Mat Sabu says Cabinet discussed ‘doa laknat’, Home Ministry and PM’s Dept to act on it

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 — The doa laknat, a controversial but not widely-spoken about ceremony undertaken by certain Muslim groups in Malaysia, was raised in a recent Cabinet meeting, Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu disclosed today.

Popularly known as Mat Sabu, the Amanah president said the issue was brought up at the government’s top leadership level in order for action to be taken to prevent the trend from spreading as such prayer ceremonies can have a negative effect on society, Utusan Malaysia reported today.

“We discussed (the matter) so that the Ministry of Home Affairs can be active in dealing with it.

“For the legal methods and the necessary actions, we will leave it to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Department,” he was quoted as telling reporters in Bachok after officiating at the Kelantan Amanah convention this morning.

Doa laknat, translated as curse prayers in English, can be described as a prayer ceremony undertaken by certain Muslims to damn their enemies.

It is unclear if such an activity is a local practice or one undertaken among other Islamic societies outside Malaysia or how common.

Mohamad, who is also Kota Raja MP reportedly alluded to a doa laknat, being performed by PAS during its 14th convention in September 2014 in Batu Pahat, Johor.

The former PAS deputy president claimed his former party had not condemned the practice when it was performed against a certain faction back then.

“Prayers to curse a tribe are spreading and can have a bad effect on the community.

“For that reason, Amanah takes such prayers seriously and will not give its blessing to such matters at all,” he was quoted as saying.

Mohamad was deputy PAS president in 2014 and was reported by several news outlets to have been the target of a doa laknat, alongside two other assemblymen, that was performed by a fellow party delegate at the Batu Pahat convention, purportedly for backing then Kajang assemblyman Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as a candidate to be the Selangor menteri besar back then.

The incident was among several indications of a split within PAS that later saw Mohamad and several other leaders break away to form a new party, and the conservative Islamist party’s exit from the then Pakatan Rakyat coalition a year later.