GEORGE TOWN: Former Penang deputy chief minister II Dr P. Ramasamy has sent a letter of demand to controversial preacher Dr Zakir Naik for allegedly referring to him as "the biggest enemy of Islam."
Zakir had allegedly said so while delivering a lecture in Sokoto, Nigeria.
An 8-minute-13-second excerpt of the video recording of Zakir's lecture was subsequently uploaded on his Facebook page (Dr Zakir Naik) with the title "Dr Zakir Naik Donates US$ 320,000 towards Palestine Cause" on Nov 4.
Until now, the excerpt has been viewed by more than 171,000, shared by more than 7,000 Facebook users worldwide and attracted about 30,000 reactions and about 2,000 comments.
The said excerpt was also marked with the following hashtags, namely #palestine #donation #zakirnaik to maximise its audience reach.
On Nov 2, Ramasamy was ordered by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur to pay RM1.42 million for defaming Zakir four years ago.
Ramasamy's lawyer, Dr Shamsher Singh Thind, said today that his client had lodged a police report over the matter.
"The allegation made by you (Zakir) against our client is unjustifiably serious in nature and therefore amounts to defamation.
"In fact, there was no necessity whatsoever for you to make any remark about our client in your lecture, especially when our client was not even present at the event to defend himself," he said.
Shamsher said Ramasamy demanded Zakir for the following actions:
* that you make a complete retraction of the said allegation;
* that you delete the said or similar excerpt from all your social media accounts;
* that you issue an unconditional written apology for making the said allegation;
* that you publish such apology on your verified Facebook page for 30 days with the privacy setting fixed as "public";
* that you also publish such apology at your own cost in the following newspapers in Malaysia, namely, Sinar Harian, Berita Harian, The Star, New Straits Times, Sin Chew Daily and Makkal Osai;
* that you give an undertaking to never repeat the same or similar allegation in future; and
* that you pay compensation, the amount whereof shall be agreed by the parties.
Shamsher said should Zakir failed to fulfil any of the demands within 14 days, he shall immediately filed the necessary cause papers at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur to initiate a civil action of defamation against him, without any further notice from his client.
Meanwhile, the crowdfunding in solidarity with Ramasamy has exceeded the RM900,000 mark.
"My deepest appreciation and thanks. I am confident of public support," he said in his Facebook posting.