Religious insults: “Forked-tongue” Hamzah is fooling nobody, NGO says

HOME MINISTER Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin’s bold claims of taking action against anyone who hurls religious insults rings hollow after the authorities let controversial Islamic preacher Syakir Nasoha off the hook despite the latter making disparaging remarks on non-Muslims.

“While Siti Nuramira Abdullah and her boyfriend Alexander Navin Vijayachandran felt the full force of the law for allegedly insulting Islam, Syakir’s clear-cut case was stamped as ‘no-further action’ (NFA) by the Attorney-General’s Chamber (AGC).

“The authorities said that after watching the preacher’s full video, they found Syakir to have not committed anything wrong. Can someone explain the glaring hypocrisy to me?” Global Human Rights Federation (GHRF) vice secretary Peter John Jaban asked, when contacted by FocusM.

Last year, Syakir had made inflammatory remarks against the Hindus, Buddhists and Christians in several videos that went viral online.

Peter John Jaban

“The Prophet had said in the hadith that in the end of times, the enemies of Islam will surround you like people hungry for food. The infidels will come to kill Muslims.”

Syakir added that while the “leaders” of the infidels would be Christians and Jews, there are those from other faiths who would be involved, too.

“Who are the ones bombing mosques? Is it America or Israel? No, it’s the Buddhists. Who are killing Muslims in Pakistan and India? It’s the Hindus.

“And remember people who practice those faiths are here in Malaysia too. They don’t like Islam and want to destroy us Muslims,” Syakir had alleged.

The preacher had also accused the Dayak community of raping and butchering  Muslims in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Thousands of police reports were lodged against the preacher but in June this year, the AGC confirmed that they have classified the case as NFA.

Yesterday, Hamzah said that he would tolerate anyone who insults any religion and the perpetrators would face action.

“Anyone who does this will be arrested. They will be dealt with by the law. We do not tolerate such acts. We will take action against those who not just insult Islam but any religion, for that matter.

“There are laws to deal with such acts and we will follow,” The Star reported the Larut MP as saying.

Shashi Kumar

Biased

Hurling brickbats at the AGC and Hamzah, Jaban said the authorities’ inaction against Syakir and his ilk only proves that double standards seem to have become the order of the day in Malaysia.

“I believe there are people in high-places who are protecting people like Syakir from being hauled up despite them making baseless and offensive remarks against non-Muslims.

“And that lying preacher did not even spare us, the Dayaks, from his inflammatory speech,” he alleged.

On related matter, GHRF president S Shashi Kumar lashed out at Hamzah, given that the police come under his purview.

“It’s clear that when it comes to insults against Islam, the full force of the law be upon you within days.

“But when it comes attacks on the non-Muslims, the authorities will suddenly turn deaf, mute and blind,” he claimed. – July 18, 2022

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