KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 — A former air steward has filed a complaint with a magistrate here to initiate a private prosecution against two Muslim converts for allegedly insulting non-Islamic faiths and their religious practices.
Free Malaysia Today (FMT) reported that S. Shashi Kumar will appear before Mohamad Redza Azhar Rezali for an inquiry on March 12 at 2.30pm.
He initiated the action against Firdaus Wong Wai Hung, who is the president and founder of the Multiracial Reverted Muslims (MRM), and Zamri Vinoth Kalimuthu, both said to be associated with controversial preacher Dr Zakir Naik.
Shashi’s lawyer T. Gunaseelan said his client made the complaint under Section 133 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
“Redza will serve a notice to the deputy public prosecutor informing him that a complaint has been received,” Gunaseelan was quoted saying.
According to the FMT report, Firdaus is to have insulted the Hindu faith on his Youtube and Facebook pages — to which Shashi made a police report in January 2018 after having seen the contents on both the social media platforms.
“The contents have given rise to hatred and insults toward non-Muslims in Malaysia, and are likely to cause breach of peace,” he said, adding that many others had also made similar reports.
Shashi also lodged a police report against Zamri in June 2020 for allegedly insulting the rituals and practices of Hinduism on his Facebook account which had gone viral.
“His posting is likely to cause hatred and upset the religious harmony among the people of different faiths,” he was quoted as saying.
Lawyer Gunaseelan added that should the magistrate find basis for the reports lodged, charges could be brought under the Sedition Act, the Penal Code and the Communications and Multimedia Act.
“In the past, magistrates have allowed individuals to conduct prosecution for certain offences,” noted Gunaseelan.
He added his client would leave it to the prosecution to act on the police reports if the Deputy Public Prosecutor was willing to take it up. Otherwise, Shashi will ask the magistrate to give him the authority to prosecute the duo.
Both Firdaus — who is the president and founder of the Multiracial Reverted Muslims (MRM) — and Zamri are said to be associated with controversial preacher Dr Zakir — who has been accused of denigrating other faiths and being a threat to Malaysia’s multi-ethnic and multicultural harmony.
