KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 — After much to do, the Pakatan Harapan Penang government is allowing India-born Muslim preacher Dr Zakir Naik to speak in the state this Friday.
However, state Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon cited two conditions for the talk, titled “Misconceptions About Islam”, to proceed.
“The special state exco meeting this morning chaired by the Penang Chief Minister with DCM 1, DCM 2, three other exco members and the Penang state secretariat decided that the programme is allowed as scheduled on two conditions.
“Does not touch and derogate other religions. The police are notified,” he said in a letter posted this evening on the Facebook page of Buletin Mutiara, the state news bulletin.
Dr Zakir who is on a week-long tour of Malaysia was previously barred from speaking in Penang after several non-Muslim groups objected, claiming the controversial Islamic scholar had insulted their religions in the past.
He also faced similar hiccups for events in the national capital and Malacca with the police ordering the organisers to cancel the talks, until the federal government intervened earlier today.
With the Penang government now lifting the cap, Dr Naik will join his 21-year-old son Fariq Naik, at the Caring Society Complex in Georgetown April 15.
The talk is organised by the Islamic Propagation Society International which is also co-organising Dr Naik’s lecture in Bukit Jalil here this Saturday.
