PRIME Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been hailed by controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik for being a politician “with guts” to speak the truth.

Zakir, in an interview with Turkish news channel TRT World, said Dr Mahathir was considered one of the few politicians who was brave enough “to call a spade a spade”.

“Many other Muslims may be aware of the truth but they are afraid to speak the truth. But he has guts to call a spade a spade,” said the Mumbai-born preacher, who is wanted in India for money laundering and whose sermons have been branded as hate speech.

In the interview, titled “Zakir Naik: Televangelist or Terrorist?”, he is seen standing against a backdrop of Putrajaya.

Zakir, who has been denied entry into countries such as the UK and Canada, holds Malaysian permanent residency and has been living here after fleeing India.

His praise for Dr Mahathir was given in response to a question by TRT World whether he believed he had the support of the Malaysian prime minister.

Malaysia has repeatedly said it will not extradite the preacher to India, despite New Delhi’s request, as there was no guarantee he would face a fair trial there.

Dr Mahathir had said Zakir may reside in Malaysia as long as he did not break any laws.

In the same interview, he told TRT World that Malaysia was allowing Zakir to stay here as other countries would not take him.

“We have a multiracial and multi-religious population in Malaysia. We don’t want anybody who comes and expresses extreme views about race relations and other religions. To that extent, we cannot have him (Zakir).

“But on the other hand, it is difficult to send him anywhere else because many countries do not want to have him.”

Asked about Dr Mahathir’s remarks, Zakir said he still felt he had Dr Mahathir’s support.

“I’ve met him before and when he spoke to me, I feel, he was absolutely unequivocal, and I feel his support.” – July 31, 2019.