(Nov 12): Tawfik Ismail, who has come under fire for suggesting the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) be scrapped, has refused to back down and instead upped the ante when he said the Islamic department has proven itself to being redundant.

By claiming that it fights the Islamic State (Isis), Shia and liberal Islam, Jakim has proved that it is completely redundant, Tawfik told The Malaysian Insider.

The son of Malaysia's second deputy prime minister pointed out that other ministries were well-equipped to handle such tasks.

He added that the government should not even be trying to fight Shia, since Malaysia had ratified the Amman Message, which recognises the validity of the sect, during the tenure of former prime minister Tun Dr Abdullah Badawi.

"I think Jakim's response only goes to show that there is a duplication in government efforts to counter terrorism.

"And the way Jakim has gone about trying to intrude in personal freedom, is probably one of the reasons why people turn to Isis," Tawfik said.

He added that Muslims did not need Jakim to tell them "the right way" to worship God, since the Internet and books were full of information on Islam.

"Who are they to tell us what is the right path in our personal religious obligations?" asked Tawfik, adding that even some of the Friday sermons Jakim prepared were "provocative".

He said that Putrajaya should take its cue from Turkey, which he described as a strong Muslim country.

He said Turkey rejected any attempts to impose Islamic law because its population did not want the government to dictate how they practiced their religion.

Tawfik said for Jakim to be relevant, it should spend its budget allocation on making the lives of needy Muslims better, rather than acting as the moral police.

"Will Jakim take the allocation from their budget, and apply it to make the life for the flood-stricken people of Kelantan better?

"What is Jakim's policy on Muslim refugees? Are we going to be magnanimous and generous and allow these displaced Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar to settle in Malaysia?

"Those are the real issues we need to face up to," said Tawfik.

He also dismissed right-wing Malay group Perkasa's call for him to apologise for his remarks, saying that they were a "bunch of right-wing fascists".

"They aren't worth answering. They don't represent the Malays as much as they think they do. The Malays have other voices who speak on their behalf.

"I'm not surprised they have come up with that reaction, because when there is any threat to right-wing dominance of the Malay mind, they will fight to maintain their so-called influence." – The Malaysian Insider