The foreign ministry will send an official letter to the Indian government to explain Malaysia’s stance in not sending controversial preacher Zakir Naik back to his country of origin.
Its minister, Saifuddin Abdullah, said he would discuss the matter with Attorney-General Tommy Thomas and draft a letter.
“There was a request from India and the Prime Minister (Dr Mahathir Mohamad) had explained why we didn’t want to send (Zakir) back.
“During my meeting with my counterpart from India (S Jaishankar) last week in Bangkok, in conjunction with the 35th Asean Summit, he politely raised the issue.
“He asked us to send a letter as an official reply,” he said when winding up debate on the Supply Bill 2020 for his ministry at Dewan Rakyat here today.
On the King Salman Centre for International Peace (KSCIP), that was cancelled last year, Saifuddin said the Cabinet wanted the issue to be reviewed and see whether there was any justification for it to continue.
Last year, Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu was reported as saying that Malaysia had decided to shut down KSCIP.
Its role would be absorbed by the Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security, which is under his ministry’s jurisdiction, he said.
The Dewan Rakyat continues on Monday.