Why Malaysia Won’t Extradite Dr. Zakir Naik to India

The biggest viral video of the recently concluded BRICS Summit in New Delhi was not of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shaking hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim singing a Hindi film song. At a gala dinner during the summit, Anwar spotted a pianist in the hotel lobby and started singing Kishore Kumar’s evergreen “Khwaab Ho Tum Ya Koi Haqeeqat” from the 1965 Dev Anand film, “Teen Deviyan.” Indian movies are very popular in Malaysia, and Anwar must have grown up listening to Bollywood songs because he has sung this song many times on past visits to India. But once the music stopped, Anwar returned to serious business, and one issue he must have been aware that every Indian journalist would ask him about was the extradition of Islamic preacher Dr. Zakir Naik. Naik, who faces multiple criminal charges in India relating to hate speech, inciting terrorism, and money laundering, moved to Malaysia in 2016 and has remained there since. India formally sent an extradition request to Malaysia in January 2018. New Delhi has also sought an Interpol Red Notice for Naik’s arrest. Interpol declined India’s request citing that the request was premature because a formal charge sheet had not been filed at the time of the original application. Anwar handled the issue with due maturity, given that the extradition of Naik is a deeply sensitive domestic political issue. He confirmed that the matter had been discussed with Modi but avoided making any commitment on handing Naik over. Malaysia, he said, had to proceed cautiously and respect the rule of law and the importance of bilateral relations. India and Malaysia have an extradition treaty, signed in 2010, but Naik’s case is different. Malay Muslims constitute more than 70 percent of the country’s population, and no party can afford to offend them. And since arriving in Malaysia, Naik has become very popular among Malay Muslims. At times, many political parties, especially Barisan Nasional, have used the issue of Naik to shore up political support among hardline Muslims. Naik claims he has been persecuted in India because of his faith and will never get a fair trial if he is extradited. “No Malaysian government will extradite him as he has a large following among the Malay Muslims and secondly, it will be seen as anti-Islam and that Malaysia, being a Muslim nation, failed to protect a fellow Muslim,” said Arfa’eza Abdul Aziz, a Kuala Lumpur-based communications consultant. This is the reason why neither Najib Razak, Mahathir Mohamad, nor Anwar can even think of extraditing Naik. The issue has become more complicated because, like Mahathir’s second-term government, the present Anwar government also has the Democratic Action Party (DAP) as a coalition partner. The DAP, which is dominated by Malaysian Chinese, makes any government in which it is a part vulnerable to accusations of being anti-Malay or anti-Islam. Mahathir was more blunt when he said in June 2019 that Malaysia would not deport Naik if he didn’t break any of Malaysian law. Apart from his popularity among Muslims, Naik’s biggest support comes from Islamist groups, including the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS). PAS had earlier warned of political backlash if Naik was deported. In 2019, the New Straits Times quoted political analyst Mohamed Mustafa Ishak as saying that Malaysia was shouldering a huge responsibility to protect a fellow Muslim, regarded as a renowned scholar, from harm. “Zakir Naik is neither a terrorist nor has he been proven to have links to related (terrorist) networks,” he said. Mustafa, who is also an expert in ethnic relations in Malaysia, warned of a dire outcome should Kuala Lumpur accede to India’s request. “There will be a huge protest among Muslims not just domestically, but all over the world,” he said. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under Prime Minister Modi has hardly helped its case. The BJP’s 12-year rule has seen Muslims being lynched in the name of cow protection, while many Muslim leaders and activists have been languishing in jail for years without trial. In Uttar Pradesh, a state ruled by the hardline Yogi Adityanath, the so-called bulldozer rule has seen houses of Muslims demolished on the pretext of protests or offering prayers outside their homes. The deletion of millions of names from voter lists has further added to the concerns. There is hardly any sign that the Modi government is softening its stringent stance towards Muslims. Given this situation, the issue of Naik’s extradition appears to have been effectively shelved.