Groups to gather at Bukit Aman to submit memo on Islamic preacher

 

A memorandum jointly signed by close to 60 multiracial civil society groups is expected to be handed today to Bukit Aman, questioning the delay in arresting Islamic preacher Syakir Nasoha for allegedly insulting non-Muslims.

The groups are expected to hold a peaceful gathering as they submit the memorandum to the police.

This came as Global Human Rights Federation president S Shashi Kumar claimed no action had been taken against the preacher despite more than 5,000 police reports made against Syakir.

For the record, Shakir was being probed under Section 505(c) of the Penal Code for making a statement with intent to incite or which is likely to invite any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community of persons and also Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1988 for abuse of net facilities or network services.

"A memorandum on Syakir will be handed over to Bukit Aman for insulting and defaming non-Muslims, as well as the Dayak community.

"He said believers of other religions, besides Islam, are dangerous and a threat to Islam and Muslims in Malaysia and around the world," Shashi said.

"It has been more than 70 days now, but the police have yet to take action against him,” he was quoted as saying by The Malaysian Insight.

Shashi said the gathering was initially slated to be held on Dec 8 but was postponed to today.

It is not meant to be a protest, but a peaceful gathering with the intention of submitting the memorandum and most of the groups are expected to send a representative each so that the numbers of those who turn up will be kept low, he said.

"The act of preachers insulting and defaming followers of non-Islamic faiths in Malaysia is becoming more rampant, and neither the government nor the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) seems to have any control over this,” he said.

He said the failure of the police to arrest Syakir could erode the public’s trust in law enforcement.

Shashi said police’s failure to apprehend the preacher even after more than 5,000 reports were lodged had eroded the public’s trust in law enforcement.

Shashi was earlier reported as saying that some 3,000 police reports were lodged by groups and individuals of several races, including Sabahans and Sarawakians nationwide, against the preacher.

'Non-believers are swarming Muslims'

They were irked by Syakir's comments in a TikTok video which has gone viral on social media since Oct 1.

Syakir, in the video, claimed that in the "last days on earth", the enemies of Islam will swarm Muslims like how crowds of people swarm a tray of food, and this is how the “non-believers or kafir are swarming Muslims today”.

He also says that Buddhists and Hindus are bombing mosques and killing Muslims in Thailand, India and Pakistan.

On Oct 6, Syakir explained that his sermon was taken out of context.

Another round of police reports lodged against Syakir after more videos of him making inflammatory remarks against other religions emerged on social media.

Previously, after Syakir's sermon had gone viral, former Umno MP Tawfik Ismail reportedly lodged a police report against a preacher for allegedly insulting non-Muslim faiths.

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, and Taoism described the sermon as extreme, racist, and filled with hatred and urged the government to take action against the preacher. - Mkini