NEARLY 60 multiracial civil society groups have signed a memorandum that will be handed to Bukit Aman today, questioning their delay in arresting Islamic preacher Syakir Nasoha, who is accused of insulting non-Muslims.

Global Human Rights Federation president S. Shashi Kumar said it has been more than two months since the first round of police reports were lodged against the preacher, but no action has been taken since then.

The groups include those that are Sabah- and Sarawak-based, as Syakir’s remarks were also made against the Dayak, who are the indigenous people of Sarawak.

“A memorandum on Syakir will be handed over to Bukit Aman who insulted and defamed non-Muslims, as well as the Dayak community. 

“He said believers of other religions besides Islam are dangerous and a threat to Islam and Muslims in Malaysia and around the world.

“It has been more than 70 days now but police have yet to take action against him,” Shashi told The Malaysian Insight. 

The gathering was initially scheduled for December 8 but was postponed to today.

Shashi said it is not meant to be a protest, but a peaceful gathering with the intention of submitting the memorandum.

Most of the groups will send a representative each to the gathering and the numbers will be kept low, Shashi added.

On October 3, some 3,000 reports were lodged nationwide against Syakir after a video showing him making comments against other religions and the Dayak community went viral.

In the one-minute clip, the preacher is heard saying that “at the end of time, disciples of non-Muslim religions will be scrambling together to kill Muslims in the world”.

He also claimed that the killing of Muslims in India and Thailand is being carried out by Hindus and Buddhists.

He also made similar statements against the Dayak community, alleging its members have butchered and raped Muslims in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. 

Syakir has since said his speech was misunderstood.

However, another wave of reports was filed against the preacher after more videos of him making incendiary comments surfaced online.

Shashi said the law should be applied equally to every Malaysian citizen, regardless of their race or religion, and the authorities should not practise any double standards.

“The act of preachers insulting and defaming followers of non-Islamic faiths in Malaysia is becoming more rampant and neither the government nor Jakim seems to have any control over it,” he said, referring to the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia. 

Shashi said police’s failure to apprehend the preacher even after more than 5,000 reports were lodged has eroded the public’s trust in law enforcement.

Beside handing over the memorandum, the groups will also demand that the racial and religious hatred bill be tabled in Parliament immediately. 

The bill was mooted by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government after it won federal power in 2018 and was aimed at addressing insults and hate speech concerning all religions.

However, the following year, a PH deputy minister said the government would instead strengthen existing laws to deal with hate speech as it did not want to “over-regulate” society.

The PH government was then ousted in February last year. – December 14, 2021.