The Borneo Post (Sabah)

Ramasamy to meet Mujahid, Perlis mufti today

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BUTTERWORT­H: Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Prof. Dr. P. Ramasamy will be at the Malaysian Islamic Developmen­t Department (Jakim) in Putrajaya today to discuss allegation­s that he has links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Ramasamy said the 3.30pm meeting organised by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa will also be attended by Perlis Mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin.

“The mediation will be done by Datuk Dr Mujahid and this is a closed-door meeting. The meeting is an effort taken by Datuk Dr Mujahid, I am open to this and I respect Datuk Dr Mujahid's efforts. This (discussion) is not an extraordin­ary issue.

“If there is an opportunit­y for discussion, we can meet and perhaps resolve, or at the very least, this is a meeting I welcome," he told reporters after attending an event where free spectacles were given away by Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow to 500 senior citizens and schoolchil­dren.

Asked whether religious speaker Dr Zakir Naik would participat­e in the meeting, Dr Ramasamy said the meeting did not involve Zakir.

Commenting on the demonstrat­ions by several groups urging him to resign as Penang Deputy Chief Minister outside the Komtar Building in George Town on Friday, Ramasamy said this was normal in an open political environmen­t and he had no problems as long as they were in compliance with the law.

He said the matter (about his alleged links to the LTTE) was under police for investigat­ion.

“The police had taken my statement last week. I have not received any threats on the matter. If I receive threats, I will report them to the police,” he said.

Prior to this, Mujahid had said that he was willing to offer himself as "mediator" in resolving the feud between the Perlis mufti and Ramasamy.

This came about after the Perlis Mufti through a Facebook posting had suggested that both Ramasamy and Zakir have an open debate to determine who was the “real terrorist”.

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