Every year, Malaysia commemorates the establishment of the Malaysian federation on 16 September, 1963. It marks the joining together of the existing states of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore to form Malaysia.

Yesterday, The ASEAN Post published an article on Zakir Naik and the effect he has had on Malaysian society. That article left us with a glaring question: Why was the government of Malaysia so adamant in keeping Naik in the country before his controversial speech in the northern city of Kota Bharu in the state of Kelantan?

“It started in 1998. It peaked 10 years later in 2008. And it has not stopped changing. Changes are still ongoing even as you read this. It is now unstoppable. The government can no longer turn back the tide.

Malaysia’s Alliance of Hope-led (Pakatan Harapan) government turns one today, and like most one-year-olds, there have been a few falls and bumps.Euphoria swept through the country after the coalition led by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamed shocked the nation on 9 May last year, finally handing Malaysia its first new government after 61 years of independence.

“Malaysia, Truly Asia” is the well-known slogan that Tourism Malaysia – the government agency under the country’s Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture – uses in hopes of capturing the essence of the country’s unique diversity. That’s fair considering the country is home to people from a multitude of different ethnicities and religious backgrounds. Today, however, the warm embrace of the country’s multiculturalism seems to have gone cold.