Zakir's here to stay makes a sordid narrative

― Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers

COMMENT | It all seems a little dubious. Nearly two weeks ago, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail claimed that “the government has not received any application from India to extradite Zakir". Now Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah says, “"We received the application from the Indian government. I don't remember when.”

So let me get this straight. The deputy prime minister of Malaysia says that the government had not received any application from India for the extradition of Zakir Naik, while the foreign minister says the government did receive an application but he does not remember when. How convenient.

Now all this could be just another example of the amateur hour of the Harapan government but considering how Zakir seems to have wormed his way into the political apparatus of this country, this may well be just another example of how Harapan applies rules differently for some religious personalities...