Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said that it is not the way in Malaysia to simply throw out a problem, such as the case of controversial foreign preacher Dr Zakir Naik.

"Racial feelings now are much stronger than before, for whatever reason, and when somebody comes along and says something that resonates with their thinking, even though they do not understand, but they like the sound... they think this man (Zakir) is a great fighter and all that and they like him.

"And if we take any action against him, it means we are going to go against that group. In Malaysia, you have to be very careful in how you deal with this because it is not a simple one where you find there is a problem, you pick it up and throw it out.