KUALA LUMPUR, March 12— Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) today asked police to lift their ban on a comparative religion lecture series featuring controversial Muslim preacher Dr Zakir Naik.
It defended the series as vital for public discourse in the country, and accused the police of restricting such activity.
“This ban reflects how badly the authorities fetter intellectual discourse, which should rightfully be cultivated, not obstructed and what more outright banned.
“In the name of freedom of speech and intellectual freedom, Amanah Youth is of the view that intellectual talks like this should not be viewed as an enemy by anyone,” Amanah Youth chief Sany Hamzan said.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar yesterday told organisers of Dr Zakir’s lecture series comparing Hinduism and Islam, scheduled at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia in Malacca this Sunday, to cancel the event, saying it was not beneficial.
Sany today argued that civilised society should not accede to demands for such talks to be cancelled on such “cliched” grounds as safeguarding public harmony and religious sensitivities.
Dr Zakir, who received the government’s Tokoh Maal Hijrah award in 2013, has angered the Hindu community here for allegedly insulting their deities along with the vegetarian practises of the faith.
The president of the Islamic Research Foundation based in Mumbai, India, had also been denied entry to Canada and United Kingdom in 2012 after he reportedly expressed his support of terrorist group al-Qaeda.
