MINISTER in the Prime Minister’s Department Mujahid Yusof Rawa has denied terminating the contract of controversial preacher Zamihan Mat Zin as a rehabilitation officer at the Home Ministry’s Prisons Department.

“I do not know, there was no order from me,” Mujahid told reporters at a press conference today.

He said he had heard the news of Zamihan’s termination while in Mecca and had not yet been briefed by his officers.

“I also think the Home Ministry would have made a statement (on the matter),” he said.

It was reported earlier this week that Zamihan’s contract at the Prisons Department had been terminated, according to Deputy Home Minister Aziz Jamman.

He was on secondment to the Home Ministry’s Prisons Department, where he is among 46 appointed rehabilitation officers who carry out de-radicalisation programmes on terrorism suspects.

Zamihan has denied, in a report by Free Malaysia Today, that his contract with the Home Ministry had ended, saying that his role as a rehabilitation officer was by appointment and not contract.

Former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has described Zamihan as an asset to Malaysia in the rehabilitation of suspected terrorists.

But the preacher has also gained notoriety for racial remarks.

He criticised the Johor Sultan for banning Muslim-only launderettes in the state and also alleged that the Chinese community is unhygienic.

He also stirred up controversy last year when he criticised a muezzin in Penang for offering non-Muslim flood victims shelter in a surau. – August 25, 2018.