like Zakir Naik, who lodged police reports against non-Muslim government ministers for doing the job they were democratically elected to carry out.

I have no idea what kind of “grilling” was taking place in Bukit Aman when Zakir Naik was summoned to answer questions. It is obvious that he has run afoul of laws that restrict certain kind of speech in this country. If a non-Muslim had said what Zakir Naik said, would there be any doubt of the outcome?

And that is the question, right? Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed has said that Zakir Naik’s permanent resident status is dependent on the outcome of police investigations. Exactly how there could be any other outcome beyond the fact that he did say those words, has a history of denigrating other religions, has a history of attacking the non-Muslims in this country and generally causing trouble everywhere he goes? What else could the state security apparatus come up with except to toe the Zakir Naik line and claim he was misquoted or misunderstood?

Remember this is a man who the religious czar of this country, Mujahid Yusof Rawa, found “inspiring”. Zakir Naik is a man who has made a career of making anti-Semitic statements and proclamations that it is better to support a corrupt Muslim leader than a law-abiding non-Muslim leader. This is inspiring to some people?

Harapan should expel Zakir Naik from Malaysia. I say this not as someone who is offended by his speech. I have heard it all before from the natives of this country.
This is a preacher who could radicalise middle-class English-speaking Muslims who would commit acts of violence because they believe that Islam is under threat from the non-Muslims in this country and weak Muslim leadership.