1. Malaysiakini（http://www.malaysiakini.com）
Bishop calls on PM to match words with deeds, 18 January 2012
by Terence Netto
Catholic Bishop Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing said citizens of goodwill would not hesitate to support Prime Minister Najib Razak’s push for moderation if the latter himself was unequivocal in matching deed to word.
Citing examples over the past year where he said Christians have been “unjustifiably accused of a host of deeds that contravene inter-religious harmony,” he said the PM chose not to display his vaunted moderation when “that very quality would have gone a long distance in pacifying the situation.”
Commenting on the PM’s remarks to an international convention of the Global Movement of Moderates in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, the head of the Catholic Church in the Melaka-Johor diocese said:
“You have to excuse me for the use of what may seem an oxymoronic expression that the prime minister has to be immoderate in his push for moderation.
“This way he will correct a deficit in our existing status as a people and a nation of moderates. We were once that way, but not now.”
Najib had told the convention that Malaysia has always striven for moderation which made for harmony within its diversity.
Bishop Tan, who is also president of the Conference of Catholics Bishops of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, said Najib was “papering over current discord with a past that was harmonious” and that this was a “poor way of boosting moderation and combating extremism.”
“A better way to go about promoting moderation is to candidly admit that the country has lost its previous moderate ways and retrace its steps towards restoration of the status quo ante,” asserted the Jesuit-trained prelate.
Najib pays lip service to moderation
According to Bishop Tan, our founding fathers knew the difficulty of uniting a country composed of different races and belief systems.
“They plumbed for a democratic system into which was interwoven a transient programme for raising the standard of living of the underprivileged so that a level-playing field would soon be obtained among all its citizens,” opined the prelate.
“But what has happened is that gross deviations in policy implementation have resulted in great inequalities in wealth and in opportunity, causing discontentment.
“In these straits, racial and religious demagogues have risen to fracture our society into its constituent factions so as to enhance their power and privileges,” elaborated the bishop.
“This is where the prime minister has to be immoderate in his push for moderation, by setting his face unequivocally against the demagogues which would then encourage the people of goodwill and moderation to come to the fore.
“Paying lip service to moderation while leaving demagogues unchallenged would only invite cynicism.
“The prime minister has to match unequivocal deed to his moderate word and resist the temptation to subsume discordant present realties under a concordant past that is now beyond retrieval,” added the bishop.
“Nostalgia is fine but a sentimental attitude is not helpful in dealing with the threats to its well-being that our nation faces.”
2. New Straits Times (http://www.nst.com.my)
Najib: Make voice of moderation louder, 18 January 2012
by MINDERJEET KAUR AND ALIF ZULKEFLE KUALA LUMPUR (news@nst.com.my)
THE ONLY WAY: PM says people cannot rid world of extreme views by force, but through persuasion and negotiation
THE world has to accept moderation in all aspects of life to fight extremism and the challenges it faces, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. He said the world was caught up in various extremes — terrorism, wars, natural disasters and financial crises — and everyone
had to choose the best way to deal with these problems.
“The real divide is not between Muslims and non-Muslims, or between the developed and developing worlds. It is between moderates and extremists,” he said in his keynote address when opening the inaugural International Conference on Global Movement of Moderates yesterday. Organised by the alumni of the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM), the conference, with the theme “In Pursuit of an Enduring and Just Peace”, seeks to remind of “the cardinal responsibility of respecting the differences, where extremism has used its
vociferousness to drown out the dissent of the moderates”. Najib first mooted the idea in his maiden speech at the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September 2010 where he urged world leaders to embark on building a “Global Movement
of Moderates” from all faiths to reclaim the agenda for peace and pragmatism, and to marginalise the extremists.
He has since been promoting the agenda at both local and international forums. The three-day conference gathers 50 speakers from various fields and 350 delegates from more than 70 countries. Among the speakers are former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Islamic Development Bank president Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali Al Madani. Others include Dr Maurits S. Berger, Professor of Islam in the Contemporary West, Sultan of Oman Chair of Oriental Studies at Leiden University; Prof Ayatollah Sheikh Mahdi Hadavi Tehrani, founder and president of Porch of Wisdom Cultural Institution; and Ian D. Edge, the co-director of the Centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Law, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
At the conference yesterday, Najib also announced three new Malaysian initiatives to jumpstart the global movement of moderates which he championed. They are the setting up of Wasatiyyah Institute under the Prime Minister’s Office, the Global Movement of Moderates Foundation and a chair at Universiti Malaya. He said it was time for the masses to stand up and say to the extremists “with a single breath a firm and resounding no”. He said people could not rid the world of extreme views by force, but rather through persuasion, negotiation and cooperation. “These must be our weapons in the face of enmity and malice.”
