WITH pressure mounting against Islamic preacher Syakir Nasoha over his falsehood against non-Muslims, he defended himself by saying that his speech was taken out of context.
He also said that the public was only shown edited version of his sermons on videos, without the full context of his speech being captured.
“The video was recorded back in 2017 at a mosque in Sungai Petani, Kedah. I did not ask for my speech to be recorded.
“And what I said in the video was meant for Muslims only, not for non-Muslims,” he said, in a YouTube video yesterday.
However, Global Human Rights Federation president S Shashikumar was not buying Syakir’s argument, calling it hollow and mind-boggling.
“Syakir said that the speech was meant for Muslims only. So, if the speech was meant for Muslims only, does it mean it’s alright to disparage and spread falsehood against non-Muslims?
“Can you see the problem with his logic? It clearly proves that the likes of Syakir are spreading hatred and falsehood against non-Muslims. And you wonder why race relations in the country is deteriorating,” he told FocusM.
Earlier this week, FocusM published several videos showing Syakir making disparaging remarks against Hindus, Buddhists and the Dayak community.
In one footage, the preacher was seen saying that Hindus and Buddhists are bent to destroy Muslims and Islam.
“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,” he said.
Syakir added that while the “leaders” of the infidels would be Christians and Jews, there are those from other faiths 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 stated.
Following the expose, many individuals and NGOs have lodged police reports nationwide against the preacher and called for action to be taken against him.
Spreading hatred, falsehood
On that note, Shashikumar said that such incendiary talks were dangerous to multi-racial Malaysia as the nation was still grappling on how to go about dealing with rising intolerance.
“When the likes of Syakir go around saying things like that, maybe the adults can see through his poppycock and brush him off.
“But what about the children and teenagers attending his lecturers? They may look up to him due to his religious credentials and believe his irresponsible remarks without knowing any better.
“Let me ask you this. He said the speech was meant for Muslims only so Syakir feels he had done nothing wrong.
“But if a non-Muslim had uttered such remarks against Muslims, can Syakir accept the same reasoning or will the authorities brush it off as a non-issue?” he queried.
Shashikumar added that Syakir was actually unremorseful of his action as on Oct 1, the preacher had posted a 55-minutes video on Facebook defending his sermons.
“And as for his claims that the edited video did not capture the full context of his speech made in 2017, well I’m in possession of the full one hour 20 minutes video as well. Let’s see what he is going to say later,” he added.
On the police reports lodged, Shashikumar said that the police were currently investigating the matter under Section of 505 of the Penal Code for causing public mischief and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act for improper use of a network, instead of the Sedition Act.
“Article 8 of the Federal Constitution guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of the law for all persons.
“Thus, Syakir should not be allowed to use his religious credentials to shield himself from the authorities. What he did was unlawful and the authorities must act,” he concluded. – Oct 7, 2021.
Pic credit: Free Malaysia Today
