Malaysia, As ASEAN Chairman, Should Play Active Role To Promote Islam - Senator

KUALA LUMPUR, April 17 (Bernama) -- Malaysia, as Chairman of ASEAN 2015, can help promote Islam in the eyes of the world, especially the Islamic way of addressing polemics and humanitarian crisis, as well as issues concerning radicalism and extremism. Senator Dr Ashraf Wajdi Dusuki when debating the motion of thanks for the royal address at the Dewan Negara (Malaysia's Senate Hall) sitting Thursday, said ASEAN would be the most suitable platform for Malaysia to share its views and make recommendations on those issues. "This is the time for us to showcase Islam to the world. IS is not Islam. We have to differentiate Islam with religious extremists. I think this is very important," he said. He also called for the same platform (as Chairman of ASEAN) to be used by the government to promote Malaysia as a wasatiyyah-oriented Muslim country, a very good concept mooted by Prime Minister Najib Razak. "Wasatiyyah means balance, fair and not to be extreme rightist or leftist. It means that we neither go to the extreme in interpreting religion like the IS militants, nor do we go to the extreme in allowing other ideologies, such as liberalism and pluralism to deviate us from Islam," he said. The senator also expressed concern about Muslims of various backgrounds, including those in the security forces, being susceptible to the extremism, liberalism and pluralism ideologies. As such, he called on the Home Ministry and Defence Ministry to find suitable solutions to the problem, which could become a threat to the country. "If military or police personnel were also involved in extremism, I will be so worried because they know how to use weapons. They can use their expertise to do harmful things that we do not want to happen in our country," he added. --BERNAMA