On 16 August, Naik was questioned for about seven hours by the Royal Malaysia Police at Bukit Aman in Kuala Lumpur about his controversial statements, while PM Mahathir said that "If he is found to be doing detrimental things to the country, it will be necessary for us to take away his permanent resident status. And that case, of course, we may need to take action to prevent him from making such provocative speeches, which attempt to pit the different races against each other," adding that a public apology by Naik may not be "enough to assuage the anger of many people".[179] Meanwhile, Sarawak, the largest state of Malaysia, banned Zakir Naik from entering the state on 15 August,[180] while the state of Perlis barred him henceforth from speaking at public events on 16 August,[181] followed by the state of Kedah on 17 August; Naik was scheduled to speak in both states.[182] By 20 August, Sabah, Malacca, Penang and Selangor had joined the other three states in prohibiting Naik from speaking in public, thus barring him in 7 out of 13 Malaysian states.