Cahaya’s Rants

I don’t think Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is the man to rehabilitate the image of Islam and Muslims in the West. His call for a more progressive Islam in Malaysia is not well-received due to alleged corruptions in his administration.

I don’t think any amount of dialogue is going to repair any “misunderstanding” by the West.  The West does not have a problem understanding the problem with Islam and its followers.  The followers of Islam are the ones who cannot tolerate the lifestyle and the freedoms treasured by the West.

Why should the West not believe that radical Muslims are inciting other Muslims to take jihad to the West?  There are too many documented statements, and videos to prove the stance taken by radical Muslims.  If the West chooses to ignore these documented threats to their country, lifestyle, and freedoms, the West will wake up one day to find radical Islam not only at their door step but right in their living room.

New York - Malaysia’s Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called Friday for increasing dialogue to repair misunderstandings by the West about Islam.’The main cause is the misperception in the West that Islam promotes exclusively and encourages extremism,’ Badawi said in an address to the UN General Assembly. He said action should be taken to generate ‘greater understanding’ between civilizations and cultures and dialogue to establish ‘the truth that Islam is a religion which espouses universalism, not exclusivity, and tolerance, not bigotry.’

He said religion cannot be blamed for what he called the existing disputes among nations.

Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States and subsequent attacks in London, Madrid and Bali, Islamic groups and governments have campaigned to change the perception that terrorists were inciting Muslims to fight the West.