PETALING JAYA: Five groups are seeking a judicial review over the decision not to prosecute a Muslim preacher, Syakir Nasoha for allegedly making inflammatory remarks against other religions.
The five groups are Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak president Bobby William, Global Human Rights Federation president S Shashi Kumar, Sarawak Association for People’s Aspiration president Ng Kim Ho, Ex-Students of Chinese Schools vice-president Chan Tuck Loong and Pertubuhan Malaysia Tamilar Munnetra Kalagam president K Sri Ramesh.
Shashi who is leading the group told The Star that the application was filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on September 15, 2022.
The application for leave to commence judicial review proceedings had been fixed for hearing on Nov 1.
Shashi said Syakir had posted four videos, one of which had since been deleted, containing content disgracing non-Muslims.
He said Syakir’s video went viral and resulted in 3,000 police reports being lodged in Sarawak alone within a week.
He said besides police reports, which were lodged on Oct 3, 2021 and Oct 10, 2021, the group had also submitted a memorandum to Bukit Aman and the Attorney General in December 2021.
Shashi said they received a response from Bukit Aman on June 17 saying that the investigation paper had been submitted to the AG on Sept 13, 2021 and the case had been classified as "no further action."
"They said the case is classified as NFA because the video is just a snippet of the original ceramah video, which is one hour 29 minutes and 34 seconds in duration. The video was published in the year 2017 and recorded at a mosque in Bakar Arang, Sungai Petani.
"But they are only talking about one video, what about the other three videos," he questioned.
He claimed the content of the videos could break the unity and harmony of fellow Malaysians.
Shashi said this was not the first time a case of such nature was struck off.
"There is another case against Zamri Vinoth Kalimuthu and Firdaus Wong Wai Hung. We filed (a judicial review) in January 2021 at the Shah Alam magistrate’s court.
"The case was struck off so now we have put in an appeal at the Shah Alam High Court," he said.
Shashi said that the law should be equal for everyone.
"Why aren’t they following Article 8 of the Federal Constitution that clearly states that there shall be no discrimination when it comes to race and religion; everybody must be treated equally,” he added.
