1. Sun2Surf（http://www.thesundaily.com/article.cfm?id=52093）
Ignorance the root of misunderstanding, 22 September 2010
by Husna Yusop
PUTRAJAYA (Sept 22, 2010): Islamophobia is a serious issue which is caused by lack of understanding and knowledge among believers of different religions in the world, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today.
"The root cause of all these misunderstanding, misapprehension and conflict is ignorance. Because, without understanding and knowledge, there can never be goodwill and understanding.
Najib said as such, the committee to promote understanding and harmony between the different religions in Malaysia, chaired by Datuk Ilani Isahak is an important mechanism to address this issue.
Najib and Minister in Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu
Koon with representatives of various religions.
"The very fact that you appreciate one another means you have a strong basis to establish a strong nation called Malaysia," he said at a luncheon organised by the committee.
The luncheon was attended by representatives of various religions including the Allied Coordinating Committee of Islamic NGOs and Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism.
Also present were leaders of the Christian Federation of Malaysia, Buddhist Association of Malaysia, Malaysia Hindu Sangam, Malaysia Gurdwara Council and Federation of Taoist Association Malaysia.
Najib said he was surprised that 26% of Americans believe US President Barack Obama is a Muslim, as revealed in a survey by Time magazine recently.
"This means there is a lot of ignorance in the world," he said, adding it is important to know the beauty of other people’s religion and the fundamental values of one's own religion.
He said in the Malaysian context, wise considerations must be taken to avoid controversy or tension which can lead to cracks or serious problems in the relationship between different races.
It is also necessary to deal with challenges such as in terms of the choice of religious terms to be used by people from different religions.
"The committee is a very important platform or mechanism because there are many things which we need to discuss heart to heart, in a muhibbah environment, within closed door and not openly.
"Because, if we were to make a statement in the open, it would be very difficult for us to change our stand without feeling a loss of face or embarrassed, as we have to compromise and all.
"And we don’t want others to add insult to the injury by commenting on the open statement that we have made, and the issue becomes heated further," he added.
He said in his capacity as the head of government, he welcomes any proposal or advice from the committee and will consider it accordingly.
Najib said the committee can also help the government by organising programmes which can involve all religions such as in handling teenagers, drug addicts or solving problems faced by the disabled.
He also said he will provide some allocations to the committee because unity and harmony are also important elements to be maintained, not only development and economic growth.
"We have a lot of examples where developed countries were destroyed because they could not tackle these issues. We do not want to become like Bosnia Herzegovina, Northern Ireland or other places.
"Because in this world there are many orang kepala tak betul (unreasonable people), even in developed countries, having an intention to burn the Holy Quran, that is kepala tak betul.
"Why? Because they cannot accept something good of other religions. Islam has its own good. Those who destructed the Twin Towers were not Muslims but a group of terrorists who have hijacked not only the plane, but also Islam," he added.
Najib added that Islam is against any kind of violence and does not allow the killing of civilians even during a war.
2. Malaysian Insider（http://www.themalaysianinsider.com）
Christian groups oppose US church’s Koran-burning plan, 9 September 2010
by Melissa Zavier
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 — Christian groups in Malaysia have denounced a United States’ church plan to hold “International Burn A Koran Day” on September 11.
Pastor Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Centre in Gainesville, Florida, wants to mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 World Trade Center attack and insists that his church will go ahead despite opposition from religious leaders including Christians and Muslims.
President of Catholic Bishops Conference of Malaysia, Archbishop Murphy Pakiam criticised the pastor for suggesting the act.
“It is totally unbecoming of a Christian. A disciple of Jesus Christ has to learn to respect others and their Holy Books,” Murphy was quoted by the goodtimes.my website.
The National Evangelical Christian Fellowship Chairman Rev. Dr. Eu Hong Seng also called for the respect of the scriptures of all faiths. He also pointed out that the act of scripture burning is immature and irrational.
“The Christian community does not condone such theatrics and we pray that the religious communities will respond sensibly to this isolated incident,” added Eu.
The youth wing of the Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM Youth) handed a memorandum to the US Embassy in Jalan Tun Razak today to show that they opposed the event.
They urged the US government to prevent the proposed burning from taking place.
“It is tantamount to a form of hate crime that must be dealt with utmost severity,” the group said.
The youth group also told the US government to uphold rights of those professing other faiths and to protect all religious communities from extremist and racist acts.
CCM Youth moderator and executive council member, Chrisanne Chin, is confident that the US government is taking this matter seriously and taking it to the highest level.
“They are encouraging grassroots initiatives to provide counter views to these isolated oddities, which are not representative of the American people,” she said.
As a follow up, the CCM Youth plans to hold an interfaith Hari Raya Dinner to express its stand on the issue.
News of the burning of copies of the Muslim holy text drew criticism and concerns about security from top US officials including Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs.
US Troops Commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus fears that the move could endanger the troops’ lives.
About 13,000 fans of a facebook fan page titled “Islam is of the Devil” have voiced their support of Jones’s call to burn the Koran. Most of the comments on the page were hate speech against the Muslim community.
On the page , one John Thomson said “No Islamic terrorism, Muslims have murdered over 16 000 innocent civilians since 9/11 intentionally”.
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