"Everyone has a choice to make between animosity and suspicion, on one hand, from the tensions in Africa, the Arab Spring, or the harsh words uttered in the Americas which could have consequences worldwide, he said.
"In today's world of the information superhighway, such conflicts travel quickly, and no one has a monopoly on truth."
While talk of extremism and extremist acts conjure up terrible images of murder, mayhem and human suffering, extremism wasn't always violent, he said. The most non-violent events were the global financial crisis.When compared to the violent images beamed around the world in the wake of Sept 11, 2001, pictures taken outside Lehman Brothers on another September morning years later were much more ordinary, he said.
"Without a single bullet fired, the extremes and excesses of Wall Street would in a matter of days take the world as we know it to the brink." Najib said the eurozone was still in crisis. Millions had lost their jobs, their homes and their security, he added. And in addition to the human cost, US$14 trillion (RM43.8 trillion) had been spent on the rescue plan, which is 10 times the toal cost of the wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq.
He said moderation could solve not only the problem of violent extremism, but could guide people through the global economic crisis. Najib said people should look into how to create a truly moderate global economy that worked in the interests of the many, not the few, and how nations could devise a system that delivered fairness for "the 99 per cent", not just those at the top. "Quite simply, we can no longer allow the workings of the markets to be value-free or value-neutral. Markets, we all know, are the only route to rising global prosperity and sustained, stable growth.
"But we must do away with the unjust, unfair outcomes they can produce when left unchecked, and with the kind of reckless economic practices that brought our global financial system to its knees." However, Najib said people should also ask how acts of extremism by a minority of Muslims could come to be seen as a reflection of Islam. He said such views could not be left unchallenged and it was not enough to say that the solution to extremism was simply for more Muslims to speak up or speak out. "We need to hear from moderates of all religions in all countries and from all walks of life, and when we do, the prize of peace is there for all to see."
Malaysia, he said, had long been synonymous not with extremism, but with moderation, tolerance, inclusiveness and acceptance. In a predominantly Muslim country with communities of Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Taoists and Sikhs, everyone knew well the "dignity of difference", he added.
"We have many ethnic groups, many religions, but we strive to be a harmonious and united nation predicated on the values of moderation and the spirit of 1Malaysia. "We know that we are best and strongest when we embrace our differences rather than just put up with them."
3. Malaysian Insider (http://www.themalaysianinsider.com)
Muhyiddin backs interfaith programme for schools, says faith group, 13 January 2012
by Debra Chong
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — The Cabinet’s interfaith committee today won the backing of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for a nationwide campaign to promote better religious understanding in schools.
Muhyiddin gives his blessings to Cabinet committee initiative. — File pic
Tan Hoe Cheow — who heads the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) — said the panel met the deputy prime minister earlier today and briefed him about rolling out a programme next month to instil harmony and religious understanding in national schools.
“We are planning a series of events to promote awareness of harmony and understanding to mark the UN’s Interfaith Week starting February 1 and wanted to get his endorsement to involve schoolchildren,” Tan told The Malaysian Insider after the group’s meeting in Putrajaya. “It’s good to start them young.”
Tan said Muhyiddin, who is also Education minister, responded favourably to the idea.
“He said the idea was very good,” said Prematilaka KD Serisena, honorary secretary to the MCCBCHST, who was at the meeting. “He said OK, set up the committee and to involve the JKMPKA (the Committee to Promote Understanding and Harmony Among Religious Adherents), and that he will launch the programme in schools.”
Tan, who represents the Taoist faith, was unable to provide details of the school activities.
“It’s all very tentative,” he said. “We are still discussing with Datuk Azman (Amin Hassan, director-general of the National Unity and Integration Department) and can only tell you later.”
A government official confirmed to The Malaysian Insider that Azman was present at the closed-door meeting but said he could not disclose anything else.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak mooted the Cabinet’s interfaith committee in 2009 to resolve interfaith disputes following a series of attacks against places of worship.
Tensions between Malaysia’s Muslim-majority and non-Muslim minority have also affected the national school system, as seen in the uproar last month when the Education ministry did not consult the Catholic owners of the prestigious SMK Convent Bukit Nanas on the appointment of a new headmistress.
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