Cahaya’s Rants

Why shouldn’t Islam be linked with extremism? Isn’t Islam the one religion that is responsible for the extremism that is happening around the world today?

How can misconceptions promote “dangerous divisions”? The activities of the Islamists are the ones that are dangerous.

If the Prime Minister of Malaysia wants to make extremism irrelevant, what has he as the leader of a so called moderate Muslim country done to encourage the irrelevancy of extremism?

Muslims in Malaysia are not free to renouce Islam. Non-Muslims in Malaysia are as good as “second-class” citizens.

If the Prime Minister wants to discourage extemism, he should first allow real freedom in the practise of whatever religion one desires in Malaysia. Ex-Muslims should be allowed to openly renounce Islam without fear of persecution.

The Malaysian government should cease in the destruction of houses of worship of other religions on the pretext of using the land for other development.

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi should walk the talk, otherwise he is just a clanging cymbal of a politician.

The Star Online > Nation

Friday May 26, 2006

Abdullah: Islam should not be linked to extremism

TOKYO (AP) - Misperceptions of Islam are helping to promote dangerous divisions in the world, Malaysia’s prime minister said Friday, calling on the West and the Muslim world to foster respect for each other’s cultures.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, on a weeklong visit to Japan, said both parties should work to make religious extremists “irrelevant.”

“The greatest injustice is the (tendency) to associate Islam with extremism,” he said in a speech at the United Nations University in Tokyo.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi delivers a keynote speech during a seminar hosted by the United Nations University in Tokyo Friday, May 26, 2006. Abdullah is on a weeklong visit to Japan. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa)
“Al Qaeda … has been very wrongly taken as speaking on behalf of Muslims.”

Abdullah, whose country is considered a shining example of a moderate Muslim-majority democracy, said that fostering mutual respect for other cultures could prevent misperceptions from deepening divisions between the West and Islam.