KUALA LUMPUR – DAP lawmaker R.S.N. Rayer (Jelutong-PH) has called on authorities to charge independent preacher Zamri Vinoth Kalimuthu with allegedly insulting Hinduism.
Highlighting multiple police reports against Zamri over the years, Rayer underscored Zamri’s purported insults to Hindu sentiments in various TikTok videos concerning the lingam, a religious symbol representing Lord Shiva.
“The home minister (Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail) under the unity government must charge Zamri in court for the statements that he has issued,” Rayer told a press conference in Parliament today, where he was accompanied by several other Indian lawmakers and senators.
“We are united in our stand that we don’t want any religion to be insulted by any quarter for the sake of our nation’s unity and well-being,” he added.
He referenced Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim’s inaugural address in Parliament earlier this month, where the king called on all levels of society to strengthen national unity and not incite emotions by harping on race, religion, and royalty (3R) issues.
In March 2021, businessman S. Shashi Kumar initiated an application to commence private prosecution against two Muslim converts for allegedly insulting non-Islamic faiths and their religious practices.
The application was filed against Multiracial Reverted Muslims founders Firdaus Wong Wai Hung and Zamri, both of whom are said to be linked to controversial preacher and Indian national Zakir Naik.
However, later in September that year, the Shah Alam magistrates’ court dismissed the private prosecution attempt due to concerns that the judiciary might interfere with powers that are special to the public prosecutor.
Magistrate Mohamed Redza Azhar Rezali also noted that investigation papers had been initiated, and probes were underway, as grounds for rejecting the application. – March 26, 2024