Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has raised the issue of heaven and hell against “the noisy minority” whom he accused of resorting to slander.

In this, Zahid said, the "noisy minority" would finally end up in hell, which was also created by God.

"God created heaven and hell, but the residents in hell are more than in heaven, because they rushed to enter hell," he said.

This group of people in hell, Zahid said, were influenced by the devil.

"If they want to continue to befriend the devil, be my guest," he said in his speech at an event at the National Registration Department (NRD) today.

Zahid said those who had been slandered, particularly the Home Ministry, NRD, and himself, should be thankful to those who uttered the slanderous remarks against them.

He'll pray for their hearts to open

The deputy prime minister said he would pray for these people to open their hearts, instead of praying for them to rot in hell.

Zahid, who is also home minister, initially only voiced out against the people for not appreciating the excellent service provided by NRD, which he described as the most efficient in terms of processing documents.

Foreign countries like Uganda and Tanzania even came to learn from Malaysia, he said.

“Why, the Malaysians who received the best service never appreciate (the NRD). Not only that, they do not even get thanks,” Zahid said, adding that the people thought this was the service the agency should offer.

However, he went on to describe these people as being outdated and ignorant, as they refused to listen and accept the explanations given to them.

“Don’t only be good in criticsing and pointing fingers, the easiest work to do is to slander.

“When we offered our explanation, they closed their ears and said this is freedom of expression and freedom to speak.

“They are outdated and sitting in the well; they think they are so great but never look beyond,” Zahid said.

He then urged the ministry's officers to strive to make it to heaven and not to emulate such bad attitude.

He also said the NRD scored a 92.55 percent mark on the assessment of its counter service this year.

He went on to praise the kindness of the government, which he said gave out the MyKad for free, despite it costing about RM10 in raw materials.

“A government that operates business in such way only makes a loss,” Zahid said.

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