Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed has called on all quarters to cease the war of words over controversial preacher Zakir Naik.

Nur Jazlan also cautioned that the Home Ministry is monitoring all the groups involved.

"I would like to advise all these groups to stop their public war of words. Whether from Muslim groups, Hindu groups or others.

"The Home Ministry is monitoring this and will take action if the war of words create tension and threaten national security," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.

Nur Jazlan was responding to a coalition of Malay-Muslim NGOs that yesterday urged the government to revive the Internal Security Act (ISA), and take action against Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia (Hindraf).

Nur Jazlan noted that the war of words has yet to reach a threatening level but insisted that all parties should cease their attacks on one another.

"It (war of words) does not bring benefit to any party," he added.

The coalition had accused Hindraf, which has been vocal over the Zakir Naik issue, as an extremist group wanting to challenge the status of Islam as the religion of the federation.

'A matter of the past'

On another matter, Nur Jazlan, who is the former Public Accounts Committee chairperson, said the issue of a letter confirming Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (BVI) as a subsidiary of International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) was a matter of the past.

"That is in the past. When I was in the PAC," Nur Jazlan repeatedly said when asked if he was aware of the letter referred to by Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani.

Yesterday, Malaysiakini, in an exclusive report, quoted Johari as stating there is a letter dated Aug 11, 2016, from the Registrar of Corporate Affairs of the British Virgin Islands confirming that Aabar BVI is an IPIC subsidiary.

The disclosure led a source familiar with the matter to question why the Malaysian team chose to opt for a settlement, instead of letting the arbitration process between 1MDB and IPIC run its course when it had such strong evidence.