Deport Zakir, says Saddiq

PETALING JAYA: Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has joined three other ministers in calling for controversial preacher Zakir Naik (pic) to be deported.

The Youth and Sports Minister said “yes” when asked if he supported ministers Gobind Singh, M. Kulasegaran and Xavier Jayakumar’s call to deport Zakir for his racially and religiously charged comments.

“An attack against our Chinese and Indian brothers and sisters is an attack against all Malaysians. It is ridiculous to even think that my fellow Malaysians are my guests.

“They are my family for God’s sake. Enough is enough, ” he told reporters on a media WhatsApp group yesterday.

Syed Saddiq tweeted his disagreement on Zakir’s comments.

“Malaysia’s strength is the unity of its people. Don’t question our loyalty and togetherness.

“I know many Chinese and Indians who are willing to die for this country that they love, ” said Syed Saddiq.

Last week, Zakir called on Malaysian Chinese to “go back” first as they were the “old guests” of the country during a religious talk called “Executive Talk bersama Dr Zakir Naik” in Kota Baru, Kelantan.

Zakir was responding to calls for his own deportation.

Zakir was also chastised by many parties after he compared the Hindus in Malaysia to the Muslims in India, saying that the Hindus in Malaysia enjoyed more than 100% rights compared to Muslims in India.

He alleged that the Hindus here were more loyal to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi than Malaysia’s Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Zakir, an Indian citizen, has stirred controversy in Malaysia with his open evangelism criticising non-Muslims.

He is wanted in India over corruption charges but has not been deported as certain parties here believe the charges were trumped-up.

Dr Mahathir has since admitted that Malaysia is in a Catch-22 situation as Zakir was “an unwelcome guest Malaysia can’t send away”.